Moshe Gil ( he, משה גיל; February 8, 1921 – January 23, 2014) was an Israeli historian.

Academic career

Moshe Gil specialized in the historical interaction between

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and the

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s, including the history of

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

under the Islamic domination, the institution of the

Exilarch The exilarch was the leader of the Jewish community in Persian Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) during the era of the Parthians, Sasanians and Abbasid Caliphate up until the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258, with intermittent gaps due to ongoing ...

ate, and Jewish merchants such as the

Radhanites The Radhanites or Radanites (; ar, الرذنية, ''ar-Raðaniyya'') were early medieval Jewish merchants, active in the trade between Christendom and the Muslim world during roughly the 8th to 10th centuries. Many trade routes previously e ...

. Gil was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

and held the Joseph and Ceil Mazer Chair in the History of the Jews in Muslim Lands.

Awards

In 1998, Gil was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

, for

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isra ...

studies, primarily for his work analyzing some 846 document fragments from the

Cairo Genizah The Cairo Geniza, alternatively spelled Genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 Jewish manuscript fragments and Fatimid administrative documents that were kept in the '' genizah'' or storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat or Old Cairo, ...

and for his work in documenting the role of Jewish merchants in the development of medieval society.

Published works

*(1997) "The Babylonian Encounter and the Exilarchic House in the Light of Cairo Geniza Documents and Parallel Arab Sources." (Conference Paper in ''Proceedings:

Judaeo-Arabic Judeo-Arabic dialects (, ; ; ) are ethnolects formerly spoken by Jews throughout the Arabic-speaking world. Under the ISO 639 international standard for language codes, Judeo-Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage under the code jrb, encomp ...

studies proceedings of the Founding Conference of the Society for Judaeo Arabic Studies''.) *(1995) "The Exilarchate." (Conference Paper in ''Proceedings : The Jews of medieval Islam: Community, society, and identity'': proceedings of an international conference held by the Institute of Jewish Studies, University College London, 1992 ) *(1992) ''A history of Palestine, 634-1099''. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. *(1987) "The

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

n Opposition to the Prophet". (Journal Article in

Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam ''Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of classical Islam, Islamic religious thought, Arabic language and literature, the origins of Islamic institutions, and the interaction between Islam ...

.) *(1987) Review of "Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century" by Golb and Pritsak (Book Review in ''Journal of Near Eastern studies''.) *(1984) "The Origin of the Jews of

Yathrib Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

." (Journal Article in ''Jerusalem studies in Arabic and Islam''.) *(1976) ''Documents of the Jewish pious foundations from the Cairo Geniza.'' Leiden: Brill. (Book, Edited, Vol. 12 in a series/set ) *(1974) "The

Radhanite The Radhanites or Radanites (; ar, الرذنية, ''ar-Raðaniyya'') were early medieval Jewish merchants, active in the trade between Christendom and the Muslim world during roughly the 8th to 10th centuries. Many trade routes previously esta ...

Merchants and the Land of

." (Journal Article in ''Journal of the economic and social history of the Orient.'') *(1974) "The Constitution of Medina: A Reconsideration" (Journal Article in ''Israel oriental studies.'')

References

1921 births 2014 deaths Polish emigrants to Israel Israel Prize in history recipients Israel Prize in Land of Israel studies recipients Israeli historians Jewish historians Tel Aviv University faculty Israeli medievalists {{Israel-historian-stub

Academic career

Awards

Published works

See also

References