Teaching class from the sukkah this week! We begin our exploration of individual rabbis with a two-for-one deal: Hillel and Shammai, last and most famous of the Zugot (the “pairs” of pre-rabbinic sages who served as leaders of the Sanhedrin in the period before the destruction of the Second Temple). The disagreements and debate between the schools of Hillel and Shammai served as a model for future rabbinic culture, which places a high value on the importance of debate. “Which is the controversy that is for the sake of Heaven? Such was the controversy of Hillel and Shammai.” (Mishnah Avot 5:17)