cover 2006

34 BGU NOW
Nidaa Khoury
A Passion For Balance
F
or renowned Arabic poet Nidaa
Khoury, life has been a constant
search for balance, integrity and
truth. “Even when I was a child,”
she says, “I saw the problems of the
world and felt them very deeply. The
first poem I wrote was about a
soldier who died on the border,
alone, without his mother, sister or
wife there to comfort him as he died.
Even then, I was preoccupied with
the meaning of existence, life and
death. That’s why, later, I decided
to study philosophy. I thought it
would help me understand what I
was feeling.”
If Khoury’s decision to study
philosophy sounds simple, it wasn’t.
Khoury, now the author of seven
published works of poetry – many
of which are translated and studied
in universities around the world –
was born and still lives in Fassouta,
a village in northern Israel about
three miles south of the Lebanese
border. In Fassouta, all 3,000
residents are Melkite Catholic Arabs.
Considering that there were no
computers or internet access until a
couple of years ago, Khoury’s status
as a poet of international renown
speaks volumes about her courage
and tenacity.
Even more unique is that Khoury
didn’t begin serious study until she
was a married woman with three
children. “I was married at 16,” she
says “By the time I was 19 and
started university, I already had
three children. Now my husband
and I have a younger son, too.”
Khoury teaches in the Department
of Hebrew Literature. In addition to
courses in Creative Thought and
Creative Writing, she puts her
Masters degree in Comparative
Literature to work, teaching a class
that contrasts Arab and Israeli
cultures. “I use texts from both
Arabic and Hebrew literature,” she
says. “We study them side by side,
so students see where societal values
differ and conjoin.”
Khoury’s decision to travel the
length of Israel to join the BGU
faculty stems from her passion for
balance. “I love the desert,” she says.
“The open space gives a feeling of
open doors. I came to the University
several years ago and loved the
atmosphere – it’s so relaxed, less
materialistic. And I love the way the
University works for balance here,
by including so many Bedouin and
Arab students.”
When Khoury married, her own
formal education stopped for a time.
She dropped out of high school and
only later, on her own, studied to
pass her matriculation exams. “My
society is very traditional,” she says.
“It was very difficult at the
beginning when I wanted more
education. No one in my family or
village could understand. ‘Why is
a woman with a husband and a
home doing this? Why does she
need to study?’ But there was this
fire in my heart, something within
me. I felt as though something must
be changed, and I had to search for
it myself.”
Although Khoury’s early poems
focus on love, she writes out of her
own pain, she says. “I was disturbed
with the way society treated women
– in our tradition, the ideal woman
is beautiful and quiet and in the
“. . . Oh you my dream that ruptures in my neck
And scatters in many other places
For you and only you
I destroyed the shrines of my sleep
And scandalized the burial of perfume
You were the ultimate God of pain
From the knives of the ages in the meat of the place.”
August 1998
home. But I saw the beauty of a
woman’s soul. Women must have a
voice. We, too, have souls that need
to reach out in this life, to do things,
to say things. Women are needed to
bring balance into the world. To
make our own unique contribution.”
Much of Khoury’s writing
involves spirituality. Before her
marriage, Khoury studied at Our
Lady of Lourdes School in Tiberias
which, she says, “took my soul to
another place.” It also provoked
many questions about the balance
of a life of prayer and a woman’s role
in the world. “The nuns were very
spiritual,” she says. “The paradox
for me was to search for the truth
about their lives of prayer and
devotion, and another life that