4 minute read
THE BEAUTY OF JUDAISM EXHIBITION
By Crystal Jones and Zahava Mimran. Photography by Raw Focus - Dina Erlich.
As a freelance journalist who has worked for almost all of the national newspapers, Crystal Jones had always been an avid art lover, yet she had never ventured into the world of art. Previously irreligious, Crystal found her way to a life of spirituality and meaning, and is now incredibly passionate about her observance. ‘It takes a tremendous amount of life experience, spirituality, bravery and commitment to acknowledge that Torah is emes, then to implement changes in your life to become fully observant and commit to a religious life with ongoing simcha. But I wanted to show that this can be done and that this is what a truly beautiful life is,’ she says, ‘The joy and depth of frum life cannot be captured in a Netflix show. Television shows are always looking to sensationalize because it appeals to a mass narrative – the side where those that have lived this happy life since they were born grow tired and uninspired with it and decide to ‘free’ themselves by assimilating fully into the secular world. It is a tragedy because I have known every joy the secular world can offer and nothing compares to the liberation and connection I feel when I am close to Hashem through mitzvos.’
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Unfortunately though, many consider religious Jews, and especially the women, as being oppressed, trapped and unhappy, which couldn't be further from the truth. Crystal found that she just got fed up of hearing and seeing the same bland and unimaginative message from non-Jewish contacts, colleagues and even secular Jews.
With the worldwide perception of
religious Jews very much missing these elements, Crystal set herself to doing something about it. She realised that art may be the closest she could come to presenting these concepts, and thus The Beauty of Judaism exhibition was born.
Each piece and artist that Crystal displayed was carefully curated by herself in advance. She worked with nine artists, displaying four to six pieces by each of them. ‘Every piece that I chose spoke to me, and each one in their own unique way showed glimpses of a joyful religious life. As well as true talent, I chose to only display work by artists who have a positivity and innate happiness, as I am a big believer that this shines through in their work, which would match the ethos of what I was trying to achieve.’
Another important factor that made this exhibition so unique was the background of each artist. ‘It was important for me to have a very diverse collection of artists. I included work from artists of different ages and backgrounds, including both Ashkenazi and Sephardi artists. The youngest was 25 and the oldest was in their 80’s. Each one had had their own challenges and achievements in life, and each live a joyful, frum life. One of the paintings (by the phenomenal Victoria Shasha) depicts Ruth, in acknowledgement of the joy that Gerim have brought to our community.’
The exhibition was held in a beautiful gallery in Mayfair, and was extremely busy, with the gallery being packed pretty much the whole week. Although Crystal had originally planned just one private viewing, she ended up running four, due to the large interest. ‘Amazingly, that was purely from word of mouth as I did not have time to fully market it,’ she says. ‘I feel that Hashem recognised my good intention and that the exhibition was blessed with the presence of the community because of that.’
Although putting the exhibition together took a tremendous amount of effort and many months, Crystal feels
that she was successful in conveying the message she wanted to get across to others. ‘I received a huge amount of positive feedback,’ she notes. ‘So many
people enjoyed it, and a couple told me that they left feeling like they’d had an uplifting experience just from visiting, which made me very happy.’
‘We also sold quite a few paintings too, with all of the artists benefitting from the publicity, and many of them have had new commissions as a result. So many people told me they had no idea we had such a huge amount of talent in our community, so it was also a pleasure to raise awareness and encourage more homes to have beautiful and unique art adorning their walls.’
Crystal plans on building an online version of the exhibition with the artists who are happy to be represented by her; adding new talent when she discovers it. She is also looking into the possibility of future exhibitions. The online gallery will hopefully be available from Shevat/ mid-January and can be found at www. thebeautyofjudaism.co.uk.
