(יז) כָּל מַחֲלוֹקֶת שֶׁהִיא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, סוֹפָהּ לְהִתְקַיֵּם. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, אֵין סוֹפָהּ לְהִתְקַיֵּם. אֵיזוֹ הִיא מַחֲלוֹקֶת שֶׁהִיא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, זוֹ מַחֲלוֹקֶת הִלֵּל וְשַׁמַּאי. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, זוֹ מַחֲלוֹקֶת קֹרַח וְכָל עֲדָתוֹ:
(17) Every argument that is [for the sake of] heaven's name, it is destined to endure. But if it is not [for the sake of] heaven's name -- it is not destined to endure. What [is an example of an argument for the sake of] heaven's name? The argument of Hillel and Shammai. What [is an example of an argument not for the sake of] heaven's name? The argument of Korach and all of his followers.
א"ר אבא אמר שמואל שלש שנים נחלקו ב"ש וב"ה הללו אומרים הלכה כמותנו והללו אומרים הלכה כמותנו יצאה בת קול ואמרה אלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים הן והלכה כב"ה וכי מאחר שאלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים מפני מה זכו ב"ה לקבוע הלכה כמותן מפני שנוחין ועלובין היו ושונין דבריהן ודברי ב"ש ולא עוד אלא שמקדימין דברי ב"ש לדבריהן כאותה ששנינו מי שהיה ראשו ורובו בסוכה ושלחנו בתוך הבית בית שמאי פוסלין וב"ה מכשירין אמרו ב"ה לב"ש לא כך היה מעשה שהלכו זקני ב"ש וזקני ב"ה לבקר את ר' יוחנן בן החורנית ומצאוהו יושב ראשו ורובו בסוכה ושלחנו בתוך הבית אמרו להן בית שמאי (אי) משם ראיה אף הן אמרו לו אם כך היית נוהג לא קיימת מצות סוכה מימיך ללמדך שכל המשפיל עצמו הקב"ה מגביהו וכל המגביה עצמו הקב"ה משפילו כל המחזר על הגדולה גדולה בורחת ממנו וכל הבורח מן הגדולה גדולה מחזרת אחריו וכל הדוחק את השעה שעה דוחקתו וכל הנדחה מפני שעה שעה עומדת לו ת"ר שתי שנים ומחצה נחלקו ב"ש וב"ה הללו אומרים נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא והללו אומרים נוח לו לאדם שנברא יותר משלא נברא נמנו וגמרו נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא עכשיו שנברא יפשפש במעשיו ואמרי לה ימשמש במעשיו
Rabbi Abba said in the name of Shmuel, For three years, the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai argued. One said, 'The halakha is like us,' and the other said, 'The halakha is like us.' A heavenly voice spoke: "These and these are the words of the living God, and the halakha is like the House of Hillel." A question was raised: Since the heavenly voice declared: "Both these and those are the words of the Living God," why was the halacha established to follow the opinion of Hillel? It is because the students of Hillel were kind and gracious. They taught their own ideas as well as the ideas from the students of Shammai. Not only for this reason, but they went so far as to teach Shammai's opinions first. Like that which we taught, One whose head and majority of his body are in the Sukkah and his table are in the [adjacent] house, Beis Shamai said it is invalid, and Beis Hillel said it is valid. Beis Hillel said to Beis Shamai, Is there not a story in our hands that the elders of Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel went to visit R' Yochanan ben HaChornis, and they found him sitting with his head and majority of his body in the Sukkah and his table in the house? [Doesn't this imply it's permissible?] Beis Shamai said back to them, From there you bring a proof? Even they said to him that if this is how you act, you never fulfilled the mitzvah of Sukkah in your life! [This story is] to teach you that whoever degrades himself, Hashem raises him, and whoever raises himself, Hashem degrades him. Whoever runs toward greatness, greatness flees from him, and whoever flees from greatness, greatness runs toward him. Whoever uses his time wisely, the time stretches out, and whoever procrastinates, the time stands still. It was taught in a Braisa: For two-and-a-half years the house of Shammai and the house of Hillel argued. These said: Better for man never to have been created than to have been created. And these said: Better for man to have been created that not to have been created. They counted and decided: Better for man never to have been created than to have been created. Now that he has been created, he should sift through his actions. And there are those who say he should examine his actions.
