Our Gemara on Amud Beis begins a discussion about how to praise and dance before the Kallah.  Much ink has been spilled and thousands of hours of Sheva Berachos Torah has been created on discussing the famous machlokes of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel regarding whether the Kallah should be praised in an exaggerated fashion or not.  Over the next two daf, I will discuss a few interesting and out of the box interpretations of this often quoted sugya.  The Gemara states:  

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: כֵּיצַד מְרַקְּדִין לִפְנֵי הַכַּלָּה? בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים:

The Sages taught: How does one dance before the bride, i.e., what does one recite while dancing at her wedding? Beis Shammai say:

כַּלָּה כְּמוֹת שֶׁהִיא. וּבֵית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים: ״כַּלָּה נָאָה וַחֲסוּדָה״. אָמְרוּ לָהֶן בֵּית שַׁמַּאי לְבֵית הִלֵּל: הֲרֵי שֶׁהָיְתָה חִיגֶּרֶת אוֹ סוֹמָא, אוֹמְרִים לָהּ: ״כַּלָּה נָאָה וַחֲסוּדָה״? וְהַתּוֹרָה אָמְרָה: ״מִדְּבַר שֶׁקֶר תִּרְחָק״! אָמְרוּ לָהֶם בֵּית הִלֵּל לְבֵית שַׁמַּאי: לְדִבְרֵיכֶם, מִי שֶׁלָּקַח מִקָּח רַע מִן הַשּׁוּק, יְשַׁבְּחֶנּוּ בְּעֵינָיו, אוֹ יְגַנֶּנּוּ בְּעֵינָיו? הֱוֵי אוֹמֵר: יְשַׁבְּחֶנּוּ בְּעֵינָיו. מִכָּאן אָמְרוּ חֲכָמִים: לְעוֹלָם תְּהֵא דַּעְתּוֹ שֶׁל אָדָם מְעוֹרֶבֶת עִם הַבְּרִיּוֹת.

One recites praise of the bride as she is, emphasizing her good qualities. And Beis Hillel say: One recites: A fair and attractive bride. Beis Shammai said to Beis Hillel: In a case where the bride was lame or blind, does one say with regard to her: A fair and attractive bride? But the Torah states: “Keep you from a false matter” (Exodus 23:7). Beis Hillel said to Beis Shammai: According to your statement, with regard to one who acquired an inferior acquisition from the market, should another praise it and enhance its value in his eyes or condemn it and diminish its value in his eyes? You must say that he should praise it and enhance its value in his eyes and refrain from causing him anguish. From here the Sages said: A person’s disposition should always be empathetic with mankind, and treat everyone courteously. In this case too, once the groom has married his bride, one praises her as being fair and attractive.

Many of the commentaries cannot miss the mystical symbolism of the kallah, and her relative imperfection, versus her husband’s love for her despite her flaws.  The commentaries see this as an allusion to the Shekhina or Knesses Yisrael (see for example Hafla’ah and Chasam Sofer on this Daf.). Tzafnas Pa’aneach (Shemos 7:4 and Terumah 1:32) explains the dispute of Bais Shammai and Beis Hillel as having to do with accepting certain pragmatic realities in worship versus the ideal. When working with Torah students, or even with oneself in terms of spiritual worship, there can be a sense that one can only tolerate the best and the most elevated. However, sometimes that is not possible, and the best strategy is to throw oneself on God and believe that only He is Perfect and He will accept and fill in the gaps for imperfections.  (I am heavily paraphrasing and interpreting his words, so feel free to look it up yourself.) This is understood in the idea of Bais Hillel that we not look at the Kallah’s flaws, and instead round out and exaggerate her qualities.

This idea is also applied generally to the theme of many of the disputes of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel. That is, Beis Shammai represents an ideal, and Beis Hillel represents a more pragmatic approach.  This would seem to be why often Beis Shammai’s rulings are more stringent. There is a tradition from the Arizal (Sefas Emmes, Korach 5647) that in Messianic times, the halacha will be in accordance with Beis Shammai.  (We discussed this at length in Psychology of the Daf, Chaggigah 2.) This also reflects the idea that Beis Shammai focuses on the ideal, thus in an ideal future world, we can all live on a higher plane.  Meanwhile, we must settle for less than perfection, and trust in God to fill in the blanks.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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