Russian-Speaking Jews 25 Years Later

1989-2014: Russian-Speaking Jews 13 25 Years Later On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall fell. !e faced with the practical realities of realizing what event came as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's had hitherto been only a distant hope. Amid the policies of glasnost and perestroika had steadily headiness of a miraculous time, each began the led to a loosening of Moscow's rigid control over hard work of developing concrete responses to a its subject peoples. Yet the breaching of this stark challenge of unanticipated proportions. symbol of the communist East's self-enforced From 1989 and throughout the following 25 years, isolation was a climactic sign that change of world Jewry invested massively in meeting the historic proportions was taking place. two main elements of this challenge: facilitating !e change took the world, and Jews everywhere, the emigration of almost two million people and by surprise. A great superpower and an implacable their resettlement, preferably in Israel and, if not, foe was dying. It was not defeated on the battlefield elsewhere; and responding to the needs – cultural, of a cataclysmic war. Rather, like Macarthur's spiritual, material – and aspirations of the Jews who, old soldiers, it just faded away, its ebbing decline out of choice or necessity, remained in the region. barely perceptible until suddenly it was plain to all. Of the estimated 2-3 million Jews and their For the Jewish world, the change was monumental. relatives who lived in the Soviet Union in 1989, the After decades of separation from the rest of the overwhelming majority emigrated, leaving only Jewish people, after Western Jewries' years of several hundred thousand in the region today. intense struggle on their behalf, millions of Jews While push factors played a decisive role in this in the Soviet Union, and tens of thousands more mass migration – one of the largest in Jewish in Central and Eastern Europe, were now free to history – policy interventions at critical junctures reconnect to their fellow Jews. And their fellow helped produce the following: Jews were now free to reach out to them. − 60% of the migrants went to Israel. Although, Having rallied for so long behind the slogan "Let initially, as many as 80% of the Soviet Jewish My People Go," they now found themselves émigrés expressed a preference to resettle THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 191 in the United States, pressure from Prime immigrants have integrated successfully on a Minister Yitzhak Shamir combined with the personal level – and, indeed, their economic U.S. government's reluctance to fund the cost achievements in North America are generally of refugee resettlement limited migration to more impressive even than those in Israel. the United States and ensured that a million- Yet while they display a strong commitment plus olim reached Israel. !is immigrant wave to Israel and the Jewish people as a whole, transformed Israel, socially, economically, few bring with them a sense of community politically, and even strategically. Not least, as it has existed in the West. !e immigrants' the influx reinforced Israel's Jewish majority integration into organized Jewish communal and provided an economic boost, bringing the life in their host countries has, thus, been infusion of highly skilled workers that made the extremely limited, and assimilation among "Start-Up Nation" possible. Although Israel was them appears rapid. Although they have the often not the preferred destination, 25 years later, potential to play a significant role in making most feel comfortable with their lives in Israel Judaism relevant to a growing sector of and want their children to remain in the country. Jews with limited or no religious beliefs and − Successful integration in Israeli economic, practices, it is unclear whether it is possible social, and political settings. Israel's ability to for either the new arrivals or their veteran maximize this windfall should not be taken for counterparts to preserve Jewish identity in a granted. More than at any time in Israel's history, free society without a sense of religion and its thoughtful and timely policy decisions enabled coalescing community e#ect, or the coercive the country to utilize the immigrants' human power of the state. potential e#ectively, and provided a model − !e development of communal infrastructure for the integration of future migrations. !ese for those who remained in the FSU. A large decisions reflected the immigrants' numerical and impressive communal infrastructure clout as reflected in their successful political has been developed aimed at meeting the self-empowerment, which enabled them to Jewish cultural, spiritual, communal, and