Lisa Loden
Russian Jewish Immigration to Israel Modern Israel is a country of immigrants. For Russian Jewry, this has been the case since the late nineteenth century when those fleeing the pogroms of Eastern Europe and Russia began to settle in what was then known as Palestine. These Jews were quite diverse and came from a wide variety of locations in the Russian-speaking world. The largest group, the Ashkenazi, made up the first group of settlers. Their culture was a pre-Soviet Jewish tradition, most of them having had some sort of Jewish education. Many originated from territories that became part of the Soviet Union after World War II, including western Ukraine, Lithuania, and Latvia. Children born to Jews in the 1920s and later formed another group from the U.S.S.R. Following the Second World War, most of these mainly secular immigrants had moved or been driven out of their villages and relocated to cities. The third group of Jews came from the Sephardic communities of Central Asia and the Caucasus. These Jews lived a traditional lifestyle and practiced religious rituals. The fourth group, the “ultra-Orthodox,” closely followed the leading of particular rabbis. The Jewish community in the former Soviet Union had only one common bond – the Russian language.1 Jews from each of these communities and persuasions immigrated to Israel and continue to do so.
Compared to the numbers of Jews coming from other countries, the rate of Russian immigration is astoundingly high: according to Israeli government statistics for 1948-2012, out of a total of 3,108,678 immigrants, 1,223,723 are from the former Soviet Union. According to the Law of Return, a Jew is defined as anyone who has at least one Jewish grandparent or a Jewish spouse. However, to be considered Jewish for the purpose of marriage in Israel, a person must have been born to a Jewish mother or have undergone a conversion process. While conversions done abroad by nonOrthodox rabbis remain valid, if one lives in Israel, only conversions according to Orthodox Jewish requirements are officially accepted. Many of the immigrants from the former Soviet Union have resisted these conversions because the process is lengthy and obligates them to adopt an Orthodox lifestyle. This group of non-converted Russian immigrants is officially classified as “other.” Policy adviser to the Jewish Agency, Yogev Karasenty, has estimated that the number of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who fit the definition of “other” is between 200,000 and 250,0002 With close to one million Russian-speaking immigrants arriving during the 1990s, Russian speakers today comprise approximately one-fifth of the population of Israel.
Russian Jews in Israeli Culture and Politics
Russian immigration, known as Aliyah, is considered to have been a success story. Due to their numbers, Russian immigrants have had a visible impact on Israeli society. This is seen in many ways, from the numerous storefronts with signs in Cyrillic characters to the many Russian-speaking immigrants who have assumed critical roles in the highest echelons of Israeli politics.
In 1996 Anatoly Sharansky, a well-known dissident during Soviet times, formed the Israel b’Aliah Party, which joined Netanyahu’s government coalition with seven seats in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. Today he heads up the Jewish Agency. Another prominent Russian Jewish immigrant is Yuli Edelstein who served as head of the Absorption Ministry from 1996-1999 and who is today the speaker of the Knesset. Avigdor Liberman, who chairs the Israel Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) Political Party and who served as the foreign minister under a previous government, is the most well-known Russian-background political figure today.3 Other prominent Russian Jewish political figures include Marina Solodkin, Yuri Stern, Roman Bronfman, and Michael Nudelman.
Though many Soviet immigrants, especially the elderly, face poverty and significant cultural barriers, overall statistics do show a community on the rise. According to a 2013 report by the Adva Center, an Israeli social policy think tank, 56 percent of Russian immigrants in 1992 were in the poorest third of Israeli society — either below the poverty line or at risk of poverty. By 2010, the figure had dropped to 38 percent. Over the same period, the percentage of Russians in the upper third of Israeli earners grew from 10 to 27 percent.4
The Russian Orthodox Church in Israel
A significant number of Russian-speaking immigrants identify themselves as Russian Orthodox. Statistics vary greatly as to their number. Speaking in 2010, Oleg Usenkov, the press secretary of Sophia, the association of Russian Orthodox Christians in Israel, said: “I think that there are at least 70,000 to 100,000 Russian Orthodox living in Israel today. Perhaps the real figures are even higher, but, in any case, this is quite a large section of Israeli society.” Usenkov, a Jewish immigrant from Moscow, became an Orthodox Christian prior to immigrating to Israel. He maintains that many immigrants from mixed Jewish-Russian families turned to Christianity after their relocation.5 Today these Russian Orthodox Jewish Christians see their identity as being fully Israeli. As Dr. Ilya Litvina, a member of Sophia, puts it: “We are an Israeli church. We are Israeli citizens. And our goal is to serve the Christians of Israel who are part of Israeli society. We seek rapprochement, not alienation, and with God’s help we will succeed in our goal.”6
The influence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Israel was strongly felt in the late nineteenth century. In 1860, Tsar Alexander II founded the Russian Palestine Society, which during a period of over 50 years, established hospices for pilgrims, Christian schools, a theological seminary, and a number of churches throughout the region, ranging from Jerusalem to Beirut.
Jews in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union
The history of relations between Israel and Russia is complex. The two countries are intertwined in many ways, in good measure because of the size and influence of the Russian Jewish community. In 1913, the Russian Empire was home to the world’s largest Jewish population, numbering between 5.3 million and 6 million Jews. This constituted approximately 50 percent of the world’s Jewish population at that time.7
Following the fall of the Russian Empire and the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1917, the life of Russian Jewry changed radically. From the beginning of the Communist era, the Jews in the Soviet Union were systematically oppressed by the regime which sought to obliterate all traces of Jewish tradition and identity. The Soviet goal was for Russian Jewry to be assimilated into the dominant Russian/Soviet culture. This was successful to a great extent so that by the time Communism fell in 1991, the Jews of the Soviet Union had lost almost all their knowledge of Judaism, Hebrew, the Jewish people, and Jewish tradition. They had indeed been transformed into “Russian” Jews. Russian had become the native language and culture of the vast majority of Jews in the Soviet Union, irrespective of where they resided. Jewish identity and traditions were preserved only in the southern regions of the U.S.S.R.-- primarily Bukhara and Georgia. At the same time, Soviet Jews nonetheless perceived themselves as Jewish, and their identity cards included this as their nationality. Many followed whatever news was available about Israel.8
Soviet Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism
The Soviet Union was the first major world power to grant Israel diplomatic recognition. The young Jewish state had strong socialist roots stemming from the early aliya of idealistic Russian Jews who inculcated Soviet values of collectivism in the establishment of agricultural kibbutzim. Nevertheless, relations with Israel and Jewry remained tense. The Stalinist period saw a sharp rise in anti-Semitism. During this period and following, in addition to the attempt to eliminate Jewish life and tradition within the Soviet Union, the Soviet regime pursued an antiZionist agenda in the arena of international relations. While maintaining that their policies were not anti Israel per se, many historians of the period argue that United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 (10 November 1975) equating Zionism with racism was choreographed by the Soviet Union.9
The Soviet Union’s anti-Zionist agenda was in fact a staple of the U.S.S.R.’s Cold War propaganda. This campaign intensified after the Six Day War in 1967 and was officially sponsored by the Department of Propaganda of the KGB and the Communist Party. This period saw the rise of Soviet dissidents or refuseniks, many of whom were Jews who were denied permission to emigrate. The ban on Jewish immigration to Israel, lifted in 1971, led to many refuseniks immigrating to Israel in the next two decades.
Gorbachev’s New Policies and Increased Immigration
After 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev, with his policies of glasnost and perestroika and his desire to improve relations with the West, permitted most refuseniks to emigrate. Since 1991 changes have accelerated. On 16 December 1991, ten days before its dissolution, the Soviet Union sponsored UN Resolution 3379 revoking the previous resolution that had equated Zionism with racism. This led to a resumption of relations between Israel and pos-Soviet Russia, resulting in massive immigration of Russian Jews to Israel, as well as a considerable flow of Russian Christian pilgrims visiting Israel. Russian Orthodox pilgrimage to Israel reached its peak following a change of policy, implemented in 2008, that allowed vis-free travel between the two countries.
Israel’s Russian Jewish Christians
Along with their Jewish relatives, many Jewish Christians also came to Israel from the former Soviet Union under the auspices of the Law of Return. Some converted to Christianity while still in Russia, while others did not and retained their original status as Russian or “other” non-Jewish origin. After arrival in Israel, some immigrants, both Jewish and nonJewish, embraced Christianity and joined various churches – Greek Orthodox, Catholic, and Anglican. Others, in fact the majority who embraced Jesus as Lord, became affiliated with the Israeli Messianic Jewish movement. They either joined existing Messianic congregations or formed their own new Russian-speaking congregations.
