Tel-Chai Nation

Here's another article about Turkish painter Lea Gul's journey to Judaism:

Artist Lea Gol's living room in her Jerusalem home is also her studio. The evidence is scattered all over: brushes, paints, and artwork from all periods of her life. The ZOA House (Beit Ziyonei America) in Tel Aviv is currently displaying an exhibition of her paintings "Exposed to the Forces of Nature": 23 large canvases, full of emotions, reflecting the spiritual journey she encountered, documenting her life history and femininity, and also magically touching stories of Jewish tradition. Two men, one with wings, struggle in a surrealistic landscape full of color – a symbol of the struggle between Jacob and the angel, between good and evil; or the painting of "Eshet Chayil" – "I drew the seven Sefirot, and it is quite clear," Gol claims, mentioning the Kabbalistic term in passing. "There are also many different codes in the colors I chose: crimson and light blue are the colors of the Temple. I generally do not need to explain the painting; people understand on their own, but I enjoy hearing what they have to say about my paintings. Sometimes we see the same things, and sometimes I discover new things through what I hear from them."

This is her first exhibition in Israel, but certainly not the first in her life – she has held dozens of exhibitions in Turkey. "Painting and art are an inseparable part of who I am. This is the world I was born into. My mother studied art at the Academy of Art in Istanbul, and I grew up in a house of artists. My mother's uncle was a famous director who won international awards, and after spending a long time in the United States, he returned to Turkey and moved in with us, so I got to know this world from a close-up. When I was young, I wanted to be a ballerina, but pursuing this career wasn't possible in Turkey. I started drawing, and I was good at it, so my parents took it seriously and I became an artist.

Anyone aware of how much influence Islam has in Turkey won't be shocked by that. As further explained:

Conversion is impossible in Turkey. According to an old, but valid, Ottoman agreement between the Turkish state and the Jewish community, a Jewish court in Turkey is not allowed to convert to Judaism. The agreement is rooted in the sources of Judaism in the Ottoman Empire: in 1492, after the expulsion from Spain, Sultan Bayezid II invited the Jewish refugees to come to his country, and about 40,000 people responded to his call, settling mainly in Istanbul and Thessaloniki. According to Islam, a Muslim is, of course, forbidden to convert his religion, so already at the time of establishing the institutions of the Jewish community, the Ottomans strictly forbade the courts from holding any conversions. What does a Muslim woman who wants to convert do? She must travel to another country and find a court that is willing to accept her.

That's assuming she'll be allowed without danger threating her life. Even in Turkey, there's the horrifying threat of honor murders committed against women - and men - who take any actions that Muslims view as slighting their ideology. She's lucky she didn't encounter that. And Gul's aware of what a disaster Turkey's bound to sink into again under the Religion of Peace:

An impressive painting of the Istanbul shores looking from the sea, the Bosphorus straits, and the mosques behind them, their columns and domes hanging on the wall of her home. She did not paint this picture, Gol reveals, but rather her mother. In her voice, you can hear her longing for her native surroundings. If you ask her, she has not cut her ties with the life and culture in Turkey, and her "blood" is still Turkish.

But, she explains to me and her face expresses deep pain, the beautiful, good country she grew up in no longer exists. She believes that the Atatürk Reforms, initiated by the founder of modern Turkey, are going to disappear. Turkey is moving away from the progressive and secular country it used to be. Most of Gol's non-Jewish friends, who are not Erdoğan supporters, have already purchased homes for themselves outside of Turkey, ready for the day when the situation becomes unbearable.

As strange as it may sound, Leah's Jewish friends actually believe that the situation will improve. But she doesn't think like them. "I am happy that my parents did not live long enough to see what Turkey has become today," says Gol. "I am very proud that my children, despite the fear they experienced when the war broke out, never asked to return to Turkey. This is my greatest success."

Well what's happening in Turkey today shouldn't go unopposed. Nor should Azerbaijan be allowed to do what Turkey failed over a century ago to Armenia. Somebody's got to speak up and out about the continuing crisis of Islamic influence the world over.

In the meantime, let's wish Gul good luck with her painting career, and it's good that as a convert to Judaism, she doesn't follow any absurd dress codes.

Labels: Asia, India, islam, Israel, Judaism, misogyny, turkey