i seek to learn wisdom & to create the conditions for others to do so too

i’m rafa (pronounced HAH-fah). i’m an ashkenazi cisgender queer jew from brazil who currently lives in minneapolis, minnesota, much to my surprise.

my ph.d. research (stanford, 2025) asked how people make meaning—individually and collectively—of texts they read together. my doctoral work focused on jewish books, but as a master’s student in education at columbia (2014) and an undergraduate in theater at yale (2007), i sought to find and help others grow personally by engaging with all kinds of texts. these experiences form the basis for my work as an educator and existential/spiritual facilitator.