One day, I had the pleasure to visit a maximum security prison with the Chief Jewish Chaplain of the Texas Prison System. We visited a prison about an hour from Houston. The experience was terrifying. I had never been in a prison, let alone a maximum security prison. Even the process of entering as a visitor was designed to make one feel the hopelessness of the situation. My escort was there to inspect the Kosher kitchen and to meet with a group of Jewish inmates that he mentored. Remember, this was a maximum security prison and most of the people there committed some sort of violent crime. A non-Jewish prisoner with lots of gang tattoos approached the Rabbi and told him he wanted to convert. Apparently, Kosher prisoners received highly valued salt and pepper packets instead of using communal shakers. This man wanted access to that privilege. The Rabbi did not balk at this request. Instead, he said, “OK, but we will have to circumcise you.” The man thought for a while and then said, “But I am already circumcised.” The Rabbi did not miss a beat. He immediately replied, “Yes, but we will have to do it again.” This convinced the prisoner that salt and pepper packets were not worth the conversion. This is a true story.

Today we come to perhaps the most famous story in the whole Talmud – the story of Hillel and the gentile. We ended yesterday with a series of stories of Rabbis encountering skeptics and hecklers. These stories came as we considered a pair of statements from Proverbs 26:4-5, ” Do not answer a dullard in accord with his folly, else you will become like him. Answer a dullard in accord with his folly, else he will think himself wise.” Unlike the stories yesterday, today we contrast Shammai’s reaction to Hillel’s.

The most famous story comes as the second in three stories of Hillel and Shammai confronting an unbeliever. A man approaches Shammai and says, “Teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot.” Shammai treats this statement with the disdain it deserves and throws the unbeliever out. The unbeliever then goes to Hillel and makes the same ridiculous request. Without missing a beat Hillel says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The rest us commentary. Now go learn it.” The principle of the Golden Rule espoused by Hillel in the last century before the Common Era appears in almost every major religion (and equally breached by almost every major religion). Hillel’s statement does not even appear to be the oldest and he may have absorbed it from the Ancient Egyptian, Greek or Persian antecedents. Nevertheless, the story is beautiful, more so because Hillel teaches it to a non-Jew, implying that it applies universally, not only to our co-religionists.

The first story in our series concerns a non-believer who goes to Shammai and asks how many Torahs there are. Shammai says there are two – a written Torah and an oral Torah. The unbeliever says he will convert, but can only believe in the written Torah. Shammai again physically throws the non-believer out. The same man comes to Hillel who immediately converts him. Hillel teaches the new convert the Hebrew alphabet. The next day, Hillel teaches the alphabet again but all the letters are scrambled. The convert says, “Hey. Yesterday you taught it to me a different way.” Hillel replies, “Well you relied on me to teach you the letters. You should also rely on me to teach you the oral Torah.”

The third story in the trilogy concerns an unbeliever who passes by a school and hears the students studying about the vestments of the High Priest in Exodus 28:4 (“These are the vestments they are to make; a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a fringed tunic, a headdress and a sash. They shall make those sacral vestments for your brother Aaron and his sons, for priestly service to me.”) The unbeliever wants to be robed in this attire. So he goes to Shammai and says, “Convert me, but only on the condition that I can be the High Priest.” Shammai’s reaction at this point is predictable. The man goes to Hillel who agrees. After converting the man, Hillel says you need to go learn the rules of the High Priest. The man comes to this passage in Numbers 3:10 (“You shall make Aaron and his sons responsible for observing their priestly duties, and any outsider who encroaches shall be put to death.”) The man asks Hillel to whom does this verse apply. Hillel tells him that even King David could not be the High Priest. The man understands he cannot be the High Priest, but continues his studies. One day he confronts Shammai. He tells Shammai that if Shammai had offered an explanation, that would have been enough. He then tells Hillel, “Hillel, the humble one, let blessings come to rest upon your head. For your brought me under the wings of the Divine Presence.”

Collectively, these stories teach us that we bring people to God and religion through love, not discipline. Hillel treated all three men with respect, regardless of how disrespectfully and outrageously they treated him. In the end, all three men came to revere Hillel and become his disciples. Of course, we are supposed to emulate Hillel in our own lives, but don’t think it is easy.

Indeed, our Daf opens with two charlatans making a bet about Hillel. One man accepts a bet that he can cause Hillel to lose his temper. He goes to Hillel just as Hillel is preparing for Shabbat. He makes a ruckus until Hillel comes out to answer an important question. When Hillel comes out, the man asks, “Why are the heads of Babylonians so round?” Hillel says, My son, you have asked a truly profound question; the reason is they do not have skillful midwives.” The man comes back two more times and asks equally ridiculous questions. Each time, Hillel tells him that the question is very profound and gives him a serious answer. The man admits defeat and realizes that he has lost the bet. The commentators note that Hillel’s practice was never to treat a question as unimportant so that people would always feel comfortable in approaching him.

The Talmud next turns to a discussion of the fear of God. We learn that study is not enough. If we do not fear God, we will not remember what we study. Indeed, God created the world so that people would stand in awe of God. Studying without living in awe of God is like a treasurer with a key to an inner treasury, but not the key to the outer door or like a person who builds a gate, but has not courtyard to enclose.

Interestingly, in discussing the fear of God or awe of God, the Rabbis note the similarities between Hebrew and Greek and use the meaning of the Greek word for one to aid in interpretation. Ancient Greek and Ancient Hebrew share common Mediterranean roots and the Rabbis were well aware of the Greeks. Indeed, we will learn that the Rabbis admired Alexander the Great. The alphabets are very similar. The Greek alphabet starts Alpha, Beta. The Hebrew alphabet starts Aleph, Bet. The Talmud recognizes this similarity and later rules that a Torah scroll written in Greek is Kosher. I am always fascinated about the parts of the Talmud that hint at the relationship of the Rabbis to the wider Mediterranean world.

We then turn back to the troubling book of Ecclesiastes. Verse 7:17 states, “Don’t overdo wickedness and don’t be a fool, or you may die before your time.” This verse implies that we should have a little wickedness. The Rabbis reinterpret this verse with an analogy to eating garlic. If we eat a garlic clove and our breath smells, that does not mean we should go back and eat more garlic and make our breath worse. I feel this one is a stretch. I love garlic.

We end with a really troubling Mishnah. We learn that women die in childbirth for three reasons; (i) not following the rules of menstrual purity; (ii) not following the rules of setting aside some dough for the priests; and (iii) not lighting the Shabbat candles. I assume tomorrow we will learn more about this Mishnah. I find this somewhat odd because in other places in the Talmud, even in today’s Daf, we find discussion of why the wicked sometimes seem to prosper. I am at a loss when I confront these passages that make a direct link between a sin and some earthly misfortune.