American Roulette- The Ups and Downs of Russian Immigrants: But still unsettling

...American Roulette— The Ups and Downs of Russian Immigrants But still Unsettlin Betsy Gidwitz We fight for their right to leave the Soviet Union— we hold demonstrations, we send telegrams to Brezhnev and our congressmen, we correspond with them in Minsk and Moscow, we try to visit them, and we wonder what we would be doing now had our grandparents lacked the courage to leave when they did...

...And we wince when a newcomer engaged in his own absorption plan is pictured on the first page of a major metropolitan newspaper, carrying an artificial Christmas tree from a department store That tree may well have been purchased with our contributions to the local Jewish philanthropic organization Of course, there are some newcomers who use no funds at all, several incidents of shoplifting have mortified us And there are those many unhappy Soviet-trained physicians and dentists unable to pass licensing examinations and seemingly limited to employment at levels far lower than their expectations They, and their less well educated fellow emigres even more so, disturb us when they pound on the table, demanding from harassed Jewish social service personnel that the world be turned upside down so that the United States be made "just like the Soviet Union, but with freedom " It is only in the last year or two that serious attention has been drawn to the severe problems that some emigres are experiencing in adjusting to American life Obviously, the increasing number of Soviet Jews who have chosen to emigrate to the United States rather than Israel since 1973 is in large part responsible for our recent awareness of the situation And some community leaders were initially reluctant to acknowledge difficulties in the absorption programs here and in Israel Only at the very end of 1976 was a symposium on the integration of Soviet Jews into the American Jewish community held for professionals in the field It is time that others among us also be concerned with the adjustment of emigres into Israeli and American life We must continue to work on behalf of those Jews still in the Soviet Union, but we must also expend our energy on understanding their problems after emigration and on assisting their integration into the community Sefsy Gidwitz, a lecturer at MIT, is a specialist in the politics of international civil aviation Her work has appeared in Soviet Jewish Affairs Diverse backgrounds A major factor in resettlement difficulties is the very heterogeneity of the emigres There is no typical Soviet Jew Their diversity includes five general groups the Westerners (1) come from parts of the Soviet Union annexed, in the 1940's—the Baltic states, western Bielorussia and Ukraine, transcarpathian Ukraine, and Moldavia Because their exposure to Soviet rule is of relatively recent origin, many of these emigres have maintained ties with Judaism and Jewish tradition, and are strongly influenced by Zionism They are attracted to Israel where their adjustment has been generally smooth because of their identity with the State and their more "western" outlook In contrast to the Western Jews are the Core or Heartland Jews (2) from the very large Russian republic and from the eastern Ukraine and Bielorussia Having lived under Soviet rule for six decades, many identify strongly with Russian culture They are highly urbanized and well-educated, frequently condescending and patronizing toward both non-Russianized Jews and non-Russians in general With few ties to Jewish tradition, many in this group have chosen to migrate to the United States rather than to Israel The Core Area Jews constitute more than three-quarters of the entire Soviet Jewish population The Georgian Jews (3) are generally observant of religious tradition, but are less well educated than the Core Area Jews They prefer to live in large interconnected extended family groups, in effect isolating themselves from others in Israeli society Their past experience in the relatively free-wheeling economy of Soviet Georgia enables some to adjust fairly quickly to life in the West, but their poor formal education has hampered others and not infrequently led to a precipitous drop in living standards once outside the Soviet Union Both the Mountain Jews of the Caucasus and Caspian Sea area (4) and the Bukharan Jews of Central Asia (5) resemble the Georgians in their stronger religious tradition, less advanced general education, and close family ties, although each has a unique cultural background which must be confronted, as well Emigres from these three groups are more likely to go to Israel than to the United States The majority of Soviet Jews choosing not to go to Israel are from the core or heartland area of the USSR Their numbers include most of the emigres leaving the five Soviet cities with the largest Jewish populations Moscow (71 percent prefer other countries), Leningrad (70 percent), Kiev (80 percent), Odessa (94 percent), and Kharkov (86 percent) Reasons given for selecting the United States or another Western country over Israel vary One of the most frequently mentioned (by as many as 80 percent of Russian emigres) is family reunification, a condition feeding on itself as the growing Soviet Jewish population here creates a larger pool of potential America-bound relatives in the USSR Intermarriage, assimilation even within endogamously married families, opportunity for finding employment in specific fields, concern over the possibility of another Middle East war, perception of Israel as a military or religious dictatorship, and fear of extreme heat in Israel's climate are other reasons frequently given for choosing residence in the United States Economic factors are probably understated by Soviet Jews who realize that declarations emphasizing economic betterment do not sound very impressive, especially if they perceive (correctly or not) that they are in any way dependent upon the questioner for future assistance Regardless of stated goals, however, the behavior of some immigrants once they reach the United States leaves little doubt that the attractions of the American consumer society are a primary motivation for their departure from the USSR Another reason not stated openly, but obvious from casual conversations with some Soviet Jews, stems from a patronizing, condescending attitude toward "tiny Israel," an attitude possibly reflecting the widespread Russian chauvinism in the expansionist USSR which has found supporters among some assimilated Russian Jews These people may see in "tiny Israel" a reflection of their own (unacknowledged) insecurity When they leave the Soviet Union, they will go only to another superpower country They're not drop-outs Given these influences, it is a misnomer to call most America-bound Soviet Jews "drop-outs " They were never in a Zionist movement (formal or informal) They have simply taken advantage of an opportunity to leave the USSR—and some would not have left had not anti-Semitism increased in recent years Many have no positive Jewish motivation and some, it is clear, will not identify with the American Jewish community once their dependence on its social and financial services ends Reunification with family members already in the United States is, of course, a justifiable goal Fear of another Middle East war is understandable, particularly among those who experienced World War II However, other reasons stem from obvious misperceptions and misunderstandings about either Israel or the United States Some persons citing alleged religious coercion'in Israel really believe that Israelis are forcibly marched off to synagogue on Friday evenings and on Saturdays Many of those fearing "extreme heat" in Israel accept placement in the American South and in New York City where summer heat and humidity match conditions in Tel Aviv These misperceptions are clearly at the root of many adjustment problems It is important here to categorize the difficulties A major misperception is that knowledge, skills, and experience gained in the Soviet The failure rate of Soviet trained physicians in American medical licensing exams exceeds 90 percent...

...They disturb us when they pound on the table, demanding that the world be turned upside down so that the United States be made "just like the Soviet Union, but with freedom...

...At least some of us do these things, to many, the Soviet Jewish situation is now a little boring, has lost its chic And perhaps it raises uncomfortable questions We don't like to think about Vladimir Slepak because we are not sure we could hold up as well as have he and his family We are disturbed that so many who do leave the USSR reject Israel and come to the United States, our very distress intensified as we recognize that their "guilt" is also our own, for we too have chosen a more comfortable life in America We are concerned about the expenses incurred in immigrant absorption programs, do not the Jewish poor and elderly also need our support...

...many left the Soviet Union with relatively little difficulty...

...Because substantial funding for absorption originates in the United States, "intrusion" of American Jews into this sphere of Israeli society is not unwarranted It is not enough to write to Jews in the Soviet Union, to demonstrate for their freedom We must be concerned with their fate after they achieve freedom In paraphrased words, it is not our duty to complete the action we have initiated, but neither are we free to refrain from it * Source note Some material used in this article is derived from the following sources Femstein, Steven C "SovieKJewish Immigrants in Minneapolis and St Paul Attitudes and Reactions to New Life in America " Paper presented at the Midwest Slavic Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 6, 1977 Gidwitz, Betsy "Perceptions and Problems of Soviet Jewish Emigres Factors in their Adjustment to Conditions in Israel and the United States " Paper presented at the Midwest Slavic Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 6, 1977 Gilison, Jerome M , ed The Soviet Jewish Emigre Proceedings of the National Symposium on the Integration of Soviet Jews into the American Jewish Community, Baltimore, December 26-27, 1976 Baltimore Baltimore Hebrew College, 1977 Levenfeld, Barry Phillip "Recent Soviet Immigration " Unpublished honors thesis, Harvard College, 1976...

