Hillel the Elder

Hillel the Elder, who came from Babylonia to the land of Israel, was the most beloved sage of the late Second Temple period and, with his colleague and rival Shammai, one of the last of the *zugot* (pairs) who led the Pharisaic tradition. His teachings shaped rabbinic Judaism for all time.

The golden rule The most famous story of Hillel is told in the Talmud (Shabbat 31a): a would-be convert asked to be taught the whole Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel answered, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary — go and learn it." It is the reverse-form of the command to love one's neighbour (Leviticus 19:18), and became a defining maxim of Jewish ethics.

Hillel and Shammai Hillel and Shammai founded two schools — Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai — whose hundreds of recorded disputes fill the Mishnah and Talmud. Beit Hillel was generally the more lenient and, in the great majority of cases, the law follows it; a heavenly voice (bat kol) is said to have declared both "the words of the living God," but the law as Hillel's house — because they were gentle, and studied their opponents' views first. Both positions are preserved and studied; the tradition honours the disagreement itself as "for the sake of Heaven" (Pirkei Avot 5:17).

Sayings and character Hillel's maxims in Pirkei Avot are among the best known in Judaism: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" and "Do not separate yourself from the community." He was proverbial for patience and humility. He is credited with the *prosbul*, a legal device allowing loans to continue past the sabbatical year so the poor would not be denied credit.

Legacy Hillel served as *Nasi* (patriarch), an office his descendants held for generations, down to Judah ha-Nasi who redacted the Mishnah. Across the Jewish denominations today — Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform alike — Hillel is revered as the model of the humane, humble teacher, and his name adorns institutions the world over. His disputes with Shammai remain the classic image of Jewish learning: argument for the sake of Heaven, both voices preserved.