Chaim Heller

Rabbi Chaim Heller (11 July, 1879 - 10 April, 1960^[1]) was a prominent Talmudist and Targumic scholar. He was posthumously awarded the Rabbi Kook Prize for Rabbinical literature in 2007.

Born in 1879 in Białystok to Israel Pinsker, he was the younger brother of Nachman Heller, who would also become an American rabbi. He was raised in Warsaw, where he was famous for his Talmudic acumen from an early age, earning him the title "Illui of Warsaw". From the age of ten he self-educated, and he never attended a yeshiva. He married the daughter of H. Diskin, a wealthy Jew from Łódź. In the house of rich uncle in Warsaw, he met and disputed with the greatest Talmudists of the age, including Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, and Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin. He was a close friend of Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, Eliyahu Chaim Meisel,^[2] and Eliyahu Feinstein.^[3]

Heller received a doctorate from the University of Würzburg. After the death of Malkiel Tzvi Tenenbaum, the community of Łomża chose Heller to replace him. By this time Heller had already begun to publish well-received researches on the Septuagint and on Maimonides. Despite this, he soon left the rabbinate. Soloveitchik recalled that Heller told him that he was concerned that his capacity as community rabbi would require him to deal with soul-crushing concerns.^[4]

Heller then went to Berlin, where he founded a rabbinical college in 1922 called "Beit haMidrash haElyon" and led seminars which academically investigated Judaic literature. In 1937, as the Nazis rose to power, Heller left for New York, where he continued his academic work while teaching at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He was an honorary president of the Orthodox Union.

Heller died in 1960, leaving behind a wife and three daughters.

He is buried in Mount Judah cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens. His funeral was attended by hundreds of rabbis, led by Joseph B. Soloveitchik.^[5]

Roads in Rehovot and Givat Mordechai are named after him.

Heller dealt with many diverse areas of Hebrew Bible, Talmud, and Halakha. In his research he sought to clarify texts with correct manuscript readings. In general his approach was conservative, but he did not shun modern investigations of Jewish and non-Jewish works.