...Related to the primacy of economic gain for a large number of immigrants is an extraordinary concern for and even a preoccupation with status The desire for prestige has motivated a number of new settlers to misrepresent to social workers and employment counselors the extent of their education and experience Medical technicians claim to be physicians, and mechanics and foremen claim to be graduate engineers Many immigrants have very definite ideas about employment and titles, and refuse jobs perceived as low status or unsuited to previous training and experience in very narrow specialties The concept of job mobility is little understood, acceptance of perceived low-prestige work is viewed by many as condemnation to that position for an entire career Considering the enormous importance that educated Soviet Jews ascribe to work satisfaction, their failure to meet expectations in employment can be devastating Of all the misperceptions common among the immigrants, those concerning employment conditions appear to have the most adverse impact Disappointments in the resettlement experience also stem from misperceptions about Western socio-cultural custom One of the most naive expectations of Soviet Jewish emigres is that they will fit into Israeli or American society shortly after arrival and will quickly find friends among long-established Israelis and Americans Extensive experience in the United States, Canada, Israel, and other countries of large-scale immigration has shown instead that it is usual for new settlers to socialize primarily with others of similar background for at least the first generation Language problems and experiential dissimilarities deter formation of strong intercultural relationships This has led to considerable disappointment for many Soviet Jewish immigrants, especially since some of them had very close relationships in the Soviet Union deriving from the anti-Semitic atmosphere there and the closing of ranks in the struggle for emigration In both Israel and the United States relationships between the immigrants and social workers are often strained because the new settlers see in all relationships with officials the adversary situation which existed in the Soviet Union Many newcomers show unprovoked hostility toward any person in a position of authority Warnings about regulations and laws are dismissed as propaganda Few are able to understand the concept of independent or voluntary agencies, somehow, in their eyes, the local Jewish vocational service in Boston or St Louis must be connected with the federal government in Washington, D C A social agency official sitting across the table is viewed as an ignoramus and enemy, someone to be manipulated and outsmarted Confrontation with the reality of American life, so very different from perceptions held upon departure from the Soviet Union, has led to a profound identity crisis for many emigres, a crisis which doubtless intensifies adjustment difficulties Adults lose their employment status, a status of consuming importance in Soviet society Persons highly articulate in Russian lose their ability to communicate and are frequently misunderstood and sometimes cruelly belittled Parents lose status when their children integrate more readily into the new society, an especially painful situation when integration includes adoption of customs considered inelegant in the Soviet Union Husbands lose status when they are jobless or dissatisfied in work Dependence upon financial and other support from outside agencies lessens one's self-esteem as adult, provider, master of one's own fate The misperceptions held by immigrants about conditions in Israel and the United States derive from several sources of information, both accurate and inaccurate, obtained while still in the Soviet Union (and, to a lesser extent, for those bound for the United States, obtained while in transit in Rome) No less important than the information itself is the particular way in which potential immigrants choose to evaluate it Defamatory Soviet propaganda about the United States is almost entirely discounted, although that against Israel is more readily believed and in part responsible for the increasing proportion of emigres choosing to reside in the United States The Voice of America, BBC, and other Western broadcasts do not dwell on general societal problems in the West or on specific difficulties likely to be encountered by immigrants from the Soviet Union Some letters from friends and relatives already in the United States give an over-rosy view of life in this country because the writers are too embarrassed to admit that they are experiencing difficulties in the American Klondike and because they are so lonely for the addressees that everything possible to encourage their coming is viewed as legitimate Those letters which give a more sober view of adjustment problems in the United States are often dismissed by friends and relatives in the USSR as representing atypical experiences or as having been written so as to ensure clearance by Soviet censors Informed American tourists visiting Jews in the Soviet Union report that their accounts of life in the United States are often received with skepticism based on the listeners' preconceived views of the relevant subjects If immigrants are reported to be encountering difficulties in the United States, those still in the USSR assert that these people were also slackers in the Soviet Union and surely hard work will relieve any temporary problems All those stories about physicians failing licensing exams are either exaggerated or representative only of those educated and employed in the provinces American universities surely have faculty positions for Soviet Jewish professors And so on American Jews should reject the stereotyped views widely held about the immigrants...

