Hillel Quotes

“An important feature of good characterization in a novel is that the characters are dimensionalized and are not all of one piece. Human beings, as Singer noted, have contradictions.”
― Joseph Telushkin, Hillel: If Not Now, When?

“What is hateful unto you, do not do unto your neighbor. This is the whole Torah, all the rest is commentary. Now, go and study.”
― Joseph Telushkin, Hillel: If Not Now, When?

“For three years, there was a dispute between the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel, the former asserting, “The law (halakhah) is according to our view,” and the latter asserting, “The law is according to our view.” Then, a voice issued from heaven announcing, “Both these and these are the words of the living God, but the law is in agreement with the School of Hillel.”
― Joseph Telushkin, Hillel: If Not Now, When?

“hereditary and transmitted through the paternal line. Therefore, a person whose father is not a priest cannot be a priest either. * Though without being as insulting as Shammai was. * An infrequently quoted Talmudic passage teaches that Timna, a female character in the book of Genesis, came from a royal non-Israelite household. At an early age, she became interested in the Israelite faith and sought to convert. But when she approached the patriarchs—at one time or another, all three of”
― Joseph Telushkin, Hillel: If Not Now, When?