Reb Gershon Shaul Yom-Tov Lipman ben Nosson HaLevi Heller zy"a
The Tosefos Yom Tov zy"a
תוספות יום טוב זי״ע
Upcoming yahrzeit: 8 September 2027 (6 Elul; see note) (5787)
Wikipedia gives 19 August 1654, which is 6 Elul 5414. The Jewish Encyclopedia gives 7 September 1654 (25 Elul). 26 Elul 5414 is 8 September 1654. The calendar below uses 6 Elul, matching the Wikipedia date; please confirm the date you observe. [CONFIRM YAHRZEIT]
Send a kvittel to this keverBiography
Reb Gershon Shaul Yom-Tov Lipman ben Nosson HaLevi Heller zy"a is best known for his peirush on Mishnayos, the Tosefos Yom Tov. He was one of the great Talmudic chachamim in Prague and in Poland in the years before Tach v'Tat. These sentences stood on the earlier site (the fuller name comes from the old German and French pages).
He was born in Wallerstein, in Bavaria, about 1579, and was raised by his zeide after his father was niftar. He became a talmid of the Maharal zy"a in Prague and a dayan there at about eighteen. Later he was rav in Nikolsburg, in Vienna, and av beis din of Prague (1627–1629). In the summer of 1629 he was thrown into prison in Vienna on false charges against Yiddishkeit, and almost given a death sentence. He was freed after a heavy kofer. He then came to Poland (Nemirov, then Ludmir in Volhyn), was active in the Vaad Arba Aratzos, and in 1643 was chosen as a rav of Krakow. After the histalkus of Reb Yehoshua Heschel, the Maginei Shlomo zy"a, he also headed the yeshiva. He led Krakow through the gezeiros of Tach v'Tat and until his histalkus in 1654. He rests in the Remah Beis Hachaim.
It is told that when the hidden tzedakah of Yossele the Holy Miser zy"a became known, the Tosefos Yom Tov zy"a asked to be buried next to him. This is a mesorah attached to the two kevorim, which stand side by side by the wall of the Beis Hachaim. We bring it as it is told, not as a fact written in a sefer from that time.
Historical background
The first years of the Tosefos Yom Tov zy"a were in Prague, a great Torah city, already in the shadow of long wars that began there in 1618. In 1629 he was taken to prison in Vienna, in a short campaign against Jewish manhigim, mixed up with wartime taxes. The second half of his life was in Poland, including the years of the gezeiros of Tach v'Tat (1648–1649), which he commemorated with piyutim. He was niftar in Krakow six years later.
Before & after
Who came before
- The Maharal of Prague zy"a — His rebbi; rosh yeshiva in Prague
- The Remu zy"a — The earlier posek of Krakow, who rests in the same Beis Hachaim
- The Bach zy"a, Reb Yoel Sirkis — Av Beis Din of Krakow from 1619 until his histalkus on 20 Adar 5400. The Tosefos Yom Tov zy"a became rav in Krakow in 1643, a few years later, and rests in the same Beis Hachaim.
- The Megaleh Amukos zy"a — Rosh yeshiva and darshan of Krakow a dor earlier; he also rests in the same Beis Hachaim
- Reb Yehoshua Heschel, the Maginei Shlomo zy"a — Rosh yeshiva in Krakow; the Tosefos Yom Tov zy"a was memaleh makom after his histalkus
Who came after
- —
In his dor
- The Megaleh Amukos zy"a — A slightly older contemporary in Polish Torah; he was niftar in 1633, before the Tosefos Yom Tov's Krakow years
- Yossele the Holy Miser zy"a — According to the mesorah he lived in Krakow in the same years; their tziyunim stand side by side by the wall of the Remah Beis Hachaim
Sources
The facts on this page come from the earlier site and from the sources listed here. Where the sources are not one shittah, it is written in the text.
- Archived English pages of globalkvittel.com (Wayback Machine, especially 2024-04-27 and 2025-10-30)
- Archived German home, globalkvittel.com/de/342-2/ (2024-04-27)
- Wikipedia: Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller
- Jewish Encyclopedia: Heller, Yom-Ṭob Lipmann ben Nathan ben Moses Levi (gives 7 September 1654)
- Hebcal date converter (Hebrew–Gregorian yahrzeit dates, including 5787)
- Wikipedia: Yossele the Holy Miser (the mesorah of his hidden tzedakah and the kever next to the Tosefos Yom Tov zy"a in the Remah Beis Hachaim)
Send a kvittel
Send a kvittel to The Tosefos Yom Tov zy"a
Write the names and your bakashah. The kvittel will be brought to this kever. A pidyon of eighteen dollars or more goes with it; you choose the amount, and you will be taken to a secure payment page. The shliach receives the kvittel only once the pidyon is received.