Hillel the Elder
Hillel | |
|---|---|
Hillel the Elder teaching a man the meaning of the whole Torah while the man stands on one foot (detail from the Knesset Menorah, Jerusalem) | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | |
| Died | c. 10 CE |
| Children | Simeon ben Hillel |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Buried | Meron, Israel |
Hillel (Hebrew: הִלֵּל Hīllēl; variously called Hillel the Elder or Hillel the Babylonian; died c. 10 CE) was a Jewish religious leader, sage and scholar associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud and the founder of the House of Hillel school of tannaim. He was active during the end of the first century BCE and the beginning of the first century CE.
He is popularly known as the author of three sayings:
- "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And being for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?"
- "That which is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn."
- "Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving mankind and drawing them close to the Torah."