162 A History of Judaism
study’) was to puzzle out the intricacies of the Torah by applying logic to
the teachings he has received – a tricky task if they simply disagreed with
each other, as here. The effect was a more dynamic tradition than the
simple reliance on authority to be found in the Qumran sects, if a less
anarchic system than the scriptural fundamentalism of the Sadducees.
But above all it was a religious society in which study and debate, so long
as the subject was elucidation of the holy law of Moses, were valued for
their own sake. No pupil would learn from the passage just cited whether
to lay hands on an offering before slaughter, but they would certainly
learn that this was an issue about which debate was reasonable.
Of the series of disputes among the sages while the Temple still stood,
the best preserved are those of the Houses of Hillel and Shammai, which
could take in almost any aspect of life. This included, for instance, how
to say a blessing after a meal:
These are the things wherein the House of Shammai and the House of Hil-
lel differ in what concerns a meal. The House of Shammai say: ‘[On a
Sabbath or a Festival- day] they say the Benediction first over the day and
then over the wine.’ And the House of Hillel say, ‘They say the Benediction
first over the wine and then over the day.’ The House of Shammai say,
‘They wash the hands and then mix the cup.’ And the House of Hillel
say, ‘They mix the cup and then wash the hands.’ The House of Shammai
say, ‘A man wipes his hands with a napkin and lays it on the table.’ And the
House of Hillel say, ‘[He lays it] on the cushion.’ The House of Shammai
say, ‘They sweep up the room and then wash the hands.’ And the House of
Hillel say, ‘They wash the hands and then sweep up the room .. .’ If a man
ate and forgot to say the Benediction, the House of Shammai say, ‘He must
return to his place and say it.’ And the House of Hillel say, ‘He may say
it in the place where he remembers [his error].’ Until what time may he say
the Benediction? Until the food in his bowels is digested.Why these schools of interpretation were described as ‘Houses’ is
unknown – the term evidently means ‘school’, but it is not a usage to be
found elsewhere either in Second Temple times or in the following
period. That the numerous divergences between them failed to prevent
the Houses cooperating in precisely the areas of greatest concern to
them should be taken as evidence of respect for disagreement based on
honest attempts to expound the law:
Notwithstanding that these declare ineligible whom the others declare eli-
gible, yet [the men of] the House of Shammai did not refrain from marrying