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Click on title of any passage numbered in red to access an English translation.
| 95. | Three Pillars of Wisdom |
| 2 |
שמעון הצדיק היה משיירי כנסת הגדולה הוא היה אומר --על שלושה דברים העולם עומד .על התורה ועל העבודה ועל גמילות חסדים |
| --- Mishna, Aboth 1.2 |
| 96. | Maxims of Hillel |
| 12 | :הלל
אומר --הוי מתלמידיו של אהרן אוהב שלום ורודף שלום .אוהב את הבריות ומקרבן לתורה |
| 13 | :הוא
היה אומר --נגד שמא, אבד שמה --ודלא מוסיף, יסיף --ודלא יליף, קטלא חייב .ודאשתמש בתגא, חלף |
| -- Mishna, Aboth 1.12-13 |
| 97. | More Aphorisms of Hillel |
| 5 | :הלל
אומר --אל תפרוש מן הצבור --ואל תאמן בעצמך עד יום מותך --ואל תדין את חברך עד שתגיע למקומו --ואל תאמר דבר שאי אפשר לשמוע שסופו להשמע .ואל תאמר לכשאפנה אשנה, שמא לא תפנה |
| 6 |
:הוא
היה אומר --אין בור ירא חטא, ולא עם הארץ חסיד --ולא הבישן למד, ולא הקפדן מלמד --ולא כל המרבה בסחורה מחכים .ובמקום שאין אנשים, השתדל להיות איש |
| --- Mishna, Aboth 2.5-6 |
| 98. | Irony of Position |
| 5 | Hillel
used to say: --"My humiliation is my exaltation and my exaltation is my humiliation." --"Better for a man to be told: 'Ascend on high!' than for him to be told: 'Descend below!' |
| --- Midrash, Shemoth Rabba 45.5 |
| 99. | Hillel as Role Model |
| Our rabbis taught: --"A man should always be meek like Hillel and not hot-tempered like Shammai." |
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| --- Babylonian Talmud, Shabbath 30b |
| 100. | The Golden Rule |
| 31a | :שוב
מעשה בנכרי אחד שבא לפני
שמאי, אמר לו .גיירני על מנת שתלמדני כל התורה כולה כשאני עומד על רגל אחת .דחפו באמת הבנין שבידו .בא לפני הלל, גייריה :אמר לו --.דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד . זו היא כל התורה כולה . ואידך - פירושה הוא .זיל גמור |
| --- Babylonian Talmud, Shabbath 31a |
| 101. | Hillel's Hermeneutics |
| 37 | These are the seven rules
Hillel
the elder used when interpreting (Torah) before the benei
Bathyra [=the leading scholars under Herod]: (1) "the light & the heavy" [qal wachomer: deduction a minori ad maius]; (2) "similar concept" [gezeyrah shawah: analogy] (3) "principle traced from one text" [binyan ab mikatub echad: generalizing the particular] (4) "principle traced from two texts" [binyan ab mishne kethubim: generalizing what appears more than once] (5) "include & divide/divide & include" [mikelal uferat miferat ukelal: inference from general to particular] (6) "as deduced elsewhere" [kayotze bobemaqom acher: inference from one passage to another] (7) "word joined to subject' [dabar ha lamed inyano: conclusion from context]. |
| --- Babylonian Talmud (supplement), Aboth de R. Nathan A 37 |
| 102. | Hillel Resolves Passover Halakha |
| 66a | Our rabbis taught:... Once, when the 14th (of Nisan) fell on a Sabbath, the benei Bathyra were uncertain and did not know whether or nor Passover suspended the Sabbath (regulations). They said: --"Is there any man who knows whether or not Passover suspends the Sabbath?" They were told: --"There is a man come from Babylon whose name is Hillel ha Babli. He attended Shemaiah and Abtalion -- the two greats of the period -- and should know whether or not Passover suspends the Sabbath." They sent and called him, saying to him: --"Do you know anything about Passover suspending the Sabbath or not?" He told them: --"Now is Passover the one time in the year when the Sabbath is