Zev Vilnay (1900–1988)

Zev Vilnay was born Volf Vilensky to a Jewish family in Kishinev, Russian Empire (present-day Moldova). At age six, he fled the aftermath of a murderous pogrom with his parents and immigrated to Palestine. He became one of the pioneer leaders of the hiking and walking tours that became popular among workers and youth groups in the 1920s. In 1928, when the Kabara swamp was drying up, Vilnay uncovered a Roman aqueduct with inscriptions of the Roman Legion who had built it. He served as a topography instructor in the Haganah and later in the Israel Defense Forces. He was a member of the first committee established by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in 1950, after the founding of the State of Israel, to oversee the naming of new kibbutzim, moshavim, towns, and villages. Vilnay lectured widely and wrote many books about Israeli geography, ethnography, history and folklore. His authoritative Guide to Israel, first published in 1955, ran to 27 editions and was translated into many languages.
In the 1974 edition of the book, Vilnay described how he helped bring back to Israel the small wooden boat of 19th century British naval officer Thomas Howard Molyneux, who rowed down the Jordan River from the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) to the Dead Sea to map the region.
Vilnay was awarded the Israel Prize in 1982, and was the co-recipient of the Bialik Prize for Jewish Thought in 1981.