Rashi (1040 - 1105) Rabbi Shlomo Itzhaki. French Torah leader and scholar whose explanation of the Classic texts remains the cornerstone of Torah Commentary.

Maimonides (1135 - 1204) Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (the Rambam). Great Torah scholar and Physician to his sovereign. Codifier of Torah Law.

Nachmonides (1195 - 1270) Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (the Ramban). Greatest Torah scholar of the 13th century.

Abarbanel (1437 - 1508) Don Isaac Abarbanel. Statesman, and Torah commentator. Renowned for his work on behalf of the Jewish people before and during the expulsion from Spain.

Baal Shem Tov (1700 - 1760) Rabbi Israel Shem Tov, the Founder of Chassidism.

Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707 - 1746) A Kabbalist and scholar, who explained the enumerations of the ten steps leading to G-d.

Alter Rebbe (1745 - 1812) Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi. Third generation disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, and author of the Tanya.

Rabbi Sampson Raphael Hirsch (1808 - 1888) Leader of German Jewry, who in effort to stem the tide of assimilation in Germany, promoted the idea that the study of Torah may form the basis of the pursuit of secular knowledge.

Chofetz Chaim (1839 - 1933) Rabbi Yisroel Meir Kagan. Leader of 20th Century European Jewry, famous for his work on careless speech.

Rav Kook (1865 - 1935) Rabbi Avraham Isaac Kook. Chief Rabbi of Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel. Passionate nationalist and mystic.

Martin Buber (1878 - 1965) Active Zionist. Supported Chassidic revival, formulated a dialogical, or "I-Thou" philosophy.

Lubavitcher Rebbe (1902 - 1995) Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Seventh leader of Chabad Lubavitch.

Rav Soloveitchik (1903 - 1993) Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik. Father of Modern Orthodoxy. Combined Jewish Halacha and philosophy.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907 - 1972) Central philosophy: Religion provides the answer for the modern alienated person who asks existential questions.

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (1934 - 1983) The 47 books that were his life's work accounted for a qualitative and quantitative leap in Jewish publishing, making a host of difficult topics and concepts available to the English-reading public.