Ruth Kark

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Ruth Kark (Hebrew: רות קרק), born in 1941 in Herzliya, is an Israeli historical geographer and a professor of geography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is a leading expert on the historical geography of Palestine and Israel and was named the 2025 Israel Prize laureate in geographical research and knowledge of the Land of Israel.

Born Ruth Kleiner to Shoshana Moczan and Avraham Kleiner, she earned her B.A. from the Hebrew University in 1964, an M.A. in 1972, and a Ph.D. in 1977—becoming the first Israeli woman geographer to hold a Ph.D. and a pioneer in historical geography. She is married to Jeremy David Kark and they have three children. Kark has written or edited about 30 books and published over 250 peer-reviewed articles on the history and historical geography of Palestine and the Land of Israel. Her work covers 19th- and early 20th-century settlement, the development of cities such as Jerusalem and Jaffa, Holy Land missions, and land purchases, as well as studies of women and minorities, Sephardic entrepreneurs, and land ownership in traditional and modern Middle Eastern cultures. She has frequently served as an expert in land disputes in Israel.

Kark has received many honors, including the Jerusalem Bank Award, a Fulbright scholarship, and a 2009 award with co-author Joseph Glass for research on banking in Ottoman Palestine. She won the Yakir Yerushalayim prize in 2013 for her contributions to Jerusalem, the Herzl Prize in 2014 for her work on settlement in the Land of Israel, and a 2016 recognition of excellence from the Israeli Geographical Society. In 2025 she received the Israel Prize, praised for her comprehensive and original contributions, and she became the first female geographer to win in Geography. She is also recognized for highlighting the roles of women—Jewish, Christian, Arab Muslim, and Bedouin—in the region’s settlement and society.