The Cloud of Witnesses

Babylonian-born sage who came to Jerusalem in poverty and worked as a wood-cutter. Climbed onto the schoolhouse roof to listen through the skylight when he could not pay the entrance fee. Became Nasi. Founded Beit Hillel — more lenient than Beit Shammai. Instituted the prosbul. Taught the Golden Rule on one foot: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. The rest is commentary. Go and study."

Moses ben Maimon — rabbi, philosopher, physician to Saladin's vizier. Exiled from Córdoba by the Almohad persecution. Author of the Mishneh Torah (the comprehensive halakhic code), the Guide for the Perplexed (philosophical theology in Judeo-Arabic), the Commentary on the Mishnah, the Thirteen Principles of Faith. The Andalusi philosophical tradition's great Jewish synthesizer.