Since the State of Israel was established in 1948, Jewish immigrants from an array of countries and cultures have made homes there, integrating into the relatively small country. About 40 percent of Israel's current population is foreign-born, and the major cities are crowded with Russian restaurants, Yemenite spice kiosks, Persian art shops and Spanish department stores.
Upwards of 400,000 of these immigrants are from Ukraine, making native Ukrainians a significant minority, given that the country has only about six million citizens.
According to the Ukrainian embassy, most of Ukraine's immigrants have become naturalized Israeli citizens. Some hold dual citizenship, though Ukraine dos not recognize that status.
The Ukrainian immigrants' integration into Israeli culture has been slow, yet progressive, according to Shmuel Ben-Dor, an anthropology professor at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheeva. Ben-Dor's parents emigrated from Domdrowitz, Ukraine during the 1930's.
"The great majority of [Ukrainian immigrants] have found their place in Israel," Ben-Dor said.
One of them is Nataly Geltzer, whose family moved to Israel from Kyiv in 1991, when she was 12. Geltzer said that the largest obstacle to integration that her family and many others faced was the language barrier.
"When we first arrived, it was difficult," Geltzer said. "We could only speak with other Russians and Ukrainians, because we did not speak Hebrew."
Today, Geltzer speaks Hebrew fluently. She is a student of laboratory medicine at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, and has completed her obligatory service in the Israeli army.
Geltzer says that that her parents' attempts to integrate is an ongoing struggle, but " only because of the language."
According to Ben-Dor, military service serves as
a melting pot for Israeli society.
Inna Maltzman, a 40 year-old mother who moved to Israel from Kyiv in 1993, said that Israel lacks the refined culture that abounded in her native Ukraine.
"In Ukraine, there is a culture that is lacking here," she said. "In Israel, there is no opera or ballet." Maltzman said that Israel is culturally stagnant because of the ongoing influx of refugees from underdeveloped countries like Ethiopia, and its constant security and economic stress.
"Israelis do not yet understand our need for culture," Maltzman said.
In fact, some Ukrainians have returned to their home country because they miss this aspect of their former lives.
The Ukrainian community within Israel is difficult to separate from the large population of Russian immigrants. According to Maltzman, there are no noticeable cultural differences between the two groups and there is no language barrier either, as Russian is the mother tongue of most of the Ukrainian immigrants.
Many Israeli Ukrainians define themselves as Russians when asked, and only if pressed for specific details will he explain that he is from Ukraine.
"Within Israel, there is no difference between Russians and Ukrainians," she said.
Even while living in Ukraine, Maltzman never felt separate from Russian culture.
"[In Israel,] you feel a strong difference between the Russians, Arabs, Israelis and others, but in Ukraine people were not divided like that," Maltzman said.
While Ukrainians are ethnically grouped with Russians in Israel, Georgians, Moldovans and other Russian-speaking immigrant communities are considered separately. Ben-Dor believes that the grouping is partially due to the fact that Israelis affiliate Ukrainians with Russians, and partially because Ukrainians desire this affiliation.
"Most of the Jews who came from Russia came with academic credentials and degrees," Ben-Dor said. "Ukrainians pride themselves in being a part of that community."
In spite of its close connection to the Russian community, there are several specifically Ukrainian institutions within Israel. There is an organization for victims of Chornobyl, of which Geltzer's parents are members, an Association of Jewish Immigrants from Ukraine, which has 26 branches throughout the country, and the Association of Native Ukrainians, an organization catering to Ukrainian immigrants from "mixed" families.
Mykola Leschenko, cultural affairs attache at Ukraine's embassy in Israel, defines immigrants from "mixed" families as individuals who were able to enter Israel because of a Jewish family member, but who do not practice Judaism.
"Ethnically, they are not Jewish; they are Ukrainian," Leschenko said. He said that there are between 20,000 and 30,000 such immigrants in Israel, and that they identify with Ukrainian nationality and culture more than do Jewish Ukrainians.
"They integrate into Israeli culture, but tend to preserve most of their Ukrainian identity," Leschenko said.
Ukraine's embassy connects Ukrainian Israelis with their native country, said Alexandra Baraniuk, assistant to the ambassador. She said that the embassy organizes performances by Ukrainian artists to help provide immigrants with some of the culture that they miss.
The embassy also updates native Ukrainians on news from Ukraine, according to Leschenko, who said the embassy is trying to get a Ukrainian channel on Israel's cable television network.
"We consider these people a link between Ukraine and Israel, and we do our best to maintain a connection with them," Leschenko said.
Despite the progress Ukrainians have made, full integration into Israeli society and language remains problematic. Maltzman speaks to her four year-old son in Russian, and he is just beginning to learn the language of his home country. In spite of her university degree in economics, Maltzman's halting Hebrew holds her back in the Israeli job market.
In addition, Geltzer feels that the educational system in Israel is not as advanced as the system in Ukraine.
"In middle school and high school, they spend more time on science and general studies [in Ukraine] than in Israel," Geltzer said.
Geltzer has not returned to Ukraine since she immigrated with her family 13 years ago, although she retains childhood friends, and reminisces about the beauty of her hometown, Kyiv.
Ben-Dor sees a bright future for the community of Ukrainian Israelis, and ays that he believes that they have much to contribute to their adopted home.
"We, as Israelis, received a gift," Ben-Dor said.
Rebecca Kazzaz is an American freelance writer currently living and studying in Israel.
|
