Rabbi Moshe Kalfon HaKohen, known in Djerba as "Chacham Kalfon" or the Maharmach, was born on 12 Shevat 5634 (1874), the son of Rabbi Shalom HaKohen, author of Nehar Shalom and Chefetz Yakar, of a family of kohanim that tradition traces to Ezra the Scribe. His great-grandfather, Rabbi Shaul HaKohen, was av beit din of Djerba's small Jewish quarter, and his grandfather, Rabbi Moshe HaKohen, author of Pnei Moshe, gave him his name; "Kalfon" was an affectionate nickname from his mother. According to tradition his father had him miraculously at forty and, following custom, symbolically "sold" him to the great kabbalist Rabbi Moshe Idan.

As a teenager, when the family fell into poverty, he helped support it as an editor and copyist. From an early age he was recognised for extraordinary holiness and an immense thirst for learning. Becoming chief rabbi of Djerba and the island's highest halachic authority, he trained generations of students, including Rabbi Rachamim Chai Chavita HaKohen. An ardent supporter of the return to Zion, he also wrote a universal vision of world peace, with an organisation of nations seated in Jerusalem.

He wrote many works of halacha, education, ethics, sermons and responsa, including Shoel veNishal and Brit Kehunah, a collection of Djerba's customs. He passed away in Djerba on 18 Tevet 5710 (1950), on the eve of moving to the Land of Israel. In 2005 his remains were brought to Jerusalem, where he rests in the Har HaMenuchot cemetery.