1990s post-Soviet aliyah

[2][3] Many of the Ashkenazi Jews who lived in all parts of the former Soviet Union were highly secular, and notable Jewish customs went unpracticed, such as a Brit milah (circumcision ceremony).

By contrast to the highly educated and assimilated Ashkenazim, these Mizrahi Jews more often than not made their living in commerce, crafts, and business.

The overwhelming majority of the Ashkenazi immigrants have been credited with boosting Israel's economy, helping grow the country's famous high-tech industry in particular.

Those who tried to escape the USSR, and did not succeed, called Refuseniks, were often branded traitors, fired from their jobs, and subject to public harassment.

[10] In response to growing international pressure, the Soviets began allowing Jews to emigrate in limited numbers annually starting in 1968, officially for "family reunification".

Initially, most went to Israel, but after 1976, the majority began immigrating to the United States, which had a policy of treating Soviet Jews as refugees under the Jackson-Vanik amendment.

In October 1989, the US government stopped treating Soviet Jews as refugees, as another country, Israel, was willing to accept them unconditionally.

[13][14] As the wave of emigration began, Soviet Jews who wanted to emigrate left the Soviet Union for various European countries and began gathering at transit points, from which they were flown to Israel, and the Israeli government ordered the national airline El Al to put every available plane at the disposal of the immigrants.

[16] Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze had ordered the direct flights stopped following a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir in the Jerusalem neighborhood and settlement of Neve Yaakov, a predominantly Russian immigrant neighborhood over the Green Line, hinting that Soviet immigrants would be housed in Israeli settlements.

Jews from Chechnya fleeing the First Chechen War were evacuated to Israel in a rescue operation conducted by the Israeli government and Jewish Agency lasting several months.

[20] The abruptness and extensiveness of this immigration wave brought about an immediate severe shortage of housing in Israel, in the Gush Dan area in particular, and a corresponding drastic rise in the prices of residential apartments.

(Additional cities to which many of the immigrants moved (willingly and unwillingly) were Haifa and the Krayot urban area, Petah Tikva, Ariel and Ashdod.)

The closed nature of this immigration wave may have been due to its large size, which resulted in neighborhoods of sometimes tens of thousands of people.

In reality, the immigrants had a considerable part in the falls of the governments of Yitzhak Shamir, Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak.

Although most of the Soviet immigrants supported the liberal policies in the subjects of religion and state, because this immigration wave was secular in its majority, they avoided support for the Israeli left-wing parties which consisted of similar positions, as a result of them being in favor of compromise with the Palestinians, and their association of left-wing with Soviet communism.

Therefore, for example, Ehud Barak was helped in his election campaign by the distribution of a Russian-language book lauding him as an Israeli war hero.

[citation needed] Likewise, the popularity of Ariel Sharon among ex-Soviet immigrants had much to do with his extravagant militaristic record and his tough, aggressive image.

Obviously, the Russians did not give a damn for the history of this country, about which they do not have the slightest idea.In the Israeli elections of 2009, Yisrael Beiteinu gained 15 Knesset members, its highest ever.

The weakening of the Zionist ethos coupled with the disappearance of the melting pot perception (which was strong until the 1980s) brought more tolerance from the Israeli society to the attempts of the Russian immigrants to preserve their culture.

A 2016 poll found that 81% self-identified as secular, as compared to 49% among all Israeli Jews, and only 4% were Haredi, although 55% expressed some level of religious belief.

[29] The secular character of this immigration wave and their attempts to preserve their eating habits caused in the mid-1990s the opening of stores selling merchandise which was prevalent in the USSR, notably non-kosher meat such as pork.

[35] [2] [36] The immigrants integrated relatively successfully in the Israeli economy, and they are characterized as having a higher rate of participation in the work market.

The Israeli high tech field went through a small revolution with inculcation of several business incubators which were set up to provide employment for the thousands of the scientists and the engineers which came through this immigration wave.

This immigration wave has also been credited with boosting Israel's economy, and helping grow the country's famous high-tech industry in particular.

The emerging Israeli high-tech industry was greatly boosted by highly educated Russian immigrants, together with skilled IDF veterans.

Economist Yosef Zeira acknowledged that Russian immigrants had a positive effect on the Israeli economy and credited them for ending a recession that came as a result of the First Intifada, but claimed that Israel's high-tech success was mainly due to subsidies from the IDF.

According to Zeira, though the Russian aliyah had a positive effect on the economy, "Israel would still be a Western country with a prospering industrial sector, with them or without them.

[39] When they arrived in Israel, many Soviet immigrants, including highly educated and skilled professionals, initially took menial and semi-skilled jobs and lived in poverty.

This positive attitude changed with time as a result of fears in parts of Israeli society to the effects the massive immigration wave would have.

In 2009, Science Minister Daniel Hershkowitz said the immigration wave helped the Israeli universities, where one of every four staff members is now a Russian-speaker.