About the Mapmaker

I'm Aaron Shaffier, and I made this map.

I grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Israel with my family in 2007. Today my wife Miiko and I live in Be'er Sheva, the city of Abraham. We have nine children and two grandchildren. Miiko is the author of Learn to Read Hebrew in 6 Weeks and teaches Hebrew at learnhebrew.tv.

I am a licensed Israel tour guide, and since 2011 I have walked the Land with thousands of travelers. My specialty is the history of the Bible on the ground: stand in the place, read the verse, and see how the two fit together. You can see my tours at tourguideaaron.com.

I am also a sofer, a Torah scribe. I am writing my 20th Torah scroll, and over the years I have written thousands of mezuzahs and tefillin, the small handwritten parchments Jews put on their doorposts and wear in prayer.

Why I made it

I started this map for my Walking Tanach videos. I wanted something good to look at on screen, and I planned to keep it to the major sites and features we would show in the episodes.

That plan didn't last. As I worked on it I kept adding places and doing more research, and I plotted every site myself. Behind it are thousands of hours of research, most of it done before I ever started the map. Along the way I found a highly skilled cartographer who could draw it beautifully and accurately, in the style of an old map. Every ridge, valley and city is drawn by hand.

As it got close to finished, I realized how nice it would be to have it printed and hanging in my own home and office. That is how the print began.

How I decided where each place goes

The print shows 163 places. For each one I weighed the evidence: the text of the Bible first, then archaeology, ancient names that survive in Hebrew and Arabic, the accounts of early travelers, and longstanding tradition. Where a location is disputed, I placed it where the weight of the evidence points.

The print shows only the places. The reasoning behind them is in two other places: the free interactive map here on the site, and the 193-page companion ebook that comes with every print. Both give the case for each site, the alternatives, and how sure I am.

Where you may have seen me

With Jon Voight in Jerusalem, filming The Land of Israel: God's Story

• Walking Tanach, my documentary series on YouTube, filmed on location across Israel. This is the map you see in the episodes.
• Newsmax, with Jon Voight in The Land of Israel: God's Story.
• TripAdvisor, where people I have guided gave me nearly 100 reviews at 4.9 stars.

Have a question about a place on the map? Write to me.