Yossi Maimon was born in divided Jerusalem in 1954. His family lived in the area called “no-mans land”, a war zone on the border between Israel and Jordan. When he was three years old, his family moved deeper into the “safe” zone, away from the constant attacks of the Jordanian army.

Yossi was privileged to be one of the first boys to have his Bar Mitzvah in the new courtyard of the Kotel (Western Wall of the Temple) following the 1967 Six Day War, which unified Jerusalem.

Yossi participated in the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and was discharged as a tank commander from the IDF in 1976. He currently serves in the army reserves on a regular basis.

Yossi joined the University of Be’er Sheva at Sdei Boker in the Negev and studied Ecology and Israel Studies. He then married and he and his wife spent several years experiencing the communal life of Kibbutz living in the Jordan Valley. He then moved with his young family to a new community in its early days called Shilo. While living in Shilo, Yossi started a horseback riding business and began giving tours of the area on horseback.

In 1984, Yossi founded the Yishuv (settlement) of Ma’ale Levona in the hills of Shomron (Samaria). Yossi and his wife raised their family of six children there and they continue to live in Ma’aleh Levona today. Yossi escribes Ma’ale Levonah as “the most beautiful place in Israel.”

Since 1987, Yossi has been an active tour guide, licensed by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism. As a specialist in Judaica and Middle East Studies, he believes that visitors to Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) will come away with a love and a better appreciation of the Holy Land when they understand, not only what is happening in the Land today, but the events that happened on the very same ground throughout history as documented in the Bible. It is from this belief that this book series has been written combining Talmudic and Medrashic commentaries to the known stories of the Tanach (Bible).

We hope you enjoy the book “Discover the Land of Israel” and will share the stories of the Tanach (Bible) with your friends and family. Be sure to check our website often as we will constantly be adding more important information that will compliment the book. In the future additional books and inter-active videos/DVD’s about the Holy Land of Israel will be available.

For more informations and for any questions, please contact us via e-mail at: info@discoverisrael.org