Bernad Heller

* Nagybiccse, March 16, 1871 – † Budapest, February 26, 1943 / orientalist, ; literary historian, folklorist ; ; He was ordained a doctor of humanities in 1894, a rabbi in 1896, and obtained a secondary school teacher's certificate in the same year. He was a Jewish rabbi, and between 1919 and 1922 he administered the Pest Jewish Gymnasium, and then from 1931 to 1935 he taught at the Ferenc József National Rabbinical Training Institute in Budapest. His versatile scientific work, known abroad, covered biblical studies, Hebrew fairy tale research, the study of the Islamic world of fairy tales, myths and legends, as well as the examination of the relationships between Hungarian fairy tales and folktales, and comparative literary history. He wrote the history of Hebrew and Arabic fairy tales. His summary work entitled The Hebrew Fairy Tale was first published in 1921. The beautifully illustrated volume is divided into two parts: the first discusses the Eastern path of the Hebrew fairy tale, starting from the Bible, through the Talmud and Midrashic literature, and ending with Arab-Jewish legends. In the second half of the book, we can get acquainted with the Western European Hebrew fairy tale collections, which show a strong connection with the early works of Latin and various national literatures. He was the first to process the medieval Arab knightly romance about Antar and provided significant historical data for Hungarian fairy tales and for the explanation of our classics.