Elia bar Shemaiah of Bari

Elia bar Shemaiah of Bari, in the Apulia region of southern Italy, was a prominent poet active in one of the most important Italian Jewish centers. A member of the intellectual elite in that city, Elia served as a bridge between the older Palestinian school of piyyut and the new forms that he pioneered in Italy, a model of poetry composed in simpler language that must have been more accessible to people attending synagogue. In this sense, Elia broke from some of the traditions of Solomon ha-Bavli, an Italian paytan (liturgical poet) of the tenth century. Elia’s poetry frequently refects the tribulations of his community.