6.

Appendix 1: Two Puzzling Stories About Hillel

6.1
The bons mots attributed to Hillel the Elder in Avot 2:4b seem to be of a piece with those
elsewhere in Avot and throughout rabbinic literature. He is also the subject of several anecdotes in
which folks try to outwit or poke fun at the wise and gentle Hillel.
6.2
Avot deRabbi Natan Version A 12,1 An incident about Hillel the Elder, who was walking
along the way and ran into two people bringing wheat (to market). He said to them: A peck2 (of
wheat sells) for how much? They said to him: (It sells) for two (golden) denarii.3 Once again he ran
into other people and he said to them: A peck (sells) for how much? They said to him: For three
(golden) denarii. He says to them (gently remonstrating against their price gouging): But did not the
previous (sellers) tell me (that wheat sells) for two denarii.4 They said to him (playfully reinterpreting
the popular adage): It seems Hillel is a fool! (other versions read: Stupid Babylonian) Do you not
know that (Avot 5:23), According to the suffering / effort (of the buyer) is the reward / payment (of
the merchant). He said (responding playfully): Empty-headed (fools)! The (very) thing about which
I am asking you,5 you are turning around on me! Thus and thus Hillel the Elder treated them, (and
with humorous reproof) he turned them around (in repentance) for the better.
6.2.2 The story wittily plays on both Avot 5:23, According to the effort is the payment, and
Avot 5:22, Turn it (around) and turn it around. Hillels response has a double meaning: (a) The
(very) thing about which I am asking you (about the fair price of wheat), you are turning around on
me (trying to twist its original meaning); and (b) The (very) thing about which I am asking you
(about sinful price gouging), you are turning around on me (as I am compelling you to return to the
fair price of two denarii). There is also a play on you are turning around on me and he turned
them around.
Avot deRabbi Natan Version B 27,6 Ben Hehe says: According to the effort is the payment.
An incident about a donkey driver who came over to Hillel the Elder. He said to him: Master
(rebbi), see how we (locals) are better off than you (Babylonians). You suffer all this way when you
go up (on pilgrimage) from Babylonia to Jerusalem. But I (simply) go out from inside my house, for
6.3

Avot deRabbi Natan Version A 12 (edition Schechter, 55; edition Becker, 139-141; following Manuscript
New York, Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbinic 25). On this story, compare Kister, Studies in Avot deRabbi Nathan, 192. See the commentary of Menachem ben Solomon Meiri (edition Katzenellenbogen,
2:391).
2

The dry measure seah is roughly equivalent to the Roman modius or the modern peck. See Sperber,
Roman Palestine 200-400: Money and Prices, 241 note 9.
3

On the Roman golden denarius, see note 126 to Avot 6:9.

This clause He says to them: But did not the previous (sellers) tell me (that wheat sells) for two denarii
is missing in all other manuscripts. Unfortunately, important elements often fall out of ancient stories whose
meaning was unclear to later copyists.
5

Hillels retort here, The (very) thing about which I am asking you, appears in all other manuscripts as:
Whatever I say to you.
6

Avot deRabbi Natan Version B 27 (edition Schechter, 5556; edition Becker, 359); following Manuscript
Parma with corrections [in brackets] from Genizah fragment Cambridge (Taylor-Schechter, New Series,
259.151). On this story, compare Kister, Studies in Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, 20, 101, 192-193. For a detailed
discussion of all aspects of the Jewish pilgrimage in late Second Temple times see Safrai, The Temple and the
Divine Service; Safrai, Pilgrimage at the Time of the Second Temple. See also Josephus, The Life of Flavius
Josephus, 52; Josephus, The Jewish War, 2:232-233; Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 20:118. See also the Hillel
story in Avot deRabbi Natan Version B 26 (edition Schechter, 54).

