Born in Tel Aviv to a Jewish Israeli father and a French mother who was raised Catholic, Noa Amalia Arazi grew up largely disconnected from Jewish religious life. Today, the charismatic 25-year-old Jerusalem resident leads a growing international initiative supporting individuals seeking to join the Jewish people, drawing on her own journey of identity, belonging and faith.
Arazi, who completed the Nativ conversion program, recently founded the nonprofit organization “Destined to be a Jew,” which provides guidance, educational resources and connections to rabbis and communities for prospective converts worldwide. The organization has already assisted dozens of people in completing conversions to Judaism, while building a broader international support network.
“The name behind the organization comes from my personal experience. I had no way of escaping my destiny, which was to be Jewish,” Arazi said. “Those converts will do anything to return to the root of their souls; otherwise, their souls will not find rest.”
Arazi’s story reflects the challenges faced by many converts navigating questions of identity and acceptance. Her mother sought to convert through Orthodox channels but encountered bureaucratic obstacles, ultimately converting through the Reform movement. As a result, Arazi and her sister were not recognized as Jewish according to halacha, despite growing up and serving in Israel.
Raised in secular environments in Herzliya, Kfar Saba and Tzur Yitzhak, Arazi said that she had felt little connection to Judaism or the Land of Israel.
“As a proud secular person, I actually felt a great sense of pride in the title ‘irreligious,’ owing nothing and no one anything—not to the rabbinate and not to God,” she said.
‘Who am I?’
Her perspective began to shift during her service in the Israeli Defense Forces, particularly while serving as a Human Resources officer at a military base in the Upper Galilee, where she first encountered participants in the Nativ conversion preparation program.
“For the first time, I felt detached, not belonging, living between worlds,” she recalled. “Am I Israeli? Am I Jewish? Who and what am I?”
Initially skeptical, Arazi nevertheless enrolled in the program toward the end of her military service, an experience she describes as transformative.
“I began the course with cynicism, asking difficult questions,” she said. “But slowly, and then very quickly, the lessons and the teachers inspired me, and I began to absorb everything eagerly.”
Her journey culminated in immersion in a mikveh on Nov. 7, a date she described as symbolically meaningful, connecting her family’s Holocaust history with her personal decision to formally join the Jewish people.
“The night of Nov. 7 was when Kristallnacht started,” she said, referring to the 1938 Nazi pogrom in Germany. “My grandfather, Tzvi Avnery, is a Holocaust survivor. His name was changed when he arrived in Israel. It was Herbert Tzvi Lichtenstroh.”
Birth of an organization
Following her conversion, Arazi began sharing her story on social media, offering practical advice and emotional support to others considering conversion. She quickly discovered significant global demand for accessible guidance.
“I began receiving enormous numbers of questions from people around the world who wanted to join the Jewish people,” she said. “How do you begin a conversion? How does one convert? How can I speak with a rabbi?”
Within months, her platform grew into an international network of more than 15,000 followers and a WhatsApp community of more than 600 prospective converts and rabbis across 20 countries.
“In the past few months, I established a nonprofit organization called ‘Destined to be a Jew,’ whose purpose is to expand the work of conversion beyond Israel’s borders and to serve as an umbrella organization for conversion abroad,” she said.
According to Arazi, many prospective converts encounter significant barriers, including repeated rejection, high costs and difficulty integrating into established Jewish communities.
“Converts outside Israel face unimaginable challenges,” she said. “They are often required to pay enormous sums for the conversion process. Closed Jewish communities refuse to accept them. They must adopt a Jewish way of life within a completely non-Jewish environment and family.”
The organization was formally launched on the 7th of Adar—Feb. 23, 2026—which Arazi noted “traditionally marks the passing of Moshe Rabbenu"—at Jerusalem’s Tower of David Museum.
Participants included Yaakov Hagoel, chairman of the World Zionist Organization; Rabbi Ari Silberman of ITIM-Giyur K’halacha; MasterChef winner Tom Franz; Rabbi Tovia Singer, director of Outreach Judaism; and Jewish-Israeli rights activist Rudy Rochman.
Rochman spoke about “hidden” or disconnected Jewish communities around the world, arguing that centuries of exile, forced conversion and persecution fragmented the Jewish people across continents.
Through his popular documentary project, “We Were Never Lost,” Rochman has traveled to communities in Africa and elsewhere that identify with ancient Israelite or Jewish traditions, saying he believes many descendants of the Jewish people remain spiritually and culturally connected to their roots even if they were separated from mainstream Jewish life generations ago.
He described discovering lesser-known Jewish communities in faraway countries as feeling like “suddenly finding out you have a brother or sister you never knew existed.”
Shavuot connection
Arazi told JNS her initiative’s message resonates with the festival of Shavuot, which celebrates the giving of the Torah to Moshe at Mount Sinai and begins this year on the evening of May 21. Jewish tradition teaches that converts are spiritually connected to the moment of revelation, a theme that Arazi said guides her work.
“The purpose of the organization is to bring Jewish souls back home—those exact souls who were with us back then at Mount Sinai and scattered among the nations,” she said.
Shavuot, she noted, is associated with the biblical story of Ruth the Moabite, whose declaration, “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God,” symbolizes the spiritual journey of conversion and commitment to Jewish identity. Jewish tradition teaches that Ruth’s choice to join the Jewish people reflects the broader theme of accepting the covenant at Sinai, making the holiday especially meaningful for those who embrace Judaism.
Arazi cited the biblical call for compassion toward those who join the Jewish people: “If a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. Like a native of your own shall be for you the stranger that resides with you. And you shall love him as yourself, since you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:33–34).
After a pause, she concluded, “These converts are an inseparable part of the future of the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. May we merit to bring them home.”
For more information on “Destined to be a Jew,” go to its website, https://dtbj.info/.
