The House of Hillel (Beit Hillel) and House of Shammai (Beit Shammai) were two schools of thought in Jewish scholarship during the period of the Zugot (). The houses were named after the sages, Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Shammai (of the last century BCE and the early 1st century CE), who founded them. These two schools had vigorous debates on matters of ritual practice, ethics, and theology, which were critical for shaping the Oral Torah and, later, Rabbinic Judaism as it is today.
The Mishnah mentions the disagreement of Hillel and Shammai as one that had lasting positive value for Jewry and Judaism:
In most cases (though not always), Hillel's opinion was the more lenient and tolerant of the two. In nearly all cases, Hillel's opinion was accepted as normative by Halakha and remains in effect.
Halachic disputes Examples Only three, or according to some authorities, five disputes are recorded between Hillel and Shammai themselves. However, with time the differences between their respective schools multiplied, to the point that hundreds of disputes between them are recorded in the Talmud. The split between them was so deep that, according to the Talmud, "the Torah became like two Torahs".Tosefta Hagigah 2:9; Sanhedrin 88b; Sotah 47b
The matters they debated included: Admission to Torah study: Beit Shammai believed only worthy students should be admitted to study Torah. Beit Hillel believed that Torah may be taught to anyone, in the expectation that they will repent and become worthy.Avot of Rabbi Natan 2:9 White lies: Whether one should tell an ugly bride she is beautiful. Beit Shammai said it was wrong to lie, and Beit Hillel said that all brides are beautiful on their wedding day.Talmud, Ketubot 16b–17a Divorce: Beit Shammai held that a man may divorce his wife for only a serious transgression, but Beit Hillel allowed divorce for even trivial offenses, such as burning a meal.Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 90a Hanukkah: Beit Shammai held that, on the first night, eight lights should be lit, and then one should decrease the number on each successive night, ending with one on the last night. In contrast, Beit Hillel held that one should start with one light and increase the number on each night, ending with eight. Beit Hillel's rationale is that, as a general rule in Halakha, one increases holiness, rather than decreasing. Beit Shammai's opinion was based on the halachic principle that allows one to derive law using similarities. The Sukkot Temple sacrifices involved 70 bullocks, reducing by one each day from 13 down to 7.Shabbat 21b Tu Bishvat: Beit Hillel holds that the new year for trees is on the 15th of the Jewish month of Shevat. Beit Shammai says it is on the 1st of Shevat.Mishnah Rosh Hashana 1:1 Beit Hillel's opinion is now accepted, and the new year is commonly known as Tu Bishvat (literally "15th of Shevat"). Forgetting to say grace after meals: Beit Shammai says that one who forgot to say Birkat Hamazon, and had left where one ate, should return to that place to recite Birkat Hamazon. Beit Hillel says that one should recite Birkat Hamazon in the place where one realizes one's omission.Mishnah Brachot 8:7 The Jerusalem Talmud (Hagigah 2) brings a dispute concerning whether the laying of hands (semikhah) upon one's sacrificial animal with applied force is permitted to do on a Festival day. A division arose between the houses of Hillel and Shammai—the one permitting it, the other forbidding it. The adherents to Hillel's teaching, who permit the laying on of hands, declared:
"Any coal that does not catch afire at the start [of lighting the coals], it will no longer catch afire [when it is lit a second time]." This means that if individuals are to be saved from errors as life progresses, they must be set on the proper course from the very outset. If not, they will persist in their errors. Shema: Beit Shammai's opinion is that one says the Shema lying down in the evening and standing up in the morning. Beit Hillel says anyone can say it in any position they prefer.
Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel are, respectively, the eighth and ninth most frequently mentioned halakhic authorities in the Mishnah.Drew Kaplan, "Rabbinic Popularity in the Mishnah VII: Top Ten Overall [Final Tally] Drew Kaplan's Blog (5 July 2011).
Discussion In general, Beit Shammai's positions were stricter than those of Beit Hillel.Jewish Encyclopedia, Bet Hillel and Bet-Shammai It was said that "the school of Shammai binds; the school of Hillel looses". On the few occasions when the opposite was true, Beit Hillel would sometimes later recant its position.Eduyot 1:12 etc; compare Weiss, "Dor," i. 179 et seq. Similarly, though there are no records of Beit Shammai as a whole changing its stance, a few individuals from Beit Shammai are recorded as deserting a particular stringent opinion of the school in favor of Beit Hillel's opinion.Beitzah 20a; Jerusalem Talmud Hagigah 2 (78a)
The final law almost always coincides with Beit Hillel, not because it constituted the majority,Cf. Jerusalem Talmud (Chagigah 2:3 [12a]), where the School of Shammai had grown to be more numerous than the School of Hillel. but because Beit Hillel studied the view of its opponents and a divine voice (bat kol) was heard in Yavne declaring a general rule of practice. As stated in a notable Talmudic sugya, "Elu ve-elu, these and those are the words of the living God, but the Halakhah follows the School of Hillel" (Eruvin 13b).Babylonian Talmud (Eruvin 13b); Jerusalem Talmud (Berakhot 1:4) Accordingly, Halakha was decided in favor of Beit Hillel since it was agreeable and forebearing (or, more literally, piteous).Hebrew: נוחין ועלובין היו Not only did it teach Beit Shammai's teachings, but it cited it before its own.Eruvin 13b The ruling in accordance with the teachings of Hillel was also intended to bring conformity to Jewish practices.
