Hillel and Shammai received [the tradition] from them. Hillel says: Be of the disciples of Aaron – loving peace, pursuing peace, loving people and bringing them closer to Torah.
EXPLANATIONS (continued):
29:
Hillel was not one of those people who intone great teachings but never follow their teaching themselves. One of the ore-requisites for creating and maintaining peace – between people as between nations – is great patience, which is a cognate of the quality of genuine humility or mildness. Hillel was and is celebrated for his patience. One almost humourous story concerning the patience (or mildness) of Hillel is told in Avot de-Rabbi Natan 15:2. Here is that story:
There were once two people who made a bet for four hundred zuz: whichever one of them goes and gets Hillel angry will win the four hundred zuz. One of them went [to visit Hillel]. That day happened to be a Friday towards late afternoon and [Hillel] was washing his hair [in preparation for Shabbat]. [The visitor] knocked on the door, calling out "Where is Hillel? Where is Hillel?" Hillel wrapped himself [in a towel] and went out to receive him. He asked what it was that he wanted, and the other replied, "I have a question to ask you."
"What do you need [to know], my son?" said [Hillel].
"Why do Palmyreans have bleary eyes?"
"This is because," responded Hillel, "they live in the sandy desert; the winds blow [the sand] in their eyes. That is why their eyes are bleary."
He went away, waited for an hour, and then returned and knocked on [Hillel's] door, calling out "Where is Hillel? Where is Hillel?" Hillel wrapped himself [in a towel] and went out [to receive him].
"What do you need, my son?" asked [Hillel].
"I have an halakhic question to ask you."
"Tell it to me."
"Why do Africans have wide feet?"
"Because," responded [Hillel], they reside by water marshes and every day they wade through the water. That is why they have wide feet."
He went away, waited for an hour, and then returned and knocked on the door, calling out "Where is Hillel? Where is Hillel?" Hillel wrapped himself [in a towel] and went out [to receive him].
"What do you need, my son?" asked [Hillel].
"I have an halakhic question to ask you."
"Tell it to me."
"Why do Babylonians have long heads?"
"My son," said [Hillel], "you have asked a great halakhic question. It is because the midwives there are not sensible. When a child is born they lay them in the arms of servants and that is why their heads are long. Here, however, [in Eretz-Israel] the midwives are sensible and they lay the child in a cradle and rub its head; so [the children] have oval heads."
He said [to Hillel], "I hope there are not a lot more like you: you have just lost me four hundred zuz!"
Hillel responded, "It is better that you lose your four hundred zuz than that Hillel should lose his patience."
30:
Much better known is the story of how three non-Jews taxed both Hillel and Shammai with their extravagant demands concerning their conversion to Judaism. The story is told in the Gemara [Shabbat 31a] how one non-Jew approached Shammai with the request that he convert to Judaism provided that he be required to accept only the written Torah. He was angrily rejected by Shammai, but Hillel patiently demonstrated to him that his request was illogical. [We recounted the main points of this story in Avot 003, explanation 14.] Another non-Jew wanted to convert on condition that the sage teach him the whole of the Torah while standing on one leg! Shammai rejected him, but Hillel complied with the immortal teaching: "What is hateful to you do not do to anyone else; that is the whole Torah, the rest being explanation." The third case involved a person who wanted to convert on condition that he be appointed high priest! Shammai, of course, rejected his application, but Hillel, with great patience, gradually brought him to understand that his request was an impossibility. The account in the Gemara about these three people relates how all three eventually became Jews and concludes as follows:
Years later the three of them happened to meet in the same place. They agreed that Shammai's impatience would have driven us from the world [of Torah], but Hillel's mild manners brought us beneath the wings of the Sheĥinah [Divine Presence].
DISCUSSION:
Pertinent to our discussion concerning the pursuit of peace, Noa Raz writes:
On the one hand there is the view that claims that peace will come with the arrival of the Messiah and on the other hand there is "seek our peace and pursue it". Are there in the Bible or in the Halakhah additional hints that point to the pursuit of peace as an active requirement?
I respond:
The fact that a religious demand is made only once does not make it any the less imperative, and the fact that the same religious demand is made several times does not make it any the more insistent. The command concerning monotheism occurs only once in the Torah [Deuteronomy 6:4], whereas the command concerning the tefillin occurs four times. I do not think that anyone would be right to conclude that the latter mitzvah is therefore more important than the former!
The requirement to pursue peace and justice is so elementary that it need be stated only once. On the other hand, the blessings that peace brings are mentioned quite literally dozens of times. In the Torah [Leviticus 26:6] God promises that the reward for Israel's 'good behaviour' will be plentiful harvests, wealth and so forth. And then He adds "And I will give peace in the land". On this Rashi adds an immortal comment (drawn from the Sifra): without peace there is nothing!
Peace is not something that will miraculously descend from heaven in a messianic age: peace must be created by people here and now.
