Eliezer Papo

Who was Eliezer Papo?

Rabbi Eliezer Papo was the rabbi of the community of Selestria in Bulgaria. He is famous for writing the Pele Yoetz, a work of musar literature which gives advice on how to behave as a Jew in many aspects of life.

He was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia. He moved at the age of 27 to Bulgaria, where he died in 1828.

He authored the Pele Yoetz, his most famous work, as well as Eleph Hamogein, Oros Eilim, Chesed L'Alophim, Yaalzu Chasidim, and Chodesh HaAviv.

One of his noted works is Beit Tefillah, which is filled with many different prayers for specific situations, including one for the welfare of the Jewish people. A Ladino edition was published in the 1860s, and a Hebrew version was printed in Jerusalem in 1968.

His grave is up to the present day a focus of pilgrimage by observant Jews, some of whom fly especially from Israel and even from Latin America to Bulgaria for that purpose.