ISRAELI DERVISH
Director YELDA YANAT KAPKIN
Countries Turkey
Duration 44 min
Synopsis
Miki Cohen is a 58-year-old college teacher who has 'discovered' the works of Jalal ad-Din Rumi, a 13th-century Muslim poet and Sufi mystic.Attracted by Rumi's writings and philosophy, Miki translates his works into Hebrew and practices whirling in worshipWhat makes Cohen's story so remarkable is that he is an Israeli.The son of holocaust survivors and a veteran of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Cohen found himself searching for answers to his spiritual identityAlong with several other Israelis, he undertakes a spiritual search and is attracted by the mysticism of SufismBut Miki goes a step further. He travels to Konya in central Turkey, the resting place of Rumi and a city once known as the 'citadel of Islam' with a reputation for religious conservatism. It is the centre for the Mevlevi Sufi order of Islam.Miki becomes one of few outsiders - and certainly the only Israeli - to be granted access to the inner sanctum of the whirling Dervishes.
Miki Cohen is a 58-year-old college teacher who has 'discovered' the works of Jalal ad-Din Rumi, a 13th-century Muslim poet and Sufi mystic.Attracted by Rumi's writings and philosophy, Miki translates his works into Hebrew and practices whirling in worshipWhat makes Cohen's story so remarkable is that he is an Israeli.The son of holocaust survivors and a veteran of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Cohen found himself searching for answers to his spiritual identityAlong with several other Israelis, he undertakes a spiritual search and is attracted by the mysticism of SufismBut Miki goes a step further. He travels to Konya in central Turkey, the resting place of Rumi and a city once known as the 'citadel of Islam' with a reputation for religious conservatism. It is the centre for the Mevlevi Sufi order of Islam.Miki becomes one of few outsiders - and certainly the only Israeli - to be granted access to the inner sanctum of the whirling Dervishes.