Dr. Oded Cohen

Dr. Oded Cohen is a senior lecturer in history at the Levinsky-Wingate Academic College and teaches at the high school in Hashmonaim. He was involved in writing and embedding history curricula for the Ministry of Education. His historical research deals with the cultural role of wandering Jews – travelers, book publishers, and opportunity seekers – in Europe and the Mediterranean basin in the early modern period, and the effects of travel on the traveler. His book Ever Turning Blows the Wind: Cultural Spaces in Rabbi Haim Yosef David Azulay's World, based on his doctoral dissertation submitted to Tel Aviv University, was published by Magnes Press.
Between 2017 and 2022, he held postdoctoral fellowships at The Haifa Center for Mediterranean History (HCMH) at the University of Haifa; the Center for the Study of Conversion & Inter-Religious Encounters at Ben Gurion University of the Negev; the Department of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa; and the Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l'homme at Aix-Marseille University, France. 
During these years, he developed his research on the cultural activities of wandering Jews in the Mediterranean and European spheres in the early modern period, focusing on questions of self-image in the wake of encounters with diverse societies and cultural spaces. His work addresses knowledge transfer, education, and teaching practices in the various communities these figures reached. As part of his additional research interests, he has examined the ways holy sites in the Land of Israel were described by Jews from across the Mediterranean basin, from the late Middle Ages to the seventeenth century.
Since 2022, he has served as a pedagogical instructor and lecturer in history education at the Levinsky-Wingate Academic College. His articles have been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals in Israel and internationally.