Yerida

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Aliyah to Israel and settlement
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Before May 14, 1948
First Aliyah · Second Aliyah During World War I Third Aliyah · Fourth Aliyah Fifth Aliyah During and after World War II Berihah
After May 14, 1948
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Jewish history Jewish diaspora Jews in the Land of Israel History of Israel Yishuv · Israeli Jews Revival of Hebrew language History of Zionism Religious Zionism Anti-Zionism Haredim and Zionism Green Zionism
v • d • e

Yerida (Hebrew: ירידה Translit.: yerida Translated: descent) is the somewhat derogatory^[1] term, widely used to mean emigration by Israeli Jews from the State of Israel. In rare cases, it may refer to pre-independence emigration of Jews from the Land of Israel. The opposite action, immigration by Jews to Israel, is called Aliyah ("ascent"). The community of Yordim (people who have made yerida) outside Israel is known as the Israeli diaspora. (Not to be confused with the Jewish diaspora.)

Through the years, the majority of Israeli Jews who emigrated from Israel went to the United States and Canada.

The act of "Yerida" is condemned by some Zionists, and as a result also by parts of the public opinion of Israelis in modern day Israel.

Among the most common reasons for emigration are most often due to economic constraints, economic characteristics (U.S. and Canada have always been richer nations than Israel), disappointment with the Israeli government, Israel's ongoing security issues, as well as the excessive role of religion in the lives of Israelis (The Israeli Chief Rabbinate retains amongst other exclusive control and has the final say in the state about virtually all matters pertaining to conversion to Judaism, the Kosher certification of foods, the status of Jewish marriages and divorces).

Contents 1 Etymology 2 According to Jewish Law 3 The extent of emigration from Israel over history 3.1 Emigration since the beginning of Zionism until the establishment of State of Israel 3.2 Emigration from Israel since the founding of the State of Israel 3.2.1 Israeli ministerial and political sources of emigration estimates 3.2.2 Demographic emigration estimates 4 The emigration phenomenon 4.1 Emigration and Zionist ideology 4.2 The reaction of the Israeli society 4.2.1 Emigration and Israeli culture 4.2.2 Emigration and Israeli politics 4.2.3 Emigration and anti-Zionist politics 4.3 Reaction of Jewish diaspora communities 4.4 Patterns of Jewish Engagement of Israeli Emigrants in Jewish diaspora communities 4.4.1 United States 4.5 Israeli emigrant organizations and emigrant media outside of Israel 4.6 In popular culture 5 See also 5.1 By nationality 6 References

[edit] Etymology

Emigrants from Israel are known as yordim ("those who go down [from Israel]"). Immigrants to Israel are known as olim ("those who go up [to Israel]").

The use of the Hebrew word "Yored" (which means "descending") is a modern renewal of a term taken from the Torah: "אנכי ארד עמך מצרימה ואנכי אעלך גם עלו", and from the Mishnah: "הכל מעלין לארץ ישראל ואין הכל מוציאין", and from the Talmud "ארץ ישראל גבוה מכל הארצות" (The Land of Israel is higher than all the countries)

[edit] According to Jewish Law

Jewish Law or Halakha defines certain restrictions on emigration from Israel. According to Moses Maimonides it is only permitted to emigrate and resettle abroad in cases of severe hunger. Rabbi Joseph Trani determined that it is permissible to emigrate from Israel for marriage, to study Torah or to support oneself, including in cases where famine is not present. In any case, emigration from Israel and even temporary departure is not thought of in Orthodox or traditional Judaism as a worthy act for a man of stature.^[2]

[edit] The extent of emigration from Israel over history

[edit] Emigration since the beginning of Zionism until the establishment of State of Israel

It is difficult to estimate the number of people who emigrated from Israel between the start of the Zionist movement and the establishment of the state of Israel, or the proportion of emigrants compared with the number of immigrants into the country. The estimations which relate to the extent of emigration during the period of the first and the second immigration wave range between approximately 40% (an estimation made by Joshua Kaniel) of all immigrants and up to 80% - 90%. In the latter part of the fourth immigration wave, during 1926-1928, there was a simultaneous big emigration wave, when around 14,000 people emigrated compared with 19,000 immigrants. However in relation to the total number of immigrants during the Fourth Aliyah, about 67,000 people, the extent of emigration was not irregular in its extent.

