Oded Elyashar is an attorney who joined  his father's import business  in his youth. His hobby of stamp collecting led him to an interest in the North and South Poles which he visited over the years. Amongst the places he visited are the island of Spitsbergen Norway, North Alaska, Finnish Lapland, North Greenland, Northern Canada. He even managed to land on the North Pole on Israel's 50th anniversary. He has also visited the Antarctic Peninsula. In parallel he amassed a library  of books dealing with Pole Exploration and Expeditions that he donated to the Geography Department