Israel: Information on cross-cultural perceptions between Israelis and new immigrants from the former Soviet Union

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The following interview was conducted with a Consultant working on Soviet immigrant issues with the JDC-Falk Institute for Mental Health and Behavioral Studies, Brookdale Institute. JDC (Joint Distribution Committee) is a philanthropic organization that provides funding for a variety of projects for the disadvantaged population.

The consultant is a psychologist specializing in the socio-psychological impact of immigration. The consultant will provide information for Soviet immigrants by looking at the situation from their point of view. In other words, problems will be explained by focusing on cultural differences.

The first important factor to bear in mind is that Soviet immigrants are coming from an authoritarian regime that was the Soviet Union. These immigrants were raised in a society where life was regimented, and where "alternatives" and "choices" were concepts foreign to the public in general. These immigrants arrive in Israel, a society where informal and/or ad hoc arrangements are a central aspect of social life. This combination usually confuses the new Soviet immigrants' perception of reality. Equally confused is the average Israeli citizen's perception of the new immigrants. This is the basis of a sociological problem of cross-cultural misunderstanding and misinterpretation.

Therefore, taking into account how Soviet immigrants perceive Israeli sociological reality, one can better understand the context of their stories about Israel when claiming refugee status in Canada.

There are two general factors affecting the Soviet immigrants' perception of reality.

(1) They have been raised in a society where there was a constant image of an "enemy". In order to fight this "enemy who was out there to get us", society had to be "strong" and "protect itself". Also, Jewish people or their families experienced discrimination in the former Soviet Union. As a result, Soviet immigrants have the tendency to interpret actions, behaviour, words, etc., as acts of animosity directed towards them personally. An example of this is the conflict in Israel between ultra-Orthodox Jews and secular Jews which materializes especially through the issue of whether cars should be driven during Shabbat. Ultra-Orthodox Jews demand that "their" streets be closed to cars during Shabbat, whereas non-religious Jews want to be able to drive their cars through these streets. Chances are ultra-Orthodox Jews will throw stones at cars passing on their streets during Shabbat, or at persons, especially women, who are not dressed modestly (i.e., no short sleeves, no shorts, etc.). It is important to stress that radical reactions to the dress-code of individuals walking in the street occur not only during Shabbat. Soviet immigrants may pass through these streets during Shabbat simply because they usually do not know about the behaviour of ultra-Orthodox Jews. For the reason mentioned above, it is also very likely that Soviet immigrants interpret the throwing of stones as an act directed towards them personally. It will be difficult for them to interpret the act of rock-throwing within its proper sociological context. If the Soviet immigrant is non-Jewish or his/her spouse is non-Jewish, it is likely that the connection will be made between their non-Jewish status and rock throwing. However, stoning during Shabbat is not related to the religious or ethnic affiliation of the target of the stone. Secular Jews are often stoned by ultra-Orthodox Jews. Ultra-Orthodox Jews will not stop a car and ask the religious affiliation of the driver before throwing rocks! For them, the person has infringed on Shabbat rules, and that is all that matters.

Another example is job interviews. Israeli employers will often give as much importance, if not more, to personal information (i.e., marital status, family, etc.) as to professional qualifications. Culturally, Soviet immigrants are not comfortable with providing details about their personal life. Very often they will interpret an Israeli employer's insistence on talking about personal information as an unacceptable and rude intrusion in their personal life. For them what is on paper is more important than who they are personally. Again, Soviet immigrants can, and they often do, rationalize this cultural difference in a negative way. The interpretation process will depend on the dominant issue in their life at that time.

(2) The second issue is related to the fact that ex-Soviet immigrants find themselves in a minority status in Israel. This also impacts on their perception of reality.

An issue is the position of the Rabbinate in Israeli society. There is absolutely no problem in detaching oneself from Rabbinical influence in Israel. A person who wishes to live a regular secular life-style may do so without any interference from Rabbinical influence. Yet, newspapers have reported stories where Soviet immigrants "denounced" one another as non-Jews to the Rabbinate or to the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The Rabbinate is supposed to have some kind of a list of non-Jews who cannot marry in Israel(1). Again, the act of denouncing a neighbour can be linked with the former Soviet Union, especially immigrants those who lived under Stalin.

The issue of "pressure" is subtle. Orthodox Jews put a lot of effort into reaching out to the immigrant community. They have substantial funding to elaborate various social programs with which they are able to reach the poor and disadvantaged strata of the population. These social programs are providing much needed material support for Soviet immigrants and their families. Therefore, it is tempting for new immigrants to send their children to Orthodox schools in return for free bus transportation to school, free books, free lunch, etc. All of these are services that the State cannot afford to offer. Many immigrant parents do accept these packages. It is at that point that the issue of pressure may occur. For new immigrants "pressure" means socio-economic benefits.

