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The Emergence of Hillel

A thought, may it be a merit for the memory of R. Sholom Brodt, z"l:
A pair of parallel famous stories regarding Hillel the Elder are related in Vayikra Rabba (Parashat Behar), the first of which is much better known than the second.
“A lovingkind man benefits his life/soul …” (Mishlei 11:17) - this refers to Hillel the Elder, for when he took leave of his students, he would walk along with them. They asked him, “our master, to where are you going?”. “To do a mitzvah”, he responded. “What mitzvah might that be?”, they asked. “To bathe in the bathhouse”, he replied. “Is that a mitzvah?”, they challenged. “If regarding the (idolatrous) statue of the king which they place in theatres and circuses – the one who is appointed to care for them washes them and scrubs them and they pay him a salary and, further, his status is elevated amongst those close to the king, then I, who was created in the image and likeness, as it is written, “for in the image of G-d did He create man” (Bereshit 9:6) , how much the more so!
Another interpretation: “A lovingkind man benefits his life/soul …” (Mishlei 11:17) - this refers to Hillel the Elder, for when he took leave of his students, he would walk along with them. They asked him, “our master, to where are you going?”. “To do a mitzvah”, he responded. “What mitzvah might that be?”, they asked. “To do a kindness for a guest at my house”, he replied. “Every day you have a guest at your house?”, they challenged. “And that poor soul inside the body, is it not a mere guest, here today yet tomorrow, no longer here!
The question I want to ask is: Where is Hillel? Where is he who asked (no translation does it justice), “If I am not for myself, who will be for me, and if I am only for myself, what am I”? Where is the one who cryptically says, “If I am here, everything is here, and if I am not here, who is here?”
Hillel is rightly famous for his deeply resonant, highly allusive and suggestive gems, but this pair confounds and confuses. Hillel speaks of himself as exterior to both body and soul. But are we not comprised of both, which, according to our teachings (with apologies to Kabalistic teachings made especially well-known by Chassidut), are created by G-d? Now, we would normally assume that a tzaddik such as Hillel would associate more immediately with his soul over his body. Yet the stories are perfectly parallel, and in both, Hillel treats body and soul alike, as equals, as the objects of a mitzvah performed by… who, precisely?
Precisely. It would seem that Hillel is an “emergent phenomenon” (see below), revealed by the interaction and mutual engagement of body and soul. We are not TRULY our souls, nor are we REALLY only our bodies, but… something less. Less, in the sense of a still, small voice that hears itself hearing, and speaks itself speaking, and, by being neither body nor soul, is beyond both. And since we are, as Hillel reminds us, created in the image of Hashem, could it be that it’s precisely in the interaction of opposites, of others with others, where that “emergent property” (for expression’s sake, and may I not be understood to be reductionist, as my intent is exactly the opposite) we call the Presence of the Divine, Shechina, is to be found?
Shlomo once said, “G-d is in the in-between”. He may well have said it many times, but I know he said it once, because I heard him say it, looking at me. So, here’s looking at you, even now, Rav Sholom.

ויקרא רבה (וילנא) פרשת בהר
ג ד"א וכי ימוך הה"ד (שם /משלי/ יא) גומל נפשו איש חסד זה הלל הזקן שבשעה שהיה נפטר מתלמידיו היה מהלך והולך עמם אמרו לו תלמידיו ר' להיכן אתה הולך אמר להם לעשות מצוה אמרו לו וכי מה מצוה זו אמר להן לרחוץ בבית המרחץ אמרו לו וכי זו מצוה היא אמר להם הן מה אם איקונין של מלכים שמעמידים אותו בבתי טרטיאות ובבתי קרקסיאות מי שנתמנה עליהם הוא מורקן ושוטפן והן מעלין לו מזונות ולא עוד אלא שהוא מתגדל עם גדולי מלכות אני שנבראתי בצלם ובדמות דכתיב (בראשית ט) כי בצלם אלהים עשה את האדם עאכ"ו ד"א גומל נפשו איש חסד זה הלל הזקן שבשעה שהיה נפטר מתלמידיו היה מהלך והולך עמם אמרו לו תלמידיו ר' להיכן אתה הולך אמר להם לגמול חסד עם הדין אכסניא בגו ביתא אמרו לו כל יום אית לך אכסניא אמר להם והדין נפשא עלובתה לאו אכסניא הוא בגו גופא יומא דין היא הכא למחר לית היא הכא, ד"א גומל נפשו איש חסד (משלי יא) ועוכר שארו אכזרי א"ר אלכסנדרי זה שמגעת לו שמחה ואינו מדביק את קרוביו עמו משום עניות א"ר נחמן כתיב (דברים טו) כי בגלל הדבר הזה גלגל הוא שחוזר בעולם לפיכך משה מזהיר את ישראל וכי ימוך אחיך
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