Flight of the DuckFish (oil on canvas, 4 ft. 6 in. x 7 ft., 2020)

Flight of the DuckFish (oil on canvas, 4 ft. 6 in. × 7 ft., 2020)

Rafael Rachel Neis is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and scholar of Talmud and ancient history. They grew up in London, England and live and work in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Rafe works across different forms, including painting, comics, installation/sculpture, and writing. They are an award-winning author of two books, most recently, When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven: Rabbis & the Reproduction of Species (available open access and softcover use UCPSAVE30 to get it for $24.47 from indiepubs).

LATEST NEWS!

Rafe will have work in RECIPROCITY an exhibition curated by Sarah Rose Sharp at the DOWNTOWN SYNAGOGUE in DETROIT. OPENING August 17th, 2025.

Rafe’s Bava Qamma 16a comic and short essay is forthcoming in the Frankel Annual.

Rafe’s comic bHagigah 12a-b is forthcoming in Religious Studies Review.

Hear Rafe Neis, Jessie DeGrado, Dorothy Kim, Scott Larson, and Max Strassfeld, on “Trans” Before the Modern, part of the Frankel Institute Critical Trans Studies Symposium, March 18, 10:30 am - 12:30 am.

When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven: Rabbis and the Reproduction of Species is out. Purchase your hard copy here. Open access available here. Thanks to UC Press, Luminos, and the UM Library’s TOME Award for making open access scholarship possible.