Supported by the EAJC: Bar-Ilan University Hosted a Conference on Jewish Repatriation and Immigration from the Former Soviet Union

The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) at Bar-Ilan University hosted a scientific and practical symposium titled "Olim and Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union Between Israel and the Diaspora: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities." 

The conference, which featured leading scholars and public figures, was organized to provide an updated assessment of trends and challenges among repatriates, emigrants, and diaspora communities, as well as to analyze the issues and difficulties that have recently emerged in their environments. 

The event was co-organized by the Institute for Euro-Asian Jewish Studies (IEAJS, a project of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, EAJC), the Jerusalem Interdisciplinary College (JIC), and the BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Study Program. It focused on identity, language, communication, and socio-economic integration of repatriates from the former Soviet Union in Israel, as well as Jewish communities within the post-Soviet space and their diaspora in Western countries.  

The researchers and experts focused primarily on the relationship between Jewish communities in the countries of origin and receiving communities, the differences between "new" and "veteran" repatriates and immigrants, as well as between the first, 1.5, and second generations of migrants. Additionally, they examined the role of Russian-language media in shaping political identity, trust in institutions, and socio-economic mobility.

During the conference, the findings of several field studies conducted in Israel and the diaspora were presented. 

These included a series of surveys of repatriates from the former USSR from various periods, alongside focus group materials involving repatriates from the past decade. These studies were conducted by Dr. Elina Bardach-Yalov, lecturer and researcher at the Jerusalem Interdisciplinary College, in cooperation with Prof. Ze'ev Khanin, Academic Director of the IEAJS and Head of the Post-Soviet Conflicts Study Program at the Begin-Sadat Center.  

Preliminary results of comparative academic and applied studies of Jewish and other repatriate and emigrant communities from post-Soviet countries in Israel and Central and Eastern Europe were also presented. These were conducted under a new project of the Institute for Euro-Asian Jewish Studies—the Center for the Study of New Emigration from the former USSR, led by Prof. Evgeny Smirnov and curated scientifically by Dr. Mikhail Men, under the overall academic and strategic guidance of Ze'ev Khanin and the Executive Vice-President of the Institute and Director General of the EAJC, Dr. Haim Ben Yakov. Furthermore, findings from oral history research on the latest wave of Jewish emigration from Ukraine and other countries of the former USSR, conducted by Dr. Anna Kushkova and Dr. Maria Kaspina, were presented, along with observations and analysis from directors of projects supporting Aliyah and the integration of repatriates in Israel, among other data.