Please join the Department of International Literary and Cultural Studies, the Hebrew Program, the Russian Program, and the Fletcher Russia and Eurasia Program at Tufts University for a conversation about Russian speakers in Israel with Larissa Remennick, Professor of Sociology at Bar-Ilan University.

The socio-cultural and political divisions in modern Israel are often described by the trope of the Five Tribes: Ashkenazim, Mizrahim, Haredim (Ultra-Orthodox), Black Ethiopian Jews, and Israeli Palestinians. Over one million Israelis of former Soviet origin fall in between these ‘tribes,’ forming an ethno-cultural and linguistic community of their own. The lecture will start with a short overview of the overall history of Jewish immigration to Israel yet will primarily concentrate on the discussion of the multiple social, cultural, and political impacts that the ‘Great Russian Aliya’ – put in motion by the Soviet collapse and post-communist transition – has made on the Israeli society today. The speaker will also elaborate on the integration dynamics of Russian-speaking Israelis over the last 30+ years and touch upon these dynamics in light of the recent wave of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The event is open to the public. Please make sure to register via Eventbrite to attend the event in person. If you would like to attend via Zoom or submit discussion questions for the speaker in advance, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

Larissa Remennick is professor and former chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. She immigrated from Moscow to Tel Aviv in 1991 as an early-career social scientist, and ever since has studied diverse aspects of integration among former Soviet immigrants (oIim) and their uneasy encounter with “veteran” Israeli society. Her recent research focus has been on the so-called Generations 1.5 and 2.0 of Russian-speaking Israelis, their social mobility, and identity dilemmas in Israel. Prof. Remennick has authored three books in Russian, three in English (among them Russian Jews on Three Continents: Identity, Integration, and Conflict), and some 150 articles and book chapters. She has been included in the Stanford Citation Index among the 2% of the most internationally cited social scientists.