What are the important schools of Jewish tradition?

The answer

Jewish tradition reflects the attitude of many Jewish leaders, who preserve the law to the letter, but show little interest in its spirit. In the time of Jesus Christ, there were two schools of oral tradition. One was headed by Rabban Gamaliel the Elder, a disciple of the founder of the school, Hillel the Elder, and his successor as its head. It was in this school that Saul of Tarsus was educated, and he may have even been Gamaliel’s successor had he not converted to Christianity. The other school was headed by Shammai, which diverged quite sharply in some points of interpretation and application of the law. Despite their differences, they shared much common ground with Gamaliel’s school. Both accepted the principle of tradition as a means of adapting the requirements of the ancient law to changing circumstances, contrary to the Sadducees who insisted on adherence to the strict letter of the written law.²⁵⁵

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty