Princeton professor to lecture on "Voices of the Jewish Poor in the Middle Ages" | Press Releases

Mark Cohen Dr. Mark R. Cohen, an acclaimed scholar of medieval history at Princeton University, will speak at Fairfield University on the "Voices of the Jewish Poor in the Middle Ages: Insights from the Cairo Geniza," on Monday, Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Dolan School of Business Dining Room. The program, presented by the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Center for Judaic Studies, is free and the public is welcome.

The Cairo Geniza was a synagogue storeroom discovered in the late 19th century, housing, among other things, literary treasures and historical documents pertaining to everyday Jewish life. The discovery of the Cairo Geniza documents has been compared to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 20th century.

A professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University with a special interest in the Jewish people in the Muslim lands during the Middle Ages, Dr. Cohen is the author of several books including "Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages", "Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt " and " The Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages: An Anthology of Documents from the Cairo Geniza".

As a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at the University of London, Dr. Cohen was introduced to Islamic history and Muslim Spain, sparking his interest in his current specialty. He went on to complete his doctoral work at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is a graduate of Brandeis University with a degree in Jewish Studies and European and American History.

For more information, please contact Elaine Bowman at (203) 254-4000, ext. 2066 or by e-mail at ebowman@mail.fairfield.edu .