Popular and important work on the Avnei Millu'im by R. Aryeh Leib ben Joseph ha-Kohen Heller. R. Heller is best known for his Keẓot ha-Ḥoshen (2 pts., Lemberg, 1788–96), on the Shulḥan Arukh, Ḥoshen Mishpat. Widely acclaimed that work “with unusual enthusiasm as soon as it appeared and to the present day is regarded as a classic work of halakhic pilpul.” However, R. Jacob Lorbeerbaum, an important posek, devoted a considerable portion of his Netivot ha-Mishpat (Zolkiew, 1809–16) to a polemic with R. Heller, who responded . to the criticisms in Meshovev Netivot. The title-pager is followed by R. Heller’s introduction and that of his grandson, R. Azariah Meir ha-Kohen
Rappaport, and then the text.

R. Aryeh Leib ben Joseph ha-Kohen Heller of Stry (c. 1745-1813) was a Galician rabbi, a descendant of R. Yom Tov Lipmann Heller . Heller was born in Kalisz, and studied under Meshullam Igra of Pressburg. In his youth he served as rabbi of the small town of Rozhnyatov, Galicia, where he lived in poverty, and there he wrote his works. He went from there to Lemberg where he was a teacher of Talmud. The publication of his Keẓot ha-Ḥoshen brought him fame, and in 1788 he was elected rabbi of Stry (Pol. Stryi), where he established a large yeshivah. Stry was a center of Ḥasidism, and although Heller violently opposed the Ḥasidim, the ḥasidic rabbis themselves held him in great esteem and referred to him as a "prince of the Torah." The dayyan David ha-Kohen attacked him and even published a work Ahavat David vi-Yhonatan in criticism of the Keẓot ha-Ḥoshen but the work had no repercussions. R. Heller's other works were also enthusiastically received by scholars: Avnei Millu'im (Lemberg, 1816) on the Shulḥan Arukh, Even ha-Ezer, and the Shev Shemateta Lemberg., 1804), an examination and clarification of the laws concerning cases which involve doubt. All his works have gone through many editions and all still serve as a cornerstone of the method of Torah learning in the yeshivot, despite the radical changes in method effected in the Lithuanian yeshivot by R. Ḥayyim Soloveichik. These three works may therefore be regarded as classics in the accepted sense of the word. It is worthy of note that his method of study gained adherents both in Poland and Lithuania despite the difference in method in both places. The Keẓot combines great acumen with logical reasoning, and is distinguished by its scintillating analysis, and its emphasis on the inner logic of the halakhah.