Mark R. Cohen
Encyclopedia
Mark R. Cohen is a professor of Near Eastern studies at Princeton University
specializing in Jews
in the Muslim
world. He is a leading scholar of the history of Jews in the Middle Ages
under Islam
. His research relies greatly on documents from the Cairo Geniza
. He also heads the Geniza Project at Princeton University, which aims to place an extensive number of medieval documents on an online search engine (as of March 2007, the database contained about 4000 documents). The project is headquartered at the S.D. Goitein Geniza Research Lab, where many of Goitein's personal books and notes are stored.
Cohen earned his undergraduate degree at Brandeis University
, his master's degree at Columbia University
, and his doctorate at the Jewish Theological Seminary
. He currently lives in New York City
.
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
specializing in Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
in the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
world. He is a leading scholar of the history of Jews in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
under Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. His research relies greatly on documents from the Cairo Geniza
Cairo Geniza
The Cairo Geniza is a collection of almost 280,000 Jewish manuscript fragments found in the Genizah or storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, presently Old Cairo, Egypt. Some additional fragments were found in the Basatin cemetery east of Old Cairo, and the collection includes a number of...
. He also heads the Geniza Project at Princeton University, which aims to place an extensive number of medieval documents on an online search engine (as of March 2007, the database contained about 4000 documents). The project is headquartered at the S.D. Goitein Geniza Research Lab, where many of Goitein's personal books and notes are stored.
Cohen earned his undergraduate degree at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
, his master's degree at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, and his doctorate at the Jewish Theological Seminary
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
. He currently lives in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Selected publications
- Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Islam (1980)
- Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages (1994)
- Poverty and Charity in the Jewish community of Medieval Egypt (2005)
- The Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages: An Anthology of Documents from the Cairo Geniza (2005)