Economic, political, and religious trends shape the cultural makeup of the State
of Israel.
By Matt Plen
All statistics taken
from the Central Bureau of Statistics (www.cbs.gov.il)
and the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption (www.moia.gov.il).
Five Aliyah Snapshots
Joel and Debbie Wine and their three young
children left Massachusetts for Israel in July 2006, despite the ongoing war
between Israel and Hezbollah. According to Joel, "This is Israel, and if
you think of yourself as Israeli, you realize there's really not a choice.
We've mentally, psychologically, emotionally made the commitment to be part of
the people of Israel in the Land of Israel, and unfortunately, this [war] is
part of the reality." Debbie: "We're hoping that [our children] will
look to Israeli soldiers as heroes rather than the commercial superheroes and
princesses that seem to dominate American children's media."(www.haaretz.com)
Andrew Goldis (21) grew up in the town of Zheleznogorsk,
Russia. His father is Jewish but his only connection to his roots was the fact that
he was teased at school for his Jewish appearance. On a visit to Israel at the
age of 14, Andrew was impressed by the country's beauty and spirituality. He decided
to sign up to the Na'aleh program in which teens from the former Soviet
Union complete high school in Israel. "I was living on my own, learning in
a new and exciting place and meeting great people,"says Andrew. "Once
in Israel, I felt that I wasn't different anymore."(www.jewishagency.org)
Ariela Hurvitz made aliyah from Argentina. She was
curious about Israel, her parents having lived there when they were first
married. Ariela's grandparents had migrated from Europe to South America, and
her own family had also moved around. "My family had a long journey. They
were like wandering Jews. By contrast, I feel Israel is my place in the world.
In Israel, I'm Jewish and feel like I'm planting roots."(www.jewishagency.org)
Yosef Adhina, 23, a business student from Addis Ababa, made
aliyah to join his father who had left Ethiopia for Israel in the 1980s. "I
felt that I also wanted to come to Israel and to live there as a Jew … Life was
hard in Ethiopia. There were no opportunities and lots of financial worries.
Here it's better. But the best thing is to be able to talk the holy language,
to feel at home as a Jew." (www.jewishagency.org)
Julien Daham, 29, made aliyah in 2006 from Nice, France. Israel
is the place he feels most at home, despite the threat of Kassam and Katyusha
missile attacks. "I don't feel unsafe here," he said, describing
France as more dangerous than Israel. "The streets are safer here, even
with all the attacks." (www.jpost.com) Dafne Partouche, 18, also
from France, says I'm not afraid of Hezbollah … I trust the Israeli army. They
will not let Hezbollah destroy the country. Well, maybe I'm a little afraid."
(www.jta.org)
In a 2006 open letter to new immigrants, Jewish Agency
Chairman Ze'ev Bielsky wrote that "the decision to make aliyah is a
complicated personal decision. However, in these times it takes on a special meaning
of national importance… The best answer
to terrorism is not military but in aliyah to Israel." But--as evidenced
by the five snapshots--Bielsky's heroic, ideological conception of aliyah only
goes so far in explaining the decision to move to Israel.
Aliyah in the Twenty-first Century
In 2005, 21,126 people made aliyah, up from 20,898 the year
before. The biggest group of olim or immigrants--9,378 or 44% of the
total--came from the former Soviet Union. 3,571 olim (17%) were Ethiopians. France
supplied 12% or 2545 immigrants, while North Americans accounted for 11%--2,296
arrivals. 1,691 South Americans made aliyah in 2005 (8%), including 397 Argentineans.
383 olim made their way from Britain, and 76 arrived from Australia and New
Zealand.
While these figures seem impressive--especially in light of
Israel's precarious security and economic situation--they pale alongside
statistics from recent years.
During the 1980s, immigration to Israel had averaged just
over 15,000 a year. Then in 1990, following the collapse of Communism in the
Soviet Union, this figure jumped to 199,516, dropping only slightly to 176,100
in 1991. During the '90s, Israel absorbed an average of 95,000 immigrants every
year.
Push and Pull Factors
Israel's volatile aliyah rate fluctuates in response to push
and pull factors. The 1990's post-Soviet olim
initially responded to glasnost andthe lifting of travel
restrictions for Russian Jews, but were ultimately propelled out of the former
USSR by political instability--accompanied by the rise of anti-Semitic
ultra-nationalism--and economic collapse. In the 1990's, Israel was an
attractive destination: it was coasting on a high-tech boom and, after the Oslo
accords, enjoying what it hoped were the first glimmerings of peace with the Palestinians.
