Debra Band’s work in Hebrew illuminated manuscripts draws upon her love of both the manuscript arts, and Jewish tradition and learning. She holds BA Honours in History from Concordia University in Montreal and an MS in Political Science from MIT, and has worked in Hebrew manuscripts since 1987. Descended from an eminent rabbinic family, married into a family of scholars of modern Hebrew literature, her extensive studies of Jewish texts and research into medieval European and middle Eastern painting and manuscripts inform her work. JPS has published her illuminated manuscripts, The Song of Songs: the Honeybee in the Garden (2005), and I Will Wake the Dawn: Illuminated Psalms (2007), the latter a collaboration with Arnold J. Band. In addition, her work includes illuminated and papercut ketubot and other works in group exhibits, private collections, community institutions and galleries across the English-speaking world. The 65 original paintings from the Song of Songs work toured the US as a traveling exhibit from March 2005 through December 2007, and the 82 paintings from the Psalms book are presently touring the US and Canada. Debra works extensively with the Women’s League of Conservative Judaism: she contributed to the 2007 “Day of Study” materials on the Song of Songs and 2008 materials on Lamentations. She speaks regularly across the United States and Canada at diverse Jewish and Christian venues ranging from synagogues to academic conferences and seminaries, and the Library of Congress . Apart from her work in Hebrew manuscript arts, Debra is involved in medical ethics review; she participates as a lay member in the Neurosciences Institutional Review Board of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Debra has lived throughout the US and Canada, and after many years in California and New Mexico, resides in the Washington DC area along with her husband, sons and menagerie.