INTERACTION: I'm not interested in giving lengthy speeches full of facts and figures: you're on holiday and I'm not a history teacher. Instead I encourage you to think about what you're seeing, ask plenty of questions, and use original methods and multimedia tools in order to bring a site to life.

 

EXPERIENCES: Whether it's a chat with a local in a little-known coffeehouse, a spectacular but lesser-known view, or a wander through the backstreets, I want to help you have experiences that you wouldn't have otherwise, and which ultimately make a trip memorable. Alongside the more famous sites, I want us to experience contemporary Israeli life together. 

 

THE BIG PICTURE: I never take it for granted that a site is interesting on account of its antiquity or its size or its design. If I can't offer you a convincing reason as to why something is important to us today, then I won't take you there. After visiting a site with me, I want you to understand why it still holds significance and helps us understand today's Israel, in all its complexity.

 

THE PEOPLE ON THE STREET: I'm as interested in the people praying at the Western Wall as I am in the Western Wall itself, because they are the ones which imbue it with life and significance. This idea is neatly described in Yehuda Amichai's famous poem, Tourists, when he notes a group of tourists focusing all their attention on an arch from the Roman period, while ignoring a nearby man who has just bought fruit and vegetables for his family. On my tours, I strive to give equal attention to both.

 

UNDERSTANDING NARRATIVES: Almost every site in Israel is contested in some way, whether it's between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims, or Orthodox and Secular. I want to make sure that you understand all of the competing claims. I won't stand on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif and tell you that it should belong to the Jews or should belong to the Muslims, but I will explain the rationale behind these deeply held claims.