Malcah Zeldis (neé Mildred Brightman), painter, printmaker, and illustrator, was born in Bronx, New York on 22 September 1931. During her infancy, her family moved to Detroit, Michigan where she attended public schools. After graduating from high school in 1948, she moved to Israel on a quest to discover more about her family’s roots and her religion. She moved into in a kibbutz and it was there she met and married fellow Detroit native Hiram Zeldis. While living in Israel, she took up painting and, even though she was completely self-taught as an artist, her work earned praise. In 1958, the Zeldis family moved to New York and Malcah hung up her artist’s apron and stored her paints. It wasn't until the early 1970s that she began to once again pursue her dreams of painting. She enrolled in Brooklyn College in the Early Childhood Studies program and graduated in 1974. While at Brooklyn College she submitted her paintings under the “life experience” policy and again they were met with praise by her teacher and an art critic who introduced her to gallerists. By this time her marriage had failed so she supported herself as a teacher's aide and focused on her painting.

Malcah Zeldis drew upon a mixture of biblical, historical and autobiographical themes for her imagery. She had a solo exhibition presented by the Museum of American Folk Art at New York University in 1988; it was the first time the museum presented an exhibition of a living artist.

Malcah collaborated with her daughter, Yona Zeldis, to write and illustrate children’s books which include Eve and Her Sisters: Women of the Old Testament; God Sent a Rainbow and Other Bible Stories; Anne Frank; Sisters in Strength: American Women Who Made a Difference; and Hammerin’ Hank.

The work of Malcah Zeldis is represented in the collections of the Akron Art Museum, Ohio; the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Massachusetts; the American Folk Art Museum, New York; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; the Palmer Art Museum, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.