Dokument #1206302
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
The following interview was conducted with
the author of an anecdotal book on ex-Soviet immigrants to
Israel(1), and an academic article on the same issue that was
published in Israel Affairs(2). The interview was held in
Jerusalem on 9 May 1995.
Naomi Shepherd has been living in Israel
since 1957, has taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and
has worked extensively as a journalist for foreign newspapers. For
the last 12 years she has been conducting historical research. The
information provided in this interview focuses on history as Ms
Shepherd believes it is imperative to comprehend the history of the
Middle East in order to understand the present.
Historical Background
The Ottoman Empire organized its subject
peoples according to confessional communities. Christians and Jews
were in a minority status since it was a Muslim empire. In order to
minimize frictions with the minorities, they were allowed
considerable degree of autonomy in matters of personal status
(i.e., marriage, divorce, inheritance, burial, etc.). In other
words, they were able to govern their religious affairs which, in a
totally religious era, was very important. One has to bear in mind
that at the time, civil marriage was an unknown concept. Religious
groups were allowed to have their own religious councils and
collect their own taxes for religious purposes. This system, called
Millet (or Millah) was a sensible management of the religious
minorities.
When the British took over the Ottoman
Empire they preserved the Millet system. The system was very
convenient for the British simply because they did not wish to be
involved in these very complicated religious and theological
matters. Orthodox Jews were considered by the British to be restful
as long as they were not disturbed in their religious activities,
especially in matters of religious and personal status.
When Israel became a state in 1948, the
Millet system was also preserved, but for another purpose than to
manage religious groups. Orthodox Jews were a political force to be
recognized by the new leaders of the State. Political parties
supported by Orthodox Jews originated in Eastern Europe, and were
simply reestablished in Israel. Their objective was to bargain with
the much larger political parties and form coalition governments,
and they were successful. This situation provided them with the
opportunity to bargain for the maintenance of religious laws. They
were able to obtain autonomy in personal affairs. Matters of
personal affairs were to be managed mainly by the Ministry of the
Interior and the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The Ministry of the
Interior has always been the province of the religious parties,
staffed by members of the religious parties who implement
rabbinical criteria in issuing documents attesting to the
"nationality" of citizens. This particular definition, which
appears on all identity cards, corresponds to the holders
affiliation with a particular religious denomination, (i.e.,
'Jewish', 'Muslim', etc.) the legacy of the Millet system and has
nothing to do with the secular concept of 'nationality' as
understood in the West. The Jewish Orthodox definition of a Jew is
someone who is born of a Jewish mother, or who converted to Judaism
according to Orthodox criteria and is not a member of any other
religion. Thus an ex-Soviet immigrant born of a Jewish father, or
one who has other tangential connections with a Jewish family but
has not converted, will be registered as "Russian", "Ukrainian",
"Estonian", etc., under the 'nationality' clause. Such an immigrant
will, however, enjoy full Israeli citizenship under the Law of
Return. It will immediately be clear that there is a clash between
the Jewish Orthodox, or rabbinical, monopoly over all matters of
personal status, and the Law of Return whose provisions are modern
and secular.
The most orthodox party is Agudat Israel
which is powerful in Jerusalem, the centre of political power in
Israel. Today, the Shas party, composed of orthodox Jews from North
Africa, is also a powerful influence. Although there is dissent
between North African and Eastern European orthodox Jews, they
agree on the necessity to incorporate religious laws from the
Talmud into the legal system of the state. That is what has
happened. So, the whole province of personal law includes
registration of matters of personal status of the population,
including new immigrants. It is interesting to notice that when
examining the ruling of a secular body such as the Supreme Court of
Israel, there is almost always a judge who will, on matters other
than personal status, quote precedents from biblical law and
Talmudic rulings although only personal law comes under the direct
jurisdiction of the Rabbinical Courts. The religious parties try to
enlarge their monopoly on matters of personal status and other
religious matters (such as Sabbath observance) through their
participation in the Knesset. There is a continual tussle in Israel
today between orthodox and secular Jews as to how much of
rabbinical law and tradition should be incorporated into laws of
the state. While most matter of personal status are decided, in the
case of objections, only in rabbinical courts, appelants do have,
in some cases, the right of appeal to the secular system (usually
the Supreme Court of Justice). In cases of divorce, for instance,
the alimony fixed by the rabbinical courts can be altered in the
civil courts.
