This book tells a tale of blood and hatred, fanaticism and lust for power, heroism and betrayal.

It is perhaps fitting to close with the story of a man who witnessed those grim events as a contemporary of Herod and a resident of Jerusalem. He was as famous and honored as the king, though he lived in poverty, modestly and quietly, shying away from worldly glory.

Hillel hailed from a Jewish family settled in Babylon. He may have come to Jerusalem in the company of Hyrcanus when the Hasmonean returned from Parthian captivity. He came to study the Mosaic Law at the renowned school of Shemaiah. He earned his living through manual labor. He gave a portion of his meager daily earnings to the school’s porter, who would let him in, for Hillel could not afford the regular school fee. One winter day, he earned so little that he could not pay anything. To avoid missing a day of learning, he climbed onto the flat roof of the school building and listened to the teachers’ words from there. Meanwhile, snow and frost came; only on the second day was Hillel found, stiff and half-frozen from the cold.

By the time Herod, following the defeat of Cleopatra and the extensive favors granted to him by Octavian, finally solidified his grip on power, Hillel was already the most famous scholar of the Scriptures. People turned to him to resolve all manner of disputes, and his answers were treated as solemn verdicts, even though no political force backed his decisions. To what did Hillel owe his universally recognized authority?

Not only to his outstanding mental qualities, broad knowledge, and keen wit: at least equal admiration attached to his kindness to all, crystal-clear integrity, and a serene gentleness that nothing could ever disturb. Hillel’s teachings always aimed to mitigate the strictest demands of the Law. In this, he differed from the austere school of Shemaiah. Hillel developed a system of interpreting the Law and adapting the ancient commandments to the constantly changing requirements of modern life. Hillel drew his system from the spirit of Greek philosophy and logic. Elaborated and improved by generations of later scholars of the Scriptures, it became the basis of the Talmud.

We are curious to know if Herod ever met Hillel. He had certainly heard about him. It speaks well of the King of Judea that he tolerated in his capital a man who enjoyed such great authority and respect among the people; it is evidence that where politics were not involved, Herod was not petty.

The destinies of Herod and Hillel took strange paths. The descendants of the former continued to rule parts of Palestine and even other lands in the Middle East for four generations, but by the end of the 1st century AD, the Herodian line died out.

But the school of Hillel endured. From generation to generation, its leaders bore the title of nasi,62F[1] and according to tradition, they were all descendants of Hillel himself. The destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD and of the city in 135 AD did not put an end to the school; from then on, it conducted its teaching in small towns of Palestine, where significant concentrations of Jews still survived. Nasi became the spiritual leaders of the entire Jewish community, living scattered in all the lands of the world. They were the visible symbol of the survival of a people who, though deprived of a state and even homeland, refused to die out. The magnificent fortresses built by Herod—Alexandrion, Masada, Herodium—turned into piles of rubble, but Hillel’s school lived on.

What was the most essential teaching of Hillel’s school? Rabbi Hillel himself answered this when a stranger asked him sarcastically:

“Explain the Law to me, but briefly, so briefly as I can stand on one leg.”

The Rabbi answered him:

“Do not do unto your neighbor anything that is hateful to you. This is the whole Law. Everything else is just commentary.”

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[1] The noun nasi (including its grammatical variations), occurs 132 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, and in English is usually translated “prince,” occasionally, “captain.” During the period of the Second Temple, the president of the Sanhedrin bore the title of nasi. The title was later applied to those who held high offices in the Jewish community, and Jews who held prominence in the courts of non-Jewish rulers. Today it refers to the President of Israel.

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