Zev Vilnay ( he, זאב וילנאי, 12 June 1900 – 21 January 1988) was an Israeli

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

, author and lecturer.

Biography

Zev Vilnay was born as Volf Vilensky in Kishinev,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

(now in

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistri ...

). He

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to Palestine with his parents at the age of six and grew up in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

. He served as a military

topographer Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

in the

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the I ...

, and later in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

.''Encyclopaedia Judaica'', "Zev Vilnay," Keter Publishing, Jerusalem, 1972, vol. 16, p. 151 Vilnay and his wife Esther lived in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. Their eldest son, Oren Vilnay, is an expert in

structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and muscles' that create the form and shape of man-made structures. Structural engineers also must understand and cal ...

who established the Department of Civil Engineering at

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...

. The other son,

Matan Vilnai Matan Vilnai ( he, מַתָּן וִילְנָאִי; born 20 May 1944) is an Israeli politician and a former major general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). A former Knesset member and government minister, he was appointed ambassador to Chi ...

, is a politician who served as a member of the Knesset and held several ministerial portfolios before becoming ambassador to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

Land of Israel studies

Vilnay was a pioneer in the sphere of outdoor hiking and touring in Israel. Vilnay lectured widely on Israeli geography, ethnography, history and folklore. His ''Guide to Israel'' was published in 27 editions and translated into many languages. In his 1950 book ''The Hike and Its Educational Value,'' Vilnai traced the Jewish emphasis on walking the Land of Israel back to the Bible. He describes a continuous historical thread that passes through the Jewish sources, and quotes the Talmudic dictum that anyone who walks three or four cubits through Erez Yisra'el merits a place in the world to come (Ketubot 111a). In the 1974 edition of his guide, Vilnay describes how he helped bring back to Israel the boat of a British naval officer, Thomas Howard Molyneux, who sailed the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

from the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...

to the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Ban ...

to map the region in the 19th century. Vilnay was a member of the first place-naming committee established by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the nam ...

in 1950. In 2021
Chair for the study of the knowledge of Land of Israel
(‘Yediath Ha’Aretz’) and its archaeology, named after Zev Vilnay, was founded in the Department of the Land of Israel Studies at th
Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee
The Chair serves as a framework for the advancement of academic studies which deals with the history of the research of these subjects. In addition, the Chair will distribute the research carried out in the field and make it accessible to the non-academic Land of Israel lovers in the general public.

Awards and recognition

* In 1974, Vilnay received the Yakir Yerushalayim (Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem) award. City of Jerusalem official website * In 1981, he was the co-recipient (jointly with Avraham Even-Shoshan) of the

Bialik Prize The Bialik Prize is an annual literary award given by the municipality of Tel Aviv, Israel, for significant accomplishments in Hebrew literature. The prize is named in memory of Israel's national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik Hayim Nahman Bialik ...

for Jewish thought. * In 1982, he was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

, for knowledge and love of the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isr ...

Published works in English

*''Legends of Palestine'' (1932) *''The Guide to Israel'' (first published in 1955) *''The Holy Land in Old Prints and Maps'' (1965) *''The New Israel Atlas: Bible to Present Day'' (1968) *''The Changing Face of Acco'' *''Legends of Jerusalem'' (3 volumes) *''Legends of Galilee, Jordan & Sinai'' (1978)Legends of Galilee, Jordan & Sinai
/ref> *''Legends of Judea and Samaria'' *''The Vilnay Guide to Israel: A new Millennium Edition'' (2 volumes) (1999), written and edited after his death and according to his instructions by Oren and Rachel Vilnay

Published works in Hebrew

*''Entziklopediya Liyidiat Haaretz'' (3 volumes) (1956) *''Yerushalayim'' (2 volumes) (1960–62, 1970) *''Eretz Yisrael Betmunot Atikot'' (1961) *''Matzevot Kodesh Be'eretz Yisrael'' (1963) *''Tel Aviv-Jaffa'' (1965) *''Yehudah Veshomron'' (1968) *''Sinai, Avar Vehoveh'' (1969) *''Golan Vehermon'' (1970) *''Ariel – Entziklopediya Lidiyat HaAretz'' (10 volumes) (1976–82)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vilnay, Zev 1900 births 1988 deaths People from Haifa People from Kishinyovsky Uyezd Moldovan Jews Bessarabian Jews Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire Israeli Jews Israeli geographers Israel Prize in geography recipients Historical geography 20th-century geographers