suspended? Indeed, there are many more than 200 "passovers' in a year which suspend the Sabbath." They said to him: --"From where do you (get this)?" He said to them: --"In regard to Passover it is said: 'its appointed time' (Num 9.2) and in regard to the daily offering it is said: 'its appointed time' (Num 28:10). If 'its appointed time' said in regard to the daily offering suspends the Sabbath, so 'its appointed time' said in regard to Passover suspends the Sabbath. Moreover, comparing the light to the heavy [qal wachomer]: if the daily offering suspends the Sabbath, although (to omit) it is not punished by excommunication, is not the decision to be that the Passover -- (to omit) which is punished by excommunication -- suspends the Sabbath?" Immediately they set him at the head and appointed him "prince" [nasi] over them. And all that day he spent explaining everything in the paschal regulations [halakoth]. He began by rebuking them these words, saying: --"What did you do that caused me to come up from Babylon to be prince over you? You were lazy! It proves you did not attend Shemaiah and Abtalion" -- the two greats of the period. |
| ---- Babylonian Talmud, Pesachim 66a |
| 103. | Paradoxes of Gamaliel |
| 4 | :היה
אומר [Rabban
Gamaliel II] הוא עשה רצונו כרצונך .כדי שיעשה רצונך כרצונו נראין כאוהבין בשעת הנאתן ...כדי שיבטל רצון אחרים מפני רצונך |
| 7 | :הוא
היה אומר .מרבה בשר מרבה רימה .מרבה נכסים מרבה דאגה .מרבה נשים מרבה כשפים .מרבה שפחות מרבה זימה .מרבה עבדים מרבה גזל .מרבה תורה מרבה חיים .מרבה ישיבה מרבה חכמה .מרבה עצה מרבה תבונה .מרבה צדקה מרבה שלום .קנה שם טוב קנה לעצמו .קנה לו דברי תורה קנה לו חיי העולם הבא |
| --- Mishna, Aboth 2.4, 7 |
| 104. | Aphorisms of Aqiba |
| 14 | :אומר (ben Joseph)
רבי עקיבא .שחוק וקלות ראש, מרגילין את האדם לערוה .מסורת, סייג לתורה .מעשרות, סייג לעושר .נדרים, סייג לפרישות .סייג לחכמה - שתיקה |
| 15 | :הוא
היה אומר חביב אדם שנברא בצלם חיבה יתרה נודעת לו שנברא בצלם :שנאמר .(Gen 9:6) כי בצלם אלהים עשה את האדם .חביבין ישראל שנקראו בנים למקום .חיבה יתרה נודעת להם שנתן להם כלי חמדה :שנאמר ...(Deut 14:1) כי לקח טוב נתתי לכם, תורתי אל תעזבו |
| 16 | (He used to say:) .הכל צפוי, והרשות נתונה ,ובטוב העולם נדון .והכל לפי רוב המעשה |
| 17 | :הוא
היה אומר .הכל נתון בערבון, ומצודה פרוסה על כל החיים .החנות פתוחה, והחנוני מקיף .והפנקס פתוח, והיד כותבת .וכל הרוצה ללוות יבוא וילוה והגבאים מחזירים תדיר בכל יום .ונפרעין מן האדם מדעתו ושלא מדעתו .ויש להם על מה שיסמוכו, והדין דין אמת .והכל מתוקן לסעודה |
| --- Mishna, Aboth 3.14-17 |
| 105. | The Great Commandment |
| 8 | "You shall love your
neighbor as yourself" (Lev 19:18). Rabbi Aqiba (ben Joseph) said: --"This is the great principle of the Torah." |
| --- Midrash, Siphra 19.18 (89a) |
| 106. | What is evil? |
| 11 | :אומר (ben cHanania)
רבי יהושע עין הרע, ויצר הרע, ושנאת הבריות .(to come) מוציאין את האדם מן העולם |
| --- Mishna, Aboth 2.11 |
| 107. | Who to love or hate |
| 4 | "...and hatred on one's
fellows (excludes a person from the world to come)": Thus one learns a man is not to say: --"Love the sages but hate the disciples," (or) love the disciples but hate worldly people" [am ha aretz]. Rather, love them all. But hate Epicureans, instigators, apostates and informers. Even David said so: --"LORD, I hate those who hate you..." (Ps 139:21). But does it not say: --"You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD" (Lev 19:18)? On what ground? --"Because I created him! And if he does what your people do, you shall love him; but if he does not, you shall not love him." |