[edit] Emigration from Israel since the founding of the State of Israel

The State of Israel accepts immigration from Jews from all over the world, and the number of people immigrating to Israel far exceeds the number of those leaving. There are a variety of estimates of Israeli Jews who emigrated from Israel:

[edit] Israeli ministerial and political sources of emigration estimates

• In 1980 the Israeli government charged the deputy Prime Minister Simha Erlich and the Director of the Jewish Agency Shmuel Lahis to inquire into Israeli emigration to the United States. The Lahis Report estimated that there were 300,000 to 500,000 Israelis living in the United States, mainly in New York and Los Angeles.^[3]
• The Ministry of Immigration and Absorption released in November 2003 its estimate that 750,000 Israelis were living abroad, primarily in the United States and Canada - about 12.5 percent of the general Jewish population of Israel.^[4]
• The Ministry of Immigration and Absorption released in April 2008 its estimate that 700,000 Israelis were living abroad, of those, 450,000 were estimated to be living in the US and Canada.^[5]

[edit] Demographic emigration estimates

• Between 1948 and 1958, over 100,000 Jews emigrated from Israel. Until 1952, an exit visa was required and many administrative hurdles were put in front of those wishing to leave.^[6]
• Israel's net international migration balance and the total size of immigration between 1948 and 1994 was 80 per cent, pointing to a missing share, i.e., a ratio of immigrants to emigrants, of 20 percent. Historically Israel's long term migration retention ratio, 80 per cent, is much higher than other countries receiving large masses of immigration such as the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand. Sergio DellaPergola attributes Israel's comparatively high migration retention to two related factors. First is the family transfer character of Aliyah, that is the relocation of entire households, including women, children and elderly which implied abandonment of the place of origin. The second factor was the impossibility of return to countries where perceived discrimination or actual persecutions were among the main motivating factors for leaving.^[7]
• All evidence points to the U.S. being the primary destination of Israeli emigrants. In 1982 demographer Pini Herman estimated that there were 100,000 Israeli emigrants who were residing in the U.S. half of whom lived in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area with another 10-12 thousand living in the Los Angeles area.^[8] The relative stability of the New York component of this Israeli immigrant population was confirmed nearly three decades later in a 2009 study for the UJA Federation of New York by Steven M. Cohen and Judith Veinstein, which found that the New York has 41,000 Israelis immigrants.^[9]
• Cohen and Haberfield estimated that in 1990 there were 110,000 to 130,000 Israeli immigrants residing in the U.S.^[10]
• The 1990 U.S decennial census indicates that 94,718 Israel/Palestine-born persons lived in the United States. The 2000 U.S decennial census indicates that the number of Israel/Palestine-born U.S. persons rose to 125,325.^[11]
• The 1990 National Jewish Population Survey estimate of Israelis in the U.S. is based on the definition of "Israelis" as Jews who were born in Israel and estimates a total of 63,000 Israeli-born adult Jews living in the United States. In addition, a total of 30,000 children live in the households of Israel-born adult Jews. Maximally, then, the Israeli-born Jewish population in the U.S. in 1990 was 93,000. However, only 7,000 of the children were reported born before the Israeli-born adult emigrated to the United States, suggesting the Israeli-born Jewish population residing in the United States is 70,000, with 23,000 children born to Israeli immigrants already living in the U.S. and thus technically first generation Americans.^[12]
• The number of American Jews who immigrated to Israel, lived there for a certain period of time and returned to United States is more difficult to estimate, and it moves between 30,000 and 60,000 by the year 1990, and between 53,000 to 75,000 by the year 2000. So, in Total during that year the number of Israeli-Jews (those who were born in Israel and those who only lived there for a certain period of time) who lived in United States stood between 153,000 and 175,000. With the assumption that the United States is the most significant destination of immigration for Israelis, the sociologist Yinon Cohen estimated that in 2000 the total number of the Israeli-Jews who live outside Israel was between 300,000 and 350,000.^[13]
• The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics classifies the "Israelis who left the country" as Israelis who lived outside Israel for more than one year continuously, and that previously to that year they lived in Israel for at least 90 days continuously (this distinction separates between those who left the state and those who left in the past and returned for a short visit). In the 1950s and 1960s, indeed until the early 1970s, the Statistical Abstract published by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics did list emigration figures. Subsequently the practice was suspended,^[14] this avoided conflict with other Israeli government entities who cited much larger numbers of emigrants than the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics published estimates. Emigration estimates can still be inferred from current population projections by the CBS: Between the years 1990 to 2005 emigration assumptions from Israel by the CBS averaged 14,000 people per year. 1993, 1995 and 2001 - 2002 saw relatively high levels of emigration. The rate of the emigrants from Israel decreased during those years from 3 per thousand to 1 per thousand as a result of an increase in total Israeli population. This total estimate includes both the Israeli-Arab emigrants and Israeli-Jews who may have died while abroad. The CBS analyzed the border control data and computed a "gross balance" of 581,000 Israelis living abroad during the period 1948 - 1992. In other words, there were 581,000 more exits from Israel than re-entries on the part of Israeli residents(i.e., persons living in Israel whether native-born or born elsewhere). About half of the persons leaving Israel named the United States as their destination. Assuming that they stayed in the United States, and that no other Israelis came to the United States via other countries, the "gross balance" of Israelis residing in the United States would be 290,500. Zvi Eisenbach, working from Israeli data, has calculated that about 74 percent of American Israelis are Jews. Thus, the gross balance of Israeli Jews in the United States over the period 1948 - 1992 is adjusted down to 216,000. Gold and Phillips subtracted from this number 25,000 persons who would have died, leaving 265,500. Since the gross balance subtracts reentrances to Israel from exits out of Israel, Gold and Phillips subtracted 18,400 more persons who may be assumed to have returned to Israel in 1993 (the number that re-entered Israel in 1992), for an adjusted gross balance of 172,848 Jewish Israelis living in the United States.^[15]
• The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development calculated an 'expatriate rate' of 2.9 persons per thousand, putting Israel in the mid-range of expatriate rates among the 175 OECD countries examined in 2005.^[16]
• The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics created their most recent population projection to 2010 with the assumption that 6,600 Jewish Israelis per year will leave the country.^[17] The United States currently accepts about 4 thousand immigrants a year from Israel, of whom 3000 to 3500 are Jewish.^{[citation needed]} Pini Herman estimates that about two-thirds of all Israeli emigrants currently migrate to the U.S. and an additional one-sixth of Israeli emigrants settle in Canada for a total of four-fifths of Israeli emigrants settling in the U.S. and Canada.^{[citation needed]}
• Over a third of persons in the U.S. who define themselves as Israeli may be American born children of Israeli emigrants, many of whom have never lived in or even visited Israel. The 2000 U.S. decennial Census had 107,000 persons who reported Israeli as their first or second ancestry, of these persons 51 percent reported country of birth as Israel/Palestine 39 percent reported being born in the U.S. 3 percent were born in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and the remaining 7 percent in other countries.^[11]
• The number of undocumented Israelis in the U.S. has been demonstrated to be relatively low during the IRCA legalizations in the early 1990s when only 1.62 percent of Israeli foreign born (1,449 persons) applied for legalization as compared to 12.6 percent undocumented (2.5 million persons) of all foreign born in the U.S. applying for IRCA legalization .^[18][19]
• The 2006 Canadian quinquennial census counted 26,215 persons who reported Israeli citizenship, of whom two-thirds (67 percent) lived in the Ontario region.^[20]

