Ze'ev Vilnay, Prof.

Zev Vilnay (Hebrew: זאב וילנאי‎, 1900–1988) was an Israeli geographer, author and lecturer.

Zev Vilnay was born Volf Vilensky in Kishinev. He moved to Palestine with his parents at the age of six and grew up in Haifa. He served as a military topographer in the Haganah, and later in the Israel Defense Forces. Vilnay and his wife Esther lived in Jerusalem. Their son, Matan Vilnai was a member of the Knesset, Israel's deputy minister of defense and Israel Ambassador to China. Their eldest son is Prof. Oren Vilnay, expert in structural Engineering who established a new department of Civil Engineering in Ben Gurion University.

Land of Israel studies

He 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 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 from Lake Kinneret to the Dead Sea to map the region in the 19th century.

Awards

• In 1974, Vilnay received the Yakir Yerushalayim (Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem) award.
• In 1981, he was the co-recipient (jointly with Avraham Even-Shoshan) of the Bialik Prize for Jewish thought.
• In 1982, he was awarded the Israel Prize, for knowledge and love of the Land of Israel.

זאב וילנאי (וילֶנְסְקי; 1900 - 1988) היה גאוגרף והיסטוריון ישראלי, נחשב לאחד מגדולי חוקרי ארץ ישראל ועתיקותיה בדורות האחרונים, חתן פרס ביאליק ופרס ישראל