Appendix 1. “He Who Does Not Increase, Will Decrease”
1. James David Weiss, Vintage Wein, pp. 213–16.
2. Hyam Maccoby, Early Rabbinic Writings, p. 125.
3. See my discussion of this topic in Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy, p. 617.
4. The ketubah is signed by witnesses before the wedding ceremony, and following the ceremony the bride and groom are escorted to a closed room where they are secluded for about ten minutes. This procedure is known as yichud (separation), and it is a ceremony of great symbolic significance. Prior to marriage, traditional Jewish law forbids a man and woman who are not closely related to be alone in an inaccessible room. Yichud, then, is the final act in the wedding ceremony, indicating that the couple is now married and sexually permitted to each other.
Appendix 2. Hillel’s Seven Middot of Torah Interpretation
1. I am indebted to the ArtScroll Siddur for its translation of, and commentary on, Rabbi Yishmael’s thirteen rules of Torah interpretation (which include six of Hillel’s principles), as well as to Philip Birnbaum’s prayer book, Ha-Siddur Ha-Shalem, and to Yitzhak Frank’s and Ezra Zion Melamed’s The Practical Talmud Dictionary.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A Note on Citations from Judaism’s Classic Texts
When citing statements from the Hebrew Bible, the TaNaKh, I have generally relied upon the translation of the Jewish Publication Society (Philadelphia, 1985), a scholarly yet highly readable rendering of the Bible into contemporary English. On occasion, however, I have translated the verses myself, or used other translations that seemed to me preferable for a specific verse.
There are three English translations of the Mishnah, and the one on which I have relied most is Jacob Neusner’s The Mishnah (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1988). There is an older and still valuable translation of the Mishnah by Herbert Danby (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933). In addition, I have also frequently consulted Pinchas Kehati’s excellent Hebrew commentary on the entire Mishnah, Mishnayot Mevuarot (Jerusalem: Heichal Shlomo, 1977), which has been translated into English as well (Jerusalem: Department for Torah Education and Culture in the Diaspora of the World Zionist Organization, 1988). I have also consulted Jacob Neusner’s two-volume translation, The Tosefta (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2002).
The citations from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers), which is a tractate within the Mishnah, are based on the enumeration within the Mishnah, which on occasion differs from the enumeration of Pirkei Avot as printed in the siddur (prayer book).
In quoting from the Talmud, I have for the most part relied on the ArtScroll translation, one of the great works of modern Jewish literature. ArtScroll, which is based in Brooklyn, New York, has in recent years completed a translation into English of the entire Babylonian Talmud* along with extensive explanatory notes. The ArtScroll edition is a line-by-line translation, and anyone who has Hebrew skills can utilize this translation to learn the Talmud’s basic vocabulary and methodology. I have also consulted the highly accurate and literal translation of the Soncino Press (London, 1935), and the Hebrew translation and commentary of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz on the Talmud. In addition, Random House has brought out many volumes of Steinsaltz’s Talmud into English, in a very readable translation (under titles such as The Talmud, The Steinsaltz Edition, Volume 1: Bava Mezia Part I). Although I have repeatedly consulted these works, I have also translated many of the cited texts myself.
Yale University Press has published Judah Goldin’s translation of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan (1955).
The citations from the Midrash Rabbah have primarily followed the Soncino translation (London, 1983: ten volumes), although I have checked all translations against the original, and have often made some alterations.
Yale University Press has published a multivolume translation of almost all of Moses Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah under the title, The Code of Maimonides. In recent years, Rabbi Eliyahu Touger has been bringing out a very readable translation of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, with the Hebrew and English on facing pages (the set is not yet complete). In addition, Rabbi Touger provides extensive notes on Maimonides’ text, and also cites the Talmudic and other sources for Maimonides’ rulings (the work is published by the New York–based Moznaim Publishing Corporation). I have also relied on the Hebrew-language edition of the Mishneh Torah by the Mossad Ha-Rav Kook publishing house (Jerusalem), which contains the wide-ranging commentary of Rabbi Shmuel Tanchum Rubenstein.
The other Hebrew works that are cited are listed, along with the other books I consulted, in the following bibliography.
Adahan, Miriam. Nobody’s Perfect: Maintaining Emotional Health. Nanuet, N.Y.: Feldheim Publishers, 1994.
Berkovits, Eliezer. Not in Heaven: The Nature and Function of Halakha. New York: Ktav Publishing, 1983.
Birnbaum, Philip. Daily Prayer Book, Ha-Siddur Ha-Shalem. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing, 2007.
