Eleazar ben Ḥalfon ha-Kohen

Eleazar ben Ḥalfon ha-Kohen was a Hebrew poet whose writings, preserved in the Cairo Geniza, were only discovered and identified in the twentieth century. More than twenty of his poems survive. Some were part of a collection of poetry known as a dīwān (anthology). Collecting the works of a single poet into a dīwān was typically reserved for preserving the compositions of highly regarded poets. Eleazar was influenced by Andalusi Hebrew poetic practices, especially the writings of Judah ha-Levi (ca. 1075–1141). Unusually, he wrote one poem, on a religious theme, in Arabic.