Later in the elu ve-elu passage (Eruvin 13b) a disagreement is mentioned between the two schools, on whether it would have been more suitable () for humankind to have been created or not to have been created, with the school of Shammai taking the position that it would have been preferable if humankind had not been created. The passage then says something which seems to imply that the position of the school of Shammai was accepted ).
Modern Rabbinic Judaism almost invariably follows the teachings of Hillel, but there are several notable exceptions. The Mishna lists 18 matters in which the Halakha was decided in favor of Beit Shammai.Mishnah Shabbat 1:3
According to one opinion in the Talmud, while Halakha follows Beit Hillel, one may choose to follow either Beit Hillel or Beit Shammai as long as one does so consistently. However, if one follows the leniencies of both schools, one is considered evil. In contrast, if one follows the stringencies of both schools, the verse "The fool walks in darkness" is applied to one.Rosh Hashana 14b
According to Rabbi Isaac Luria, in the future Messianic Age,The discussions between Shammai and Hillel are well known and spoken of by many even in modern times; one fact remains: while the predominant Halacha was that of Hillel, today we must opt for that of Shammai partially recognizing the more lenient of his opponent, i.e. Hillel. The prophecies of Kabbalah already warned that in the “future era” the converts (or “foreigners”) would no longer have any “useful function for the Jew”. All the “mass conversions” of the postwar remains for “the Jew” but the holiday of Hanukkah has been fully realized even for the “Hellenes”, who had already foreseen favorable destinies with the translation of the Torah by the 70, the Septuaginta; Edom, to which Rome belonged, has to do for “the Jew” with the change in his favor. Halakha will follow Beit Shammai rather than Beit Hillel.לעתיד לבוא הלכה תהיה כבית שמאי
History Both the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud attribute the wide-range of disputes between the two schools of thought to the fact that the disciples of Hillel and Shammai did not fully serve their masters, to the point of understanding the fine differences in Halacha.Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 88b); Jerusalem Talmud (Hagigah 2:2)
The political principles of Beit Shammai were similar to those of the Zealots, among whom they therefore found support. As public indignation against the Romans grew over the course of the 1st century, Beit Shammai gradually gained the upper hand, and the gentle and conciliatory Beit Hillel came to be ostracised from Beit Shammai's public acts of prayer.Jost, "Gesch. des Judenthums und Seiner Sekten," i. 261; Tosefta Rosh Hashana, end
As the Jewish conflict with the Romans grew,H.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, , The Crisis Under Gaius Caligula, pages 254–256: "The reign of Gaius Caligula (37-41) witnessed the first open break between the Jews and the Julio-Claudian empire. Until then—if one accepts Sejanus' heyday and the trouble caused by the census after Archelaus' banishment—there was usually an atmosphere of understanding between the Jews and the empire ... These relations deteriorated seriously during Caligula's reign, and, though after his death the peace was outwardly re-established, considerable bitterness remained on both sides. ... Caligula ordered that a golden statue of himself be set up in the Temple in Jerusalem. ... Only Caligula's death, at the hands of Roman conspirators (41), prevented the outbreak of a Jewish–Roman war that might well have spread to the entire East." the nations surrounding Judea (then part of Roman Iudaea province) all sided with the Romans, causing Beit Shammai to propose that all commerce and communication between Jew and Gentile should be completely prohibited. Beit Hillel disagreed, but when the Sanhedrin convened to discuss the matter, the Zealots sided with Beit Shammai. Then Eleazar ben Hanania, the Temple captain and a leader of the militant Zealots, invited the students of both schools to meet at his house; Eleazar placed armed men at the door, and instructed them to let no-one leave the meeting. During the discussions Beit Shammai achieved a majority and were able to force all the remaining individuals to adopt a radically restrictive set of rules known as "Eighteen Articles"; later Jewish history came to look back on the occasion as a day of misfortune.Tosefta Shabbat 1:16 etc.; Shabbat 13a; 17a According to one source, Beit Shammai obtained their majority either by killing members of Beit Hillel, or by intimidating them into leaving the room.Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 1:4 (3c)
However, the fortunes of Beit Hillel improved after the First Jewish–Roman War, which had resulted in destruction of the Jewish Temple; Jewish leaders no longer had an appetite for war. Under Gamaliel II, the Sanhedrin, which was reconstituted in Yavne (see also Council of Jamnia), reviewed all the points disputed by Beit Hillel, and this time it was their opinions which won the Sanhedrin's support; on most issues,Tosefta Yebamot 1:13; Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 1:3b it was said that whenever Beit Shammai had disputed the opinion of Beit Hillel, Beit Shammai's opinion was now null and void.Berakhot 36b; Beitzah 11b; Yevamot 9a
Even though the two schools had vigorous arguments, they greatly respected each other. The Mishnah even records that the constituents of the two schools intermarried—despite their disagreements regarding the laws of marriage and divorce.Yevamot 1:4 According to the Talmud, each school kept track of lineages among its members to whom the other school would forbid marriage, and informed the other school of this status when marriage to such a person was proposed.Yevamot 14b