...American Jews can and should extend efforts in several directions to assist the integration of Soviet Jewish immigrants into Israeli and American society The first task is to reject the stereotyped views widely held about the immigrants They are not latter-day replicas of Yiddish folktale figures and few resemble our grandparents who preceeded them decades ago Even fewer were heroes bravely fighting the KGB, many left the Soviet Union with relatively little difficulty Most who come to the United States are estranged from Judaism and many resent efforts to press Jewish religion and culture upon them A large proportion possess certain attitudes and habits rooted in the peculiarities of Soviet society which, however unpleasant to American Jews, must be recognized and duly considered in formal and informal contacts with them All this may be made easier if we undertake a second task—the preparation and transmission to Soviet Jews while still in the Soviet Union and later in Vienna and Rome of credible information about Israel and the United States so that they may be better prepared to face that which awaits them The key factor is credibility—for it is clear that many believe only what they want to believe We must inform professionals in medicine and education, for example, that few will be able to fulfill their professional goals in the United States If they possess—and believe—this information beforehand, more may decide to go to Israel where opportunities for retraining and employment in these fields are broader Those who still want to come to the United States may at least be more willing to acknowledge the difficulties ahead Perhaps a "fact sheet" on employment opportunities in various fields in Israel and other destination countries can be created Distribution of this and other information in Vienna and Rome should encounter few obstacles, distribution in the Soviet Union will be more difficult, but there is sufficient talent among American Jews to design a closely printed Russian-language folder of proportions suitable for enclosure in letters sent into the Soviet Union and for unobtrusive carriage into that country by tourists Even if only a-few dozen such folders survive Soviet customs control, the information contained therein will reach scores of potential emigres and will facilitate their later absorption The credibility problem may be eased if the booklet carries the emblem of an American Jewish organization or publication whose name is recognized by activist Soviet Jews Another project is to persuade the powers that be in Israel that rationalizing the absorption procedures there, particularly those aspects deriving from the power politics of contending political parties, might increase the satisfaction (or at least decrease the confusion and anger) of immigrants Competition between the Jewish Agency, Ministry of Absorption, and Ministry of Housing is not productive A major study of Soviet immigrants in Israel shows that their greatest disappointments center on personal relationships, the Israeli bureaucracy and unredeemed promises by officials are two factors among those most frequently mentioned as motivating Soviet Jews to leave Israel The new government in Jerusalem may be better disposed to make necessary changes in current procedures...

...They are not heroes bravely righting the KGB...

...We must be concerned with their fate after they achieve freedom...

...Union are readily transferable to the employment situation in Israel and the United States or other Western countries The physician planning to leave the Soviet Union expects to be practicing in Haifa or New York within a short time In reality, Soviet professionals and many skilled workers encounter numerous problems in finding suitable employment The first, and perhaps most cruel, pitfall is that standards in many professions in Israel and the West are far higher than in the Soviet Union and, consequently, emigres often do not qualify for positions judged equivalent to those held in the USSR Soviet expertise in some engineering fields and in medicine and dentistry is 25 to 40 years behind Western levels The situation in dentistry is especially bad Soviet computer science lags 10 to 20 years behind Western standards The realities of failed licensing examinations in medicine and other fields bring shock, humiliation, and discouragement The failure rate of Soviet-trained physicians in American medical licensing exams exceeds 90 percent The immigrant doctors, who generally judge themselves thoroughly competent, are stymied by basic lack of knowledge, inadequate command of English, and the unfamiliar multiple-choice format of examination questions Language difficulties constitute a second major problem Few emigres possess even a modicum of skill in either Hebrew or English, and some believe that they will be able to establish themselves without attempting to learn the host tongue Some of these situations would be amusing if they were not tragic—for example, a former Soviet speech therapist thinks it unnecessary to learn English in order to practice his profession There are literally hundreds of emigres for whom the Russian (or another Soviet) language was an integral part of their professions, in addition to speech therapists, their ranks include journalists, writers, poets, dramatists, actors, and many teachers and translators The several new Russian-language publications launched in Israel and Western countries in the past few years cannot absorb all of the Jewish writers who have left the USSR Further, there are dozens of translators whose language specialties, such as Russian-Moldavian or Ukrainian-Kazakh, may be in demand in the Soviet Union, but who are hardly trained for employment outside that country There are two groups of emigres whose difficulties stem from professional training and experience heavily influenced—or distorted—by Soviet ideology In the first group are professionals in economics, law, history, philosophy, and related fields For many individuals, the emphasis on ideology at the expense of real scholarship has adversely affected basic competence A small number of emigres in these fields come to the United States with plans to become fulltime lecturers on various aspects of Soviet society They have little comprehension of the limited market for such work, and the lectures they do give are often polemic and poorly organized The second group of emigres affected by ideological constraints are creative artists, such as painters, sculptors, and choreographers The dictates of socialist realism have frequently limited their creativity, leaving their work subject to criticism on such grounds as rigidity and vulgarity One of the most naive expectations of Soviet Jewish emigres is that they will fit into Israeli or American society, will quickly find friends among established Israelis and Americans...