[edit] The emigration phenomenon

The main motives for leaving Israel are usually connected with the emigrants’ desire for improved living standards, or to search for work opportunities and professional advancement, for higher education, and due to the wishes of the spouse. Polls amongst emigrants have shown that the political situation and security threats in Israel are not among the main factors in emigration. Emigration is also common amongst new immigrants who did not successfully integrate into Israeli society, or who already made one major residence change in their lives and therefore found an additional change easier to make. Some of the immigrants move to a third country, almost always in the West, and some of them return to the country of their origin, a phenomenon which increases when the conditions in the country of origin improve, as occurred in the former USSR in the first decade of the 21st century.

Since the founding of the State of Israel, polls have shown that those leaving the country were on average more educated than the ones who remained in Israel. This phenomenon is even more extreme amongst new immigrants who leave Israel than amongst native-born Israelis who leave Israel. Therefore, at times, the emigration from Israel has been referred to as a Brain drain. An OECD estimate put the highly educated emigrant rate at 5.3 per thousand highly educated Israelis, actually placing Israel in the lower third of 103 compared to OECD countries where the overall average was 14 per thousand highly educated emigrants. Israel with its well developed technical and educational infrastructure and larger base of highly educated citizens is retaining a greater percentage of its highly educated persons than countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark and New Zealand.^[21]

In 2007 a special program by the Immigrant Absorption Minister of Israel was announced which is intended to encourage Israeli emigrants to return to Israel. and It was further decided that by 2008 the Ministry would invest 19 million shekels to establish lucrative absorption plans for the returning emigrants. (see: Taxation in Israel)

