Miriam Frenkel

Miriam Frenkel is Menahem Ben-Sasson Professor in Judaism and Islamic Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is also head of the Multi-Disciplinary Program and of the Dinur Center for the Study of Jewish History. Frenkel’s main fields of research are Geniza studies, social and cultural history of medieval Judaism in the lands of Islam, and medieval cultural encounters between Judaism and Islam. Frenkel earned her Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2001. In The Compassionate and Benevolent: The Leading Elite in the Jewish Community of Alexandria in the Middle Ages (Hebrew, Ben-Zvi Institute, 2006), Frenkel’s deep analyses reveal vivid details about local elites, demonstrating both their embedding in the local community and their participation in supra-communal networks. The book was awarded the Shazar Prize in 2007. Frenkel has also published on subjects ranging from charity and giving, pilgrimage, travels, material culture, literacy, and book culture. She authored a textbook for high-school students entitled, Cultural Encounters between Jews and Muslims in the Middle Ages (Hebrew, Israeli Ministry of Education, 2008). She was co-director of the project Charity and Piety in the Middle East in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Continuity and Transformation at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (2006–2007).