Kelita

Kelita (meaning dwarf or possibly gathered) was a Levite who assisted Ezra in the public reading and exposition of the Law to the assembled people in Jerusalem after the return from Babylonian exile. Nehemiah 8:7 lists him among the thirteen Levites who stood on the platform with Ezra, helping the people understand the Torah that was being read—explaining its meaning and giving the sense so that the hearers could comprehend what was being read. He is also known by the name Kelaiah.

Kelita appears again in Nehemiah 10:10 as one of the Levites who set their seal to the solemn covenant renewal that followed Ezra's reading of the Law and the great assembly of repentance. His role in both the didactic and covenantal aspects of the post-exilic religious revival places him among the core group of Levitical teachers who made the Torah accessible to the restored community. The Levites' teaching function described in Nehemiah 8 is one of the most vivid pictures in the Old Testament of corporate scripture education.