Ruth Peled

I have been fortunate enough to have a large number of repeat customers. Part of why they keep coming back to me is because I never give them the same itinerary twice, and by going to Israel myself as I do every year, I always find new activities for my returning clients and new sights for them to enjoy. 

I am now working with a couple that I’m sending to Israel for the eighth time; this means I had some homework to do the last time I visited to find something they had not seen or done already. What I found for them was a new museum, which had just opened, and I was glad to find an unexpected cultural experience for them. 

The museum is named after Yaakov Agam, a 90-year-old kinetic artist who lives in the town of Rishon LeZion. I went during my last trip to Israel and found his work quite impressive. Many of his pieces are interactive. You need a guide to show you how to observe the kinetic movement of the artwork, so when I was there, I lined up a private English-speaking guide. Language should not be a barrier to their enjoyment of the artwork, and they should experience it in the way that it was designed to be seen. 

There is another new museum adjacent to Tel Aviv University, and I recently found out that its president will open up his house to tourists. I'm not going to tell my clients in advance. I want them to discover it when they’re there, and when they find out, I want to say “Surprise!” to them in Hebrew.