From a British Village to the Heart of Bnei Brak: The Journey of Convert Suzy Shapira

When seven-year-old Suzy sat in a village near London, drawing the lush landscapes and carefully applying paint, she never imagined she would one day ask herself, "Who created these landscapes?" She also could not foresee that the answer would take her far beyond the borders of Britain, to a distant land called Israel. Though she had heard of it, and her village folks knew of it, they never felt a personal connection to it.

From the age of two, Suzy was a village girl. Though she was born in London, she lived there only for two years due to the Blitz by the German air force during World War II, which led to the destruction of her parents' home and their escape to a village near the capital.

Living Inside a Postcard

Suzy Shapira grew up as a village child with a love for nature and scenery. From a young age, she loved to draw, and her parents, who invested in all aspects of her life, decided to provide her with colors, papers, and pencils as she wished.

"It wasn't easy at all in those days," she notes, "because it was during the war years when even basic food products were hard to come by, let alone such luxuries. But my parents found someone who sold them paint scraps, they got papers, and I would incorporate old textiles and different threads into my creations. Although I went to kindergarten and school during those years, I would draw at every free moment. Since both my parents were good at art, my grandmothers on both sides were strong in the field, and I also had aunts who made amazing embroideries, everyone around me would argue about from whom I inherited the talent, and to this day they haven't reached a consensus."

Suzy mentions that her parents were highly religious people who regularly attended the Christian church, bringing Suzy, her brother, and her sister with them. "I never found interest in the prayers; they always bored me, and I looked for excuses not to go," she admits. "Of course, it didn't help me, because for my parents, it was clear that was the only way."

At the age of eleven and a half, Suzy left the village school and went to study at a high school ten kilometers from her home. She would take a bus every morning and return in the evening. During those years, she was exposed to friends outside the village, city-dwelling teens, and different views, which made her realize that while her parents were religious, it didn't necessarily bind her to follow in their footsteps. Slowly, she began to reduce her church visits until she stopped entirely. "My sister also felt like me and stopped going to church," she shares. "You could say it was very characteristic of the youth around me, and I saw it with many friends whose parents were very religious while they did not believe at all."

From Britain to Bnei Brak

Suzy continued to the University of London, where she studied English and art, including art plastica, for which she won a first-place student award. This award significantly propelled her forward, as once she completed her studies and sought employment, she easily found a job as an art and English teacher. "I enjoyed working, my life was routine, and I loved what I was doing, but something was missing," she recounts. "In those days, I tried to define what was missing, and I didn't know, so I used my free time to learn additional things."

Suzy recalls returning to her parents in the village and once again setting out to paint the fields and spaces, just as when she was small, suddenly raising existential and simplistic questions: 'If Christianity doesn't exist, then who created everything, who renews nature every day, and who gave you the gift of drawing?'

Suzy was afraid to voice these feelings, but in her heart, she felt she was seeking an answer. She decided to take a few days off and flew to Amsterdam, where she happened to meet the man who later became her husband—a Jewish doctor from Israel attending a congress in Amsterdam. "He was on a sabbatical year, and I had taken a few days off work, so we both had plenty of time. When we felt the relationship was very serious, he dropped the bombshell, explaining that we couldn't possibly marry unless I converted and joined the Jewish people."

How did you feel about this news?

"It was a big shock, but the truth is that it reinforced the feeling that within Judaism lies the real truth, because to be Jewish, it's not enough to dip in a river; you have to be sincere, learn all that is required, and express willingness to make a very radical change in your life. In my case, it was the most extreme change, as I voluntarily approached the Chief Rabbi of England, who guided us that to undergo conversion, I would need to come to Israel and live there in a community of observant Jews. I asked my husband to think about it, but just two days later, I contacted him and informed him that I was ready. Something in my heart drew me to Judaism; I felt it was an opportunity for me to finally find what I had been missing and bring peace to my soul."

And how did your parents react?

"At first, they didn't think it was serious, but after I flew to Israel and they saw that I was indeed staying there and undergoing the process, they told me, 'Hashem is one, and the main thing is that you believe in Him.' They weren't happy about it, but they let me understand they stood behind me."

Returning to Childhood

Suzy moved to live in the center of Bnei Brak, where she stayed for a year, which was full of courses and exams required for conversion. "From day to day, I felt that I loved Judaism more and connected to it," she shares. "Today I know that by divine intervention, Hashem joined me to the people of Israel, because I was so far away, and there was no reason in the world I would come here."

And what about the art world? Did you abandon it after arriving in Israel?

"I didn't abandon it; I froze it, because a year after arriving in the country, we got married, and very soon we had three children close in age. In the early years, I mainly took care of them and couldn't go out to work, but when the children grew up, I decided to seek employment in my professional fields, and eventually, I was placed as an English as a second language teacher at the Open University. In between, I was creating works of art and occasionally launching exhibitions that, with Hashem's help, were very successful."

Regarding her paintings, Suzy says: "I paint in a variety of techniques and methods, but I'm especially connected to the technique I practiced as a child: combining oil paints on canvas, with threads, a sewing machine, and hand embroidery. This is a very unique art, and I have yet to meet anyone in the country who does it. I work on each piece for long weeks and feel that in this way, I express myself. My works contain many contrasts, as they integrate textiles and threads of various kinds, and I feel that in this way, I express the world around me because it is so contradictory and diverse."

According to Suzy, she is currently on the eve of an exhibition that will soon be presented at the Haifa auditorium (starting October 20). "I'm no longer young, but I continue to create with vigor, and feel that this creation brings me back to my childhood days, which become alive and tangible before my eyes."