My Biography

 

 My name is Mark Gershom and I am a nationally certified tour guide by the Ministry of Tourism  in the State of Israel since 2011. I am certified a Botanical Gardens  Association tour guide since 2003.

 

I repatriated to Israel in 1997.

 

 

 

 

I was born in 1967 in Donetsk, the Ukraine, then part of the former Soviet Union.

 

 

 

 

 My grandparents (let their souls rest in peace) were  survivors of the Holocaust,  they came to the Ukraine from Poland after the the Second World War. 

 

 

 

My parents (let their souls rest in peace) got married in Ukraine.  When I was 13 years old, my family moved to Siberia in the far North of Russia. I graduated school there and also worked as a forester (ranger) in the 1990s. 

 

 

 I met and married my wonderful wife Katy in Siberia in 1997. Our two sons (Eliyahu and Daniel) and two daughters (Adina and Zohar) were born in the Land and are pure 100% Israelis! 

 

Our  sons and oldest daughter have done compulsory military service in  Israeli Defense Forces and our youngest daughter is doing it now!

 I moved to Israel in 1997 and was granted citizenship, according to the basic law of the state of Israel known as The Law of Return  which states that every Jew or a descendant of a Jew has a right to become a citizen of Israel, the national home of the Jewish people.

 

I have deep religious feelings and faith in the Hebrew Scriptures. For me, coming to Israel was a personal fulfillment of ancient prophecies about restoring Jewish national life in our promised Land - Israel. 

Since I came to Israel, I have had a desire to cultivate this wonderful land. Maybe it is because I consider the Land of Israel sacred and holy and that is why I became a landscaping designer and a gardener.

 

In 2003, I graduated from a landscaping design course provided by the Ministry of Labor. Since then I run own and operate a small landscaping business.  Take a look at my website: www.markgarden.net.   

 

The vegetation and flora in Israel is so rich and mostly different from Siberia, so I decided to continue my education and took the Botanical Gardens Association guide course. Jerusalem is home to the Botanical Garden which is the largest in the Middle East (over 6000 species).

 

Although the knowledge from studying the course was supposed to help me in my landscaping business, the management of the Botanical Garden invited me to guide tours in the Garden.  Because I can speak a few languages, I became a certified guide while working in my landscape business.  After a while,  I felt I could also guide people on tours throughout the Land that I love so much.

 

Later, I took  another step in my education and went to study at Hebrew University School of Tourism to become a certified tour guide in Israel and graduated in 2009.

Since then,  I  have been guiding guests from all over the world, telling them about our wonderful country, our special people, our rich natural resources and flora and, of course, about faith.

 

I myself deeply believe in the Holy Scriptures of the Jewish people. I even consider New Testament to be part of the Jewish cultural, religious and spiritual heritage and believe there is truth in it. While still living in Russia, I graduated from the Biblical course of Derek Prince International Ministry which helped me to understand the basics of the Bible. That is why Judaism, Christianity and to some extent - Islam are my specialties. 

 

 I love to play ping pong, tennis, badminton, beach ball and all the racket games  you can imagine. For exercise I go to the gym and swim, but what I really like to do is walk because I am a tour guide, after all!