Shelomo Dov Goitein

Shelomo Dov Goitein (April 3, 1900 — February 6 1985), whose original given name was Fritz, was an Arabist, historian, and Jewish ethnographer, famous for his expositions of Jewish life in the Islamic Middle Ages, based on the analysis of thousands of Geniza documents, in particular, for his monumental 5-volume work "A Mediterranean Society".

Goitein was born in the village of Burgkunstadt in southern Germany; his father, Dr. Eduard Goitein, was born in Hungary to a long line of rabbis. The name Goitein points probably to Kojetín in Moravia, the city of origin of the family. He was brought up with both secular and talmudic education. In 1914 the his father died and the family moved to Frankfurt am Main, where he finished high school and university. During 1918-1923 he studied Arabic and Islam at the University of Frankfurt while continuing his talmudic study with a private teacher. In 1923 he sailed together with Gershom Scholem to Palestine. He lived four years in Haifa until he was invited to lecture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which had been inaugurated two years earlier. He lived in Jerusalem for 31 years until 1958. In Jerusalem he married Theresa Gottlieb (1900-1987), a eurythmics teacher who composed songs and plays for children. They had three children, Ayala, Ofra, and Elon.

When Goitein decided to dedicate his whole energies to the study of the Geniza documents, he was a public figure, aged fifty. He was worried lest he would be distracted in Jerusalem, and he needed financial support which was unavailable in Israel. He decided to move to the United States in 1957, first to Philadelphia and then to the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He died on the same day that his last volume was sent to the publisher, on February 6, 1985.

Professional Life

1918-1923 Student years at the universities of Frankfurt and Berlin, studied the History of Islam under the noted Joseph Horowitz. His Ph.D. thesis was "On prayer in Islam." Also pursued Jewish studies, and was a leader in the Zionist Youth Movement.

1923-1927 Immigrated to Palestine at the age of 23, served as a teacher of Bible and Hebrew Language Studies at the Reali School in Haifa.

1927 Wrote and published a play called "Pulcellina" concerning the blood libel killings in Blois in 1171. At the end the heroine Pulcellina was burned at the stake.

1928-1958 Professor of Islamic History and Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was founder of the School of Asian and African studies and of the Israel Oriental Society.

1928-1985 Studied the language culture and history of the Jews of Yemen. In 1949 did research in Aden, questioning the Jews who gathered there from all parts of Yemen before being flown to Israel.

1938-1948 Was nominated Senior Education Officer in Mandatory Palestine, responsible for Hebrew and Arab Schools. Published highly useful books on the methods of teaching the Bible and Hebrew.

1948-1985 Carried on his great life's work on the Cairo Geniza documents. A geniza is an enclosed area within a synagogue where all papers containing the name of God are disposed of. An especially rich Geniza with a large volume of correspondence was discovered in Old Cairo containing thousands of documents dating from the 9th to the 13th centuries. Since Jews began every letter or document with the words "With the help of God," the papers reflected all aspects of everyday life in the countries of North Africa and bordering the Mediterranean. The documents included many letters from Jewish traders en route from Tunisia and Egypt to Yemen and ultimately to India. The papers were mostly written in Arabic spelled in the Hebrew alphabet. After deciphering the documents Goitein vividly reconstructed every aspect of Jewish life in the Middle Ages in his book "A Mediterranean Society" in five volumes plus index (University of California Press, 1967-88). Although the documents are by Jewish traders, they reflect the surrounding Moslem and Christian environments not only in countries bordering the Mediterranean but all the way to India. This has thrown new light on the whole study of the Middle Ages.

Goitein was awarded honorary degrees from many universities. He received research awards from Guggenheim, Harvey, and the MacArthur lifetime fellowship.

hort Bibliography

Two editions of his bibliographies are available:
1. Attal, Robert. "A Bibliography of the writings of Prof. Shelomo Dov Goitein", Israel Oriental society and the Institute of Asian and African Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ,1975. It includes among other articles an introduction by Richard Ettinghausen, as well as Goiteins own article:"The Life Story of a Scholar",547 publications are mentioned.
2. Attal, Robert. "A Bibliography of the writings of Prof. Shelomo Dov Goitein", Ben Zvi Institute Jerusalem 2000, an expanded edition containing 737 titles, as well as general Index and Index of Reviews.
3. Udovitch, A.L., Rosenthal, F. and Yerushalmi, Y.H. "Shelomo Dov Goitein 1900-1985 Memmorial comments", The Institude of Advanced Study Princeton, 1985.

Works

*"A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. I: Economic Foundations", University of California Press (September 1, 2000), ISBN 0-520-22158-3
*"A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. II: The Community", 1967
*"A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. III: The Family", ISBN 0-520-22160-5
*"A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. IV: Daily Life", ISBN 0-520-22161-3
*"A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. V: The Individual", ISBN 0-520-22162-1
*"A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. VI: Cumulative Indices", ISBN 0-520-22164-8
*"The Land of Sheba: Tales of the Jews of Yemen", 1947
*"Religion in a Religious Age", June 1996
*"Jews and Arabs: Their Contact Through the Ages", 1955
*"Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders"
*"Jews and Arabs: A Concise History of Their Social and Cultural Relations"

External links

* [http://www.princeton.edu/~geniza/goitein.htm Eulogy by Prof. Mark R. Cohen, Princeton University]