Productive Disagreement

(6) Joshua ben Perahiah and Nittai the Arbelite received [the oral tradition] from them. Joshua ben Perahiah used to say: appoint for thyself a teacher, and acquire for thyself a companion and judge all men with the scale weighted in his favor.

(2) This is as our Sages teach: Judge all men favorably (ibid. 1:6). When a person experiences opposition, he must search out some merit in his fellow—in this that [his fellow] opposes him—in order to judge him favorably.

(3) Strife cannot be avoided for one of two reasons: It could be that his fellow is more advanced than he and so [his fellow] opposes him because he has not attained his spiritual level; in which case he has to endeavor so that he, too, can achieve his fellow’s level, in order that they might be equals. As a result, there will be no strife.

(17) Every dispute that is for the sake of Heaven, will in the end endure; But one that is not for the sake of Heaven, will not endure. Which is the controversy that is for the sake of Heaven? Such was the controversy of Hillel and Shammai. And which is the controversy that is not for the sake of Heaven? Such was the controversy of Korah and all his congregation.

Rabbi Abba said that Shmuel said: For three years Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel disagreed. These said: The halakha is in accordance with our opinion, and these said: The halakha is in accordance with our opinion. Ultimately, a Divine Voice emerged and proclaimed: Both these and those are the words of the living God. However, the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel. The Gemara asks: Since both these and those are the words of the living God, why were Beit Hillel privileged to have the halakha established in accordance with their opinion? The reason is that they were agreeable and forbearing, showing restraint when affronted, and when they taught the halakha they would teach both their own statements and the statements of Beit Shammai. Moreover, when they formulated their teachings and cited a dispute, they prioritized the statements of Beit Shammai to their own statements, in deference to Beit Shammai.

(2) <The point is> that peace is dependent upon daat, as has been explained, while dispute is <the absence of> daat. Nevertheless, there is dispute that is for the sake of Heaven, which in truth is very great daat, even greater than the daat of peace. For in fact, such dispute is great love and peace, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Kiddushin 30b): “et vaHeV be’Sufah” (Numbers 21:14)—they do not move from there until they become oHaVim (lovers). This is the meaning of what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Dispute that is for the sake of Heaven, will in SoFaH (the end) prove constructive” (Avot 5:17). This is the aspect of love, as it is written, “et vaHeV be’SuFaH,” as explained above.

(1) 4. Know, too, that dispute is the aspect of Creation. For the world was created mainly by means of the Vacated Space, as explained above. This is because without it there would have been nothing but Ein Sof, with no place for the creation of the world, as explained above. He therefore contracted the Light to the sides, and the Vacated Space was made. Within it He created the entire creation—i.e., time and space—by means of the spoken word, as explained above: “By the word of God the heavens were made….”

(2) The same is true of the aspect of dispute. If all the Torah scholars were one, there would be no place for the world’s creation. However, as a result of their dispute and their separating from one another, with each one withdrawing to a different side, the aspect of the Vacated Space is made between them. This is the aspect of the contraction of the Light to the sides, within which the world is created by means of the spoken word, as explained above.