Hillel the Elder הלל הזקן
head of the Sanhedrin, founder of the school of Beit Hillel
Hillel came up from Babylon to the Land of Israel around 3728, already forty years old. He was poor: the Talmud tells how, lacking the entrance fee to the study house, he climbed onto the roof and was buried in snow on a winter Sabbath night.
He became head of the Sanhedrin in Herod's day and led his generation for forty years. A gentile once asked to be taught the whole Torah while standing on one foot; Shammai drove him off, but Hillel answered: «What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary — go and learn.»
To him belong the sayings: «If I am not for myself, who is for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?» and «Do not judge your fellow until you stand in his place.»
He formulated seven rules of interpretation and instituted the prozbul. The law almost always follows his school, because they were gentle and cited their opponents first.