Buxbaum, Yitzchak. The Life and Teachings of Hillel. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1994.
Charlesworth, James, and Loren Johns, eds. Hillel and Jesus: Comparisons of Two Major Religious Leaders. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997.
Cohen, Shaye. The Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2001.
Duker, Rabbi Jonathan. The Spirits Behind the Law: The Talmudic Scholars. New York: Urim Publications, 2007.
Epstein, Lawrence, ed. Readings on Conversion to Judaism. Northvale, N.J.: Mason Aronson, 1995.
Feldman, Emanuel, and Joel B. Wolowelsky. The Conversion Crisis: Essays from the Pages of Tradition. New York: Ktav Publishing, 1990.
Feldman, Louis. Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1996.
Fine, Howard, and Chris Freeman. Fine on Acting: A Vision of the Craft. West Hollywood, Calif.: Havenhurst Books, 2009.
Flusser, David. Judaism of the Second Temple Period Vol. 2, The Jewish Sages and Their Literature. Translated by Azzan Yadin. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009.
Frank, Yitzchak, and Ezra Zion Melamed. The Practical Talmud Dictionary. Jerusalem: Ariel United Israel Institutions, 1992.
Gilat, Y. D. R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus: A Scholar Outcast. Ramat Gan, Israel: Bar-Ilan University Press, 1984.
Ginzberg, Louis. On Jewish Law and Lore. New York: Atheneum, 1970.
Glatzer, Nahum N. Hillel the Elder: The Emergence of Classical Judaism. New York: Schocken Books, 1956.
Halivni, David Weiss. The Book and the Sword: A Life of Learning in the Shadow of Destruction. New York: Westview Press, 1997.
Handelman, Susan, and Jeffrey Saks. Wisdom From All My Teachers: Challenges and Initiatives in Contemporary Torah Eduction. Jerusalem: Urim Publications, 2003.
Katz, Michael, and Gershon Schwartz. Searching for Meaning in Midrash. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2002.
Konovitz, Rabbi Dr. Israel. Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel (Hebrew). Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1965.
Lau, Rabbi Yisrael Meir. Rav Lau on Pirkei Avos. Vol. 1, A Comprehensive Commentary on Ethics of the Fathers. Adapted by Yaacov Dovid Shulman. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Mesorah Publications, 2006.
Maccoby, Hyam. Early Rabbinic Writings. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
———. The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1998.
Miller, Chaim. Chumash: The Gutnick Edition. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Kol Menachem, 2008.
Moore, George Foot. Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1962.
Nadich, Judah. Jewish Legends of the Second Commonwealth. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1983.
Prager, Dennis, and Joseph Telushkin. The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism. New York: Touchstone Press, 1986.
Rubenstein, Jeffrey L. Rabbinic Stories. New York: Paulist Press, 2002.
Safrai, Shmuel, ed. The Literature o
f the Sages: First Part: Oral Tora, Halakha, Mishna, Tosefta, Talmud, External Tractates. Philadelphia: Van Gorcum, Fortress Press, 1987.
Scherman, Nosson. The ArtScroll Siddur. Brooklyn, N.Y.: ArtScroll, 1987.
Sperber, Daniel. A Commentary on Derech Erez Zuta: Chapters Five to Eight. Ramat Gan, Israel: Bar-Ilan University Press, 1990.
Steinsaltz, Adin. Talmudic Images. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson Inc., 1997.
Telushkin, Joseph. Jewish Literacy. Rev. ed. New York: William Morrow, 2008.
Urbach, Ephraim. Collected Writings in Jewish Studies. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press, 1999.
———. The Halakhah: Its Sources and Development. Jerusalem: Yad La Talmud, 1986.
Walzer, Michael, Menachem Lorberbaum, and Noam J. Zohar, eds. The Jewish Political Tradition. Vol. 1, Authority. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2000.
Weiss, James David. Vintage Wein: The Collected Wit and Wisdom, the Choicest Anecdotes and Vignettes of Rabbi Berel Wein. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Shaar Press, 1992.
Wiesel, Elie. Sages and Dreamers: Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Portraits and Legends. New York: Summit Books, 1991.
* When people speak of studying Talmud, they almost always mean the Babylonian Talmud, and not the shorter and earlier Jerusalem Talmud. In any case, ArtScroll has now started publishing a translation and commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud as well.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The pleasantest part of finishing a book is having the opportunity to publicly acknowledge those who helped—in this case profoundly helped—me in the writing of this book.
