R. Abraham Joshua Heschel ben Jacob (d. 1664) was a talmudic scholar of Lithuania and Poland. His father was rabbi of the community of Brest-Litovsk and head of its yeshivah, where R. Abraham Joshua became a teacher as a young man. In 1630 his father was appointed rabbi of Lublin and head of the yeshivah, where R. Abraham Joshua again assisted him. After his father's death in 1644, he succeeded him as head of the yeshivah. Some scholars claim that he also inherited the rabbinic position, others that he became rabbi of Lublin only in 1650 after the death of R. Naphtali Katz, who was his father's successor. In 1654, R. Abraham Joshua became rabbi and head of the yeshivah of Cracow, succeeding the famous R. Yom Tov Lipmann Heller. R. Heschel was a wealthy man, of outstanding piety, and his reputation as a teacher attracted numerous students. A number of them became famous in their own right, among them R. Shabbetai b. Meir ha-Kohen, R. Aaron Samuel Koidanover, R. Gershon Ashkenazi, and R. Hillel of Brest Litovsk. His teaching methods were based on dialectics (pilpul). Heschel's renown as a legal authority spread far, and questions were addressed to him from all parts of Europe. Although in many cases he was reluctant to give decisions, when he did, they were brief, logical, and to the point. During the Chmielnicki persecutions many cases of agunot came before him, and Heschel exercised considerable leniency in dealing with them. In one such instance, involving a certain Jacob (grandfather of Jacob Emden), who was missing after an attack on Vilna, witnesses gave evidence that he had been killed by the Cossacks, and R. Heschel decided that the wife could remarry; six months later Jacob returned, whereupon R. Heschel resolved that he would refrain in the future from giving decisions in such matters. He was commissioned by the communities of Poland to solicit aid from the wealthy Jewish communities of Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia for the victims of the Chmielnicki massacres. R. Heschel was received everywhere with great respect, and his mission was crowned with success. He was supposedly even received by the emperor of Austria who accorded him great honor. R. Heschel died in Cracow.

His commentaries on the Sefer Mitzvot Gadol of Moses of Coucy were published in its Kapost edition in 1807; they are short and logical, and reveal a fine command of the Hebrew language. R. Aaron Kelniker, a student of Heschel's in Lublin, published a work, Toledot Aharon (Lublin, 1682), containing some of his teacher's novellae on Bava Kamma, Bava Mezia, and Bava Batra, compiled from lecture notes. Later editions were entitled Hiddushei Halakhot (Offenbach, 1723; etc.). In the preface, R. Kelniker briefly described the famous yeshivah of Lublin during his period of studies there under Heschel. Some of Heschel's responsa are to be found in works of his contemporaries. His novellae and a commentary on the Shulhan Arukh are still in manuscript (see Kunteres Aharon, 103).

קדם לשער זה שער מקוצר, בו שם הספר ועיר-הדפוס באותיות אדומות. ה"קונטרס אחרון", ביוגראפיה של ר' העשיל, הוא עיבוד הפרק על ר' השיל בספרו של חיים נתן דעמביצר, כלילת יופי, ב, קראקא תרנ"ג, דף לט ואילך. ראינו טופס (באוסף מ"ל וייזר, לונדון) בו צורף בראש הספר דף מודפס: קריאה של המלקט לסייע בידו להכין חלק שני של החיבור, "להעתיק ולהדפיס את כל הספרים מהגאון זצ"ל הנמצאים עוד בכת"י המונחים בבתי עקד הספרים הגדולים". הסכמות: ר' אלי' חיים מייזל, לאדז, ג שבט תר"ס; ר' שלמה יהודה ליב ב"ר שלום צבי הכהן, זגיערש, טו טבת תר"ס, ר' יוסף לעווינשטיין, סעראצק, יח טבת תר"ס; ר' צבי יחזקאל מיכלזאהן, פלונסק, א וישב תר"ס.