I lodge at the entrance to Jerusalem. [He (Hillel) said to him: (I swear) by your life, well said!7 Wait
a while more for me.] (When Hillel returned) he said to him: How much (payment) for me to hire
(a ride on) your donkey from here unto Emmaus (about twenty miles)?8 He said to him: For a
(silver) denarius (about $2.00). How much unto Lod (about thirty-six miles)? He said to him: For
two (silver denarii). How much unto Caesarea (just over seventy miles)? He said to him: For three
(silver denarii). He (Hillel) said to him: I see that as I increase the way, you increase the payment
(proportionally). He said: Yes, according to the way (distance) is the payment. He (Hillel) said to
him: Is not the payment (reward) for my footsteps / pilgrimages9 like the payment for the footsteps
of this animal?! Thus would Hillel fulfill (the dictum): According to the effort / suffering is the
reward.
6.3.1 When this tale was originally performed, the teller provided all the details necessary to fully
appreciate its meaning. But over the centuries, after it was abridged in written form and slowly
corrupted by scribes, we are forced nowadays to resort to considerable speculation in order to make
sense of the story. Fortunately, a few witnesses preserve clearly authentic details of the original tale.
6.3.2 The story appears to be set in Jerusalem at the time of a pilgrimage festival.10 A local donkey
driver teases Hillel, who was originally from Babylonia: Your people have to travel all the way from
Babylonia to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem, while I simply walk out of my door.
Hillel responds to his taunting with characteristic patience. All witnesses then add a peculiar and
puzzling detail: the donkey driver has to wait for Hillel. Presumably this is somehow important to
the story.11 The story envisions Hillel arriving at the entrance to Jerusalem, presumably during the
intermediate days of the festival, given the talk about fares to places along one of the major
pilgrimage routes. He meets the donkey driver, asks him to wait until he completes the festival rites,
then returns and asks him about the cost of fares to different cities. Why doesnt Hillel simply
converse with the donkey driver immediately? Hillels behavior seems calculated to make a point to
the listener / reader. During the intervening time, the pious Hillel performs a Torah precept while
the donkey driver waits idly for his future fare. From the standpoint of Heaven, while both of them
have come to Jerusalem at the time of the pilgrimage festival, the amount of time spent in Jerusalem
is not as important as how it is spent. God rewards one who performs pious acts, not one who passes
time idly while at work.
6.3.3 This relates to Hillels next point. Just as the donkey driver increases the payment of fares in
proportion to the distance travelled, so God increases the reward / payment for performing the
7

The irony of the expression well said! is a common feature in Rabbinic Hebrew. It signals that while
Hillel agrees that the donkey drivers words are correct, they are not actually correct in the way he means
them. On this usage, see Diamond, Imre Shefer: An Investigation of the Terms yaffe, naeh, shapir, and yaut,
425-426 note 19.
8

On the distances between cities in Roman Palestine, see Fischer, Benjamin, and Roll, Roman Roads in
Judaea II: The Jaffa-Jerusalem Roads.
9

Hillel would purposefully walk to Jerusalem to fulfill the precept of pilgrimage, but would readily travel
by donkey on the return trip. See Safrai, Pilgrimage at the Time of the Second Temple, 113. On Hillel and
pilgrimage on foot, see Mishnah Chagigah 1:1.
10

Indeed, Manuscript London, British Museum Oriental 10,429 (Gaster), which has a truncated version of
this tale, preserves this authentic detail: They told about Hillel the Elder that he made a pilgrimage from
Babylonia to Jerusalem. But (as for us,) we (simply go) from the entrance of our homes (right) to the Holy
Temple. See Kister, Studies in Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, 20.
11

On the significance of such seemingly extraneous details, see Naeh, Freedom And Celibacy, 75-76.

Temple pilgrimage in proportion to the distance travelled: According to the effort / suffering in
performing a precept is the payment / reward. Bound up with the reward for effort / suffering is the
issue of consciousness / intentionality in performing precepts. Hillel cleverly demonstrates that pious
Jews receive divine reward not only for their pilgrimage in accordance with the effort / suffering they
expend in making the trip, but also in accordance with their consciousness while performing the
precept. If one travels all the way from Babylonia to perform the precept of Temple pilgrimage, but
has idle or sinful thoughts all along the way, his gain may be cancelled by his loss.12
6.4 The idea of greater reward for greater effort in divine service, especially for ones footsteps, is
found in several other sources.
6.4.1 See Babylonian Talmud Sotah 22a,13 (We learn about true faith in) the receiving of (divine)
reward / payment from a widow. A certain widow would pray in the study-house of Rabbi
Yochanan. He said to her: My daughter, is there not a synagogue in your city in your neighborhood?
She said to him: But is there not a reward / payment for the footsteps (extra distance I walk)?!
6.4.2 See Mekhilata deRabbi Shimon bar Yochai to Exodus 23:14 (edition Epstein and Melamed,
217-218),14 (Interpreting Exodus 23:14), three pilgimages (regalim). Everything is according to the
distance / footsteps (regalim) of a person: The one who comes (to the Temple) from Beit Pagi (about
thirty-five miles from Jerusalem) does not compare to the one who comes from Beit Pares (probably
Beit Saris, only a few miles farther).
6.4.3 Bar Hehe appears in conversation with Hillel in Babylonian Talmud Chagigah 9b (following
Manuscript Munich 6), One who rehearses his lesson one hundred times does not compare to one
who rehearses his lesson one hundred and one (times). He (Bar Hehe) said to him (Hillel): And
because (he failed to rehearse the lesson) one (more) time, (Scripture) calls him (Malachi 3:18) one
who does not serve Him? He (Hillel) said to him: Yes! Go out and learn (the significance of even one
extra bit of effort) from the market of donkey drivers. (A donkey rental for up to) ten parasangs
(about thirty-five standard miles) for one zuz (silver denarius),15 (but) eleven parasangs (about thirtyeight modern standard miles) for two zuzim.
6.4.3.1 In the passage above, the trip to Lod (about thirty-two miles) costs two silver denarii.
Apparently donkey drivers transporting pilgrims in antiquity had fare structures like some modern
taxis. A donkey ride for up to thirty-five modern standard miles (ten parasangs) cost 1 denarius
(about $2.00 per day), from thirty-five to seventy miles cost 2 denarii (about $4.00 for a two-day
trip), and from seventy to ninety-five miles cost 3 denarii (about $6.00 for a three-day trip). This
makes sense, since a distance of about thirty-five miles was considered a full days journey.16
12

