Machloket Leshem Shamayim

Think about the most recent conflict that you were involved with. What happened? Who was involved? How did it start?

Questions With Raised Hands

1. My conflict was between peers.

2. My conflict was between people who were not peers.

3. The conflict I wrote about was between friends.

4. At the end of engaging in the conflict, both sides were satisfied with the outcome.

5. At the end of the conflict, both sides were unhappy.

6. At the end of engaging in the conflict, one side was satisfied but the other side was still unhappy.

7. This conflict has not yet ended.

8. In my opinion, conflict is generally a bad thing.

9. In my opinion, conflict can be a good thing.

Leonard Bernstein April 6, 1962 Carnegie Hall

Don't be frightened. Mr. Gould is here. He will appear in a moment. I'm not, um, as you know, in the habit of speaking on any concert except the Thursday night previews, but a curious situation has arisen, which merits, I think, a word or two. You are about to hear a rather, shall we say, unorthodox performance of the Brahms D Minor Concerto, a performance distinctly different from any I've ever heard, or even dreamt of for that matter, in its remarkably broad tempi and its frequent departures from Brahms' dynamic indications. I cannot say I am in total agreement with Mr. Gould's conception and this raises the interesting question: "What am I doing conducting it?" I'm conducting it because Mr. Gould is so valid and serious an artist that I must take seriously anything he conceives in good faith and his conception is interesting enough so that I feel you should hear it, too.

But the age old question still remains: "In a concerto, who is the boss; the soloist or the conductor?" The answer is, of course, sometimes one, sometimes the other, depending on the people involved. But almost always, the two manage to get together by persuasion or charm or even threats to achieve a unified performance. I have only once before in my life had to submit to a soloist's wholly new and incompatible concept and that was the last time I accompanied Mr. Gould. But, but this time the discrepancies between our views are so great that I feel I must make this small disclaimer. Then why, to repeat the question, am I conducting it? Why do I not make a minor scandal — get a substitute soloist, or let an assistant conduct? Because I am fascinated, glad to have the chance for a new look at this much-played work; Because, what's more, there are moments in Mr. Gould's performance that emerge with astonishing freshness and conviction. Thirdly, because we can all learn something from this extraordinary artist, who is a thinking performer, and finally because there is in music what Dimitri Mitropoulos used to call "the sportive element", that factor of curiosity, adventure, experiment, and I can assure you that it has been an adventure this week collaborating with Mr. Gould on this Brahms concerto and it's in this spirit of adventure that we now present it to you.

Tosefta Sotah 7:12

Make for yourself a heart of many rooms, and enter into it the words of Beit Shammai and the words of Beit Hillel, the words of those who declare a matter impure, and those who declare it pure.

Mikdash Melech to Zohar Parshas Bereishit 17b

In the time of the Messiah, we will follow the law according to Shammai. Hillel represents kindness and Shammai severity (hence the rulings of Beit Hillel are almost always more lenient). When the Messiah comes the advantage of the severity will be revealed and therefore the law will be in accordance with Beit Shammai. Beit Shammai comes from such a high level this present world is incapable of withstanding and only when Messiah comes will we be able to follow their opinion.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchok Kook, Olat Ra-Ya, Vol. I., p.330

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.