Russians in Israel

Russians in Israel or Russian Israelis are post-Soviet Russian citizens who immigrate to Israel and their descendants. As of 2022, Russian-speakers number around 1,300,000 people, or 15% of the Israeli population.[3][4] This number, however, also includes immigrants from the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states other than Russia proper.[1][5]

See also: Russian Jews in Israel
Russians in Israel
Total population
Approximately 1,300,000 Russian-speakers[1]
Regions with significant populations
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Bat Yam and many other places
Languages
Russian, Hebrew, Russian Sign Language,[2] Shassi
Religion
Judaism, also Russian Orthodox Church, non-religious, Secular Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Russians, Russian Jews, Ashkenazi Jews

Some of the immigrants are not considered Jewish according to Halacha, which defines a Jew if their mother is Jewish or they formally converted to Judaism. According to the Law of Return, anybody with at least one Jewish grandparent is eligible to become an Israeli citizen. Because of the Soviet Union's policy of state atheism and Russia's historically large Jewish population, there were some mixed marriages between Russian Jews and ethnic Russians during the Communist period. Some Russian Israelis are Jewish only by marriage, as the Law of Return also allows the non-Jewish spouses of Jews to claim Israeli citizenship. A few Russian Israelis are instead descended from Russian Subbotnik families, who have migrated to Israel over the past century.

Most Russians in Israel have full Israeli citizenship. Israeli Russians are involved in the country's economy on all levels.

History

The 1922 census of Palestine lists 877 Russian language speakers in Mandatory Palestine (10 in the Southern District, 772 in Jerusalem-Jaffa, 4 in Samaria, and 91 in the Northern District), including 571 in municipal areas (407 in Jerusalem, 63 in Jaffa, 74 in Haifa, 2 in Gaza, 1 in Nablus, 2 in Nazareth, 4 in Tiberias, 2 in Bethlehem, 2 in Tulkarem, 8 in Beit Jala, 5 in Beersheba, and 1 in Baisan).[6]

Communities

Subbotniks

Russian Subbotnik families settled in Ottoman Syria in the 1880s as part of the First Aliyah in order to escape oppression in the Russian Empire and later mostly intermarried with local Jews. Their descendants included Israeli Jews such as Alexander Zaïd, Rafael Eitan, Ariel Sharon and Major-General Alik Ron.[7][8]

In 2004, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar ruled the Subbotniks were not defined as Jewish and would have to undergo an Orthodox conversion. The Interior Ministry classified the Subbotniks as a Christian sect and ineligible for aliyah to Israel, because no one knew if their ancestors had formally converted to Judaism (and there is much historic evidence that they did not).[9] However, this ruling was abolished in 2014, with Subbotniks allowed to retain their Jewish status in Israel, with an attempt by the Interior Ministry to allow remaining Subbotnik families to immigrate to Israel.[10]

Society
General Joseph F. Dunford and with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with Israeli-Russian Red Army veterans in Jerusalem.

The Russian people within Israel have citizen status and are involved in the country's economy and society on all levels. Among the notable members of the community are social media star Anna Zak; actress and former MK Anastassia Michaeli; Footballer Alexander Uvarov who was naturalized in 2004; Actor Kirill Safonov; poet and composer Yuliy Kim, and many others.

Religion

Most Russian Israelis are atheists or otherwise non-religious, although about 40,000 belong to the Russian Orthodox Church according to a recent census. It is estimated that another 10,000 are practitioners of Messianic Judaism, a loose term referring to those who combine elements of Christianity with elements of Judaism and Jewish tradition.[11] A significant number of Russian Israelis have also undergone conversion to Orthodox Judaism.

See also

References
  1. "Monthly Bulletin of Statistics". Cbs.gov.il. Retrieved 2011-03-22.
  2. Lanesman, Sara; Meir, Irit (2012). "The survival of Algerian Jewish Sign Language alongside Israeli Sign Language in Israel". In Zeshan, Ulrike; de Vos, Connie (eds.). Sign Languages in Village Communities : Anthropological and Linguistic Insights. Boston: De Gruyter. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-61451-203-5. In addition to the languages that emerged and developed in Israel, at least two languages were brought by immigrants and are still used in Israel today: Russian Sign Language (Yoel 2007) brought by immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s...
  3. Amanda Borschel-Dan. "25 years later, Russian speakers still the 'other' in Israel, says MK". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  4. "Russian-Speaking Israelis Go to the Polls | Wilson Center". www.wilsoncenter.org. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  5. Russian-Israelis vote for next Kremlin leader by Polina Perlman, Published: 03.04.12, ynetnews
  6. Palestine Census ( 1922).
  7. Dr. Ruchama Weiss Rabbi Levi Brackman, "Russia's Subbotnik Jews get rabbi", Ynet, 9 December 2010, accessed 22 August 2015
  8. Itamar Eichner (March 11, 2014). "Subbotnik Jews to resume aliyah". Israel Jewish Scene. Archived from the original on April 9, 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  9. Ari Ben Goldberg"'Abandoned' in the Jordan Valley", The Jerusalem Report, 19 November 2001, reprinted at Molokane website
  10. Itamar Eichner Published: 03.11.14
  11. "Monthly Bulletin of Statistics". Cbs.gov.il. Archived from the original on October 21, 2007. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
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