RUSSIAN JEWS ON THREE CONTINENTS
Emigration and Resettlement

Edited by Noah Lewin-Epstein, Yaacov Ro'i and Paul Ritterband

In the past twenty years almost three-quarters of a million Russian Jews have emigrated to the West. Their presence in Israel, Europe and North America and their absence from Russia have left an indelible imprint on these societies. The emigrants themselves, as well as those who stayed behind, are engaged in a struggle to establish their own identities and to achieve social and economic security. In this volume an international assembly of experts - historians, sociologists, demographers and politicians - join forces in order to assess the nature and magnitude of the impact created by this emigration and to examine the fate of those Jews who left and of those who remained. Their wide-ranging perspectives contribute to creating a variegated and complex picture of the recent Russian-Jewish emigration.

CONTRIBUTORS: Noah Lewin-Epstein * Zvi Gitelman * Yaacov Ro'i * Laurie Salitan * Richard Schifter * Yehuda Dominitz * Yair Tzaban * Shmuel Adler * Mark Tolts * Robert J. Brym * Eli Weinerman * Alexej G. Levinson * Barry R. Chiswick * Steven J. Gold * Ari M. Paltiel, Eitan F. Sabatello and Dorit Tal * Paul Ritterband * Fran Markowitz * Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Elite Olstain and Idit Geijst * Abraham Carmeli and Judith Fadlon * Leonid Gozman * Leonid Finberg * Alexander V. Voronel * Karnit Flug, Nitsa (Kaliner) Kasir and Gur Ofer * Noah Lewin-Epstein, Gila Menahem and Reuven Barham * Delila Amir, Larissa I. Remennick and Yuval Elmelech * Rita Sever *

CONTENTS 

Acknowledgements

Introduction

I. THE HISTORICAL SETTING

1.`From a Northern Country': Russian and Soviet Jewish Immigration to America and Israel in Historical Perspective

Zvi Gitelman

II.  FROM EMIGRATION TO ABSORPTION: POLICY FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

2.Soviet Policy towards Jewish Emigration - An Overview

Yaacov Ro'i

3.Ethnic and Related Factors in Soviet Emigration Policy, 1968-1989

Laurie Salitan

4.The Impact of the United States on Soviet Emigration Policy

Richard Schifter

5.Israel's Immigration Policy and the Dropout Phenomenon

Yehuda Dominitz

6.The Quandaries of an Israeli Minister of Absorption

Yair Tzaban

7.Israel's Absorption Policy since the 1970s

Shmuel Adler

III.  SOCIAL CONTEXT OF EMIGRATION

8.The Interrelationship between Emigration and the Socio-Demographic Profile of Russian Jewry

Mark Tolts

9.Jewish Emigration from the Former USSR: Who? Why? How Many?¯

Robert J. Brym

10.Does the Country Gain or Lose from the Exodus of Jews? The Discussion in Russian Society

Eli Weinerman

11.Attitudes of Russian towards Jews and Their Emigration

Alexej G. Levinson

IV.  SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ABSORPTION IN ISRAEL AND THE US

12.Soviet Jews in the United States: Language and Labour Market Adjustments Revisited
Barry R. Chiswick

13.Community Formation among Jews from the Former Soviet Union in the US

Steven J. Gold

14.Ex-Soviet Immigrants in Israel in the 1990s: A Two-Year Follow Up of Their Demographic Characteristics and Socio-Economic Absorption

Ari M. Paltiel, Eitan F. Sabatello and Dorit Tal

V.  CULTURAL CHANGE AND IDENTITY DILEMMAS

15.Jewish Identity among Russian Immigrants in the US

Paul Ritterband

16.Shopping for the Future: Cultural Change, Border Crossings and Identity Options of Jewish Teenagers from the CIS

Fran Markowitz

17.Identity and Language: The Social Insertion of Soviet Jews in Israel

Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Elite Olstain and Idit Geijst

18.Motivation to Serve in the Israeli Army: The Gap between Cultural Involvement and Cultural Performance

Abraham Carmeli and Judith Fadlon

19.Is Living in Russia Worthwhile?

Leonid Gozman

20.The View from Kiev

Leonid Finberg

21.Twenty Years After

Alexander V. Voronel

VI.  IMPACT ON RECEIVING SOCIETY

22.The Absorption of Soviet Immigrants into the Labour Market: Aspects of Occupational Substitution and Retention

Karnit Flug, Nitsa (Kaliner) Kasir and Gur Ofer

23.Yes to Immigration but What about Immigrants? Local Attitudes to Immigrant Absorption

Noah Lewin-Epstein, Gila Menahem and Reuven Barham

24.Educating Lena: Women Immigrants and `Integration' Policies in Israel: The Politics of Reproduction and Family Planning

Delila Amir, Larissa I. Remennick and Yuval Elmelech

25.Learning from Experience: The Israeli Educational System and the Task of Absorption

Rita Sever

Appendix

Glossary

Notes to Contributors

Index