The Transformation of Israeli Society by Eisenstadt S. N.;

Author:Eisenstadt, S. N.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

Different characteristics of the immigrant groups

But within this broad framework of new patterns of motivation and of predisposition to change in general, and in the directions implied by the dominant ideology of the centre in particular, there developed great differences among various immigrant groups in their ability as it were, to 'swim' especially, but not only, in the first stages of absorption - in the relatively uncharted and very tumultuous waters of Israeli society.

Two sets of variables were of crucial importance in influencing such an ability of different groups of immigrants. First there were the social and sociopsychological background, and second there were the cultural and educational traditions and attainments, of the different groups of immigrants.

Several psycho-sociological variables influenced such an ability: the degree of internal, family and community security and cohesion of different groups of immigrants; the degree to which such groups included active leadership; the different social echelons to which they belonged, and the type of Jewish identification and identity they carried.* On the whole, it was the cohesive groups, comprising strong elements of leadership, different occupations and professions, and carrying a relatively non-ambivalent Jewish identity, that evinced the highest capacity to adjust to the continuously evolving reality of life in Israel.

From the very beginning of immigration some very important differences were identified among the Oriental or Sephardi groups - with the Bulgarians and the Yemenites standing at one end, while many of the North Africans, and especially some Moroccans, at the other end of the scale.

The Yemenites, and to a smaller degree the Bulgarian communities, came to Israel almost in their entirety (as did some North African ones, for instance, that from Marrakesh), bringing their leaders and most of their social echelons. These communities had relatively strong family and community cohesion, as well as strong, positive Jewish identity - very traditional in the case of the Yemenites and some of the North African groups, rather modern among the Bulgarians.

The different North African groups, and to some degree the Iraqis, present a much more complicated picture. A large part of the more active elements and upper social echelon from North Africa went not to Israel but to France, or even to the United States; some came to Israel for a short while and then moved on, perhaps in the early 1950s. Sometimes even brothers of those who came to Israel went to France, where they did socio-economically better in the more open, flexible and variegated French economy, although socially and emotionally they reported as feeling less integrated. The Jewish identity of large parts of these groups was often very complex and ambivalent, for they were torn between traditional Islamic anti-Jewish sentiments in accommodation, Arab nationalism and tendencies to French assimilation, feelings portrayed by Albert Memmi in La Statue de Sel. *

The picture was, of course, very different among the immigrants from Europe - most of them coming after the Holocaust with the shadow of that terrible experience hanging over them. Many still had strong family cohesion and at

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