I have been blessed throughout my writing career with a number of remarkable editors, but the level of vision and extraordinarily concrete suggestions offered me by Jonathan Rosen has been an experience I will always cherish (and look forward to repeating). Not only did Jonathan’s vision of the book largely parallel my own, but he forced me to open my eyes and mind much wider, and to really underscore why Hillel matters as much to our century as he did to his own. Jonathan’s level of knowledge and insight about a subject on which he himself was not writing staggers me, and I cannot overstate how much he improved this book.
It is by now a commonplace to acknowledge Carolyn Hessel as a, perhaps the, primal force in the promotion of Jewish reading and Jewish books today in the United States—and increasingly beyond the borders of the United States. But I am writing of Carolyn here as a friend, a person whose friendship has immeasurably blessed my life. She combines equal doses of warmth, loyalty, intelligence, and absolute bluntness, and not just to me but to the whole Telushkin family, and to so many others. She has turned the making of friends into an art. And in addition to all her other commitments, she also gave this book a very careful and repeatedly helpful reading.
My dear friend Rabbi Israel “Izzy” Stein reviewed all the references cited in this book. Izzy has taught me over the years that checking all of a writer’s footnotes is one of the best ways to understand how the writer has developed his book’s thesis and conclusions. This was a painstaking job, and I am indebted to Rabbi Stein for his blessed help, as well as for his numerous suggestions.
Six beloved friends, Dr. Isaac Herschkopf, Rabbi David Woznica, Rabbi Irwin Kula, Professor Michael Berger, Rabbi Saul Berman, and Daniel Taub, read this work in manuscript and offered me a myriad challenges and improvements. I cannot imagine finishing this book without the aid of the measured, and sometimes critical, readings these friends offered me. I have had the honor to write about the help extended to me by each of these friends at greater length in the acknowledgments to A Code of Jewish Ethics, volumes 1 and 2. I feel particularly blessed to have these insights come from people who have collectively been dear friends for over a hundred and fifty years. Professor Steven Cohen, the preeminent sociologist of American Jewish life and a friend dating back to our days as graduate students at Columbia University, reviewed for me the statistical data and also directed me to the best sources to verify other statements. I am very grateful. I would also like to thank Rabbi Marc Angel whose writings first brought to my attention the responsa of the late Chief Rabbi Ben-Zion Uziel.
I also wish to acknowledge the book’s very first reader, my daughter Shira. An increasingly erudite Talmudist, Shira went over this manuscript with me several times, including a full two-hour conversation with her on Skype at Yeshivat Migdal Oz, where she was studying in Israel. Chapter after chapter, she improved this book.
My wife Dvorah, a great supporter of this project, constantly goaded me to develop the theme of Hillel’s openness to conversion and to welcoming people into the Jewish community, a subject that has become so important at this time, a full two thousand years since Hillel’s passing.
I also want to acknowledge and thank the rest of my family: Rebecca, Naomi, and Benjamin, who have patiently and tolerantly heard me expound, perhaps more than they wished, on the wisdom and importance of Hillel, and always gave me a supportive hearing.
I am pleased as well to thank David Szonyi. By this time, I have lost count of how many of my books David has worked on, but he has been editing me since Jewish Literacy, and I owe so much to his stylistic and editorial improvements.
I am honored to thank as well Altie Karper, the deservedly renowned editor of Schocken Books. The writing of this book has fulfilled a long-standing ambition to publish a book with Altie, and her editing has been painstaking and extremely helpful.
I am grateful as well for the very careful copyediting done by Muriel Jorgensen, whose work convinced me that even after one is sure that editing has been completed it hasn’t been, and for the wonderful glossary compiled and defined by Rahel Lerner.
There have been a number of books written on Hillel—surprisingly not that many given his significance—and I want to express my appreciation in particular to Rabbi Dr. Israel Konovitz, editor of Beit Shammai v’Beit Hillel, a compilation in the original Hebrew and Aramaic of every statement of Hillel and Shammai, and of the schools of Hillel and Shammai, in the Talmudic literature, and to Rabbi Yitzhak Buxbaum, author of The Life and Teachings of Hillel, a comprehensive compilation and highly insightful commentary on Hillel’s teachings. I also wish to acknowledge Nahum Glatzer, author of Hillel the Elder: The Emergence of Classical Judaism. I am indebted as well to the many scholarly books and articles cited within.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joseph Telushkin is the author of sixteen books, including Jewish Literacy, The Book of Jewish Values, and A Code of Jewish Ethics, the first volume of which received a National Jewish Book Award in 2006. He is a Senior Associate of The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL), serves on the board of the Jewish Book Council, and is the rabbi of the Synagogue for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. He lectures throughout the United States and lives in New York City.
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