About

Prof. Ram Ben-Shalom is Professor of Jewish History and co-editor of the Hispania Judaica Bulletin. Since October 2021, Ben-Shalom has served as the Chair of the department of the History of the Jewish People and Contemporary Judaism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has published widely on medieval European Jewish history and is a specialist in the Jewish–Christian discourse of the Middle Ages.

Selected Publications

R. Ben-Shalom, Facing Christian Culture: Historical Consciousness and Images of the Past among the Jews of Spain and Southern France during the Middle Ages [Hebrew], 2006, Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East, Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

R. Ben-Shalom, Medieval Jews and the Christian Past: Jewish Historical Consciousness in Spain and Southern France, The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, Oxford 2016.

R. Ben-Shalom, The Jews of Provence: Renaissance in the Shadow of the Church [Hebrew], The Open University of Israel, Raanana 2017.

Forthcoming, an English translation: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization (Liverpool University Press); In editing. 

R. Ben-Shalom, The Letter of Salomea, Carmel. Publishing House, Jerusalem (forthcoming). [Hebrew].

R. Ben-Shalom, “The First Jewish Work on the Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Virtues,” Mediaeval Studies, 75 (2013), pp. 205-270.

Selected Awards

2007 - Samuel Toledano Prize by the Misgav Institute in Jerusalem was awarded to the book "Facing Christian Culture: Historical Consciousness and Images of the Past among the Jews of Spain and Southern France during the Middle Ages (2006)", for its contribution to the Sephardi past in its Christian context.

2018 – Ben Zvi Institute Prize for the book "The Jews of Provence: Renaissance in the Shadow of the Church (2017)".

2019 - "Am Olam" Prize of the Historical Society of Israel for the book "The Jews of Provence: Renaissance in the Shadow of the Church (2017)".

Teaching

Bachelor's degree courses

The Jewish Renaissance in Medieval Provence

Jewish-Christian Polemics: History & Literature

Introduction to the History of the Jews in Spain

The Jews of Provence: Troubadours, Heretics and Mystics

The Jewish Culture in the 13th Century - A New World?

Jewish-Christian Encounter and Polemics

Under the Cross: Jewish Life in Medieval Europe

The Jews of Provence: Renaissance and Crisis

Facing the Cross: A Journey in Provence

Eros Romantics and Medieval Misogyny

Master's degree courses

The Jews in 15th Century Spain: Crisis or Flourishing?

The New language of Conversion in Christian Spain

Who is a Jew in Fifteenth Century Spain? Anusim, Jews and Christians

The Jews in Provence and the Mediterranean Sea.

History and Jewish Literature in Medieval Texts.

The Challenges of the 15th Century: Criticism and Intellectual Innovation

About

Prof. Miriam Frenkel is professor in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s  Department of Jewish History and the Institute of History. She is The Menahem Ben Sasson Chair in Judaism and Islam through the Ages, head of the Institute of History, and Vice President of the Society for Judeo-Arabic Studies [SJAS].

Selected Publications

Miriam Frenkel, `The Compassionate and Benevolent`: Jewish Ruling Elites in the Medieval Islamicate World, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2021

Miriam Frenkel (ed.), The Jews in Medieval Egypt, Boston, ASP, 2021

Miriam Frenkel. Alison Salvesen, Sarah Pierce (eds.), Israel in Egypt, Leiden, Brill, 2020

Teaching

Bachelor's degree courses

Portraits of Conspicuous Figures in Medieval Jewish History in the Lands of Islam

The Jews of Islam: Historical and Social Perspectives

Tutorial teaching for outstanding undergraduate students at the School for History

Introduction to Medieval Jewish History (Cornerstones Program)

Jews and Judaism in Medieval Islamic Lands

Introduction to Jewish Medieval History in the Lands of Islam; Jewish Marginal Groups and Individuals in the Medieval Lands of Islam 

In the Footsteps of Travelers and Travelogues in the Middle East

Daily Life in History (Cornerstones Program)

Master's degree courses

Literary Activities and Products of the Judeo-Arabic Culture

The Mediterranean as System, Idea and Vision

Jewish Material Culture in the Lands of Islam and Christianity

Jewish Ritual Poetry (piyyut)

Jewish Religious Life in the Lands of Islam

 Mysticism, Magic, and Messianism among the Jews in the Lands of Islam

Basic Themes in the History and Culture of Mizrahi Jews

Jewish Material Culture in the Mdieval Lands of Islam