Arrival at the Airport
When ex-Soviet immigrants arrived at the
airport they receive an entry stamp in their passport. The entry
stamp is proof that they are Israeli citizens. For the following
three months they have the right to opt out and become permanent
residents. All the immigrants are screened in a separate location
in the airport where families or individuals are interviewed by
representatives of the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. The
Ministry of Immigrant Absorption is a special ministry which caters
for immigrants only. The representatives of the Ministry ask
questions such as where they want to live, if they have relatives
or friends in the country, what is their profession, etc. At the
airport, new olim receive money in cash to help them during
the first days in Israel. The question of access to services or
whether services at the airport are provided according to religious
or national affiliations is absolutely irrelevant. All new
immigrants with oleh visas are considered Israeli citizens
and as such will receive all the absorption benefits related to
this status.
At that stage there already is an
opportunity for the new olim to orient themselves in the
country. However, most of the new immigrants do know where they are
going when they arrive in Israel because of the information they
receive in the former Soviet union from their relatives already in
Israel. There are very few who arrive without having received
information before making Aliya. While in the writing stage
of my book, I personally saw several immigrants who went through
the process at the airport and knew exactly what they wanted to do
and what they did not want to do. When they arrive, they have a
significant amount of information. They roughly know what their
rights are. At the airport they receive information on health
insurance if they have sick dependents. Depending on where they are
going, they can receive transportation.
Representatives of kibbutzim are present at
the airport to provide information on the opportunities offered by
their communities. Kibbutzim representatives are mainly interested
in young people. Although it rarely happens, I also know of cases
of new immigrants assiduously courted by settlers who promised them
a very nice apartment which they in fact received. The problem was
that they did not know about the fact that they were in the
Occupied Territories.
The more recent arrival of immigrants are
young. I found out that a significant number of them had only a
slight connection to Judaism. This can be explained by the fact
that it was difficult to talk about a Jewish society during the
Soviet Union. Jewish communities were not existent, Jewish identity
was maintain within families, often mixed families. This situation
differs from past immigration to Israel where it was an immigration
of Jewish communities.
The current integration policy of free
access to any place in the country departs from earlier policies.
The policy of the government until very recently was to offer all
immigrants the option of an initial stay in an immigrant centre run
by the Absorption Ministry until they acclimatised themselves;
during this period they were offered advice on housing and work and
could study Hebrew. (In the 1950s and 1960s new immigrants were
taken directly from the airport or port to outlying areas of the
country and had no initial choice on where they could go). Today
the system has changed to one of 'direct absorption' in which the
immigrant is free to go wherever he or she likes on arrival.
Immigrant centres still exist for those who have no alternative,
but very few choose to go there. Today, new immigrants receive
information about the better employment opportunities in the
development towns in the less inhabited areas of the country such
as the Galilee or the Negev. But, new immigrants prefer to settle
in larger agglomerations such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The
problem is that the Ministry of Housing has concentrated all public
housing for immigrants in the less populated areas of the Negev and
the Galilee. This contradiction has not helped. It created a huge
market for rental housing for the immigrants. Since there are no
apartment buildings for them in Tel Aviv, and the only
accommodation is rental, rents are very high whereas government
housing is very affordable.
Problems of Integration
The main problem that new immigrants had to
face was employment. This wave of immigrants had an unparalleled
educational level. Unlike the mass immigration of the past who
mainly came from Arab countries and who were mainly artisans and
small traders (who often became manual labourers), the ex-Soviet
immigrants were highly trained professionals especially in the
fields of engineering, architecture and medicine. Since Israel
already had one of the highest ratios of doctors-patients in the
world, the influx of a large number of physicians from the former
Soviet Union meant that specialists in particular had to accept
lower job levels. In the former Soviet Union, the women's work
force was as highly developed as the men's. There were many
qualified women engineers for example. In Israel, unlike the former
Soviet Union where almost all women worked outside the home, only
about a third of women are employed in the work force. In sum, the
main problem with employment was with the different occupational
structure and professional qualifications in the two countries.
A related but different problem was the
fact that the ex-Soviet Jewry saw itself as an intellectual elite
in the former Soviet Union. When they came to Israel they could no
longer maintain this image because they were not equipped to
compete with Hebrew-speaking intellectuals. For both men and women
professionals, it created a problem of self-image and professional
status.
Another problem is the Jewishness of these
new immigrants. The State of Israel was created on the basis of a
small nucleus of immigrants from Eastern Europe. These immigrants
were composed of three specific groups. First, socialist pioneers,
the product of Russia revolutionary society who were predominantly
secular. Second, a very Orthodox Jewish minority already existing
in Palestine at the time; their numbers were increased by the
arrival of more Orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe. These Orthodox
Jews were respected by other Jews because they kept the Jewish
identity alive through their traditions and, as such, they occupied
an important social position. Although these two groups were
Jewish, they had different societal objectives of what was to be
Israel. The socialist pioneers wanted to built a secular state,
while the orthodox wanted to implement Jewish law. When it came to
the establishment of the State of Israel, a compromise was reached.
