(Courtesy of JCT) Caring for nurses strengthens economies. That is the forthright and urgent message surrounding this year’s observance of International Nurses Day (May 12).
The day’s theme for 2025—Our Nurses. Our Future.—is a call to action for governments, institutions and communities to address the growing healthcare crisis. Systemic neglect of nurses’ well-being has fueled burnout, deepened workforce shortages, and pushed too many talented professionals to the brink. But in Israel, one nurse-educator is showing what real investment looks like—not only in the profession, but in the people who live it.
Dr. Abby Kra-Friedman’s journey began in West Orange, New Jersey. A graduate of The Frisch School, she spent a gap year at Midreshet Lindenbaum, then went on to study nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. After earning a master’s in nurse-midwifery at Columbia, she and her husband made aliyah in 2005. Today, nearly 20 years later, Kra-Freidman is one of Israel’s most influential voices in nursing and midwifery—and a passionate advocate for women’s health, educational access, and spiritual resilience.
“I always tell my students: Nursing isn’t just a job—it’s a life skill,” she said. “It’s about problem-solving, critical thinking, deep compassion, and knowing how to act when others are frozen. But we can’t expect nurses to carry all that without support. We have to care for them, too.”
As chair of the Selma Jelinek School of Nursing at the Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT), Kra-Freidman oversees one of Israel’s largest and most culturally inclusive nursing programs. With more than 1,400 students across bachelor’s and master’s tracks—including dedicated men’s and women’s cohorts and campuses for Haredi students—the program prioritizes both professional excellence and community sensitivity.
“When we educate nurses in culturally appropriate ways, we don’t just serve the individual—we uplift entire communities,” she explained. “Nurses bring healthcare, gender equity and economic opportunity back with them. The ripple effect is enormous.”
Her professional résumé reads like a blueprint for modern nursing leadership. She spent eight years as a midwife at Hadassah Hospital and a decade as head of undergraduate women’s health at Hebrew University. She has served on the executive board of the Israel Midwives Association and volunteers to help new immigrants navigate Israel’s complex nursing licensure process. Internationally, she sits on the steering committee of the ICN Nurse Practitioner/Advanced Practice Nurse Network and advises WHO through several expert working groups on midwifery and other women’s health initiatives. Her research interests include reproductive freedom and spiritual care.
“Being able to represent Israeli nurses on a global stage is both humbling and empowering,” she said. “There’s so much innovation and resilience here, but we also need to be honest about our challenges—especially when it comes to burnout, mental health, and family-work balance.”
It’s a message that hits close to home. During the COVID-19 pandemic, while homeschooling six children (her oldest is now 19, her youngest 10), Kra-Freidman completed her doctorate—a dissertation focused on reproductive freedom in Israel’s universal healthcare system.
“There’s this idea that nurses are superhuman,” she said. “But we’re not. We’re people. Many of us are mothers. Many of us are caregivers in every sense. And we’re working double shifts while our husbands are working. If we don’t invest in nurses’ well-being—physically, emotionally, spiritually—we lose more than just workers. We lose the heart of the healthcare system.”
Kra-Freidman credits her ability to balance it all to a supportive husband who works from home, her community in Efrat, and a deeply rooted spiritual life. “You can’t give 100% to everything,” she said. “Some things have to give. Nora Roberts once said, ‘You have to know which balls are glass and which are plastic.’ That’s my life.”
Still, she views every challenge through a lens of purpose. “My entire worldview is built on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals—good health, quality education and gender equality. That’s where I live,” she said. “As a religious Jew, those goals aren’t in conflict with my values. They’re an expression of them.”
With a new English-language nursing track at JCT and a rare program to help nurses earn advanced certifications mid-career, Kra-Freidman is shaping the future of Israeli healthcare from the inside out. She knows firsthand that investing in nurses—their education, wellness and leadership—is how you build a stronger society.
“If you want to live in Israel, go to nursing school here,” she advises young women who are considering the profession. “This is where your patients will be. This is where your heart will be. And this is where you’ll make a difference.”
On this International Nurses Day, Dr. Abby Kra-Freidman reminds us: When we care for nurses, we care for the future. And when we do it with empathy, integrity and faith, we care for the soul of a nation.
