Hillel | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

HILLEL (c. 50 BCE–early first century CE), Jewish sage and teacher. Although several modern scholars claim that Hillel, known as "the Elder," had Alexandrian roots, there is no reason to doubt the Talmudic tradition that he was a native of Babylonia. Hillel was a disciple of Shemaʿyah and Avṭalyon, who preceded Hillel and his colleague Shammai as the two leading teachers, or "pairs" (zugot), in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem (Palestinian) Talmud reports (Pes. 6.1, 33a, where Hillel is called "the Babylonian") that Hillel was designated nasiʾ (patriarch, i.e., head of the court) in recognition for having been able to resolve a difficult question of Jewish law on the basis of a tradition he heard from Shemaʿyah and Avṭalyon. The later patriarchs were regarded as descendants of Hillel, who in turn was said to have been a scion of the house of David (J.T., Taʿan. 4.2, 68a). Most scholars do not take the latter claim seriously, as Davidic ancestry is also assigned to the Hasmonaeans, Herodians, Jesus, Yehuda ha-Nasiʾ, and the Babylonian exilarchs. It is possible that Hillel is to be identified with Pollio (Pollion), the Pharisee who appears in the Jewish Antiquities (15.3, 15.370) of Josephus Flavius (37/8–c.100), but this may be a reference to Avṭalyon.

Talmudic tradition portrays Hillel as a great spiritual leader who embodied the qualities of humility, patience, peace, love of Torah, and social concern. Many of the well-known sayings attributed to Hillel in Mishnah Avot (chaps. 1 and 2) emphasize these ideals. For example: "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people and bringing them near to the Torah." "A name made great is a name destroyed." "If I am not for myself who is for me? And when I am for myself, what am I? And if not now when?" "Do not separate yourself from the community." "Do not judge your fellow until you are in his position." A popular tradition (B.T., Shab. 31a) illustrates Hillel's forbearance and contrasts it with the impatience of Shammai, who often appears as his foil. Shammai is said to have rebuffed a heathen who demanded of him: "Make me a proselyte on condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot." When approached by the same heathen Hillel responded, "What is hateful to you do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah, the rest is commentary. Go and learn it." This negative formulation of what eventually circulated as the Golden Rule, like many of Hillel's sayings, has parallels in ancient literature (e.g., Tb. 4:15), so the intention is not simply to relate the uniqueness or essence of Judaism. Here Hillel appears as the teacher par excellence; in one utterance he conveys that the central ideals of Judaism are easily delineated, but the path to their fulfillment can be discerned only through further study and commitment.

Several social taqqanot ("enactments") are associated with Hillel. The most important of these is the prozbul, a legal instrument that enabled creditors to claim their debts after the sabbatical year though biblical law (Dt. 15.2) prohibited it (Sheviʽit 10.3). The biblical law was intended to protect the poor in an agricultural society. In later times, when the economy depended upon the free flow of credit, people would refrain from lending as the sabbatical year drew near because they feared the money owed them would not be collectible. By means of the prozbul, creditors transferred their bonds to the court, thereby retaining the right to collect after the sabbatical year.

Hillel's interest in the intention of the biblical text and its practical application to daily life may be the reason he is credited (Tosefta San. 7.11) with the promulgation of seven exegetical principles (middot), several of which were known to have existed earlier. These principles were expanded to thirteen by the second century tanna Yishmaʿeʾl ben Elishaʿ (Sifraʾ, intro.). While there are very few instances where Hillel (or for that matter, Beit Hillel, the school of thought named after him) is reported to have employed these principles (see B.T., Pes. 66a; J.T., Pes. 6.1, 33a), their importance increased in the later tannaitic and amoraic periods.

Hillel's significance has been assessed in various ways, all of which acknowledge that he was a pivotal figure in Judaism during the late first century BCE and the early first century CE. Joseph Klausner, Alexander Guttmann, and Judah Goldin have regarded the sage as responsible for establishing the importance of intellect and interpretation along with tradition. David Daube has suggested that Hillel created the basis for the development of Jewish law, narrowing the differences between the Pharisees and Sadducees by showing how the oral law is inherent in the written. Jacob Neusner has credited Hillel with the transformation of the Pharisees from a political party to a society of "pious sectarians" committed to "table-fellowship," that is, to the meticulous observance of tithing laws and the eating of everyday meals in a state of ritual purity.

Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai.

Nahum N. Glatzer's Hillel, the Elder: The Emergence of Classical Judaism (New York, 1956) is a popular account which suggests that Hillel was influenced by the early ḥasidim (pietists). All of the traditions pertaining to Hillel (and Shammai) are critically evaluated in Jacob Neusner's The Rabbinic Traditions about the Pharisees before 70, 3 vols. (Leiden, 1971). Solomon Zeitlin has written several monographs on Hillel, which are summarized in volume 2 (pp. 100–118) of his The Rise and Fall of the Judean State: A Political, Social, and Religious History of the Second Commonwealth (Philadelphia, 1967). For an interesting assessment of the "standing on one foot (Hebrew: regel)" theme in light of Latin, regula ("rule"), see R. Jospe, "Hillel's Rule," Jewish Quarterly Review 81 (1990), 45–57. For recent discussions of the traditions and sayings of Hillel, see the separate articles by Chana Safrai and Shmuel Safrai in James H. Charlesworth and Loren L. Johns, eds., Hillel and Jesus, Comparisons of Two Major Religious Leaders (Minneapolis, 1997). Also of interest in this volume is Philip S. Alexander's "Jesus and the Golden Rule."

Hillel's exegetical principles and their relationship to Hellenistic rhetoric are discussed in David Daube's "Rabbinic Methods of Interpretation and Hellenistic Rhetoric," reprinted in Alan Corré's Understanding the Talmud (New York, 1975), pp. 275–289. It should be noted that the similarities discerned by Daube and others do not necessarily prove that Hillel derived his principles from the Hellenistic schools. Also noteworthy is Judah Goldin's "Hillel the Elder," Journal of Religion 26 (October 1946): 263–277. For Hillel's approach to the Oral Law and to biblical exegesis, see Daniel R. Schwartz, "Hillel and Scripture: From Authority to Exegesis" in Hillel and Jesus, Comparisons of Two Major Religious Leaders (Minneapolis, 1997; see above).

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