Hillel was almost certainly the most respected Jewish leader in the four decades following the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. This was, of course, the period in which rabbinic Judaism was born. Hillel is known for a number of things, but here I wish to focus on three Talmudic stories about him that show him to be tolerant, open-minded, innovative, and egalitarian. In short a liberal in the classical sense.
The first is the famous Talmudic story (Shabbat 31a) regarding a gentile who desired to convert, but only if he could be taught the entire Torah while he stood on one foot. First he approached Shammai, a great Sage, who was Hillel’s contemporary. Shammai found this an incredibly impudent request, and chased him away.
The would-be convert then approached Hillel with the same challenge, and was accepted for conversion. In response to his conditional offer, he was told: “That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study.” This response is notable for two reasons. First, this “golden rule” has no exceptions or special privileges for the great and powerful and second, Hillel is emphasizing the ethical demands of the Torah, rather than ritual observance.
The second revealing story regarding Hillel is his formulation of the legal procedure known as the prosbul (Gittin 36a). This was a work-around to avoid the pernicious effects of the Torah’s command in Deuteronomy that all debts be forgiven every seven years (the Sabbatical Year). Hillel saw that in his day lenders were not making loans in the period preceding the Sabbatical Year and the poor were deprived of needed credit. Thus, he in effect nullified the Torah’s law by ruling that it did not apply to a rabbinical court, and so the debt could be assigned to such a body for collection before the start of the Sabbatical Year, then returned to the lender thereafter.
Finally, Hillel’s liberalism is displayed in the well-known Talmudic story regarding the resolution of a three-year-long, bitter dispute between the academies of Hillel and Shammai regarding certain points of halakha (law). The Talmud records (Eruvim 13b) that a bat kol (heavenly voice) was heard to say that while “these and these are the words of the living God. However, the law is in accordance with the opinion of Beit [academy of] Hillel. The voice then explained that the reason was that the Hillelites were open-minded, respectful of opposing views, and willing to change their minds when confronted with better arguments. In other words, they were liberal in the older sense.
Here is a link to my brief video on this topic: https://youtu.be/QRCfbAi6BkQ