Heller, Yomtov Lipman B-nathan

Heller, Yomtov Lipman B.-Nathan a distinguished Rabbi of the Polish school, born at Wallerstein, duchy of Anspach, Germany, in 1579. He filled the appointment of Rabbi to the great synagogues at Vienna, Prague, and Krakau. While at Prague (1629) he was prosecuted by the government upon a charge that he had written in praise of the Talmud to the injury of the Christian religion, was imprisoned, and fined 10,000 florins. After his release he went to Poland, where, in 1644, he became Rabbi of the synagogue at Krakau. Here he died in 1654. Heller wrote his autobiography (מגילת איבה), printed in 1836, which contains a complete list of all his works. Among the most important of them, are his glossaries to the Mishna (תוספות יט). These are considered by Oriental scholars as very valuable. — Jost, Gesch. d. Juden. 3, 243; Etheridge, Introd. to Hebr. Literature, p. 448.