Suchergebnisse

In this ethnographic essay, I reflect on the origins and present
condition of the new (post-2010) Israeli diaspora in Berlin. Based on
10 months of participant observation, I map out the main sub-streams of
this emigration; elicit the economic, professional, and political reasons
for leaving Israel; and explore these émigrés' initial encounter with
German society. My observations suggest that many Israeli residents of
Berlin (mostly secular) rediscover their Jewishness along diasporic lines
and forge ties with the local religious and community organizations.
Being a small minority in the German-speaking milieu, Israelis invest
in building their own Hebrew-based community networks, including
media outlets and cultural and educational institutions. Lastly, I explore
these émigrés' ties with Israel and conclude that many Israelis in Berlin
are sojourners rather than immigrants and that Berlin is but one phase
in their life journey.

Drawing on a hybrid view of migrant generations (demographic and historical/political), I examine generational dynamics among Russian-Jewish immigrants in Israel. The first wave of Soviet Jewish migration to Israel in the early 1970s (some 150,000 migrants) was catalyzed by a surge of Zionist sentiment after Israel's victory in 1967 and enabled by strong political pressure on the USSR from the West. Reflecting their Zionist persuasion, the 1970s arrivals often discarded their former identities, switched to Hebrew, and soon integrated into Israel's social mainstream. By contrast, the 1990s wave was set in motion by the political turmoil and economic hardships of the postcommunist transition, while Zionist ideals were secondary to most emigres. About 1 million ex-Soviets of Jewish descent migrated to Israel as the most accessible destination throughout the 1990s. They have kept intense and positive ties with their former homeland, in part because one-third of them are Russians married to Jews or mixed ethnics and have family members remaining in the Former Soviet Union. At the same time, their integration in Israel has been fraught with problems. The different attitudes toward the ex-homeland among the parental generations of the 1970s and 1990s have influenced the extent of Russian cultural continuity among their children born in Israel.

AbstractDespite the expanding use of the transnational perspective, grounded qualitative research on everyday expressions of transnationalism has been scant. In this article, I explore the economic and social ties with former homelands among three categories of former Soviet immigrants of the 1990s in Israel, namely ethnically mixed families split by emigration; young professionals and entrepreneurs; and retirees who keep two homes – one in Israel and the other in Russia or Ukraine. To follow temporal changes in transnational lifestyles, I interviewed the same informants twice, in 2000 and 2010. The findings suggest that transnational activities reflect life‐course changes and can evolve in several possible directions. These are (1) an attrition of ties with former homelands with increasing integration in the host country; (2) a steady or ascending pace of transnational activities eventually leading to return migration; and (3) permanent low‐grade ties with former homelands and networking with co‐ethnics in other countries of the post‐Soviet diaspora. I conclude that relatively few migrants can sustain intense transnational lifestyle over many years; there are several critical life‐course points when most transnational migrants have to decide where their home is.

AbstractImmigrant professionals comprise a growing segment within current migration waves, but the determinants of successful transnational skill transfer are poorly understood. In this paper, I offer a framework for the evaluation of these determinants, drawing upon three empirical studies among immigrant professionals from the former Soviet Union in Israel. I start by describing the social context of immigrant integration, including policies aimed at assisting skilled immigrants to get a fresh start on the local labour market. Next, I reflect on the nature of various professions in terms of their cultural and linguistic dependency, with the ensuing adaptive potential upon migration. I also tap into the main macro‐economic and institutional characteristics of the host society that may facilitate or hinder the initial entry and subsequent mobility of immigrant professionals within local organizations. I apply this analytical frame to the discussion of Israeli studies among immigrant professionals who represent three different points on the scale of cultural dependency: engineers (technical occupation), physicians (combining standard medical training with cultural skills) and schoolteachers (most dependent on language and local cultural codes). In every case, the resulting success or failure of occupational continuity reflects a complex interplay of context‐bound and individual factors, aggravated by the small size and rapid saturation of the local labour market.