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Jewish life in medieval Egypt, hitherto an obscure and understudied theme, is revealed in this volume in all its complexity and richness. This book offers the most recent scholarship on the communal, judicial, economic, lingual, familial, and spiritual aspects of Jewish life medieval Islamic Egypt.
List of contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
Miriam Frenkel 1. Between the Hellenistic World and the Cairo Genizah: The Jewish Community in Late Antique Egypt
Tal Ilan 2. A Concise History of Islamic Egypt
Yehoshua Frenkel 3. The Community’s Borders; Converts and Renegades
Moshe Yagur4. Communal Self-Government: The Genizah Period
Mark R. Cohen5. Introduction to the Legal Arena
Oded Zinger 6. Jewish Economic Life in Medieval Egypt: Images, Theories, and Research
Jessica Goldberg7. Jewish Family Life in Medieval Egypt
Miriam Frenkel8. Situating Egyptian Pietism
Elisha Russ-Fishbane9. Languages and Language Varieties Used by Medieval Egyptian Jews
Esther-Miriam Wagner10. Hebrew Poetry in Medieval Egypt
Joseph Yahalom 11. The Last Phase—The Jews in Medieval Egypt under the Mamluks (1250–1517)
Amir MazorBibliography
About the author
Miriam Frenkel is Professor of Medieval Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the Menahem Ben-Sasson Chair in Judaism & Islam Through the Ages and head of the School of History.
Summary
Jews lived in Egypt for centuries, since biblical times; nevertheless, Jewish life in medieval Islamic Egypt was for many years an obscure and understudied theme. This book offers the reader a wide-ranging picture of Jewish life in medieval Egypt as depicted by the most recent scholarship. Starting from the last phases of the Byzantine era and ending with the Mamluk period, the book presents a scholarly yet vivid description of Jewish communal organization, judiciary, economic frameworks, family life, and lingual practices, as well as religious and literary activities of the medieval Jews of Egypt.
