Hillel and Shammai on Posting to Haveil Havalim

I'm hosting this weeks Haval Havalim, and I was noticing that it's already Wednesday and I have not received that many submissions for this week's edition. It seems that while there are a number of people who already sent in posts at the beginning of the week, most are going to send in their posts much later in the week.

In wondering why there are two different shitot in sending in submissions for Haveil Havalim, it occured to me that this could boil down to a machlokes Hillel and Shammai found in Beitzah 16a

It was said of Shamai the Elder that all his days he would eat for Shabbat. How so? When he came across a prime quality animal, he would buy it and say: “This is for Shabbat.” When he found a better one, he would buy the second one for Shabbat and eat the first.

But Hillel the Elder had a different approach. He did everything for the sake of Heaven. [He would say:] “Blessed be G-d, who every day provides us with the day’s needs.”

Most bloggers follow the shita of Hillel, thinking that since we usually posken like Hillel against Shammai, so too here. Therefore, just as Hillel bought food on Sunday to eat on Sunday, and bought food on Monday to eat on Monday’s--so too these bloggers will blog each day for that day and wait for the end of the week to submit for Haveil Havalim, whose deadline is at the end of the week.

The other bloggers posken according to Shammai and when they find they have posted a particularly good post on any given day--even at the start of the week--will not hesitate to send it in for Haveil Havalim, knowing that if later in the week they have an even better post, they can always submit that one too.

For those in doubt, please note that in posting to Haveil Havalim, this is one of the cases that we posken according to the minority opinion of Shammai. Therefore, in order to be mikayaim your post with a greater hiddur, please send in you post for Haveil Havalim as soon as possible.

The sooner your post is haveilable, the better.

Next time: Rav and Shmuel on the proper way to do trackbacks.

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