Noa Tishby Visits CU Boulder Hillel

By Elyana Funk, Executive Director CU Boulder Hillel

CU Boulder Hillel Welcomes Noa Tishby, Jonathan Elkhoury, and Fatema Al Harbi for Conversation on Identity, Israel, and Bridge Building

A few days ago, our CU Boulder Hillel house was packed wall-to-wall. More than 100 students and community members gathered with Israeli author and advocate Noa Tishby, alongside activists Jonathan Elkhoury and Fatema Al Harbi, for a deeply engaging panel on identity, Israel, and the important work of bridge-building across differences. We are honored to be the first stop on their Voices of the Middle East college campus tour.

Fatema Al Harbi, a Bahraini Muslim woman and the first person to travel from Bahrain to Israel following the Abraham Accords, spoke about how personal relationships break down political friction faster than debates ever can. Alongside her, Jonathan Elkhoury offered his perspective as a Lebanese Christian and member of the LGBTQ+ community, sharing his own path through identity and connection in the region. Noa Tishby shared her own personal experience as an activist and Israeli Jew post 10/7, grounding the discussion in Jewish pride, history, and resilience.

For students often overwhelmed by an online culture driven by snap judgments and outrage, this event was an opportunity for them to slow down, engage with these important discussions, and learn together in an open-minded way.

CU Boulder student Naomi shared what the evening meant to her:

“Sitting front row to hear Noa Tishby speak was truly a dream come true. Watching a conversation between her and two smart and empathetic experts from diverse backgrounds left me with genuine hope. As a busy student with little time to filter through news sources that feed off polarization, I came away from the event hopeful, knowing that average people in the region are actively building bridges with one another beneath the noisy online rhetoric.”

During the Q&A, students spoke openly about the tensions they carry every day. When asked how to handle hostility while still making room for joy, Tishby encouraged them to “zoom out,” placing their individual experiences within thousands of years of Jewish history. “We are a people,” she emphasized, urging students to see themselves as part of an unbroken, thousands-year-long chain of Jewish lineage and pride.

When an Israeli student asked Tishby about how to deal with the hesitation she sometimes feels around disclosing her country of origin, Tishby simply stood up and said, “You stand on both feet.”

That simple moment captures the heart of what CU Boulder Hillel exists to do. Here, members of the Jewish Herd don’t have to navigate campus alone or apologize for who they are. We provide a safe, welcoming space to explore complex questions about identity, Israel, antisemitism, and belonging. We give students the chance to engage directly with world-renowned advocates, mentors, and peers alike, to ask the vulnerable questions they are wrestling with, and feel connected, joyful, and confident in their Jewish identity.

We couldn’t be more grateful to Noa, Jonathan, Fatema, and the Eighteen team for bringing this opportunity to our Jewish Herd, and for the time and care they put into creating such a meaningful community space for these important conversations. Our CU Boulder Hillel community left the evening with more hope for our collective and peaceful future. To learn more about their important work, visit eighteen.org.

Also from CU Boulder Hillel and CU Boulder Chabad