Shimon ben Hillel takes over the Sanhedrin from his father, approved of by unanimous consent on the orders of Shammai. The first order of business is that the School of Shammai, lead by Buta ben Baba, proposes a ruling on going to war on Shabbos, as Rome used that prohibition to attack Jerusalem on Shabbos and they never got rid of Rome. But Shimon won't let the resolution pass for going to war on Sabbath, having strict instructions from his father that any resolution about war would be seen by Rome as a provocation.
Buta ben Baba leads a speech about not appeasing Rome that gets enormous cheers and applause and inflames the crowd, until in marches Zadok, back from Rome, with an army of followers, which he calls the Zealots, on Jerusalem, who are particularly rebelling against what they believe is Hillel's appeasement and collaboration and demand the lives of the School of Hillel on the Sanhedrin be forfeit. The School of Shammai has no choice but to block the door from the Zealots and entreat Jerusalem's citizens to defend the Sanhedrin. It is actually Shammai's school that sustains serious losses.
This causes Hillel to donate extra seats to the School of Shammai, making them the clearly dominant force on the council.
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