Editing Shammai (section)

== Religious views ==
Shammai recommended a friendly attitude toward all. His motto was: "Make your study of the [[Torah]] a permanent endeavour; speak little, but accomplish much; and receive every man with a cheerful disposition".<ref>''[[Avoth]]'', 1:15</ref> He was modest even toward his pupils.

At a personal level, Shammai's religious views were known to be strict. He wished to make his son, while still a child, conform to the law regarding fasting on [[Yom Kippur]]; he was dissuaded from his purpose only through the insistence of his friends.<ref>''[[Yoma]]'', 77b</ref> Once, when his daughter-in-law gave birth to a boy on [[Sukkot]] he broke through the roof of the chamber in which she lay in order to make a [[sukkah]] of it, so that his new-born grandchild might fulfil the religious obligation of the festival.<ref>''[[Sukkah (Talmud)|Sukkah]]'', 28a</ref>

In the [[Sifre]]<ref>Sifre ''[[Deuteronomy]]'', §203</ref> it is said that Shammai commented exegetically upon three passages of Scripture: (1) the interpretation of Deuteronomy 20:20;<ref>Tosefta, ''[[Eruvin (Talmud)|Eruvin]]'', 3:7</ref> (2) that of II Samuel 12:9;<ref>''[[Nashim|Kiddushin]]'', 43a</ref> and (3) either the interpretation of ''[[Leviticus]]'' 11:34 (which is given anonymously in Sifra on the passage, but which is the basis for Shammai's [[halakha]] transmitted in Orlah 2:5), or else the interpretation of ''[[Book of Exodus|Exodus]]'' 20:8 ("Remember the Sabbath") (which is given in the [[Mekhilta]]<ref>Mekhilta, Yitro, 7 (ed. Weiss, p.&nbsp;76b)</ref> in the name of Eleazar ben Hananiah, but which must have originated with Shammai, with whose custom of preparing for the Sabbath it accords).

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{{Succession box
| before = [[Menahem the Essene]]
| title = [[Av Beit Din]]
| years = 10 BCE – 30 CE
| after = [[Yohanan ben Zakkai]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Mishnah tree}}