sentences:  Ḳid., at the close); compare TanḦ., end, "The wicked in his life is considered as one dead," etc.While the dominant note of Judaism is optimism, faith in a God who delights in the happiness of His creatures and expects their grateful appreciation of His bounties—see Abstinence in Judaism—there have, nevertheless, been prevalent in Jewish life certain ascetic tendencies of which the historian must take account.The two great rabbinical schools of the first pre-Christian century, the Shammaites and the Hillelites, debated the question whether life was worth living or not—"ṭob le-adam shenibra mishelo nibra" (Er.