These opposing political forces are one of the main reasons why
Israel does not have a constitution the impossibility of
reconciling these tendencies. There are a number of contradictions
between rabbinical Judaism and the egalitarian principles set out
in the Declaration of Independence which states that there should
be no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, and gender.
These modern egalitarian principles are in contradiction to the
rabbinical code that was established centuries ago. It would be
very odd if the rabbinical code of laws which is still in effect
with regard to the personal laws of Israelis should suit the
requirements of a democratic society. Since 1948, these two
tendencies have been present in the Israeli political arena. The
current ex-Soviet immigration has been welcomed openly by many
Israeli leaders and intellectuals as strengthening the "Western"
and secular Israel.
The arrival of ex-Soviet immigrants called
for special solutions as far as social integration was concerned.
More importantly, it also call for a reassessment of the Zionist
State. This reassessment implied a particular kind of acceptance of
foreigners who were not necessarily Zionist, probably not Jews in
the rabbinic sense, and not Jews in any sense other than the fact
that they were persecuted for their Jewish parentage. This is a
complex socio-political problem that nobody really anticipated.
On the whole, ex-Soviet immigrants are
successfully integrated in the economic sense. Most of them have
found employment and the indicators are going down. Israel extends
an extraordinary degree of support not only through financial
assistance, but through a whole spectrum of possibilities such as
housing, education, etc. Perhaps most important of all are
state-sponsored language programs. In addition to that there are a
great number of voluntary and semi-governmental organizations that
provide support and services. There is a maximum effort by the
State of Israel to assist new immigrants when they arrive in the
country. As far as I know 14 per cent of the ex-Soviet immigrants
were considered disadvantaged people such as the elderly. This has
put quite a strain on Israel welfare services. Today there is a
universal health system in Israel which ensures every citizen
access to services.
Another problem is the very different
analysis of what being Jewish meant in the former Soviet Union and
in the State of Israel. In Israel, Jewish identity is mainly
determined by the rabbinical hierarchy for historical and political
reasons. All matters of personal law such as registration of
nationality, permission to marry, divorce procedures, inheritance,
and burial, have constituted problems to ex-Soviet immigrants who
were not considered Jewish, but who came under the Law of Return as
members of a Jewish family.
The Law of Return and Current Immigration
There is also what I would call an
"historical-psychological" problem. The Law of Return which governs
immigration to the State of Israel is the result of specific
historical and political factors, chief of which is the Holocaust.
The writing of the Law of Return borrowed, whether consciously or
not, from the Nuremberg laws of 1935 which considered as Jewish not
only a person born of a Jewish mother, but people who had at least
one parent or grand-parent of Jewish origin. People considered as
"half Jews" were caught by these discriminatory laws. People with
remote links to Jewish origin were exterminated during the
Holocaust. In some way there is a weird parallel with the current
problem of the Jewish identity of new ex-Soviet immigrants in the
sense that those who were penalized because of their connections to
Jews during the Nazi era are now advantaged by it through
immigration to Israel. The connection between the Nuremberg laws
and the Law of Return is that anyone who was penalized by a
connection however remote to Jews and Jewry would now benefit from
that connection.
This is a very important aspect in
understanding the Law of Return. It allows for the protection of
all those who have been submitted to mistreatment in the past
either because they were Jews or because of their affiliation with
Jews. In that sense, the society the Zionists wanted to built was a
Jewish one, it could not have been otherwise because the people
they were trying to help were Jews. Therefore, Israel was to be a
state for the Jews. This was also the agenda which enabled Zionism
to be represented and accepted by the United Nations at a
particular time in history when the Nazi period was still fresh in
everyone's mind.
This law is a very liberal document. When
the Law of Return states that every Jew can become a citizen of the
State of Israel, it also indirectly asks the question of who is a
Jew. It does not mean somebody who necessarily practices Judaism as
a religion, it does not even mean somebody who is necessarily a
member of a Jewish community, it also does not mean somebody who is
a member of a Jewish organization. It simply means a person who is
thought of as a Jew is the country-of-origin, or who has some
relationship to a Jewish family either by marriage, or by parentage
of the second and third generations (parents or grand-parents).
This provision was not problematic until
the arrival of ex-Soviet Jews because no one seemed to have
understood, despite the amount of research on Soviet Jewry, the
extent to which Jewish identity had almost disappeared. For 70
years the Jewish community had lived under Soviet rule which had a
traumatic effect on Jewish life and identity. During 40 years
Israeli leaders constantly demanded more liberal immigration laws
in order to allow Soviet Jewry to immigrate to Israel. The Israeli
leadership was also keen to maximize the potential of this
immigration that was thought to be of several million people. In
fact, it was considered to be the chief "reservoir" of immigration
of the future. This idea became somewhat of a political
cliché in Israel, but its consequences were not fully
understood.
