A Study On The Identity Of Israeli Emigrants(1970-2015)

The establishment of Israel in 1948 was the greatest achievement of the Zionist movement, which aimed at building a national home for Jews around the world in the land for which Jews had longed for thousands of years. This achievement notwithstanding, for various reasons, some Israeli citizens have chosen from the outset to leave Israel and to live abroad, a large contingent of whom went to America. While the number of Israelis who have emigrated is much in dispute, almost no one has suggested that matters have reached a demographic crisis. And yet, for years many Israelis have seen emigration as a threat to the ideological and moral viability of Israel itself. The complicated place of the Land of Israel in Jewish thought and life throughout the centuries—indeed, what some have argued is a deep ambivalence towards the land of Israel—and classical Zionist thought on the other hand, make Israeli emigration a Jewish phenomenon which is different from the case of emigration from other countries. On the one hand, Israeli society tended for many years to look down on emigrants, who were termed "Yordim". On the other hand, for many reasons, most Israelis have not traditionally been involved with mainstream Jewish communal organizations in the U.S.. For Israeli emigrants in the U.S. themselves before the 1990 s remained a nagging sense of cultural discomfort. The last decades, however, have witnessed a change in this picture.The transformations in Israeli society, among American Jews and in American identity which took place since the late 1980 s affect how Israeli immigrants view themselves, how Israelis residing in Israel view them and finally, how the local Jewish community views them. Israeli Americans today are overcoming deep-seated feelings of guilt for leaving their country.Israeli American Council(IAC) seems to represent these shifts in which Israelis in America are making efforts to shape their identity as Israelis and Americans. As an organization established by Israeli Americans, IAC has defined itself as aimed at cultivating and shaping a distinct Israeli-American identity. IAC is a new phenomenon on the organizational level, and in the ways in which Israeli Americans understand themselves and reshape their Israeli identity. Current IAC programs for families, young adults and children alike, centers on Israeli culture and Jewish identity and serve as a window into the ways in which they understand and seek to shape them.The identity of Israeli emigrants indicates that the changes from Israel have had an impact on Israeli emigrants and have been an important factor in their changing identity.The Israeli government started to view Israeli emigrants as an asset.Israeli emigrants started to build a new relationship with Israel.Israeli emigrants may take the role of a mediator, creating a different type of dialogue and promoting the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora. However, Israeli emigrants face dilemmas when forming their identity.