Israel’s Russian-Speaking Messianic Jews
Messianic Jews in Israel number approximately 15,000. Accurate statistics do not exist because the community is highly resistant to being surveyed. Nevertheless, it is estimated that Russian speakers account for up to 60 percent of the Messianic community today. A large number of Russian Messianic Jews have integrated into existing Hebrewspeaking congregations, but there remain a significant number of Russian-speaking congregations in the country. The growing trend is a shift to Hebrew as the language of worship, especially since the second generation is Hebrew-speaking.
Unlike Russian Orthodox Jews, Russian-speaking Messianic Jews engage in open, direct evangelism. They see this as an integral part of their expression of faith. The Israeli Messianic Jewish community has its roots in Evangelical Protestantism and is strongly committed to mission. Having come from a spiritually repressive regime, the newfound freedom to openly share one’s faith is particularly attractive to Russian-speaking Messianic Jews. The types of evangelism vary greatly, including friendship evangelism, evangelistic campaigns, street witnessing, and door-to-door evangelism. In 2007 a country-wide evangelistic campaign employed a Russian translation of Campus Crusade’s Jesus film. This effort was highly successful, with thousands viewing the film. Extensive follow-up resulted in many coming to faith in Jesus. Since the 1990s, evangelistic literature in Russian has been produced by two Messianic Jewish publishing houses, with the majority of the literature being distributed free of charge. Betrayed, a powerful testimony of Christian conversion by Stan Telchin, was first published in 1980 and later translated into Russian. Revised in 2007 and distributed without charge, it has gone through multiple editions in Russian and other languages.
During the past two decades, many evangelistic campaigns and outreaches have taken place in Israel. In the main, the Russian-speaking Messianic community has been characterized by its bold gospel witness, especially to Russian-speaking immigrants whose experience of Communism created a spiritual vacuum that could be filled by the Gospel of Jesus.
The Russian-speaking community in Israel has been plagued with a number of social problems, particularly alcohol and drug addiction, both of which are widespread within this community. Messianic congregations have responded by establishing drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers. One group of Russian-speaking congregations has planted over 12 new churches whose constituency, and even much of their leadership, consist of reformed addicts. These groups are also in the process of shifting from Russian to Hebrew in their worship.
Military conscription is mandatory for all Jewish citizens: men for three years and women for two years. Although no official statistics exist, it is widely known that several hundred Jewish believers in Jesus serve in the military today, with several groups of believing soldiers meeting regularly for fellowship and teaching. A significant number of Messianic Jews serving in the Israeli military come from a Russian-speaking background. Surprisingly, the Israeli military is a hospitable environment for gospel witness. While Christians in the military do not engage in direct evangelism, they often do practice friendship evangelism in a context of openness to hearing the gospel’s claims.
In Israel, Jews who are Russian Orthodox Christians do not engage in open evangelism, which means the Israeli public is largely unaware of their existence. It is likely that their children will not continue in the tradition of their fathers. This loss has been the pattern for waves of immigration from other countries in which the community did not integrate and contextualize its faith life in the new culture. In contrast, during the past 20 years, a new generation of Russian-background Messianic believers has emerged that has assimilated into Israeli life and culture. They are active in their congregations; they are growing in numbers; they are beginning to take leadership roles; and they are committed to evangelism as an integral part of their lifestyle.
Notes:
- Much of the information in this section comes from: http://www.lcje.net/High%20Leigh/Monday,%20August%208⁄7%20Integration%20of%20Russian% 20speaking%20messianic%20Jews%20m%20Israeli %20communities%20by%20Maxim%20Katz.pdf.
- http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/israel/50427.pdf
- http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/.premiu1.623745.
- Da Aliyah Two Decades On, Wave of Russian Immigration to Israel Is an Ouctstanding Success; http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/.premium1.566484.
- http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Features/- differen-sor-o-orthodoxy.
- Ibid.
- http://www.jewishagency.org/de/russian-aliyah/ content/2880.
- Ibid.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Anti-Zionism.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refusenik.
- See: www.lcje.net/.../Messianic%20Resoures %20for%20Jewish%20Evangelism_ 2015_ Barry%20Rubin.pdf. Lisa Loden is an Israeli Messianic Jew serving with Israel First Fruits Center