influence the allocation of government funding material needs of those who did not emigrate. for retraining and social-mobility programs. Jewish programming is plentiful and reaches !is political movement also produced several significant numbers in absolute (though not individuals who emerged as promising future relative) terms. Here too, however, the lack Israeli political leaders. of a community tradition in the FSU has hampered the revival of Jewish communal life − Personal integration in other countries. Some 750,000 Russian-speaking Jews live today in there, a factor that reinforces the absence of a the United States and some 300,000 more philanthropic culture to keep this infrastructure in Germany and elsewhere. Overall, these – and particularly its welfare system – heavily 192 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE dependent on outside funding. Moreover, local leadership capable of forging the kind while the removal of the state's coercive of authentic indigenous vision of Jewish life influence freed Jews to reconnect to the Jewish needed to build recognizable communities and people by either emigrating or reclaiming their to cultivate levels of Jewish identity necessary to Jewish heritage at home, it has also freed them stem assimilation and sustain Aliyah. !e task to integrate more freely into general society. of reestablishing self-sustaining communities Nevertheless, Jewish programming is helping in an environment with strong centrifugal mold a younger generation whose Jewish influences and the need to provide for Jews in identities have been formed in the post- need, therefore, are long-term enterprises that Soviet era. !is generation can be expected, require the continued commitment of Israel in the coming decades, to give rise to a new and the Jewish world. Table 1. Emigration of Jews and their Relatives from the FSU, 1970-2006 (thousands)1 By destination: Year Total % of total to Israel Israel U.S.A Germany 1970-1988 291 165 126 … 57 1989 72 12.9 56 0.6 18 1990 205 185.2 6.5 8.5 90 1991 195 147.8 35.2 8 76 1992 123 65.1 45.9 4 53 1993 127 66.1 35.9 16.6 52 1994 116 68.1 32.9 8.8 59 1995 114 64.8 21.7 15.2 57 1996 106 59 19.5 16 56 1997 99 54.6 14.5 19.4 55 1998 83 46 7.4 17.8 55 1999 99 66.8 6.3 18.2 67 2000 79 50.8 5.9 16.5 64 2001 60 33.6 4.1 16.7 56 2002 44 18.5 2.5 19.3 42 2003 32 12.4 1.6 15.4 39 2004 25 10.1 1.1 11.2 40 2005 18 9.4 0.9 6 52 2006 10 7.5 0.6 1.1 75 1989-2006 1,607 979 325 219 61 1970-2006 1,898 1,144 … … 60 THE JEWISH PEOPLE POLICY INSTITUTE 193 !e Russian Aliyah !is policy determination was remarkable, not least because of the clash of values and interests A Leadership Moment that Shaped the between Israel's national needs and the émigrés' “Global Jewish Future” freedom to choose. What distinguished Shamir's Within a decade of 1989, Israel's population surged perspective was that it was motivated by concern from 4.6 million to 6.2 million in large part due for the country's future, even though this ran to the immigration of almost a million Russian- contrary to his own political self-interest. A report speaking Jews. !e impact of this influx was by the Israeli “Liaison Bureau” that he received a transformational. It changed virtually every facet few weeks before the Schultz meeting indicated of Israeli life, from its culture and economy to its that mass Aliyah would almost certainly result politics and international in Shamir's electoral defeat, as indeed transpired a#airs. when when Yitzhak Rabin was elected in 1992 Shamir pressed thanks in part to the massive “Russian vote.” the United Yet as the Jewish States to cancel emigration wave began, In September 1989, with thousands of émigrés political refugee it was not at all clear leaving each week, concern grew in the United status for the that Israel would benefit States that allowing unfettered immigration of Soviet Jewish from such a population Soviet Jews would create a precedent for future emigres windfall. In 1988, 88.5% mass migrations. !e United States therefore of the Jews who left the decided it would allow up to 40,000 Soviet Jews USSR in 1988 did not a year to enter the country as refugees, but that choose Israel as their final it would provide funding only for 32,000, leaving destination. Instead, on American Jewry to fund the remainder. With this their arrival at Western additional financial burden unsustainable for transit stations after leaving the Soviet Union, the American Jewish establishment, the dispute they changed their destination from Israel to other between Israel and the Diaspora over Soviet Jewish countries, most notably the United States. emigration was laid to rest. In what he later described as the most significant With the U.S.

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