Compare note 151 to Avot 5:11. On the considerable expenditure involved in the pilgrimage, see
Goodman, The Pilgrimage Economy of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period.
13

Babylonian Talmud Sotah 22a; following Manuscript Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hebraica d.20 (2675).

14

See also Leviticus Rabbah 3:6 (edition Margulies, 68-69).

15

Kister, Studies in Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, 192-193 note 376, cites a Genizah fragment where the
conversation is in Hebrew instead of Aramaic and the zuz explicitly becomes a denarius. On the Roman silver
denarius, see note 126 to Avot 6:9. On the interchange between zuz and denarius, see Bendavid, Biblical
Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew, 180-182.
16

See Palestinian Talmud Berakhot 1:1 (edition Venice, 2c; edition Sussmann, 3), It is learned (in a
Tannaitic tradition) in the name of Rabbi Yehudah:...An average person walks along (at the rate of) forty
(Roman) miles in a day. That would be about thirty-six modern standard miles (1 Roman mile=0.919
miles). Compare Babylonian Talmud Pesachim 94a (following Manuscript New York, Columbia X 893 T

6.5 The idea that God rewards one who performs pious acts, not one who passes time idly while at
work is explicitly found in a different anecdote about Hillel, in a comment to his saying in Avot
1:12b, one who loves humanity and brings them near to the Torah.
6.5.1 See Avot deRabbi Natan Version B 26 (edition Schechter, 54; following Manuscript Parma),
An incident about Hillel the Elder, who would stand at the entrance of Jerusalem, and (when)
people went out to their work he said to them: How much will you make today? This one says: A
(silver) denarius, and this one says: two (silver) denarii. He said to them: These coins, what do you
do with them? They said to him: With them (we are able) to sustain ourselves for momentary
existence / life. He said to them: Wont you come and inherit Torah, and (thereby) inherit life of
This Age and (eternal) life of the Coming Age? And thus would Hillel do all his days, until he would
gather them under the wings of Heaven.
6.5.2 Hillel is portrayed here as living up to his saying in Avot 1:12b to bring people near to the
Torah.17 The depiction of Hillel in these stories enlightening simple folk in the streets suggests that
he is like some of the famous Greek philosophers.18

14a), How much is the distance (travelled) of an average person in a day? Ten parasangs (thirty-five modern
standard miles): (One travels about thirty Roman miles in the heat of the day; in the soft light and cool
temperatures) from the rise of the morning star (Venus) until the flash of the sun (rising over the horizon)
(one traverses) five (Roman) miles; from the setting of the sun until the stars appear (one traverses) five
(Roman) miles. A Persian parasang is usually estimated at 3.5 modern standard miles. The discrepancy is
slight: According to the Palestinian Talmud, the distance travelled in a day by an average person walking is
forty Roman miles (thirty-six modern standard miles), and according to the Babylonian Talmud for a trip on
a donkey it is ten parasangs (thirty-five modern standard miles). Since the donkey driver would himself be
walking, the pace would be about the same. See also Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Mourning 7:4
(edition Or Vishua, 1226); Wilkinson, Jerusalem Pilgrims Before the Crusades, 16-20 (Travel in Palestine);
Ginzberg, A Commentary on the Palestinian Talmud, 1:51-52.
17

See Safrai, Sayings and Legends in the Hillel Tradition, 308. Compare Hillels saying in Avot 2:7b,
one acquired words of Torah, one acquired (eternal) life of the Coming Age; Babylonian Talmud Taanit
21a, where two starving scholars consider interrupting their Torah study to go into business and are
condemned since they relinquish eternal life and are busy with momentary existence / life. On this story see
Levine, Holy Men and Rabbis in Talmudic Antiquity, 54-57. Compare Heschel, Heavenly Torah As
Refracted Through the Generations, 155-159.
18

See Safrai, Sayings and Legends in the Hillel Tradition, 308-309 and note 19.