The Jewish Arts Collective 2025-26 / 5786
THEME: Beginning Again | בראשית

The Jewish Arts Collective (JAC) is a community of Jewish artists exploring the intersection of Judaism and contemporary art. Rooted in the legacy of the Jewish Artists’ Laboratory, JAC fosters creative expression through study, dialogue, and collaboration. This membership program offers monthly study sessions, arts workshops, exhibitions and presentations of work, and meaningful networking opportunities.

The Jewish Arts Collective is excited to gather around this year’s theme, Beginning Again, an exploration of renewal, resilience, and creative possibility. Rooted in the story of Genesis, the theme invites us to reflect on three aspects of creation: divine order, the shaping of chaos into harmony; sacred speech, the power of words to call worlds into being; and ongoing creation, the continual act of making, re-making, and beginning anew. Through text study, dialogue, and shared artistic practice, we’ll explore how these teachings connect to our own creative journeys, inspiring us to imagine, to start fresh, and to bring forth new expressions of Jewish life and art.

Participants from any trimester are welcome to join a culminating exhibit and presentation in July & August 2026. In addition, JAC participants will be invited to take part in custom workshops, film screenings, and other arts engagement opportunities throughout the year.

Each trimester includes one hands-on art workshop*

Meet the Facilitators

Rabbanit Dalia Davis

Dalia Davis is a Jewish educator and artist who is passionate about creating opportunities for healing and spiritual growth. She is the Director of Pastoral Education at SVIVAH and an educator who loves studying with students of all ages. Dalia teaches Jewish texts and ideas at Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School, Congregation Darchei Noam, and various other educational spaces around the Twin Cities. She is also a choreographer whose dance pieces reflect upon Jewish thought and express the experiences of Jewish women through movement. Dalia created Beit Midrash in Motion, a fully embodied approach to Jewish learning, through which she has designed and led workshops that approach the study of Jewish text through movement. She also co-founded Uprooted: A Jewish Response to Fertility Journeys, and authored Fertility Journeys: A Jewish Healing Guide for Mayyim Hayyim.

Dalia graduated from Yeshivat Maharat’s Advance Kollel, majored in Jewish History and Dance at Barnard College and studied in Israel at Nishmat. She also received an M.A. in Jewish Education from Y.U. and a certificate in Talmud and Halacha from GPATS.

Dalia has enjoyed a variety of Jewish educational opportunities. She has served as Rosh Beit Midrash for Merkavah Women’s Torah Institute in Berkeley, taught Melton courses in Springfield, MA, and served as Jewish dance educator for the Foundation for Jewish Camps. Currently, she also teaches Judaic studies at Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School, is designing a youth curriculum for Congregation Darchei Noam, and serves as a research fellow for M2: Institute for Experiential Jewish Education.

Rabbi Debra Rappaport

Rabbi Debra Rappaport became Director of Hineni in September of 2023. In this role, she curates and supports Jewish learning and mindfulness practices, collaborating with partners toward building engaged learning communities throughout the Twin Cities.

R’Rappaport, a native of the western suburbs of Minneapolis, has been back in the Twin Cities since 2014. She served as Rabbi for Lifelong Learning & Engagement at Shir Tikvah from early 2015 through late 2021, during which there were many joyful collaborations with Hineni. In the 1990’s, she served on the board of the JCRC and the Minneapolis Federation’s Continuity Task Force, as well as participating in the second cohort of the Harry Kay Leadership Institute. She was ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia in 2007. A lifelong love of the mountains led her to B’nai Vail Congregation in Colorado, where she served as Rabbi & Executive Director for seven years.

Since 2010, Rabbi Rappaport has been actively engaged with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s mindfulness learning and practice. Her recent volunteer roles have included co-chairing the MN Rabbinical Association and representing the Reconstructionist Movement in Hazon’s Climate Leadership Coalition. She can often be found hiking, bike riding or skiing in or around Theodore Wirth Park.

R’ Rappaport finds great joy in Jewish learning in small communities, in which the texts and prayers of our tradition – as well as the people in the room – form the foundation of connected, meaningful living in the present. Her Hineni offerings have included Mussar (Everyday Holiness, Tikkun Middot, Mussar for Leadership, and Omer Mussar); Shlemut: Jewish Visions for Living Fully, Authentically and with Purpose; Faith in the Fog; Feeling Grief, Finding Love: a Tisha B’Av program; Wise Aging; Jewish Voices for the Earth and more.

Alexander Davis

Alexander Davis is senior rabbi of Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park, MN where he previously served as an associate rabbi. He received his B.A. in German Studies from Grinnell College and in 1999 graduated from the Jewish Theological Seminary with rabbinic ordination and an M.A. in Jewish Education. Since moving to the Twin Cities, Rabbi Davis has served on a variety of local boards, the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Assembly and has participated in national conferences on Judaism and spirituality and synagogue leadership.

When he is not learning or teaching Torah, he loves cooking and baking, travel and the arts. Rabbi Davis grew up in Portland, Oregon and lived in Jerusalem and New York City before moving with his wife to the Twin Cities. He is blessed to be the father of four boys.

Meryll Levine Page

You won’t find any works of art by Meryll Levine Page other than the non-fiction book she co-authored with her sister, Leslie Levine Adler: Jewish Luck: A True Story of Friendship, Deception, and Risky Business. During the three-year process of research, writing, editing, and shepherding the book through publication, not only did Meryll and Leslie learn about the creative process, they were also able to reconcile the two protagonists and forge a stronger connection by working together. The template of cooperative research and writing helped Meryll in her work at the Jewish Artists’ Lab.

The Jewish Artists’ Lab provided an opportunity for Meryll’s ongoing connection to talented and thoughtful artists. As a text facilitator she was privileged to help create the theme, plan sessions, and lead discussions since the inception of the Lab. With each session and conversation Meryll’s appreciation of the artists’ insights and work has grown year after year.

For thirty-nine years teaching was Meryll’s passion and profession. She has crossed the Mississippi to teach Bible and Jewish History in both Jewish and secular schools, public and private schools. Meryll retired from St. Louis Park Senior High in 2010.

Meryll’s volunteer activities include serving on the Minnesota Humanities Center Board from June 2004 until October 2012. For the past twenty years, she has joined the Melton Coalition representatives from the Ohio State University, Hebrew University and Jewish Theological Center to create colloquia and joint ventures to enhance Jewish education. In addition, she translates material from Hebrew to English for an Israeli museum. In her free time, Meryll has been studying Daf Yomi daily through Hadran.org.il and is proud to have not missed a page since January 2020.

JAC is planned in partnership with JCreate, a program of TC Jewfolk.