Oded Cohen

Phenomena and processes which reached fruition in the early Modern period, as significant demographic changes and the spread of information through print, led to the movement and transmission of knowledge and mentalities between cultural spheres in the Mediterranean Jewish world. In my current research I attempt to examine the place and influence of those who left the land of Israel and those who came to it, those travelling the expanse of the Mediterranean Basin and those leaving it for other geographical and cultural spheres, in the changing Jewish cultural world and with the transmission of knowledge and culture between spheres. Such travelers included rabbinic emissaries, vagabonds, immigrants, pilgrims, book printers and opportunists – the agents of this spreading knowledge. Research of their writings and research of the writings describing them, as well as the reception of the knowledge they gained during their travels and brought in their sacks, can teach us about their role as agents of knowledge and culture and about the influence of a multi-sphere encounter on different Jewish communities in the Mediterranean in the early modern period.