Luria, Ben-Zion (בן-ציון לוריא)

Ben-Zion Luria (בן-ציון לוריא; April 4, 1905 - April 4, 2002) was a Polish-Israeli historian, cartographer, geographer, and educator who was an expert on the history and geography of the Holy Land. Born in Bialystok, Poland, he attended the Hebrew Gymnasium there before emigrating with his family to Palestine. In 1929, he enrolled at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and began an extensive course of Biblical study and research on the history of Eretz Isreal. He spent years determining the location of places mentioned in the Bible and assigning (or reassigning) them Hebrew names (he later was active in the Jerusalem Naming Committee, which assigned Hebrew street names in the holy city). He became editor of Beit Mikra (בית מקרא), a scholarly journal of Biblical studies and criticism. Luria was an active member of the Eretz-Israel Wanderers Association, a hiking club dedicated to helping members understand the history and geography of the Holy Land. Over his career, Luria published dozens of articles and books, and by the time of the founding of the State of Israel was one of the most prominent geographers in the country.

AKA: בן-ציון לוריא