Albert Baumgarten, "Sectarian Factions in Ancient Judaism – Hillelites and Shammaites among the Pharisees"
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Albert Baumgarten
"Sectarian Factions in Ancient Judaism – Hillelites and Shammaites among the Pharisees"
The Mishnah presents many paradoxes that have fascinated traditional commentators and modern scholars. One of these is the relationship between the rulings of the Houses of Hillel and Shammai. They usually disagree, sometimes harshly. At other times a dialogue seems to have taken place and the Hillelites were convinced by the Shammaites. At the extreme, the Houses maintained their differences but agreed to overlook them at a practical level (mYev. 1:4). What was the institutional context in which these rulings took place? What was the social structure that supported that institutional context? These are the questions on which my presentation will focus.