One of the reason that made it difficult to
foresee the problem of the Jewish identity of the current
Aliya was the immigration of the "refuseniks". Before this
recent wave of immigration 150,000 immigrants from the former
Soviet Union came to Israel from the early 1970s onward. Most of
these immigrants were totally committed to their Jewish identity
(there were many from the Eastern republics who still lived in
communities) and had some idea of Zionism. They were led by those
Soviet Jewish refuseniks who had battled for the right to emigrate
from the Soviet Union. These Jews strongly identified with Israel.
Therefore, the problem of Jewish identity was not an issue from the
point of view of their integration in the Israeli society.
Initially, nobody fully understood that there would be a problem in
the immigration of so many people. There was no more Jewish
community in the traditional sense because people had
inter-married. Also, because of the departure of so many of the
Zionists who were committed to Jewish education, there was no sense
of belonging to a specific group or culture, except in the sense
that one was the victim of discrimination. In other words, you were
a Jew because you were a victim of discrimination. The motivation
of those who came in the last five years is a subject of debate
among sociologists. Nobody has yet come up with a systematic
analysis. From my personal experience, I think that the prime
motivation of the current immigrants for making Aliya is to
get out of the former Soviet Union into a society which they see as
more prosperous, with fewer problems such as the environment, and
because of better economic prospects. The Zionist motivation among
these new immigrants is not nearly as high as it was for the
"refuseniks".
The administrative and legal problems
associated with not being Jewish according to the rabbinical
definition a person born of a Jewish mother assume an enormous
importance. Many of the immigrants felt that they were not accepted
in their new society. There were problems such as their Jewish
identity which they never anticipated on leaving the former Soviet
Union or in Israel, and for which nobody prepared them. The issue
of burial for instance. Until very recently, if one was not buried
by the Jewish Burial Society, or in a Christian or Muslim burial, a
person could not be buried. There was no provisions for secular
burial until very recently. There was a significant number of
ex-Soviet immigrants who were elderly and who died in Israel. When
the religious burial society inquired and consulted their document,
they refused burial on the basis that these people were not Jewish.
The families had to search for an alternative burial site which
turned out to be a kibbutz. There was a huge public outcry about
this problem over the handful of cases. Portions of land are
currently being selected for secular burial in which people who do
not conform to the religious burial criteria of Judaism,
Christianity, or Islam could be buried. These secular cemeteries
would also be available for Jews who do not wish to be buried
according to religious ceremonies.
There is also the status of mixed couples.
It is important to point out right away that as citizens of Israel,
mixed couples will not have problems with their civil rights,
especially with the new Basic Laws on Human Dignity. Problems might
arise from their personal status. The majority of mixed couples are
young with young children. For mixed couples where the mother is
Jewish, the children will be considered Jewish, and as such the
family's integration into Israeli society will proceed without
problems. For mixed couples where the mother is non-Jewish, the
children will not be considered Jewish and problems will arise when
they reach maturity, especially if they wish to marry a Jew. The
whole issue of mixed couples will be a massive problem because
there are numerous mixed couples who made Aliya from the
former Soviet Union. If one assumes that approximately 30 per cent
of the immigrants are not Jewish, and that most of them belong to
mixed couples, then you have a huge problem of personal status in
front of you. However, in my estimation, by the time the children
of today's mixed couples are adult, there will probably be civil
marriages in Israel. It will probably be because of the sheer force
of numbers. One of the possibilities lies in Jewish law. There is a
provision which accepts a couple who have not been married in a
religious ceremony but are known to be living in partnership.
It has been suggested that the current
ex-Soviet immigration is going to be the chief mover of the
separation of religion and state in Israel, and that it will lead
to the introduction of secular marriages which does not exist at
the present time. There is quite a lobby today in Israel which is
trying to use the problems of new ex-Soviet immigrants to push for
a total separation of state and religion. But some of the new
immigrants' leadership are strongly opposed to be used in that
battle. To what extent this view is representative of the ex-Soviet
immigrants' constituency is an open question.
It is an inevitable process that the clash
between the values of the majority of Israelis and the more narrow
view of the rabbinical minority, would result in changes in the
laws of personal status in Israel.
NOTES
(1) See: Shepherd, Naomi. 1993. The
Russians in Israel, available at the Resource Centre in Ottawa.
(2) See: Israel Affairs. Winter 1994.
Vol. 1, Number 2. Naomi Shepherd. "Ex-Soviet Jews in Israel: Asset,
Burden, or Challenge?" This article is available at the Resource
Centre in Ottawa.
General information on the social context of immigration [ISR21645.E] (Anfragebeantwortung, Französisch)