Adina Polen
Founder and Director
After earning her BA in Music from Barnard College, Adina studied design at the Bezalel Academy and Hadassah College, and Jewish texts at Midreshet Lindenbaum, at the Pardes Institute and at the Yakar Center for Creativity and Tradition—all in Jerusalem. Along with her work at Atiq, Adina has channeled her love of integrating Torah and arts into her work as a Maker Educator at the Brandeis Collegiate Institute, a Counselor/Educator on the Nesiya Institute, and as a Maker Specialist for Edah Berkeley. Adina has been steeped in the do-it-yourself ethos of the Chavurah movement, Jewish Catalog style creativity, and the teachings of Hasidut from her earliest days. She believes that multi-sensory creative opportunities for spiritual quest, meaning making, improvisation and sacred culture creation sustain us as individuals, and strengthen our communities in the most textured and layered ways.
Rachel Bickel
creative director
Rachel holds an MA in Library and Information Studies (MLIS) from UBC Vancouver with a focus on preservation and is an active alumni member of Moishe House Vancouver. Rachel is passionate about building engaged and diverse communities, and deepening the ways that material culture can support this effort. Rachel brings her talent and expertise in these areas to bear in helping shape Atiq’s diverse array of programming.
Ariel Mayse
Rabbi-in-residence
As a member of the inaugural cohort of ordained Rabbis at Beit Midrash Harel, and a black belt in Karate, Ariel has always charted a unique spiritual path. Ariel is an assistant professor of Judaic Studies at Stanford University, with a focus on Hasidut and Kabbalah. He delights in finding ways to make what might be esoteric within our tradition profoundly accessible and meaningful.
NAAMA SADAN
Director of Development and Sustainability
Naama Sadan was born and raised in the old city of Jerusalem. She has taught in Beit Midrash programs at the University of Haifa, Oranim College and at the Hebrew University as well as teaching and developing programs in geography, urban planning and sustainability to high school students and teachers in Jerusalem. She is currently completing a PhD in Urban Policy and Environmental Education at the Hebrew University. Naama joined Atiq as the Director of Development and Sustainability, where she brings her experience in strategic and capacity building and her love of Torah and the material world to the work in our studio.
Arielle Tonkin
Maker Kollel Educator
Arielle Tonkin is an artist, educator, and a recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA 2017). Her artwork, rooted in painting and social practice, centers intra-faith and interfaith healing through exhibitions, performances, and workshops. As a Teaching Artist, Arielle facilitates classes and workshops at universities, secondary schools, and organizations locally and nationally. Arielle is a Museum Educator at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Arielle also works as a Jewish educator and ritual facilitator, or a "para-rabbinic artist," and in this capacity she received a 2012 Talmud fellowship from the Hadar Institute in NYC, and was the 2019 Senior Fellow of the Maker Kollel at Atiq: Jewish Maker Institute. Her artwork form-alizes the belief that healing relationships can shift the fabric of social space and eventually, maybe, shift the physical world.
aliza Nelson Weiss
Program manager
Aliza is a designer and illustrator focusing on interior and graphic projects. Aliza received her Masters of Fine Arts degree in Interior Design from the Corcoran College of Art + Design in 2008, and studied architecture and interior design at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, England and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Aliza uses her expansive art history and illustration knowledge to support project development and organizational planning. Aliza is dedicated to expanding artistic development within the Jewish sphere.