Life
Hillel was born in Babylon and, according to the Iggeret of Rav Sherira Gaon (a comprehensive history of the composition of the Talmud from the 10th century CE), Hillel descended from the Tribe of Benjamin on his father's side, and from the family of David on his mother's side. Nothing definite, however, is known concerning his origin, nor is he anywhere called by his father's name, which may have been Gamliel.
When Josephus ("Vita," § 38) speaks of Hillel's great-grandson, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel I, as belonging to a very celebrated family (γένους σφόδρα λαμπροῦ), he probably refers to the glory the family owed to the activity of Hillel and Rabban Gamliel Hazaken. Only Hillel's brother Shebna is mentioned; he was a merchant, whereas Hillel devoted himself to studying the Torah whilst also working as a woodcutter (Hertz 1936).
Read more about this topic: Hillel The Elder
Famous quotes containing the word life:
“What if there are not only two nostrils, two eyes, two lobes, and so forth, but two psyches as well, and they are separately equipped? They go through life like Siamese twins inside one person.... They can be just a little different, like identical twins, or they can be vastly different, like good and evil.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“I can entertain the proposition that life is a metaphor for boxing—for one of those bouts that go on and on, round following round, jabs, missed punches, clinches, nothing determined, again the bell and again and you and your opponent so evenly matched it’s impossible not to see that your opponent is you.... Life is like boxing in many unsettling respects. But boxing is only like boxing.”
—Joyce Carol Oates (b. 1938)
“In time, after a dozen years of centering their lives around the games boys play with one another, the boys’ bodies change and that changes everything else. But the memories are not erased of that safest time in the lives of men, when their prime concern was playing games with guys who just wanted to be their friendly competitors. Life never again gets so simple.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)