Abby Kra-Friedman has a dream to change the world by improving access to quality women’s health care. For nearly two decades, she has been carrying out this mission in Israel.
Since making aliyah in 2005, Kra-Friedman has spent countless hours providing care to expectant Israeli mothers and delivering newborns. Today, she divides her time between clinical work and academia, serving as a midwife in delivery as well as labor and delivery triage at Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem, Jerusalem and as the head of the undergraduate women’s health department at the Henrietta Szold Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Nursing. Prior to her current roles, she served as the head nurse at a medical clinic.
The descendent of both doctors and rabbis, Kra-Friedman views midwifery as a melding together of both spiritual and physical care. “It’s about connecting to a woman and being available for what she needs,” she explained. This is the approach she teaches her nursing students, which in her words, is about aiming “to create connection at a very vulnerable and difficult time.”
As a midwife, Kra-Friedman supports women before, during and after labor. She advises women regarding medical issues, educates them on nutrition and reproductive health, offers guidance in postpartum care, and attends to birth and newborn care. In multiple instances, she has played a role in saving the life of a woman or baby. Just a few months ago, she made a medical decision that ultimately saved the life of a mother and her newborn. “This is the part of my job that is really for my neshama,” she said. “I went into this profession to be with people and to support women at every stage of their life.”
Kra-Friedman is also involved in a volunteer capacity in a number of policy related projects. She sits on two working groups in the World Health Organization where she collaborates with countries around the world on women’s health issues. She is also working on a paper that will advise countries on how to effectively incorporate the midwifery model of care into their health-care system. In addition to her professional responsibilities, she is a mother to six children. She admits that balancing her private and professional life is a great challenge, but one that she feels blessed to have.
A native of West Orange, Kra-Friedman began her career as a nurse in the medical and maternity and nursery wards. In addition to her nursing degree, she completed an master of arts degree in nurse midwifery as well as to become a women’s health nurse practitioner. During her studies at the University of Pennsylvania, she spent a semester abroad in Israel. It was at that point that she decided she would return to Israel after completing her master’s degree and work as a midwife. After making aliyah, she completed her doctorate on the determinants of reproductive freedom among Israeli women between the ages of 18-50.
Though she has lived in Israel for almost 20 years, Kra-Friedman admits that she still sometimes feels like “an outsider,” often feeling more comfortable speaking in English and operating within an international community. While the focus of her work until now has been on women’s health within Israel, she has her eyes set on the global community with the hope of bringing knowledge from the Jewish state to help empower women in developing countries. “I want to contribute to women on a more global level and not just Jewish women, but all women in need of support.”
Why women specifically? Kra-Friedman believes that providing better opportunities to women is key to improving society and creating a more healthy and viable community. “Whether it’s gender equity, health and well-being, reducing poverty, hunger and inequalities, economic strength, if we lift up women within those targets then we can change the world. That for me is a guiding force,” she said.
In the meantime, Kra-Friedman is marching forward with her mission in Israel, educating the next generation of midwives and supporting expectant mothers during their most vulnerable times. “Those are the moments where you feel like the things that you did are important,” she said. “It’s an honor. It’s totally a privilege.”
Alisa Bodner is a Fair Lawn native who immigrated to Israel a decade ago. She is a nonprofit management professional who enjoys writing in her free time.
