Eli ben Ezekiel ha-Kohen

Eli ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver ben Ezekiel ha-Ḥazan ben Solomon he-Ḥaver was a businessman and a leader of the Jerusalem Jewish community, many of whose writings are preserved in the Cairo Geniza. He was a scholar and poet who came to serve as parnas (a community leader) in the second half of the eleventh century. Active between the 1030s and the 1070s, he was responsible for, among other things, arranging for the payment of communal taxes to the Muslim authorities. He often turned to Jews living in Fustāt (Old Cairo) for assistance in various matters. From other evidence, it seems he dealt in flax, which he sold from a store in Jerusalem, and was involved in local politics. Several letters show Eli raising funds for poor Jews, sometimes to cover tax debts. He composed poems in honor of the leaders of the Palestinian academy and for special occasions, some of which survive in the original copies.