Who is rabbi hillel

In mentioning these characteristics, which the Haggadah then already ascribed to Moses' brother, Hillel mentions his own most prominent virtues. Love of man was considered by Hillel as the kernel of the entire Jewish teaching. When a heathen who wished to become a Jew asked him for a summary of the Jewish religion in the most concise terms, Hillel said: "What is hateful to thee, do not unto thy fellow man: this is the whole Law; the rest is mere commentary" Shab.

With these words Hillel recognized as the fundamental principle of the Jewish moral law the Biblical precept of brotherly love Lev. Almost the same thing was taught by Paul, a pupil of Gamaliel, the grandson of Hillel Gal.

It may be assumed without argument that Hillel's answer to the proselyte, which is extant in a narrative in the Babylonian Talmud comp. Schechter, p. It has been remarked that Hillel did not, like Jesus, state the love of God to be the principal commandment of the Jewish teaching see Delitzsch, "Jesus und Hillel," p.

That the love of God had also a central position in Hillel's conception of religion needs not to be proved; this position had long been assigned to it in Judaism—since the Scripture passage in which this precept is joined immediately to the confession of the unity of God Deut. Moreover, the Pharisaic scribes who approved of Jesus' answer evidently belonged to Hillel's school. Hillel seems to have connected the precept of brotherly love with the Biblical teaching of man's likeness to God, on which account he calls the love of man "love of creatures" "oheb et ha-beriyyot" ; and it is worthy of note that the term "creatures" for men was then already the common property of the language.

From the doctrine of man's likeness to God Hillel ingeniously deduced man's duty to care for his own body. In a conversation with his disciples Lev. Man's duty toward himself Hillel emphasized also in the first sentence of his saying Ab.

The precept that one should not separate oneself from the community, Hillel paraphrases, with reference to Eccl. The feeling of love for one's neighbor shows itself also in his exhortation Ab. In the following maxim is expressed also his consciousness of his own insufficiency: "Trust not thyself till the day of thy death.

Thus a man of good family who had become poor Hillel provided with a riding horse, in order that he might not be deprived of his customary physical exercise, and with a slave, in order that he might be served Tosef. Hillel's wife one day gave the whole ofa meal, prepared in honor of a guest, to a poor man, and at once prepared another. When she excused herself for the delay and explained its cause, Hillel praised her for her action. How firmly Hillel was persuaded that peace was ruling in his house, the following tradition teaches Ber.

His trust in God was such that whereas Shammai provided for the Sabbath already on the first day of the week, Hillel referred to Ps. The exhortation to love peace emanated from Hillel's most characteristic traits—from that meekness and mildness which had become proverbial, as is seen from the saying: "Let a man be always humble and patient like Hillel, and not passionate like Shammai" Shab.

Hillel's gentleness and patience are beautifully illustrated in an anecdote which relates how two men made a wager on the question whether Hillel could be made angry. Though they questioned him and made insulting allusions to his Babylonian origin, they were unsuccessful in their attempt ib. Bet Shammai required that witnesses come forth with direct testimony before she was permitted to remarry. Another example of his leniency as compared with Shammai involves converts ; Hillel favored the admission of proselytes into Judaism even when they made unreasonable demands, such as one did by demanding that the whole Torah be taught to him quickly "while standing on one foot.

Sources: Judaism ; Kolatch, Alfred J. The Second Jewish Book of Why. Jonathan David Publishers, Inc. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library. New Testament. Matthew Yom Kippur. Martin Luther. Hundreds of disputes between Hillel and Shammai are recorded in the Talmud, with the House of Hillel generally favoring a more lenient opinion and the House of Shammai favoring a stricter one.

The rabbis of the Talmud generally favored the views of the House of Hillel, but in keeping with talmudic tradition, both opinions are recorded in the text. According to a famous passage in the tractate Eruvin, the disciples of Hillel and Shammai argued for years saying the law was in accordance with their views.

However, the halachah [Jewish law] is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel. While Hillel and Shammai were links in a chain of oral transmission of the Torah that began with Moses and continued through the rabbis of the talmudic period, Hillel is renowned less for his legal rulings than for his kindness and ethics, traits reflected in the numerous stories and maxims attributed to him, several of which continue to be widely quoted today.

According to one story, Hillel was so poor that he could not afford the price of admission to the study hall. Instead, he climbed the building and sat near a skylight so he could hear the lesson being taught inside. Talmudic commentators derive from the story that even poverty should not be considered an obstacle to Torah study. Another story in the Talmud concerns a non-Jew who came to Shammai and agreed to be converted if he could teach him the entire Torah while standing on one foot.

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