Walter Zanger (Hebrew: וולטר זנגר; 1935–2015), was an American-born Israeli author, tour guide and television personality. He was a contributor to newspapers, encyclopedias and magazines, and served as a member of the editorial board of the Jewish Bible Society.
Biography
Walter Zanger was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1935. He moved with his family to Jerusalem, Israel in 1966 and resided in the city's Ein Karem neighborhood[1] until his death in 2015.[2]
In 2000 he officiated the second bar mitzvah of Rabbi Morrison David Bial. Rabbi Bial had officiated Zanger's own bar mitzvah 52 years earlier.[8]
Publications
Zanger was an assistant to the publisher and contributor to the Encyclopaedia Judaica from 1966 to 1972[9] and wrote for the Biblical Archaeology Society[10] and the Jewish Bible Quarterly[11][12] He authored several books, including Jerusalem: Holy City to the World's Religions (Great Cities Library)[13] Zanger wrote FROM JERUSALEM, a personal, non-partisan newsletter addressing current events in Israel.[14]
Zanger was a licensed Israeli Master Guide.[18][19] He was an expert at taking Christians and Jews to their sacred places.[20] His expertise as a tour guide led him to become a television personality. He was featured on 11 episodes (1994-1996) of A&E's Mysteries of the Bible as one of Israel's leading guides.[21]
Awards and recognition
Zanger was a recipient of the Ministry of Tourism "Distinguished Tourism Employee" award. He received an honorarydoctor of divinity from the Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem in 2007.[22] He served in an anti-aircraft battalion in the Israel Defense Forces, and, after his discharge was an active volunteer in the Tourism Unit of the Israel Police.
Legacy
At his Amherst College 50th class reunion Zanger wrote "I always just did whatever seemed the right thing at the time, and it always worked out. My life has been -- by far! -- more luck than brains, and I feel fine about that." Walter Zanger died on August 28, 2015.[23]
^Cashman, Greer Fay (September 2, 2014). "Grapevine: A local version of 'Annie Get Your Gun'". Jerusalem Post. Reform Rabbi Walter Zanger, who had been a US Army chaplain in Vietnam and is currently a political analyst, spoke of the time he had worked with Sivan at Encyclopedia Judaica.
^"Author Index". Jewish Bible Association. ZANGER, WALTER Armageddon: Raging Battle for Bible History XXIX (4) 226 Moses, Elisha and Transferred Spirit: The Height of Biblical Prophecy? Part 2 XXX (3) 171 Violence and Holiness in Biblical Dan XXXI (1) 27