[edit] Emigration and Zionist ideology

The rejection of emigration from Israel is a central assumption in all forms of Zionism as a corollary of the The "Negation of the Diaspora" in Zionism which according to Eliezer Schweid was a central tenet of Israeli Zionist education until the 1970s when there was a need for the State of Israel to reconcile itself with the Jewish diaspora and its massive support of Israel following the Six-Day War.^[22]

[edit] The reaction of the Israeli society

• During the times of the first immigration waves the emigration from Israel was a great cause for pessimism in regarding to the success of the Zionist enterprise.
• In a 1976 interview, Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin identified the Israeli emigrants as "fall-outs of weaklings" (נפולת של נמושות). Nowadays there is much less antagonism among Israelis regarding emigrants. The main problem for the Zionist leadership of the State of Israel in the past was the idea that people born in Israel could choose to emigrate, despite the fact that they did not face the same difficulties as new immigrants who decided to leave after failing to integrate.
• In an interview in 2008 Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense minister and former prime minister said that "Jews know that they can land on their feet in any corner of the world. The real test for us is to make Israel such an attractive place--cutting edge in science, education, culture, quality of life--that even American Jewish young people want to come here. If we cannot do this, even those who were born here will consciously decide to go to other places. This is a real problem."^[23]

[edit] Emigration and Israeli culture

• Territorial Therapy^[24] - the ideation of migration or yerida is often a psychological outlet or mechanism utilized by many Israelis to counter the stress of living in a dangerous political situation in the Middle East. A variety of polls over the years have shown that it is common for Israelis to actively and seriously consider that they or their children might leave Israel to live in other parts of the world, primarily the United States and Canada. The number of Israelis with serious migratory ideation and intent far outweighs the actual number of Israelis who successfully carry out their emigration from Israel.
• Another way in which the ideation of migration is demonstrated is in the relatively high numbers of Israelis who seek citizenship of European Union countries,^[25] (where in 2007 an estimated 42 percent of Israelis are eligible for citizenship based on their parents' and grandparents' nationalities).^[26] More than 4,000 Israelis received German citizenship in 2007, a 50 percent increase over 2005.^[27] A recent survey by the Jerusalem-based Menachem Begin Heritage Center found that 59% of Israelis had approached or intended to approach a foreign embassy to ask for citizenship and a passport^[28] and North American countries, possibly to use as a safe haven, but actually continue living in Israel.^[26] The seeking, attainment and possession of multiple nationalities by a Jewish individual is allowed by Israeli law whereas other nations such as Germany require a renouncement of foreign citizenship and the voluntary attainment of a foreign citizenship can result in the loss of citizenship in that country. For example 220 Israeli diplomats to the U.S. have received 'Green card' or Permanent Resident Alien status between 1966 and 1979 ^[29] but the likelihood is low that these career Israeli government officials actually emigrated from Israel, but rather they gained a passport of convenience to travel to countries that may be less welcoming of Israeli passports.
• Some polls, such as the Gallup World Poll in 2007 revealed that significant numbers of Israelis, 20 percent, would ideally, if they had the opportunity, would like to move permanently to another country. This was in the mid-range of desire to migrate and less than, for example, the residents of Denmark, Belgium, Mexico, Argentina, Italy, Poland, Hungary, South Korea and Chile.^[30] The 'push factor' bringing about migration is often reflected in quality of life perceptions. In terms of self ranked quality of life Israelis rate their own lives on a scale numbered from zero at the bottom to ten at the top, Israelis' average rating in 2007 was 6.84,^[31] which is far higher than the 4 average for the world and compares with Denmark's 8,^[32] among the world's top.
• Younger Israeli age groups, such as teens, express a much higher desire to live abroad than the general Israeli population. Almost half of Israeli teens aged 14–18 years old expressed a desire to live outside of Israel in 2007. 68 percent of teens believed that Israel's general situation is "not good."^[33]
• Common Israeli attitudes toward migration to Israel and Jews living in the Diaspora may have shifted polarities in terms of Zionism. In 2009 Hebrew University sociologist Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi said the fact that it has become commonplace for Israelis to move abroad, either permanently or for a stint, makes it contradictory for their families to look down on Diaspora Jews. Haifa University sociologist, Oz Almog said in a recent interview: “Ask Israelis now what they think about Jews coming from countries where they aren’t persecuted, like the U.S. and Britain, to live in Israel, and they’ll say, ‘Those who do are nuts.’”^[34]