Middah of Patience
(ה) אמר רבי סימון: בשעה שבא הקב"ה לבראת את אדם הראשון, נעשו מלאכי השרת כיתים כיתים, וחבורות חבורות, מהם אומרים: אל יברא, ומהם אומרים: יברא, הדא הוא דכתיב (תהלים פה): חסד ואמת נפגשו צדק ושלום נשקו. חסד אומר: יברא, שהוא גומל חסדים. ואמת אומר: אל יברא, שכולו שקרים. צדק אומר: יברא, שהוא עושה צדקות. שלום אומר: אל יברא, דכוליה קטטה. מה עשה הקדוש ברוך הוא? נטל אמת והשליכו לארץ, הדא הוא דכתיב (דניאל ח): ותשלך אמת ארצה. אמרו מלאכי השרת לפני הקב"ה: רבון העולמים! מה אתה מבזה תכסיס אלטיכסייה שלך? תעלה אמת מן הארץ, הדא הוא דכתיב (תהלים פה): אמת מארץ תצמח. רבנן אמרי לה בשם ר' חנינא בר אידי ורבי פנחס ורבי חלקיה בשם רבי סימון אמר: מאד הוא אדם, הדא הוא דכתיב: וירא אלהים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד, והנה טוב אדם. ר' הונא רבה של צפורין אמר: עד שמלאכי השרת מדיינין אלו עם אלו, ומתעסקין אלו עם אלו, בראו הקדוש ברוך הוא. אמר להן: מה אתם מדיינין, כבר נעשה אדם:
'
Rabbi Simon said: "When the time came for the Holy One Blessed Be God to create the first human being, the angels of (Divine) service broke up into opposing groups. Some among them say: 'S/he should be created.' Some among them say: 'S/he should not be created.' This is what is written: 'Kindness and truth met; righteousness and peace kissed.' (Psalms 85:11)
Kindness says: 'Let s/he be created because s/he will bestow kindnesses.'
Truth says: 'Let s/he not be created because s/he because s/he is entirely (made of) lies.'
Righteousness says: 'Let s/he be created for s/he will do righteous acts.'
And peace says; 'Let s/he not be created for s/he is entirely dissension.'
What did the Holy One Blessed be God do? God took truth and flung him to the ground. Thus it is written: 'You will cast truth to the ground.' (Daniel 8:12)
The angels of (Divine) service said before the Holy One Blessed be God: 'Master of worlds! Why do You despise Your seal of truth? Let truth rise from the ground as it is written: 'Truth will grow from the earth.' (Psalms 85:12)
Rabbi Hunah the rabbi of Tzippori said: "While the angels of (Divine) service were arguing with one another and occupied with one another, the Holy One Blessed be God created the first human."
God said to them: "Why are you debating? The human is already created."
Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, quoted in Itturei Torah, Vol. I on Genesis 1:26
What is the advantage of casting aside "truth" while "peace" remained which also argued that "s/he not be created."? Yet when we cast aside truth, peace will prevail. The root of argument is that everyone fights for his/her own "truth". But when we push "truth" aside, there is no longer something about which to dispute. Thus there is no argument, and "peace" has no claim to make.
Middah of Humility
(יב) אלו דברים שחזרו בית הלל להורות כדברי בית שמאי. האשה שבאה ממדינת הים ואמרה מת בעלי, תנשא. מת בעלי, תתיבם. ובית הלל אומרים, לא שמענו אלא בבאה מן הקציר בלבד. אמרו להם בית שמאי, אחת הבאה מן הקציר ואחת הבאה מן הזיתים ואחת הבאה ממדינת הים, לא דברו בקציר אלא בהווה. חזרו בית הלל להורות כבית שמאי.
(12) These are the matters concerning whichBeit Hillel went back and taught according to the opinion of Beit Shammai: A woman who came from overseas and said: "My husband died," she may marry again; "My husband died [without children]," she must undergo levirate marriage. But Beit Hillel says: We have heard so only in [the case of a woman] who came from the harvesting. Beit Shammai said to them: It is the same thing in the case of [a woman] who came from the harvesting or [a woman] who came from the olive-picking or [a woman] who came from overseas; they mentioned harvesting only because that is how it happened. [Then] Beit Hillel went back and taught according to Beit Shammai.
