Heller, Joseph Elijah

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HELLER, JOSEPH ELIJAH

HELLER, JOSEPH ELIJAH (1888–1957), Hebrew writer. Born in Ponivezh, Lithuania, Heller was a graduate of Berlin University, and lived in Russia and Germany, where he was one of the editors of the Encyclopaedia Judaica (German) and of the Enẓiklopedyah Yisre'elit "Eshkol" (1929–32). In 1938 he moved to London, where he taught and edited the Zionist Organization's journal, Tarbut. Heller published studies of Jewish and general philosophy in German, English, and Hebrew, and was a contributor to various Hebrew periodicals including Haolam, Hadoar, and others. His analysis of Aḥad Ha-Am's philosophy was published in Ahad Ha-Am, ha-Ish, Po'alo ve-Torato (ed. by L. Simon, 1955). He also wrote The Zionist Idea (1947), Ḥ.N. Bialik (1944), and translated several of Plato's works into Hebrew.

[Getzel Kressel]