Anyone who has spent some time in a bet midrash, especially an Ashkenazi one, can attest that sometimes Torah debates can get intense. But I'm willing to bet that you've never seen anyone top Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel, as described in the following Yerushalmi:
For obvious reasons, some of the mefarshei hayerushalmi say that this passage is figurative and that nobody actually killed anyone that day. The peshat says otherwise. Even if it did not happen literally, the Talmud phrases it in this manner for a reason. These people took their enactments very seriously. Today we hear of all sorts of insane violence that arises within certain camps in certain circles. Yet we would probably be reluctant to call these tana'im insane. Some of the enactments from that fateful day are still practiced now, such as refraining from eating the bread and cheese of non-Jews. I know I would be reluctant to call them insane, at least while they've got those swords and spears at hand.
ירושלמי שבת א:ד
ואלו הן ההלכות שאמרו בעליית חנניה בן חזקיה בן גרון שעלו לבקרו ונמנו ורבו ב"ש על ב"ה ושמנה עשר דברים גזרו בו ביום... תנא ר' יהושע אונייא תלמידי ב"ש עמדו להן מלמטה והיו הורגין בתלמידי ב"ה. תני ששה מהן עלו והשאר עמדו עליהן בחרבות וברמחים.
Yerushalmi Shabbat 1:4
These are the halachot which were said in the attic of Hananya b. Hesqia b. Garon when they went to visit him and found that those affiliated with Bet Shammai were more numerous than those affiliated with Bet Hillel. Eighteen laws were enacted on that day...
R' Yehoshua Onaya taught- the students of Bet Shammai guarded the attic from the bottom, and were killing the students of Bet Hillel to prevent them from entering the attic. It was taught- six of the students of Bet Shammai went up to the attic and the rest of them stood guard with swords and spears.
For obvious reasons, some of the mefarshei hayerushalmi say that this passage is figurative and that nobody actually killed anyone that day. The peshat says otherwise. Even if it did not happen literally, the Talmud phrases it in this manner for a reason. These people took their enactments very seriously. Today we hear of all sorts of insane violence that arises within certain camps in certain circles. Yet we would probably be reluctant to call these tana'im insane. Some of the enactments from that fateful day are still practiced now, such as refraining from eating the bread and cheese of non-Jews. I know I would be reluctant to call them insane, at least while they've got those swords and spears at hand.
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