Middah Of Humility
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchok Kook, Olat Ra-Ya, Vol. I., p.330
אמר רבי אלעזר אמר רבי חנינא: תלמידי חכמים מרבים שלום בעולם, שנאמר +ישעיהו נ"ד+ וכל בניך למודי יקוק ורב שלום בניך, אל תקרי בניך אלא בוניך. +תהלים קי"ט+ שלום רב לאהבי תורתך ואין למו מכשול +תהלים קכ"ב+ יהי שלום בחילך שלוה בארמנותיך +תהלים קכ"ב+ למען אחי ורעי אדברה נא שלום בך +תהלים קכ"ב+ למען בית יקוק אלהינו אבקשה טוב לך +תהלים כ"ט+ יקוק עז לעמו יתן יקוק יברך את עמו בשלום
Rabbi Eleazar said in the name of Rabbi Chanina: Students of the sages (or Torah scholars) cause peace to increase in the world as is said in Isaiah: “All of your children will be learned of God, and great will be the peace of your children.”
There are those who err thinking that world peace will not be
built except by means of one form in points of view and qualities.
Therefore when they see students of Torah scholars inquiring into
wisdom and the knowledge of Torah, and, by means of their searching, the perspectives and approaches multiply, they believe that they thus cause argument and the opposite of peace. Yet truthfully this
is not so, for the true peace cannot come into the world except by
means of the value of a peace of many faces. A peace of many faces
means that all sides and approaches are seen; and it becomes clear
how there is a place for them all, each one according to its worth,
its place, and its content. And, on the contrary, all positions that
appear superfluous or contradictory will be seen, once the truth of
wisdom is revealed in all of her many-sidedness, for only by means
of the coming together of all the parts and all of the details, and
all of the views that seem different, and all of the divided branches,
truly by their means the light of truth and righteousness will appear,
[along with] the knowledge of God, His reverence and His
love, and the light of the Torah of truth. Therefore Torah scholars
increase peace, for just as they broaden, explicate, and give birth
to new words of Torah, in [locating new] aspects out of different
aspects in which there is multiplication and division of themes, in
this they increase peace.
Middah of Humility
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference, p. 64-65
Truth on earth is not, nor can be, the whole truth.
It is limited, not comprehensive; particular, not universal. When
two propositions conflict it is not necessarily because one is true
the other false. It may be, and often is, that each represents a
different perspective on reality, an alternative way of structuring
order, no more and no less commensurable than a Shakespeare
sonnet, a Michelangelo painting or a Schubert sonata. In heaven
there is truth; on earth there are truths. Therefore, each culture
has something to contribute. Each person knows something no
one else does. The sages said: 'Who is wise? One who learns from
all men-'Th e wisest is not one who knows himself wiser than
others: he is one who knows all men have some share of the truth,
and is willing to learn from them, for none of us knows all the
truth and each of us knows some of it.
Middah of Empathy
Leon Wieseltier, The Argumentative Jew, Jewish Review of Books,
Learning to live with disagreement, moreover, is a way of learning to live with each other. Etymologically, the term machloket refers to separation and division, but the culture of machloket is not in itself separatist and divisive. This is in part because all the parties to any particular disagreement share certain metaphysical and historical assumptions about the foundations of their identity. But beyond those general axioms, the really remarkable feature of the Jewish tradition of machloket is that it is itself a basis for community. The community of contention, the contentious community, is not as paradoxical as it may seem. The parties to a disagreement are members of the disagreement; they belong to the group that wrestles together with the same perplexity, and they wrestle together for the sake of the larger community to which they all belong, the community that needs to know how Jews should behave and live. A quarrel is evidence of coexistence. The rabbinical tradition is full of rival authorities and rival schools—it owes a lot of its excitement to those grand and even bitter altercations—but the rivalries play themselves out within the unified framework of the shared search. There is dissent without dissension, and yet things change. Intellectual discord, if it is practiced with methodological integrity, is compatible with social peace.
Middot of Empathy, Humility, and Patience are at the core of engaging fruitfully in a "machloket L'Shem Shamayim", an argument for the sake of Heaven.