Rav Eliezer Ashkenazi Maaseh Hashem Yosif Lekach

Rav Eliezer Ashkenazi, mechaber of Ma’asei Hashem, was born in Turkey, he studied with Rav Yosef Taitatzak (1465–1546) in Salonica. He served as a Rav in Egypt from 1538 to 1561. For unknown reasons, he was compelled to leave, served in Famagusta, Cyprus, then in Venice, Italy. Due to a disagreement with Rav Shmuel Yehuda Katzenellenbogen, he moved to Prague, where he helped develop the chevra kadisha, on which others are based. After a year, he moved back to Italy and lived in Cremona. In 1578, he moved to Posen, Poland, and took his final post. He retired to Cracow, where he lived out his last few years.