Immigrants in Turmoil: Mass Immigration to Israel and Its Repercussions in the 1950s and After (review)
Rent from DeepDyveBetween 1948 and 1951, the Jewish population of Israel more than doubled in size as migrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa flooded into the new sovereign state, making it the most significant migration experienced by any nation in such a short period of time. But aside from a handful of recent works by sociologists and anthropologists, the policy decisions that underlay this immigration and its far-reaching social and cultural effects have remained unstudied.
Dvora Hacohen's most recent work, Immigrants in Turmoil: Mass Immigration to Israel and its Repercussions in the 1950s and After, provides a welcome historical perspective on the relationship between international migration and Israeli independence. As she notes, "The Great Aliyah contained within it the roots of Jewish society about to emerge in Israel, a society that was conceived and born in a raging tempest" (p. 250). Understanding and exploring these debates, Hacohen argues, cuts to the heart of Zionism and Jewish identity through the late twentieth century and provides a much-needed corrective to popular myths about "homecoming" and the process of nation building.
Without question, she has set herself a difficult task. Yet Hacohen's approach is careful, balanced, and well researched. Two central issues guide this work: First, why did thousands of Jews from dozens of countries choose to leave their homes and resettle in Israel in 1948? "Given their gloomy prospects in Israel, the fact that masses of Jews from dozens of countries chose to leave their homes and resettle there seems nothing less than astonishing" (p. 2). Whatever fervor was aroused by the declaration of a Jewish state, was this in itself enough to motivate such a movement? And second, contrary to popular myth, these new arrivals were not welcomed single-mindedly by leaders of the Yishuv and Zionist movements. By exploring the logistical and ideological difficulties of accommodating such a tremendous number of new arrivals Hacohen is able [End Page e128] to explore the variety of push and pull factors that underlay both the migration choices and the experience of these migrants once in Israel.
Although an earlier version of this work was published in Hebrew in 1994, the fact that this is its first publication in English is not insignificant. In addition to a revised final chapter that takes the work through Israel's fiftieth anniversary, this also marks the first time that a full-length manuscript on Israeli immigration policy has been available to an English-speaking audience. Its broad focus on a wide range of political, social, and economic issues will appeal to scholars and teachers of modern jewish history, migration/immigration studies, and foreign relations alike. The book is also written in a clear and engaging style that will appeal to undergraduate and graduate students from a range of backgrounds.
The history of the Great Aliyah unfolds in a series of eight chapters, which proceed thematically and chronologically. Chapter 1 focuses on the making of Israel's immigration policies themselves. Aliyah, Hacohen argues, became "Israel's foremost preoccupation" from the time the War of Independence ended. "It was the concern of one and all, from the country's leaders to the man on the street," she writes. "Nevertheless, the price—political, strategic, and economic—was heavy" (p. 24). International pressure from the United States, the beginning of the Korean War, and internal debates over allowing the entry of spies and communists, Gentiles married to Jews, uncircumcised children, the sick and disabled, and sects such as the Karaites from Egypt tested Israel's ability to welcome all prospective migrants with open arms. Yet it was Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion's insistence that mass immigration should be favored over...
