ALIYAH TO ISRAEL IN THE 1990s Lessons for the Future PROF. JACK HABIB Director, JCD-Broolcdale Institute, Jerusalem and JUDITH KING Director of Researcli on Immigrant Absorption, JDC-Broolcdale Institute, Jerusalem Almost a million immigrants made aliyah to Israel during the 1990s. To meet this massive immigration, Israeli adopted new immigration policies that differed significantly from previous ones. The professional community and Diaspora Jewry played leading roles in introducing programmatic and policy changes and innovations. he decade of the 1990s was a dramatic STRATEGIES AND KEYS TO SUCCESS Tepisode in the history of aliyah to the state of Israel. In this brief article, we discuss The strategies adopted by Israel to meet the nature of the challenge, the strategies the challenge posed by the sheer magnitude adopted, the Diaspora-Israeli partnership, of the immigration represented significant some of the achievements, and remaining departures from previous policies. The pro­ challenges. We conclude with some general fessional community played a leading role in lessons from this experience. identifying the need for change and assisting Israeli society to adopt its strategies to this unique challenge. NATURE OF THE CHALLENGE One of the most significant changes was the shift from the initial absorption of immi­ In the 1990s, 956,000 immigrants came to grants in absorption centers to their direct Israel. Of these, 824,000 were from the FSU integration into the community through their and 40,000 from Ethiopia. Immigrants thus rental or purchase of apartments on the open represented 14 percent of the Israeli popula­ market with government financial assistance. tion at the end of the decade. The sheer This made it possible to deal with the dra­ magnitude of the immigration presented a matically increased rate of immigration, but very special challenge that few other coun­ at the same time posed many more chal­ tries have experienced. However, there were lenges for local municipalities, which be­ several other factors that added to this chal­ came the major agent of absorption. This lenge: arrangement was not feasible for all groups, such as the Ethiopian community or those . the diversity of the immigrants, including with very weak families. significant differences between Ethiopian Absorption policy during this period was and Russian immigrants and between much more sensitive to the need to work those from Northern and Southern Russia with the immigrant communities as partners . the large numbers of immigrants with se­ in the absorption process. Assistance was vere needs and without the potential for provided to develop leadership groups within self-support the immigrant community, as well as to or­ • the very significant cultural transition re­ ganizations led by immigrants that could be quired by both immigrants from the FSU partners in the process. This provided oppor­ and Ethiopia tunities to establish real partnerships with 144 Aliyah to Israel in the 1990s I 145 both professional and lay leadership in the FSU in their own communides. Thus, there immigrant communities. emerged an important exchange of ideas and There was a special emphasis on focused experience that contributed to immigrant ab­ efforts to promote cross-cultural understand­ sorption in both Israel and the Diaspora. At ing, particularly between professionals and the WCJCS quadrennial in 1998, a special the immigrant community through extensive pre-conference and professional track was and innovative training programs. devoted to the exchange of experiences in There were highly successful efforts dur­ immigrant absorption. ing the first years to mobilize volunteer ef­ forts within the general population and es­ ACHIEVEMENTS AND REMAINING tablish one-on-one relationships. There was CHALLENGES also a particular emphasis on the mobiliza­ tion of all sectors of Israeli society to address From the perspecdve of the society as a the challenges (e.g. business sector, univer­ whole, it is important to note that the period sities, kibbutzim. of massive immigration in the first half of the decade was stimulated by rapid economic There was a shift from a policy of sepa­ growth, which led to low overall unemploy­ rate services for immigrants to integrated ment by 1996. Subsequently, unemployment services that are sensitive to the needs and has increased, but for reasons unrelated to the cultural background of immigrants. This the immigration process. is even more important with regard to long- term absorption. Immigrants from the FSU More than ever before, the absorption process was accompanied by extensive ef­ By 1996, immigrants from the FSU had forts to examine the needs and monitor re­ achieved high rates of employment. Even sults through applied research, which con­ immigrants aged 45-64 had succeeded sig­ tributed directly to setting priorities and to nificantly in entering into employment. programmatic and policy reform. However, less than half of the immigrants found employment that fully used their pre­ vious educadon and skills. THE DIASPORA-ISRAELI The Russian immigrant population is very PARTNERSHIP educated and places a high value on educa­ Diaspora Jewry responded in a major don. The high-school performance of Rus­ way, mobilizing significant resources sian youth in Israel equals that of the general through many channels: the Exodus cam­ Jewish-Israeli population, which many view paign, the reallocation by the JDC and the as a significant success. However, their Jewish agency of their core budgets, and achievements are lower than those of non­ direct giving to a variety of Israeli insdtu­ immigrant families whose parents have sim­ tions. However, the funding from the Dia­ ilarly high levels of education. Furthermore, spora also played a very significant role in although there are many successful immi­ the dramatic efforts to introduce program­ grant students, there is also a very high rate matic and policy changes and innovadons. of high-school dropouts and a higher rate of These changes were implemented through deviant behavior than in the general Israeli demonstradon programs, experimentadon, populadon. In general, the economic situa­ training programs, advocacy efforts, and ap­ tion of the family and the educafional plied research. Another important contribu­ achievements of the immigrants from South­ tion was the promodon of voluntary organi­ ern Russia are much lower than those from zadons and leadership development among Northern Russia. Indeed, those from the the immigrants from both the FSU and Ethi­ Caucuses and Bukharian region have been opia. Finally, the Diaspora itself was also singled out for special educational assistance engaged in integrating immigrants from the due to their low achievements. Thus, as with WINTER/SPRING 2003 Journal of Jewish Communal Service I 146 employment, the full potential of the immi­ Russian immigrants. All of these factors grants was not realized, and there was con­ have also contributed to very high rates of siderable disappointment on their part. poverty. One of the important defining character­ In recognition of their special needs, Is­ istics of the interaction between immigrants raeli society has provided Ethiopian Jews from the FSU and the non-immigrant popu­ more extensive entitiements to assistance lation is the gap between their perspectives than for any of the other immigrant groups. on the success of the immigrants' transition In addition to the issue of the amount of from the former FSU. While the general pop­ assistance required, this group needed a very ulation believes that the immigrants im­ different set of policies and programs proved their economic and housing situation adapted to their special needs and cultural significantly by making aliyah, the perspec­ norms. Diaspora Jewry played a particularly tive of the majority of the immigrants is one important role in helping develop and iden­ of decline. This is because in the FSU they tify these programs. represented an economic elite. The immi­ The Ethiopian population has important grants' major reason for coming to Israel was strengths that overcome the huge hurdles it their concem for the future of their children, faced. One is the very strong motivation of which makes the educational achievement of this group to be a part of Israeli society and, their children all the more important. in contrast to expectations, the very strong Another important indicator of success is commitment to education of both parents and the low rate of yerida, or emigration from children. A second strength has been the Israel. At the same time, a major concem has development of indigenous leadership among been with the strength of their Jewish iden­ the first wave of immigrants that came in the tity, which is a component of their broader 1980s, which went on to play a major role in identification with Israeli society. Clearly, the absorption of the new wave of immigra­ this immigration has included significant tion in the 1990s. This also found expression numbers of family members who were not in the development of organizations led by Jewish according to the Halachic definition Ethiopians that played an important advo­ or had little prior knowledge of Judaism. cacy role. While some efforts have been implemented to make Jewish education opportunities These factors are reflected in the degree available, an important problem remains the of success of this group in the educational difficulties faced by the significant group of system, which is obviously the key