The Moscow Times is reporting about a wave of Russians moving back from Israel. What’s really ironic is that they’re moving back for economic reasons as well as social and religious acceptance. Some stories are unfortunately old:
“One of them is that most highly educated immigrants have to take blue-collar jobs in Israel. “Doctors, physicians and mathematicians were cleaning the streets,” Gorin said.”
Personally I find the social and religious tensions more upsetting. I heard a line once where a Russian said, “When I was in Russia, I was a Jew. When I was in Israel, I was a Russian.”
- Another reason for returning was what Dzhadan called the “sectarian” structure of the society. In order to rent an apartment or find a job, a person has to operate through members of his party or immigrants from the same country or area.
“I didn’t like it,” he said. “I’m used to operating in an open society where people don’t ask you to what community you belong.”
In another context, I once complained that for all the efforts put in to people making aliyah, there is relatively little effort in maintaining the people who are actually there.
Think about how bad it is when someone can seriously write, “Russia’s capitalist economy ‘allows you to exist regardless of your religious beliefs.'”
“Olam Hafuch Ra’iti” – (B. Pesahim 50a).
i’d agree that theydon’t invest much into the new immigrants.. and that this is bad, but what concrete solutions would you have them enact?
given their budget and the political wrangling..?
Other then (besides the Russians, which is what I suspect you were talking about), I don’t think a lot of effort is being put into encouraging aliya, I think you are 100% on target that more effort needs to be made to keep productive olim in Israel, particularly including the old news of professionals who end up getting blue collar jobs.
One part of this is to encourage massive western Aliya to help change the culture of this country the same way the Russian aliya did but another is simply having the dollars roll into Israel focus on improving the economic and social situation here — especially long term including more money in Israeli schools and reforming the fragmented system and mandating greater accountability in all spheres of life.
I’m saying this, btw, having made aliya 6 weeks ago from the US as an aliya of ideological committment.