Shefatiah bar Amittai

Shefatiah bar Amittai was a physician and poet in Oria, a town in Apulia, southern Italy. He was part of the family of Aḥima‘ats ben Palti’el, author of The Scroll of Aḥima‘ats, which reports that Shefatiah was summoned to Constantinople by the Byzantine emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) to treat the emperor’s daughter, who had fallen ill. As repayment, Shefatiah allegedly requested that certain decrees against the Jews be rescinded, a request that was reportedly accepted. Of Shefatiah’s writings, only one poem survives, and it remains part of the liturgy of Yom Kippur according to the Ashkenazic prayer rite.