Shiur: The Jewish Population in Palestine in the First Islamic Period (634-1099)

The Muslim found in Palestine a relatively strong Jewish community. Its leadership-the Yeshiva- was then In Tiberias and served also as a center to many Jewish communities in the Diaspora. The Muslin conquest opened a new period in Jewish History: the Gaonate period. We shall study about the history of the Jewish leadership in Palestine, the renewal of the Jewish community in Jerusalem, the influence of Judaism on the holiness of Jerusalem in Islam, the Karaite settlement in Palestine , how the changing of power in Islam influenced the history of the Jewish population in the country. The main source for information is the Cairo Geniza.

Test in the end of the semester.