| --- Babylonian Talmud (supplement), Aboth de R. Nathan 16.4 |
| 108. | Votes versus Signs |
| It has been taught: Once Rabbi Eliezer (ben Hyrcanus) used all the arguments in the world, but (the other rabbis) did not accept them. He said to them: --"If tradition [halakah] is as I (say), let this carob tree be proof." The carob tree moved 100 cubits [=150 feet] from its place -- some say 400 cubits. They said to him: --"No proof is produced from a carob!" He said to them in return: --"If tradition is as I (say), let the canal water be proof." Indeed, the canal water flowed backwards. They said to him: --"No proof is produced from canal water!" He said to them in return: --"If tradition is as I (say), let the walls of the schoolhouse be proof." The walls of the schoolhouse bent over (as if) to fall. But Rabbi Rabbi Joshua (ben cHanania) scolded them, saying to them: --"If the disciples of the sages are clarifying this or that in the tradition, what is that to you?" To honor Rabbi Joshua (the walls) did not fall down. But to honor Rabbi Eliezer, they did not stand straight. And they stayed---and still stand---leaning. (Rabbi Eliezer) said to them in return: --"If tradition is as I (say), let there be proof from Heaven!" And an echoing voice [bath qol] came forth and said: --"What have you against Rabbi Eliezer? Tradition is always on his side!" Rabbi Joshua rose to his feet and said: --"it is not in heaven!" (Deut 30:12). Why did he say: --"it is not in heaven"? Rabbi Jeremiah said: --"The Torah was given to us from Mount Sinai. We do not pay attention to an echoing voice, because on Mount Sinai you wrote in the Torah: --"You are to incline after the majority" (Exod 23:2). Rabbi Nathan met Elijah (and) said to him: --"What did the Holy One, blessed be He!, do in that hour?" He said: --"He laughed and said: -- 'My sons have outshone me! My sons have outshone me!' It is said: On that day they brought everything that Rabbi Eliezer pronounced clean and burned them in the fire. And they counted (hands) and excommunicated him. |
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| --- Babylonian Talmud, Baba Metzia 59b |
| 109. | Worth More than a Bird |
| 6 | Rabbi
Simeon ben Jochai
and his son hid in a cave for thirteen years (after the
Hadrianic war, 135 CE). Their only food was dried carob, until their bodies broke out in sores. At the end of this period (Simeon) came and sat at the mouth of the cave; and he saw a hunter in the act of catching birds. When Rabbi Simeon hear an echoing voice [bath qol] from heaven cry, "Mercy!" one (bird) escaped; but if (the voice) cried "Condemned!," (the bird) was caught. He said" --"Even a bird is not caught without the approval of Providence! Then how much more is the life of a human?" So, he went out and found that the (Roman) persecution (of Jews) was over. |
| --- Midrash, Bereshith Rabba 79.6 |
| 110. | Carefree Creatures |
| 14 | :רבי
שמעון בן אלעזר אומר ?ראית מימיך חיה ועוף שיש להם אמנות !והן מתפרנסין שלא בצער ?והלא לא נבראו אלא לשמשני .ואני נבראתי לשמש את קוני ?אינו דין שאתפרנס שלא בצער .אלא שהרעותי מעשי וקפחתי את פרנסתי |
| --- Mishna, Kiddushin 4.14 |
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