Let us once more define the goals we have established for these encounters. It was and it is to study together. Talmud means study, means real study. To study the Talmud means to study study, to study the values and principles inherent in study, the illuminated horizons pushed back by study. The Talmud does not believe in flattery or cover-ups. Its commitment to truth is obsessive, all-pervasive. Until now, we used to concentrate on the second Thursday every year on one or two masters, explore their life stories, and learn from their teachings. Tonight is different: since this may be our last Talmudic encounter, I feel it important to fill in the gaps of masters we have sinfully neglected. These include Shimon Hatzaddik, Shimon ben Shatakh, Honi Hamagal, Onkelos, and Rabbi Tarfon. Shimon the Just served as a human link between two eras: he was the last survivor of the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, the great assembly, and the first sage of the rabbinic period. He remains the only master in the entire Talmud to be called Tzadik. We see him as a high priest who occasioned miracles, whose sons were less distinguished, who through dreams guided Alexander the Great. Another Shimon, Shimon ben Shatakh, president of the Sanhedrin, contended on behalf of the sages against the wicked King Yannai. Honi HaMagal used prayer and compassion to elicit God’s compassion. The convert Onkelos translated the Torah into Aramaic—and it is his translation read on Friday in preparation for Shabes. Rabbi Tarfon’s aphorisms challenge yet also comfort: “It is not up to you to finish your task . . . To begin is enough.” Brief vignettes of several other sages follow. “In conclusion, my ambition in beginning these Talmudic encounters 25 years ago was not to engage in scholarly monologues but simply to listen to a Jewish child who, lost in his memories, has wanted to recite his love stories about and with Jerusalem. Talmud to him still means to acquire the art of dwelling in more than one place, while seeing Jerusalem always as his pole.”