Bruria Hasner

The Magic of Leaving Religion: "You're Always Both Here and There"
Leaving the religious world doesn’t mean it has completely left me. I still keep kosher and can’t bring myself to eat non-kosher food. On Friday nights, I light candles and hold a Kiddush ceremony—rituals I find beautiful. On Shabbat, I rest and avoid work. I’ve adopted religion selectively, taking what resonates with me.

Broken Figures
I came to painting almost by accident. While volunteering with children, I helped them draw, and their drawings were hung on the wall. “Everyone kept asking me why I didn’t study art myself,” she recalls. Married and already a mother, she finally went to an art school in Bat Yam, where she was taught by inspiring teachers like Yaffa Peled, Alkalai, Yossi Gatnio, and Menachem Mizrahi. Their guidance opened up a whole new world to her.

Bruria reflects on her journey, noting that “Anyone who leaves the religious world is always both here and there.” Her connection to her roots remains, but her curiosity for secular culture has been a driving force. She confesses: “I used to envy women on motorcycles. It did something to me. I wanted that freedom.”

Her artwork often features fragmented figures. “I never intentionally leave them incomplete; it just happens that way,” she explains. “Perhaps it’s my way of reconciling my past and present.”

A Journey from Bnei Brak to Art
Growing up in an ultra-Orthodox family in Bnei Brak, Bruria lived in what she calls a "closed-off" environment. “It was black-and-white—modest clothing, strict education. My siblings were in yeshivas, but they also got a taste of Bar-Ilan University.”

At 16, she began questioning her world. “I was fascinated by secular clothing. The uniform modesty of the women around me seemed so schematic. Seeing secular women on motorcycles, I couldn’t help but feel drawn to that lifestyle.”

Despite her parents' opposition to her dating Ezra, a secular man she met while volunteering at a hospital, she stood her ground. “They initially rejected him entirely. But over time, they saw his qualities and accepted him. It took patience, but eventually, the resistance faded.”

Balancing Faith and Creativity
Though she left the religious world, Bruria admits that its influence lingers in her work. “I can’t create complete figures; they’re always broken or fragmented. It’s not intentional—it’s just how it comes out.”

She studied briefly at Bar-Ilan University, focusing on Israeli history and political science, and later at Tel Aviv University, where she explored art history to fill the gaps in her artistic education. “There was a hole in my knowledge about art. Even now, I feel I’m still catching up.”

Working on a Large Scale
Bruria thrives on creating large-scale works, often using colorful billboards as her canvas. She describes smaller formats as suffocating. “I can’t work small. It stifles me.” She recalls struggling with the blankness of a white canvas until a chance discovery solved the problem. “One day, Moshe Nur from the Nur company gave me billboard sheets. The colorful background inspired me, and from then on, I started painting the way I truly wanted.”

Her exhibition, titled A Look from There, reflects her dual perspective on the ultra-Orthodox and secular worlds. "In all my works, people look at you from every possible angle. It’s as if I’m gazing from the religious world to the secular one, but I still don’t know where I truly belong.”

Bruria’s art exudes a love for humanity, transcending labels and divisions. Through her work, she continues to explore and reconcile the many layers of her identity.