Shelomo Dov Goitein

From the MacArthur Foundation:

Shelomo Goitein was a historian whose work focused on medieval Islamic and Jewish history and institutions, and on Biblical literature and society. Much of his research focused on the Cairo Genizah, an archive of thousands of medieval Judeo-Arabic documents first discovered in a synagogue near Cairo, Egypt, in 1897. Goitein’s books include Studies in Islamic History and Institutions (1966), Jews and Arabs: Their Contacts through the Ages (1974), and A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza (six volumes, 1967–1993), which was honored with the Haskins Medal of the Medieval Society and the National Jewish Book Award. He also edited From the Land of Sheba: Tales of the Jews of Yemen (1973) and Religion in a Religious Age (1974).

Goitein was a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey; Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Professor Emeritus of Arabic at the University of Pennsylvania. From 1938 to 1948, he was the senior education officer to the Mandatory Government in Palestine.

MacArthur Fellow, 1983
IAS Tribute to Shelomo Dov Goitein (PDF)