Born in the Bukharan Quarter in Jerusalem in 1909, the scion of a respected Sephardic family that had settled in Eretz Israel following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, Castel was one of the first artists to be born and begin their career in the Land of Israel.
"I was born facing the rocks and the splendid vistas of the cities of Judea, which have influenced me and all my works. All the stories of the Hebrew Bible had played out around my home, among the rocks and the mountains; there, I saw in my mind’s eye our forefathers: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets."