Noa Tishby is one formidable multihyphenate.
Born and raised in Tel Aviv, she began acting as a teen and, following a two-year stint in the Israeli army, made a name for herself on one of the country’s highest-rated prime time programs, “Ramat Aviv Gimmel.” She then moved to Los Angeles and, as a producer, sold the series “In Treatment” to HBO in 2007, making it the first Israeli television show to be adapted in America. It also received a number of awards including a Peabody. And while continuing to sell other projects to major networks, Tishby acted in hit shows like “Big Love,” “CSI” and “The Affair.”
Through it all, she’s remained a public and passionate supporter of her homeland. In fact, she’s such an effective communicator and advocate of Israel that the Israeli Foreign Minister recently created a role for her, naming Tishby as the country’s first Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism and Delegitimization, an appointment lauded by President Isaac Herzog.
Out of all the hats she wears, the most central by far is mom to her son Ari, age 7. “He’s the most important thing in my life,” she says. He’s also the inspiration for the resolve she brings to her new Special Envoy position. “Everything that I do is generational, so it’s for Ari and my nieces and nephews and their kids. Jewish life is … you’re a link in the chain. So, my activism is for the link in the chain. One of the most important things to me is Jewish continuity. We have been around so many years, we have achieved so much despite everything — or maybe because of everything — and this is the number one thing for me to do. So, it’s all about my son and the younger generation. Everything I do falls into that.”
Tishby also hopes to lead by example, particularly among her fellow Jewish women, who she addressed at the 2023 Lion of Judah Luncheon, hosted by the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County’s Dorothy P. Seaman Department of Women’s Philanthropy on Feb. 1. Says Tishby of the event: “The most important message I wanted to convey was that, in addition to Jewish pride, it’s always about women camaraderie. I have four sisters. It’s extraordinarily important. So, I was just hoping for these ladies to have a great time, be inspired and get tools to fight antisemitism and to live as proud Jews, as we all do.”
In the current face of a challenging and sometimes hateful climate against Jewish people, Tishby says her directive is as urgent as ever. “There’s no doubt there’s been an extraordinary and horrific, horrific rise in antisemitism in the United States and around the world.”
“Stay strong,” she advises. “Stay united. Stay rooted in our Jewish community and be open about who we are about and what we are about. About our successes, about our life and how we live our lives. You can’t hate the person you know, you just can’t. Reach out to other communities, to our colleagues, to our friends. Educate, inspire and stayed rooted in our Jewish heritage and our traditions and our lives.”
