03.05.30 20 B.C. Leadership Change in Sanhedrin
Rabbi Shammai succeeded Rabbi Menachem as Av Bet Din, meaning Vice-President of the Sanhedrin, and, therefore, Shammai’s interpretive philosophy had the dominating influence upon Jewish society. Shammai stated that there should be a greater separation between the Gentiles and the Jews concerning how certain burnt offerings were to be made on the feast days.
But the School of Hillel opposed these restrictive regulations as unnecessary. In the following decades, these two sages and their students would frequently oppose each other on various theological and practical points. Hillel believed that the time of the messiah had come, and he was expecting to meet him. It is unknown if he did.[1]
[1]. Falk, Jesus the Pharisee. 93-94; Falk is a Jewish scholar who believes the School of Shammai was the controlling force within the Pharisaic establishment at the time of Christ. Some Christian scholars agree with him, notably William D. Davis in his Paul and the Rabbinic Judaism (page 9) who, in turn, agrees with and quotes B.H. Branscomb Jesus and the Law of Moses (page 54). Another is George F. Moore in his two volume work titled Judaism in the First Century of the Christian Era (page 1:81).