Sephi Ben Yosef

Sephi Ben Yosef was born in 1947

Sephi Ben Yosef was born in Tel Aviv on August 27, 1947. His parents, Esther and Avraham Ben-Yosef, were among the founders of the Cameri Theater. He began guiding hikes while still in high school.

He served in the IDF in Unit 8200 of the Intelligence Directorate and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In the period before the Yom Kippur War he was a network intelligence officer for special means.

After the army he worked at the Har Gilo field school and later ran it. He also led the tour guide program at the government tourism school, taught at Beit Berl College and edited books on the Land of Israel for Carta and Mapa. For 10 years he edited Teva Va'Aretz, the magazine of the Society for the Protection of Nature.

He wrote weekly columns for Kol Ha'ir and Yedioth Ahronoth and hosted a hiking show on Educational Television for 4 years. For 35 years he presented a segment with seasonal trip suggestions on Army Radio. In one article he spread archaeologist Meir Ben Dov's view that the battle of Masada did not take place, a view that later scholars largely reject.

He guides walking groups in Israel and unusual trips abroad and gives lectures on travel. He lives in Moshav Sharona in the Lower Galilee, where he and his partner keep a farm and a horse ranch.