Senior Fellow
Debra Band is a distinguished visual artist, scholar of Hebrew illuminated manuscripts, calligrapher, and illuminator. Descended from an eminent rabbinic family, her extensive studies of Jewish texts and research into medieval European and Middle Eastern paintings and manuscripts inform her work. Debra’s work, celebrated for its intellectual and spiritual depth as well as visual beauty, includes illuminated and papercut books and Jewish marriage documents (ketubot).
Debra’s acclaimed illuminated books (see below), each a collaboration with leading scholars, meld classic Jewish texts, midrash and Western culture into rich visual midrash. Her work in Hebrew illuminated manuscripts draws upon her love of both the manuscript arts and biblical studies.
Debra’s work is exhibited across the United States and Canada and her ketubot grace homes across the world. Also, her works feature on the book covers of many Jewish and Christian scholarly publications.
Debra resides in Potomac, Maryland, USA, with her husband, psychiatrist Michael S. Diamond, MD and menagerie.
A full gallery of Debra’s artistic creations is available on her website.
Debra Band’s Selected Publications:
Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living (with Menachem Fisch, 2024)
All the World Praises You: an Illuminated Aleph Bet Book (2018)
Kabbalat Shabbat: the Grand Unification (with Raymond P. Scheindlin, 2016)
Arise! Arise! Deborah, Ruth and Hannah (with Arnold J. Band, 2012)
I Will Wake the Dawn: Illuminated Psalms (with Arnold J. Band 2007)
The Song of Songs: the Honeybee in the Garden (2005)