A World Within: Jewish Life As Reflected in Muslim Court Documents from the Sijill of Jerusalem

by Amnon Cohen

The more than one million documents contained in the Ottoman sijill of Jerusalem constitute one of the richest sources of information we have on the history of Palestine and its relations with the Ottoman central government in Istanbul. Nearly one thousand of these documents dealing with the history of the Jews living in Jerusalem in the sixteenth century are brought to us here by Amnon Cohen in facsimile format together with summary English translations. By facilitating access to the sijill documents, Cohen has created an important research tool. Regrettably, only a relatively small number of sijill documents - those dealing with Jews - have found scholarly interest and funding for publication, whereas the large number of documents dealing directly with the Muslim community - documents that are of signal importance for the study of the history of Ottoman Palestine, remain unpublished.

587 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

Is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Shas.

Cohen made aliyah to Israel in 1973. He gained a BA in business administration at the Center for Academic Studies in Kiryat Ono and took a two-year course at the Institute for Local Government in Bar-Ilan University.

Cohen served as deputy mayor and acting mayor of Ramla, and chaired the city's Organisation for Prisoner Rehabilitation. He has also been a member of the city union on Secondary Education, the Ayalon Sewage Programme, the Ayalon Fire Department and the board of Amal College.

He was first elected to the Knesset on Shas' list in 1999 and chaired the Public Petitions committee. He retained his seat in the 2003 elections, after which he chaired the State Control and Economic Affairs committees. He was re-elected again in 2006, and served as a Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. In 2006 he won the Quality of Government Badge for legislators. He retained his seat in the 2009 elections after being placed fourth on the Shas list.

Cohen is married with four children and lives in Ramla.