Nadia Khir still remembers the women who suffered in silence.
Growing up in the Druze village of Julis in northern Israel, she heard stories whispered behind closed doors—women who preferred to bleed to death in their own beds rather than be treated by a male doctor.
“I felt I needed to help them,” Khir recalled in an interview with JNS. “At the age of 18, I took the entire population of women on my shoulders.”
Decades later, the 58-year-old gynecologist, the first Druze woman in Israel to study medicine, was honored with a recognition award presented by philanthropist Dr. Miriam Adelson during the “Her Stage” conference organized by Israel Hayom on Sunday.
But long before she became a symbol of social change, Khir was a determined teenager from an impoverished household with a dream so far from her everyday reality that it was surprising she could even have imagined it.
A childhood shaped by illness and poverty
Her childhood was marked by hardship. Her father abandoned the family, leaving her mother to raise the children under difficult economic conditions, getting by only with monthly government assistance.
Her mother was ill and Khir often accompanied her to doctors’ appointments as a child.
“I saw people who were sick and needed help,” she said. “I thought maybe I could do something.”
Pursuing any type of higher education was considered unusual for Druze women in the mid-1980s. Medical school—requiring years away from home—was viewed by many as completely unacceptable.
“My mother was religious, and it was difficult for her to agree,” she said. “Women weren’t really allowed to make independent decisions in our society—certainly not to something as radical as allowing her teen daughter to leave the village alone to study medicine in the big city. I had to convince my brother to convince my mother.”
The family’s poverty compounded the challenge. Khir studied for her matriculation exams sitting on the grass outside her home, simply because there was no desk inside.
Social backlash
Still, in 1985, she left Julis to study medicine at the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, a step that would radically change the face of healthcare for her society, and for women in particular.
But back then, the social backlash was immediate.
Religious leaders and community members objected to the idea of a young woman living away from home for years of study. Khir feared her mother could even face social consequences because of her decision. It took a lot of persuasion before she got their reluctant blessing.
Determined not to validate the fears surrounding women who left home to study, Khir imposed strict limits on herself throughout medical school.
“When I finally made it to medical school, I placed myself in a self-imposed prison,” she said. “For all those years of schooling, my life consisted of going between the lecture halls and my dormitory. No parties, no cafés, no restaurants.”
Yet even within those restrictions, her world—and mind—expanded.
While she was in Haifa, she learned to drive in secret because she knew that once she returned to the village, she might never be allowed to get a driver’s license. Her older sister, who qualified as a teacher, had to give up her own dreams of having a career, simply because she wasn’t able to handle the long walk to the village school she taught in.
Her society didn’t allow her to drive.
Changing centuries of tradition
Over time, the young woman once viewed as a rebel who rocked the tradition of her society, became a trusted physician serving women across northern Israel. Khir’s decision to specialize in gynecology grew directly from the realities she witnessed growing up.
After completing her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Galilee Medical Center, she spent more than two decades working with Clalit Health Services, treating women in Julis, Tamra, Jatt and Yanuh.
The changes she witnessed within Druze society unfolded slowly.
“It was hard to change hundreds of years of tradition,” she said. “People believed everything was in God’s hands and that there was no need for tests or medication.
But she witnessed the change in the way people thought.
Khir speaks modestly about her role in that transformation. “I don’t want you to write that I did it singlehandedly,” she said, but humbly agreed that she played a significant role in the changes.
Today, there are dozens of Druze female physicians in Israel. What was once considered rebellion is now widely accepted and encouraged.
Many of those women, Khir says, have told her they entered medicine because they saw her as a trailblazer who succeeded in her mission.
Among them are her own three daughters, each one a success story in her own right.
One is a medical doctor and another is studying at the Technion. Her third daughter, Monia Heno, became a world champion kickboxer, despite strong opposition from relatives who objected to a girl participating in the sport.
“I told her without hesitation: ‘Do whatever you set your mind to,’” Khir said of her support for her daughter.
Choosing the challenging path
Prof. Tarif Bader, CEO of Kaplan Medical Center and former chief medical officer of the Israel Defense Forces, has known Khir since the 1990s when the two completed their studies around the same time.
“From the beginning, she was a trailblazer,” Bader said. “She always chose the more challenging path in her studies and career.”
He said the values that shaped Khir’s journey were later passed on to her daughters and to younger generations of Druze women.
“Believe in yourself and your abilities and work hard to achieve them,” he said. “Otherwise, you remain stuck in the same place.”
Opening doors for other women
Dr. Yaffa Ashur, director-general of Yoseftal Medical Center and head of Clalit’s Eilat region, who proudly presented Khir with the award at the prestigious ceremony, said that her story represents a broader social breakthrough.
“Speaking as a Jewish woman, I never experienced a glass ceiling simply because I was a woman,” Ashur said. “But there are communities that limit women. Nadia opened doors for other women in her community.”
Ashur also pointed to Israel’s healthcare system as an example of coexistence during periods of national trauma. “We have always worked in harmony with other staff members—no matter their religion, nationality or gender. The health system can serve as a model for how people can live and work together.”
Presenting Khir with the award for her pioneering role in advancing Druze women in medicine and Israeli society, Ashur said: “One woman who refused to give up on her dream and, in doing so, opened doors for an entire generation of women.”
Deep gratitude to Israel
Khir said she feels deep gratitude toward the Israeli education system that allowed her to pursue medicine despite her difficult beginnings.
“Thanks to the State of Israel, I’m a doctor,” she said. “I came from a deprived childhood with no money and no father. Thanks to free state education, I could study and follow my dreams.”
She also noted how proud she was that Israel has rushed to the aid of the Druze communities who are being targeted by murdering factions in Syria.
“I know that I can rely on my country,” she said.
Dr. Nadia Khir’s message to young women remains simple. “Go after your dream and do everything you can to achieve it,” she said, “even if it goes against tradition.”
