Aliyah Blog 56: Agam Museum

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Arrival

01. Aug 19, 2024: Preparation In America
02. Aug 25, 2024: First Few Days
03. Aug 29, 2024: Moving In
62. July 17, 2025: I MADE IT

Cultural Adjustment Fun

04. Sept 4, 2024: First Day of School
05. Sept 8, 2024: Two Weeks In . . .
06. Sept 16, 2024: Getting Comfortable
07. Sept 22, 2024: Ready for Yom Tov
09. Sept 30, 2024: Nasrallahed on the Floor
18. Nov 24, 2024: Language – l’at, ‘lat
39. Mar 12, 2025: Prove Yourself
50. May 19, 2025: Lag B’Omer
55. Jun 11, 2025: Idiosyncrasies
60. Jul 7, 2025: New Kitten – Pebble

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15. Nov 10, 2024: Safety Fourth
29. Jan 31, 2025: My Son Still in America
31. Feb 3, 2025: Internet Filtering for Kids
37. Mar 3, 2025: Technical Difficulties
40. Mar 17, 2025: Holiday Loneliness
49. May 13, 2025: It’s Broken.
58. June 22, 2025: Army Draft Notice
59. Jun 29, 2025: 12 Day War
61. Jul 13, 2025: Bring it to Israel for Me?

On The Roads

24. Jan 5, 2025: Supermarkets & Highways
25. Jan 12, 2025: Not Cutting Me Off
36. Feb 25, 2025: Road Rules of Israel
46. Apr 24, 2025: Car Towed and Fixed
47. Apr 27, 2025: Taking the Bus
53. May 29, 2025: TLV Airport Speed Run

Shopping

11. Oct 13, 2024: Packages. (חבילות.)
34. Feb 17, 2025: Finding Obscure Things
41. Mar 23, 2025: New Shopping Habits
44. Apr 6, 2025: Pesach Shopping & Osher Ad

Government and Bureaucracy

10. Oct 8, 2024: Driver’s License
13. Oct 30, 2024: Bureaucracies and Stories
19. Nov 28, 2024: Taxation for Americans
22. Dec 23, 2024: Doctors & “Choleh Chadash”
27. Jan 23, 2025: Healthcare in Israel
32. Feb 5, 2025: How To Hire the Wrong Person
33. Feb 10, 2025: Quest to Pay My Taxes
48. May 4, 2025: Bank Account for Business

Politics and Thought

12. Oct 25, 2024: October Sun and the Jew
16. Nov 17, 2024: Where People Look Like Me
17. Nov 19, 2024: Jewish Identity and Outlook
21. Dec 11, 2024: Let Freedom Ring
38. Mar 6, 2025: Talking in Quiet Peace

Travel: South Israel

08. Sept 25, 2024: Jerusalem Concert
14. Nov 2, 2024: The Kindness of Strangers
26. Jan 18, 2025: Dead Sea Beer and Ice Cream
30. Jan 31, 2025: My Son Visits and We Travel
35. Feb 20, 2025: Mitzpe Ramon Stars, Ein Avdat
45. Apr 20, 2025: Desert Llamas and Camels

Travel: Central/North Israel

20. Dec 5, 2024: Tel Aviv Art Museum
23. Dec 29, 2024: The West Bank. (Shomron)
28. Jan 26, 2025: Yarkon River Judaism, Tel Aviv
42. Mar 28, 2025: Hike Nahal Tavor, Mt. Tabor
50. May 18, 2025: Casearia
52. May 25, 2025: Flowers of Kfar Rut
56. Jun 15, 2025: Agam Art Museum
57. June 19, 2025: Ben Shemen Forest
63. Jul 23, 2025: Golan I & Tzvat
64. July 27, 2025: Hezekiah’s Tunnel

Travel: From Israel to …

54. June 4, 2025: Marseille and Avignon

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A bit “off the beaten path” is an interesting little museum in Rishon L’Zion near the center of the country and the sea. Born Yaacov Gibstein in 1928, first art exhibition in 1953, and still alive in 2025, Yaacov Agam does “kinetic” art. Short version: it looks different from different angles because you move or it moves.

There are a lot of pieces of art in his museum with acutely angled sharp sections such that the colors look different depending from where you view. Some you can rotate … apparently only for tour groups because we got scolded for rotating one ourselves.

As with many museums, it was filled with school groups. The particular layout of this museum lent itself to playing frogger. You’re walking to the next piece of art and … forward one row … back a little … forward two. I got this! Made it through all six rows of moving lily pads disguised as children.

The museum is one big room on the ground floor with a ramp going around the room in Guggenheim style to another room on the second floor. While you might think there’s a basement because there’s a a sculpture extending all the way down through the floor and you think, “even for Israel this lack of safety around this is a bit much” … it’s actually a very convincing reflection.

Not pictured: one of the teachers was Haredi. 99.9% of people get along just fine here.

The above two side of the ramp are taken from the same place. However, each part of each ramp is painted the exact same. Just stand over there … and … photos can’t do this place justice.

Here’s another view – note that each of those pictures looks different depending on where you stand, as does the side of the ramp.

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