Shammai, one of the tannaim, masters of the Oral Law, joint head of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem with Hillel, had taken his place as president after Hillel’s death in 20 CE but no vice-president from the minority had been elected.

Thus, the school of Shammai, reputedly stricter in its interpretation of the Law than Hillel's, attains complete ascendancy, during which time Shammai passes "eighteen ordinances" in conformity with his ideas.

The Talmud states that when he passed one of the ordinances, contrary to the opinion of Hillel, the day "was as grievous to Israel as the day when the [golden] calf was made" (Shabbat, 17a).

The exact content of the ordinances is not known, but they seem to have been designed to strengthen Jewish identity by insisting on stringent separation between Jews and gentiles, an approach that is regarded as divisive and misanthropic by Shammai's opponents.

Shammai dies in thirty at the age of eighty.

Another Jewish sage, Gamaliel (known to historians as Gamaliel I), a grandson of Hillel, is president of the Sanhedrin early in the first century CE.

Jewish tradition associates him with a ruling easing the way for the remarriage of widows; Christian tradition (Acts of the Apostles) portrays him favorably as the teacher of Paul (Acts 22) and the advocate of the Apostles before the Sanhedrin (Acts 5).