A Mexican Artist of Jewish Ascent Exhibits a Portrait of His Rabbi

THE JERUSELUM
By Marion Fischel

A PORTRAIT of Rabbi Moshe Bendahan. Photo: Courtesy Jair Leal

ISREAL---The "Dazed and Refused" portrait exhibit opens today at The Arch Gallery in London, displaying the work of painters whose portraits didn’t make it into a competition organized by the National Portrait Gallery. Mexican-born painter, sculptor, graphic artist and writer Jair Leal is among those exhibiting at the "Dazed and Refused" exhibition which opens the same day and hour as the National Portrait Gallery exhibition. The painting he created for the competition is of Rabbi Moshe Bendahan, from Madrid. Brought up as a Christian, Leal says that from a very young age he “felt an inexplicable empathy for the People of Israel and their history.” Leal’s latest project, “Current Perceptions,” consists of 30 oil-on-canvas paintings and a short film. As a teenager he abandoned Catholicism, because, he says, “it was not my faith, it was not what my soul wanted or felt, it was not ‘true’ for me.” [link]