Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller: portrait of a seventeenth-century rabbi [Review]

The biography of a well-chosen rabbinic figure tells much more than simply the life of an individual; it opens up diverse facets of Jewish life in a given time and place. It also sheds light on the histories of a number of communities because, alas, it was (and is) the lot of many a communal rabbi--even those of the first rank--to be kicked around from place to place.