Great Synagogue, who said that the world
stands upon three things, the law, the service of God, and charity,
and he put the law first, for the first duty of a man is to observe
the law. He must be just before he can be charitable.

At one time it was sought to place some limitations upon the right to
become a student of law, and herein the schools of Hillel and Shammai
differed. Hillel was the democrat who held that all persons, without
exception, should enjoy the privilege of studying law; Shammai was the
intellectual aristocrat who sought to limit this privilege to those
who were wise, modest, of ample means and of goodly parentage, thereby
establishing rules similar to those that obtain in the best modern law
schools, which require a collegiate education as a preliminary to
admission; but Shammai went further in that he required the students
to be wise and modest as well as persons of good breeding and of
ample fortune. Just how many of our modern law students could meet
these requirements is a question upon which I have no statistics. On
this very matter of the proper qualifications for admission to the
privilege of studying law, we have heard much in our time. Perhaps a
contribution to the subject from the old and somewhat neglected Code
of the Mishnah would not be inappropriate. The Mishnah says:

_"Eight and Forty Qualifications for the Law"_

"The law is greater than priesthood and royalty, for royalty is
acquired by thirty qualifications, priesthood by four and twenty, but
the law by eight and forty, and they are as follows: Study, attention,
utterance, understanding, reverence, veneration, modesty, cheerfulness
and purity, service of the wise, choice of associates, debate with
fellow students, deliberation in study of Bible and Mishnah, a minimum
of business, a minimum of worldly pursuits, a minimum of pleasure, a
minimum of sleep, a minimum of talk, a minimum of jesting,
forbearance, kindliness, faith in the wise, resignation in suffering,
knowing one's place, satisfaction with one's lot, bridling one's
words, refraining from self-complacency, amiability, loving the
Creator, loving His creatures, loving righteousness, loving equity,
loving reproof, eschewing worldly honor, not being puffed up by
learning nor delighting in laying down the law, helping one's neighbor
bear the yoke, inclining toward a favorable judgment of others,
steadfast in the truth, steadfast for peace, concentration in study,
asking,