Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Hashil of Krakow (in short: Rabbi Heshil of Kraków; better known as: Rabbi Rabbi Heshil; ~ 1955 - October 21, 1663) was a Polish rabbi and a prominent scholar.
Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Hashil of Krakow (in short: Rabbi Heshil of Kraków; better known as: Rabbi Rabbi Heshil; ~ 1955 - October 21, 1663) was a Polish rabbi and a prominent scholar. One of the greatest of his generation and most of the greatest Polish arbitrators of the 17th century. Re-established the Polish yeshivot after the decrees of 1648.
He was born to Rabbi Yaakov son of Rabbi Ephraim Naftali Hirsch who served as rabbi of Brisk and Lublin. His mother's father was Rabbi Meir Yoel of Brisk and the family refers to Mahari Weil.
As a child he learned from his father who was then the rabbi of Brisk, and became famous as a prodigy. According to the narrator, the sages of Brisk said of him that "the power of the son is better than the power of the father." In his youth he married the daughter of the Briskir Rabbi Moshe Moshe Lizersh, and after she died shortly after the marriage, he married the daughter of the Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Shaul and Ohel.
While still in Brisk he was a partner in his father in running the local yeshiva and lectured there on his teachings to students. He moved to Lublin together with his father, who was then appointed rabbi of the city, and both served as heads of the local yeshiva. After the death of his father in 16 Kislev in 1643, he was appointed rabbi of Lublin in his place. During the decrees of 1918-1919, he made an advocacy in Vienna for the Jews in the Diaspora, he appeared before the monarchs and raised rich Jews for the devastated communities in Ukraine and Poland. These days he was staying with the local rabbi, Rabbi Shabtai Shaftil Halevi Horowitz, son of Hashalah and author of "Hoi HaAmudim."
In the year 1655, following the death of Rabbi Yom-Tov Lipman Heller (the 'Tosfot Yom Tov'), Rabbi Hashil was appointed rabbi of Krakow. During his tenure in Krakow, he returned to Vienna for lobbying and stayed there for a long time.
In Krakow, too, he headed a large yeshiva and many of his students studied with him. He re-established the court in Krakow, and appointed first-rate judges in Poland of those days, the most famous of whom were: Rabbi Michal Tyer, author of "Seder Gittin" and "Birkat HaMayim", and Rabbi Brachia Shapira, author of "Zera Barach".
He served for nine years in the Krakow rabbinate until his death on the week of Sukkot, October 21, 1663.
May the merit of the tzadik Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel protect us all. Amen