HELLER, JOSHUA BEN AARON:
Russian rabbi and preacher; born 1814; died at Telshi, government of Kovno, June 2, 1880. After having been for several years preacher in Grodno, Heller was appointed chief rabbi of Polangen, Courland, and afterward chief rabbi of Telshi. Heller was the author of several works, of which the following have been published: "Dibre Yehoshua'," a homiletical and philosophical work in three parts (Wilna, 1856); "Ḥosen Yehoshua'," a guide to the removal of the causes which hinder the study of the law (ib. 1862); "Toledot Yehoshua'," a commentary on Pirḳe Abot (ib. 1866); and "Ma'oz ha-Dat," an essay intended to prove that the oral law is true and necessary (ib. 1873). Heller also contributed to the Hebrew periodical "Ha-Lebanon."
Bibliography:
- Fuenn, Keneset Yisrael, p. 429;
- Ha-Meliẓ, 1880, col. 222;
- Van Straalen, Cat. Hebr. Books Brit. Mus. p. 93.
