Mapah derekh emet

Avigdor ben Mordechai Malkov

Mapah derekh emet: Mapa Derekhʺ emesʺ: t.e. Karta Palestiny idorogi vykhoda Izrailʹīi︠a︡nʺ izʺ Egipta, 2nd edition (Map of Righteous Path)

Warsaw, ca. 1890s

Little is known about Avigdor ben Mordechai Malkov, an early Zionist and the author of this unique colored map that merges the historical route of Jews on their Exodus from slavery in Egypt with contemporary information on Palestine at the close of the 19th century. Malkov was born in Surazh, in Ukraine’s Chernihiv province, in the mid-19th century. His father, Mordechai Malkov, was a rabbinical judge. Avigdor Malkov taught Yiddish and Hebrew in Chernihiv, Kovno, and Warsaw. 

Malkov’s fascination with the historical geography of Palestine and its modern development is evident from the two editions of the map Derekh Emet' (Righteous Path) published in Warsaw. The first edition appeared in 1894 and was followed by a second, updated edition of 1899, which is presented here. Malkov’s book—which had the same title—was also published twice, in Yiddish and Hebrew, first in Warsaw in 1894, and in a second, expanded edition in Warsaw in 1901. These two books serve as important explanatory companions to Malkov’s extraordinary maps.

Malkov conducted his research for the maps from what he described as “many big books by earlier and current geonim [geniuses, in Hebrew; or also rabbinical experts] and also books on geography,” but apparently he didn’t visit the area himself, at least not before 1899.

A detailed statement about the map appears in Hebrew in the right upper corner, while tribes’ names and territories appear in the bottom left, along with explanations of the map’s icons and scale. Framing the map are relevant quotations from the Prophets.