Hillel, son of Gamaliel III, was a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish scholar in the 3rd century CE (second generation of

amoraim ''Amoraim'' ( , singular ''Amora'' ; "those who say" or "those who speak over the people", or "spokesmen") refers to Jewish scholars of the period from about 200 to 500 CE, who "said" or "told over" the teachings of the Oral Torah. They were p ...

Biography

He was son of Gamaliel III, brother of

Judah II Judah II or Nesi'ah I was a Jewish sage who lived in Tiberias in the Land of Israel, in the middle of the third century CE. He is mentioned in the classical works of Judaism's Oral Torah, the Mishnah and Talmud. There he is variously called "Jud ...

, and probably a pupil of his grandfather Judah I. Of his early history nothing is known. As illustrating his modesty the following incidents may be quoted: He and his brother were once at Biri, where people remonstrated against their walking on the Sabbath in shoes with golden buckles, which was not customary at that place: they resignedly removed their shoes and handed them over to their accompanying slaves. On another occasion at Cabul they were about to bathe together when the people informed them that they did not consider it moral for brothers to bathe together: Hillel and his brother thereupon desisted. In either case they could have shown the people that their acts were perfectly legal, but they preferred to comply with the local customs. While Hillel is not often quoted in connection with

Jewish law ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

, he was an able interpreter of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...

seeking his society and consulting him frequently on difficult Biblical passages. It was probably this Hillel that declared, "The Jews have no Messiah to expect, for they have already consumed him in the days of Hezekiah". Some credit this Hillel, and not his better-known namesake, with the authorship of the following maxims: "Separate not yourself from the community"; "Be not confident in thyself until the day of your death"; "Condemn not your neighbor until you have been placed in his condition"; "Use no unintelligible expressions assuming that ultimately they will be understood"; "Say not 'When I have leisure I shall study': you may never be at leisure".

Pirkei Avot Pirkei Avot (; also transliterated as ''Pirqei Avoth'' or ''Pirkei Avos'' or ''Pirke Aboth'', also ''Abhoth''), which translates into English as Chapters of the Fathers, is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims from Rabbinic Jewis ...

2:4; see ''Tosafot Yom Tov'', ad loc.

References

External links

* {{Amoraim Talmud rabbis of Syria Palaestina 3rd-century rabbis