On Saturday night, January 2, at 8:30 p.m., the community is invited to participate in a presentation by Dr. Eve Krakowski, assistant professor of history at Princeton University specializing in the social history of Jews in the medieval period. Through Princeton’s extensive collections as well as collections worldwide at universities and museums, Krakowski has created a vivid picture of everyday life in the Middle East during Medieval times. These collections of letters, legal documents, shopping lists and all types of everyday communication create a fascinating and elucidating picture of the daily life of both the Jewish and non-Jewish communities. The famous Cairo Geniza, which Krakowski has researched extensively, which was discarded in Cairo and re-discovered in the 19th century, contains within it high texts as well as straightforward practical documents which provide insight into the intersection of the everyday lives of the elite and the simple populace. At her upcoming presentation entitled “Maimonides and the Miqveh in Egypt,” Krakowski will be focusing upon a particular edict issued by the Rambam that sparked widespread controversy and was followed by serious ramifications for a long time afterwards.
Born in Houston,Texas, Krakowski attended the University of Chicago, where her connection to Orthodox Judaism took root at the age of 19. At Nishmat in Jerusalem, she participated in a program that provided in-depth learning of texts. Returning to Chicago, she earned her PhD at the University of Chicago in 2012, followed by a two-year post-doctorate program at Yale and one year at Columbia. She has been in her position as an assistant professor of history at Princeton since 2014.
Krakowski’s first volume, “Coming of Age in Medieval Egypt: Female Adolescence, Jewish Law and Ordinary Culture,” was published in 2018 by Princeton University Press and is available on Amazon. Her upcoming work, entitled “Jewish Writing in the 10th Century,” explores the findings in the Geniza that provide the clearest Jewish writing since the times of the Gemara. This transitional period provided us with abundant and clear information not previously available since the times of the Talmud.
Dr. Krakowski is married to Dr. Moshe Krakowski, assistant professor and director of the master’s program at Azrieli Graduate School of Education at Yeshiva University. They are the proud parents of seven children and reside in Passaic.
To call in, dial 1-929-205-6099. Meeting ID: 4653630025, password: 8372795.
