Russian Jews on Three Continents: Identity, Integration, and ConflictIn the early 1990s, more than 1.6 million Jews from the former Soviet Union emigrated to Israel, the United States, Canada, Germany, and other Western countries. Larissa Remennick relates the saga of their encounter with the economic marketplaces, lifestyles, and everyday cultures of their new homelands, drawing on comparative sociological research among Russian-Jewish immigrants.Although citizens of Jewish origin ostensibly left the former Soviet Union to flee persecution and join their co-religionists, Israeli, North American, and German Jews were universally disappointed by the new arrivals' tenuous Jewish identity. In turn, Russian Jews, whose identity had been shaped by seventy years of secular education and assimilation into the Soviet mainstream, hoped to be accepted as ambitious and hard working individuals seeking better lives. These divergent expectations shaped lines of conflict between Russian-speaking Jews and the Jewish communities of the receiving countries.Since her own immigration to Israel from Moscow in 1991, Remennick has been both a participant and an observer of this saga. This is the first attempt to compare resettlement and integration experiences of a single ethnic community (former Soviet Jews) in various global destinations. It also analyzes their emerging transnational lifestyles. Written from an interdisciplinary perspective, this book opens new perspectives for a diverse readership, including sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, historians, Slavic scholars, and Jewish studies specialists. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 78
Page 5
... cities to Tel Aviv, closing the transition camps in Vienna and a few other European cities where earlier waves of Soviet émigrés had been waiting for their visas to the West (departure to Israel had always been expedient). Since the ...
... cities to Tel Aviv, closing the transition camps in Vienna and a few other European cities where earlier waves of Soviet émigrés had been waiting for their visas to the West (departure to Israel had always been expedient). Since the ...
Page 7
... cities—a “critical mass” of between 30 percent and 40 percent. Another unique feature of the Israeli scene is a highly institutionalized and policy-driven approach to the social project of Alyah ve-Klita seen as a principal source of ...
... cities—a “critical mass” of between 30 percent and 40 percent. Another unique feature of the Israeli scene is a highly institutionalized and policy-driven approach to the social project of Alyah ve-Klita seen as a principal source of ...
Page 8
... , and as domestic and nursing workers, on the other. In Toronto, Vancouver, and other Canadian cities, independent Russianspeaking immigrants who arrived directly from the FSU meet those who 8 Russian Jews on Three Continents.
... , and as domestic and nursing workers, on the other. In Toronto, Vancouver, and other Canadian cities, independent Russianspeaking immigrants who arrived directly from the FSU meet those who 8 Russian Jews on Three Continents.
Page 16
... cities where young Jewish men had migrated earlier in great numbers. Culturally, it can also reflect lower attractiveness of Jewish women vis-à-vis Jewish men as potential marital partners for nonJews, reflecting popular stereotypes of ...
... cities where young Jewish men had migrated earlier in great numbers. Culturally, it can also reflect lower attractiveness of Jewish women vis-à-vis Jewish men as potential marital partners for nonJews, reflecting popular stereotypes of ...
Page 17
... cities, mostly in the capitals and other large urban centers (in the Russian Federation, 54 percent of the Jews lived in Moscow and St. Petersburg*). Ever since the 1920s, Jews have also been the most educated ethnic minority, over half ...
... cities, mostly in the capitals and other large urban centers (in the Russian Federation, 54 percent of the Jews lived in Moscow and St. Petersburg*). Ever since the 1920s, Jews have also been the most educated ethnic minority, over half ...
Contents
1 | |
13 | |
Integration or Separatism? | 53 |
Chasing the American Dream | 169 |
Changing Attitudes towards Femininity Sexuality and Gender Roles among Former Soviet Women Living in Greater Boston | 245 |
5 Former Soviet Jews in Toronto Canada | 279 |
Identity and Social Incorporation among Former Soviet Jews in Germany | 313 |
7 Lost Relatives or Strangers? Jews or Former Soviets? In Search of the Common Denominator | 363 |
Glossary | 381 |
Bibliography | 391 |
Other editions - View all
Russian Jews on Three Continents: Identity, Integration, and Conflict Larissa Remennick Limited preview - 2011 |
Russian Jews on Three Continents: Identity, Integration, and Conflict Larissa Remennick Limited preview - 2012 |
Russian Jews on Three Continents: Identity, Integration, and Conflict Larissa Remennick Limited preview - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
activities adjustment aliyah American anti-Semitism arrived Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews attitudes Aussiedler Bukharan Jews Canada Canadian cities co-ethnics diaspora early economic emigration engineers English especially ethnic experience former Soviet immigrants former Soviet Jews friends gender German groups Hebrew homelands Homo Sovieticus host society immi informants integration interviews Israel Israeli Jewish community Jewish identity Jewish immigrants Jewry Judaism labor market language lifestyle living mainly mainstream majority migrants minority Mizrahi Jews mobility Moscow multiple native newcomers non-Jewish non-Jews occupational olim one’s Orthodox Orthodox Judaism parents participation peers perceived percent political professional reflecting refugees religious Remennick resettlement role Russian cultural Russian immigrants Russian Israelis Russian Jews Russian language Russian speakers Russian-Jewish Russian-speaking secular sexual sian skills social networks teachers tion traditional transnational Ukraine USSR usually vis-à-vis visas welfare York young younger youth Zionist