Some immigrants saw Israel as a convenient staging post before traveling on to
their final destination: America. Yet the early waves of post-Soviet aliyah
were also characterized by Jewish involvement and a desire to become part of
Israeli society.
Parallel to the immigration wave from the former Soviet
Union was a much smaller aliyah from Ethiopia. In Operation Moses (1984), 8,000
Ethiopian Jews crossed the Sudanese desert on foot before being secretly airlifted
to Israel. Six years later, in 1991, most remaining members of the Ethiopian
community--about 14,000--were transported to Israel over one weekend in the
course of Operation Solomon. The Ethiopians were motivated by the need to
escape from famine and civil war, but also by their belief in the biblical
prophecies of the Israelites' return to Jerusalem.
The recent Argentinean aliyah was prompted by that country's
economic collapse. Argentinean Jews were fleeing unemployment and the threat of
hunger. In 2002, 5,931 Argentineans made aliyah. As the crisis subsided,
emigration to Israel dropped off: to 1,473 in 2003 and only 458 in 2004.
Jews who decided to leave France for Israel since 2000 had a
different motivation: the eruption of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hostilities,
including violent attacks on members of the community.
Like many Soviet and Ethiopian olim, the French and Argentinean Jews who left their homes for
Israel tended to display one other important characteristic: a high level of
communal affiliation and a strong Jewish identity. This trait is nowhere more
dominant than among olim from
the English speaking world--primarily the US, Canada and Britain--countries
which have no recent history of economic instability or significant anti-Semitism.
These olim hope to find religious fulfillment, plan to immerse themselves in a
majority Jewish culture, or aspire to play a role in strengthening the Jewish
state. It's no coincidence that Western aliyah peaked during Israel's brief,
euphoric period of pride and self-confidence in the aftermath of the 1967 Six
Day War.
But even in the West, economics has a role to play. The
mission of the Nefesh b'Nefesh organization, founded in 2002, is to "substantially increase
the number of future [north American] olim by removing the financial, professional and logistical
obstacles that prevent many individuals from actualizing their dreams." Nefesh
b'Nefesh propels new immigrants through the maze of government bureaucracy and
provides significant financial support to tide olim through their initial period in Israel. Over five years the
organization has brought over 6,500 Jews to Israel. The implication is clear:
however strong the ideological commitment to aliyah, money is necessary to
catalyze the process.
Idealism or Pragmatism?
This insight runs counter to idea of aliyah in much classical
Zionist thought. Early twentieth century thinkers such as Ahad Ha'am and A. D.
Gordon believed that Diaspora life had a fossilizing, corrupting effect on the
Jewish people's psyche. Aliyah meant shaking off the dust of Exile and
returning to the Land as upright, independent Jews, to participate in the
creation of a modern, dynamic Hebrew culture. As recently as 2005, Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon surprised no one when he addressed Jewish visitors from
all over the world at the opening of the Maccabiah Games: "I hope that by
the next Maccabiah, you will have immigrated here and be part of the Israeli
delegation."
Yet Theodor Herzl's predictions of mass immigration to the
Jewish state as a result of economic distress and anti-Semitism--and not
ideology--have proved more accurate. Throughout Zionist history, waves of
immigration have stemmed from Russian pogroms in the 1880s, Polish and Nazi
antisemitism in the 1930s, hostility in the Middle-East and North Africa in the
1940s and '50s, and economic and political strife in 21st century
Russia, Ethiopia and Argentina.
Whether aliyah is driven by idealism or pragmatic
considerations, it seems clear that the opposite phenomenon--yeridah or
emigration from Israel--is motivated primarily by economics and the dubious security
situation. Between 1996 and 2002, the net gain to Israel's population as the
result of migration (the number of olim
minus the number of yordim, or emigrants) fluctuated between 12,000 and
50,000. In 2003 and 2004, the balance flipped--over two years, Israel
experienced a negative balance of Jewish emigration, losing over 20,000 people
to the Diaspora.
One of those forced to leave was Bracha Rutner, who departed
Israel in 2003 after five years in Jerusalem. Her husband, a high-tech worker,
was unable to find employment due to the economic slump. He had just been
offered a good job in New York. "I'm very disillusioned,"said Bracha.
"There is a joke that says, the best way to cure a case of Zionism is to
make aliyah. Unfortunately for me, this happened. Some of our friends are
leaving. Every day you see a moving sale [advertised]. "It makes me really
sad." (www.thejewishweek.com).
Matt Plen grew up in London before making aliyah to
Jerusalem in 1998. He teaches history at the Masorti High School and modern
Jewish thought at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Matt holds an MA
in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing
doctoral studies at the Hebrew University, where his thesis topic is Radical
Education and Israeli Ideologies of Social Justice.
