Russian-speaking immigrants in Israel as a minority group

Approximately 1 million immigrants arrived in the State of Israel between 1990 and2010 from Former Soviet Union states. FSU immigrants constitute 13% of the country'stotal population, and 16% of the country's Jewish population. They arrived in Israelbearing the values, perceptions, and behavioral patterns which represent the system ofvalues, perceptions, and patterns of behavior of the Russian nation that was and remainsdominant in the territory of the former Soviet Union The study discusses the integrationof this ethnic group from the perspective of members of this group. It is based on findingsfrom a survey conducted among a representative sample of more than 1,000 immigrants,age 18 or older. The findings of the study at hand clearly point to the consolidation ofFSU immigrants as an ethnic minority group within Israeli culture and society. Thequestion is raised: Is this a passing phenomenon or a fundamental long-term change inthe structure of Israeli society? The critical variable in this respect, which independentlyexplains most of the features noted above and which defines the group of former FSUimmigrants as a "minority group," was found to be the level of fluency in the Hebrewlanguage. The paper cautions that in light of the "rigidity" of their culture of origin,which tends to change marginally and slowly, even though the Soviet regime no longerexists and the immigrants no longer live under the post-Soviet regime, it is not possible topredict the depth and pace of the expected change at this stage.