Rabbi Eyal Shraga • Beit Shammai or Beit Hillel: What comes first – Spirituality or Materiality?

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Musayof Synagogue’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

We shall start with the beginning: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." What did the Holy One, blessed be He, create first? The heavens or the earth? >> Together. >> It is a dispute. >> Then why does it say "the heaven and the earth"? >> A dispute. The Gemara in Tractate Chagigah, page 12a, brings us a dispute between whom and whom? Between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel. What was created first? Beit Shammai says the heavens were created first. Beit Hillel says what was created first? The earth. A person builds the foundations first. After he builds the foundations, what does he do? He makes a ceiling for it. You cannot make heavens without having an earth. Beit Shammai: heavens created first. Beit Hillel: earth created first . How do Beit Shammai know that the heavens were created first? They say, we have an explicit verse in the Torah: "In the beginning God created" what? The heaven and the earth. There, it is explicit. Beit Hillel comes and says, wait, look at the final verse at the end of the creation story, how is it written there? "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven." So here, it is written explicitly, what was first? Earth, and after that, heavens. The Sages come and what do they say? A third opinion. Both were created as one. Flesh and blood

Jump to a moment

1. 0:01We shall start with the beginning: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.…
2. 3:42so they use their wisdom to create disputes. The House of Shammai and the House of…
3. 7:58lift your leg, come I'll teach you: That which is hateful to you, do not do…
4. 11:38know why their feet are wide? Because they walk through the swamps. Shoes hold the foot…
5. 15:49... >> shall be built by kindness." So if you have a dispute between Beit Shammai…
6. 19:29Halacha will be like whom? Like Beit Shammai. Both these and those are the words of…
7. 23:43worldly matters, there is nothing spiritual in him. Earth is physical. Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel…
8. 27:24few examples to see what their dispute is. Let’s explain. There is a Tosefta , the…
9. 31:37spiritual. So how will he fulfill the commandment of "and he shall return the stolen property"?…
10. 35:22graceful bride," how lucky you are, no evil eye! He thinks, really, okay, okay , he…

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