Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller

Hagaon Harav Yom-Tov Lipmann ben Nathan ha-Levi Heller (born Wallerstein, Bavaria, c. 1579; died Kraków, 19 August 1654), was a Bohemian rabbi and Talmudist, best known for writing a commentary on the Mishnah called the Tosafot Yom-Tov (1614-1617). Heller was one of the major Talmudic scholars in Prague and in Poland during the "Golden Age" before 1648.

Heller was born and brought up by his grandfather, Rabbi Moses Ha-Levi Heller in Wallerstein, now in Germany. As a teenager, Heller was sent to Friedberg, near Wallerstein, where he studied in the yeshiva of Rabbi Jacob Günzburg. From there, he moved to Prague, where he became a disciple of the Maharal, head of the yeshiva of Prague. In 1597, when Heller was scarcely 18 years old, he received a semicha (appointment) as a dayan in that city.

In October 1624, Heller was called to the rabbinate of Mikulov, Moravia, and in March 1625, became rabbi of Vienna. Leopoldstadt was then a suburb of Vienna. At his arrival the Jews of Vienna were scattered throughout the city, not having a central community. Heller obtained for the Jews the rights to establish a central Jewish community in Leopoldstadt where he was instrumental in reorganizing the community and drew up its constitution.

From 1627 until 1629, he was chief rabbi of Prague.

In 1631, he moved to the Ukraine, where he served as rabbi of Nemirov for three years. In 1634, he moved to the larger city of Ludmir (Volodymyr) in Volhynia. During his years in Volhynia and Poland, Heller was among the rabbinic leaders of the Council of Four Lands. In 1640, he worked to obtain the renewal of the synod’s decrees against simony in the rabbinate.

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