If parents accept the material incentives, then they may be asked to get involved with the Orthodox customs. However, immigrants do not have to accept this assistance in the first place. There lies the dilemma accepting material assistance with the later commitment to a religious way of life, or not accepting and struggling materially.

Mixed couples where the mother is non-Jewish would also be entitled to material assistance from these Orthodox communities. But the issue of conversion of the mother and the children would certainly surface at some point. It has to be clear that these Orthodox organizations would never force conversion on non-Jews. The issue of conversion to Judaism is strictly voluntary and taken very seriously, especially by Orthodox Jews. Conversion to Judaism is something that requires serious commitment. Nonetheless, it is difficult to evaluate how "pressured" a family who had received material assistance would feel to convert. I know several cases of mixed couples where the non-Jewish spouse converted in such circumstances.

Another cultural factor that helps in understanding the behaviour of Soviet immigrants in Israel with regard to the issue of "religious pressure" is the concept of choice or alternative. Soviet immigrants have been accustomed to go into stores and buy what is available without asking whether there is another brand of a certain product. That has created a certain mentality where one does not even assume that there are alternative products or services available to them. This sociological behaviour, combined with being an immigrant who has left the country in which one was born, creates a powerful feeling of insecurity. When Soviet immigrants arrive in Israel and a Jewish Orthodox organization provides them with a variety of services, it is not within their social knowledge and behaviour to even look for an alternative group or organization. They will think that the Orthodox Jewish organization is the only service provider they will have, so better grab it now. They do not realize that after receiving the service they will have to make a contribution in return. They will often feel obliged to acquiesce to the religious commitment that Orthodox organizations require from them. That is why they often perceive this situation as a trap.

In sum, the pressure has to do with socio-economic factors rather than whether the Soviet immigrants are Jews or not.

Two years ago, there was a recruitment effort by the Ministry of Police in collaboration with the Ministry of Absorption to enlist Soviet immigrants in the Israeli police. This was instituted in order to help new immigrants and the police. JDC was involved with setting up the training of these new immigrants. During the training, there was a role play exercise in which a police officer had to help a person who was stuck with his/her car in the middle of the street during rush hour. An Israeli police officer would simply get help from men around and move the car. However, the first thing Soviet immigrants did was to ask for the person's identification papers. We tried to understand why they were asking the papers when they had to deal with a traffic problem! They were adamant, they needed to see the papers first. We had to do a lot of work on this issue. In the former Soviet Union, papers played a central role in a person's life, and one could be required at any time and for any reason to present them to a security officer. Soviet immigrants in Israel have difficulty abandoning this concept. One should therefore not be surprised that the central theme of their stories in Canada focuses on the issue of Teudat Zehut.

Non-Jews who immigrated to Israel were not Christians, they were atheists. However, in Israel they experienced integration problems, and immigrant minorities have been expressing their nostalgia for life in the former Soviet Union by "returning" to the Church.

With regard to Soviet immigrant women, one of the most important issues is that of single parent families of which there are a significant number. This situation puts women is a difficult position because they have to work and take care of the child(ren). All the usual difficulties that new immigrant families experience are augmented in cases where the woman is alone with the children. Contrary to the situation in the former Soviet Union, single parent families do not usually benefit from the traditional support network of their family.

Another issue, especially for women in single parent families, is that of sexual harassment in the work place. Single parent women are usually more vulnerable to harassment in the work place because they desperately need the money they earn through employment. As a result, they endure unacceptable behaviour from employers who could be prosecuted if the women chose to press charges. Sometimes, they do not dare to refuse and the Israeli men interpret this as consent. Were they to make clear that they are not interested, many men would stop their behaviour. Cross-cultural misunderstanding here is a major issue. There is a stigma on Russian women as they are perceived as "more available, more willing" than other Israeli women. People who have been residents of Israel long enough will remember that the stereotypes against Moroccan and Romanian women were exactly the same. In every wave of immigration to Israel, and in any other societies, these negative stereotypes were attached to immigrant women.

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(1) For information on this list, please consult an article from The Jerusalem Post dated 13 April 1995 and entitled "Shetreet to Receive List of those Barred from Marrying". The article reports that the "Religious Affairs Minister Shimon Shetreet will receive a computerized list of people prohibited from marrying other Jews, a month after he requested the list from ministry officials who tried to keep it from him [...]. Shetreet wants to set up a committee to review the list, let those on the list know they are on it, and give them a chance to clarify the matter. One ministry official said the problem is that some of the names are on the list because people called the ministry and reported that a neighbour was not born of a Jewish mother, or was the son or daughter of a divorcee and a "cohen", a marriage forbidden by halakha" (8). It is important to stress that this also applies to sabras as well.