Houses of Hillel and Shammai

[Anonymous]

The House of Hillel (Beit Hillel) and House of Shammai (Beit Shammai) were two Jewish schools of thought, founded by Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Shammai (of the last century BCE, and the first century CE).
These two schools had vigorous debates on matters of ritual practice, ethics, and theology.

In general, Beit Shammai's positions were stricter than those of Beit Hillel.
It was said that "the school of Shammai binds; the school of Hillel looses".

A divine voice (bat kol) was heard in Yavne declaring a general rule of practice.
It was stated: "Elu v'elu; these and those are both the words of the living God, but the Halakhah (Law) follows the School of Hillel".
Halakha was decided in favor of Beit Hillel since it was agreeable and forebearing (or, more literally, piteous).
Not only did it teach Beit Shammai's teachings, but it cited Shamai's before its own.

Epilogue:

A disagreement is mentioned between the two schools, on whether it would have been more suitable (נוח) for humankind to have been created, or not .
The passage seems to imply that the position of the school of Shammai was accepted, that it would have been preferable if humankind had not been created.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houses_of_Hillel_and_Shammai