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Hillel the Elder was a Pharisaic rabbi who lived between
30 BCE and 10 CE. He was an older contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth,
and taught that loving relationships, good deeds and charity toward the
disadvantaged were central to the teachings of the Torah. Like Jesus
he tried to reduce what he thought was the excessive burden of the Law.
From his perspective Judaism was not a legalistic religion of artificial
rules at all, but a discipline for improving our relationships with God
and our neighbors.
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To illustrate the point, let me tell you the story of
a young gentile who wanted to convert to Judaism. He sought out the
famous rabbi, Shammai, and jokingly said to this very serious man, can
you teach me all I really need to know about Judaism to become a Jew, “while
I stand on one foot.” Well, Shammai took this request to be nothing
more than a superficial interest in his religion and dismissed the young
man posthaste. The younster was devastated, but eventually sought
out another rabbi who might be more accommodating. He found Hillel, who
taught him that the heart of Judaism is quite simple. Hillel said,
“what is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor, that is the entire
Torah, the rest is commentary—go and learn it” (Sab. 31a).
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Most of you will recognize this statement as the Golden
Rule, found in the Confucian principle of Shu and also in Matthew 7:12
of the New Testament. In his so-called Sermon on the Mount, Jesus
tells his disciples to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
This, of course, is the positive version of the rule in contrast to the
negative versions of Confucius and Hillel and others. While both
versions imply the same point, which of the two is the more practical?
Think about when and how they might be used “while standing on both feet.”
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