The Men of the Great Assembly אנשי כנסת הגדולה
The assembly of a hundred and twenty sages and prophets that fixed the prayers, the canon and the boundaries of tradition.
After the return from Babylon, around 3413, an assembly of a hundred and twenty sages gathered under Ezra — among them the last prophets, Chaggai, Zecharia and Malachi. It was a transitional generation: prophecy ceased and authority passed to teaching.
Their decisions shaped Judaism. They fixed the text of the prayers, including the Amidah and kiddush; ordered the public reading of the Torah; determined the books of the Tanakh and closed the canon; introduced the square script for scrolls; and established Purim for all generations. The Talmud says they «restored the crown to its former place».
To them belongs the maxim that became the programme of the rabbinic age: «be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah». Shimon haTzaddik is counted as the last of them.