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 be delivering the 2026 Stroum Lectures at the the University of Washington on May 12 and May 14, 2026. For details see here!

The article, “Undoing the Cisness of Late Ancient (Jewish/Religious) Studies,” is out in QTR: a Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Religion 2:2.

Rafe has work in the group show RECIPROCITY at the DOWNTOWN SYNAGOGUE in DETROIT. OPENING August 17th, 2025.

The comic “Bava Qamma 16a” and short essay is out in the Frankel Annual 2025.

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

Jessie DeGrado, Dorothy Kim, Scott Larson, Rafe Neis, and Max Strassfeld presented on “Trans” Before the Modern, as part of the Frankel Institute Critical Trans Studies Symposium, March 18, 2026.

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.