[edit] Emigration and Israeli politics

• The topic of yerida is often brought up during political campaigns in Israel with various political parties and candidates arguing that one or another's policies will increase or lessen emigration from Israel. Occasionally a political party will have a 'yerida' plank in its election manifesto and winning sides have on occasion appointed persons holding the Yerida portfolio at the ministerial or vice ministerial rank. Various bills in the Israeli Knesset are often argued on the grounds that they will prevent or engender emigration.^[3]
• Popular protest movements, particularly after wars and around economic and ethnic equity issues have often been accompanied by their activists' threats of voting with their feet by emigrating from Israel, and at times the burning of Israeli identity cards by Israeli protesters threatening that their next move would be emigration if their demands weren't met has been featured in the Israeli media. On one occasion in the 1970s an Israeli Black Panther ethnic equity protester with a great fanfare and media coverage did emigrate to Morocco and remigrated to Israel after a period.^{[citation needed][35]}
• In 1998 Janet Aviad, a leader of the Israeli group Peace Now, noted, "As soon as our people hear Bibi (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), they turn off the radio. They have gone on 'inner yerida'." ^[36]
• Avraham Burg, former Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel and former Speaker of the Knesset, questioned in 2007 the centrality of Israel in Jewish life and states his view that it is legitimate to live outside of Israel: "We were raised on the Zionism of Ben-Gurion, that there is only one place for Jews and that’s Israel. I say no, there have always been multiple centers of Jewish life."^[37]
• In 2008 in the context of an ideological crisis Israel caused by record-low and shrinking - aliya figures Israel's Immigration Absorption Ministry embarked on a new mission targeting Israeli emigrants, the 'Israeli' Diaspora in addition to the Jewish diaspora under the title of "Returning Home on Israel's 60th."^[38] The question of whether the focus on bringing Israelis back to Israel is off target for a ministry that is meant to be working with immigrants once they arrive Israel has been raised. The Immigration Absorption Ministry spokesperson explained that no other government body is responsible for Israel's former residents and it is about time that someone tapped into these resources to help them.^[39]

[edit] Emigration and anti-Zionist politics

• Persons questioning the legitimacy of the existence of Israel have pointed out that the phenomenon of emigration from Israel shows the weakness of the idea of a Jewish state and lends credibility to question about Israel's viability in the Middle East. Numbers of Israeli emigrants to the United States, as high as 1.2 million, have been trumpeted by anti-Zionist advocates.^[40]

[edit] Reaction of Jewish diaspora communities

• Rabbi Joseph Telushkin notes the American Jewish community's ambivalent response to yordim continues to write: "generally secular yordim shun involvement in Jewish communal life, and maintain social ties only with each other."^[41]
• Rob Eshman notes that Israeli emigrants have been treated by local Jews "as something less than full members of the Tribe" and that this "cold shoulder" reception happened with the full blessing of the government of the State of Israel itself.^[42][43]
  • Welcome of emigrants by diaspora Jewish community is seen as a possible betrayal of the Zionist ideal immigration to Israel and endangerment of Israel's success in retaining and growing its Jewish population. Israel encouraged organized Jewish Diaspora communities not to offer Israeli emigrant services as this might be perceived as a welcome or help and that would encourage the Israeli emigrants to stay.^[42]
  • Israeli emigrants buttress the local Jewish diaspora community^[42][44]
  • Israeli emigrants are perceived as an economic bellwether during the 2009 recession the return to Israel of perceived large numbers of Israeli emigrants was given attention in the American Jewish Media.^[45]
    • Local ambivalence and controversy in a New Jersey Jewish community caused by yerida:

"People in the community seem to take pride in Teaneck's high rate of Aliyah to Israel. It's certainly something to be proud of. But we make no mention of the equally high rates (maybe even higher rates) of 'yerida' from Israel to Teaneck. My feeling is these 'yordim' should not be accorded honors in our synagogues or schools. These people are the antithesis of what we want to teach our children, of how we want to live. For most religious Zionists, of which Teaneck has more than a few, the goal is to end up in Israel. Having 'yordim' as community leaders here is bad public policy. Recently, one of the largest synagogues in town installed a 'yored' as its president. Our schools honor 'yordim' on a regular basis at their dinners. 'Yordim' make up a large percentage of our school's Hebrew teachers."^[46]

