During the year he spent in Jerusalem, Sholom Raskin decided to explore the stories of the Tanakh in their actual locations, based on reliable Torah sources, and he compiled it all into a comprehensive online travel guide for the benefit of other travelers.
By Anash.org Reporter
Bochar Sholom Raskin When he left Montreal for Jerusalem for the first time, he was fascinated by the idea of encountering the actual locations of the stories of the Tanakh he had learned as a child. During his year and a half there, he eagerly explored hundreds of historical and archaeological sites, documenting it all in a unique travel guide that was easily accessible to others.
“I grew up learning from the words written in the Torah,” Sholom told Anash.org, “so when I came to Jerusalem, it was the first time I was able to visualize the words I learned growing up. I spent all my free time exploring as many places as I could that are part of Jewish history.”
Secular and non-Jewish tourism websites are full of misinformation about historical sites, they write inaccurate information about characters and stories from the Tanakh, and draw erroneous conclusions about archaeological finds due to their ignorance of Halakhah and Jewish life.
“I spent a lot of time researching places to travel,” Raskin adds, “and most of the information sites out there are non-Jewish and full of misinformation. I decided to create a website that could help Jewish people traveling in Jerusalem. My favorite suggestion for where people should travel is to open the Tanakh, find a story that resonates with you, and travel to the places in that story.”
The guide includes warnings to the Kohanim if there are Kevarim in the area, a spreadsheet of places where Kevarim are mentioned in the Tanakh, hierarchy, location of Jerusalem, 115 locations based on archaeology, history, nature and viewpoints, an interactive Google Maps page, and hundreds of photos and videos.
To see the complete travel guide, visit SholomTravels.com