• Perception of Israeli emigrants by diaspora community organizations
  • Low rates of Israeli emigrant participation in Jewish organizations^[41]
  • Low rates of financial support of local Jewish organizations and synagogues
  • Israeli emigrants working in low status immigrant occupations that the diaspora Jewish population tends not to engage it or has long-ago abandoned such as taxi driving, auto repair, security guards, mall cart sales etc. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir told of a waiter who once came over to her at a New York luncheon and whispered in Hebrew that there was ham in the dish she had been served. When she asked him how he knew Hebrew, he told her he was an Israeli. And what work had he done in Israel, she asked. He had been a waiter, he responded.^[41]

[edit] Patterns of Jewish Engagement of Israeli Emigrants in Jewish diaspora communities

[edit] United States

• In 2009 Steven M. Cohen and Judith Veinstein found that in New York Jewish Israeli emigrants are highly affiliated with the Jewish community even though community affiliation is low in Israel. Israelis were found to be more connected to Judaism than their American counterparts in terms of synagogue membership and attendance, kashrut observance, participation in Jewish charity events and membership in Jewish community centers, among other indicators used by the study.^[9]
• In 1982 Pini Herman and David LaFontaine in a study of Israeli emigrants in Los Angeles found high levels of Jewish affiliation, Jewish organizational participation and concentration in Jewish neighborhoods by Israeli emigrants. Israeli emigrants who were more secular Jewishly in Israel tended to behave more Jewishly in Los Angeles and Israeli emigrants who reported greater Jewish behaviors in Israel tended to engage in Jewish behaviors to a lesser degree in Los Angeles, thus both becoming more 'Americanized' in their Jewish behaviors.^[29]

[edit] Israeli emigrant organizations and emigrant media outside of Israel

Israelis tend to be disproportionately Jewishly active in their diaspora communities, creating and participating formal and informal organizations, participating in diaspora Jewish religious institutions and sending their children to Jewish education providers at a greater rate than local diaspora Jews.^[44]

In Los Angeles a Council of Israeli Community was founded in 2001.^[47] In Los Angeles an Israel Leadership Club was organized and has been active in support activities for Israel, most recently in 2008, it sponsored with the local Jewish Federation and Israeli consulate a concert in support for the embattled population suffering rocket attacks of Sderot, Israel where the three frontrunners for the U.S. president, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain greeted the attendees by video and expressed their support for the residents of Sderot. An Israeli Business Network of Beverly Hills has existed since 1996.^[48] The Israeli-American Study Initiative (IASI), a start-up project based at the UCLA International Institute, is set out to document the lives and times of Israeli Americans—initially focusing on those in Los Angeles and eventually throughout the United States.^[49]

A variety of Hebrew language websites,^[50] newspapers and magazines are published in New York,^{[51][52][53][54]} Los Angeles^[55][56] and other U.S. regions.^[57] The Israeli Channel along with two other Hebrew language channels are available via satellite broadcast nationally in the United States.^[58] Hebrew language Israeli programming on local television was broadcast in New York and Los Angeles during the 1990s prior to Hebrew language satellite broadcast. Live performances by Israeli artists are a regular occurrence in centers of Israeli emigrants in the U.S. and Canada with audience attendance often in the hundreds.^[59] An Israeli Independence Day Festival has taken place yearly in Los Angeles since 1990 with thousands of Israeli emigrants and American Jews.^[60]

[edit] In popular culture

• Comedian-writer Robert Smigel came up with a "Saturday Night Live" sketch in 1990 called the "Sabra Shopping Network", Two years later, Smigel followed it up with "Sabra Price Is Right", starring Tom Hanks as a pushy Israeli game show host, Sandler and Rob Schneider as its presenters and Smigel as a cigarette-smoking announcer, all pushing shoddy electronics on hapless clientele.^[61]
• The concept for the 2008 "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" popular movie, which was based on the skits "Sabra Shopping Network" and "Sabra Price Is Right", focused on Zohan Dvir, an IDF commando soldier, which stages his own death to fulfil his deepest dream - moving to New York to become a hairdresser.
• At the end of the 2005 film "Munich" the main character Avner (played by Eric Bana) which is an Israeli Mossad agent decides to move from Israel to Brooklyn, New York to reunite with his wife and their child.

[edit] See also

• Israel
• American Jews
• Brain drain
• Galut
• Zionism
• The "Negation of the Diaspora" in Zionism
• Demographics of Israel
• Jewish ethnic divisions
• Population groups in Israel
• Aliyah
• Immigration to the United States
• Immigration
• Emigration
• Migration

[edit] By nationality

• Israeli American
• Israeli British
• List of Israeli Americans
• Israeli Canadian
• Category:People of Israeli descent

[edit] References