...Other emigres suffer from the extreme specialization common in Soviet post-secondary school education and in erriployment Their ranks span the employment spectrum from manual workers to highly-trained professionals Especially severe difficulties are encountered by those whose narrow training reflects specific requirements of the Soviet Union and is not in demand elsewhere, such as experts on permafrost or on exploitation of certain minerals found widely only in the USSR All of these basic difficulties are exacerbated by additional problems First, there are very few formal employment retraining programs in the United States which take into account the specific characteristics of Soviet immigrants The dispersion of settlers with varying professions in more than 100 cities and towns across the United States, and the decentralization of American authority—both governmental and among the Jewish communities—render retraining courses difficult and expensive to administer Obviously, a New York-based program for retraining Soviet-educated physicians will do nothing for an unlicensed immigrant doctor in Los Angeles Second, administrative and political conditions within both city governments and specific Jewish communities may have an adverse impact on absorption programs Some cities, for example, have been notably more successful than others in obtaining federal funding for job retraining programs which, although not designed specifically for Soviet immigrants, might be of use to some of them In a few communities, various Jewish social service agencies (such as vocational services and family services) are at odds with each other over issues of policy or over matters related to power-base maintenance In one city, a vague threat of reduced financial support by a member of a central Jewish philanthropic board forced a major Jewish hospital to accept as a resident an immigrant physician who, although one of the few to have successfully completed licensing examinations, was judged by the hospital as not meeting its very high standards Various Jewish businessmen have come under pressure from harassed and sometimes desperate Jewish vocational services to offer positions to immigrants whose qualifications are dubious The potential for divisiveness within the Jewish community and subsequent problems for the whole immigrant absorption program in the United States is obvious In passing, it is perhaps appropriate to note that Israel, with much greater centralization of its absorption programs and greater experience with Soviet immigrants, does much better in providing retraining opportunities A third problem in the United States has been the contraction of the job market Even well-qualified persons find it difficult to obtain satisfactory employment in certain fields Among the most severely affected are former Soviet academics seeking positions in American universities And many experienced skilled workers are unable to find steady employment in their fields because of restrictive trade union control over hiring in local industries A fourth difficulty is that many emigrants who choose to settle in the United States do so because they believe, as did their predecessors 70, 80, and 90 years ago, that the streets of America are paved with gold, that the whole of this country is a veritable Klondike Plumbers and electricians expect to earn twenty dollars an hour the minute they step off the plane, never having heard of independent trade unions, never having considered that American methods may be different, and never having realized that they may have to make a substantial personal investment in a variety of tools The potential millionaire physicians never contemplate that they may be unable to pass qualifying examinations In anticipation of new-found riches, some immigrants purchase second-hand automobiles shortly after their arrival with funds provided for family support by the local Jewish community or with money which they have managed to bring out of the Soviet Union or have earned while awaiting visas in Rome, they are not sufficiently experienced to judge the merits of the car they buy and they seem little inclined to consider the costs of insurance and upkeep The pervasive advertising in the West convinces them that previously unknown consumer goods are vital to their new lives Some find it difficult to believe that Jewish social service agencies pay for the far more costly American rents and medical expenses only during an initial resettlement period of four to twelve months Persons highly articulate in Russian lose their ability to communicate and are frequently misunderstood and sometimes cruelly belittled...

...Enroute to the United States or another Western country, emigres are transferred from the initial transit point of Vienna to Rome where most spend a difficult four to six months while HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) arranges for specific communities to accept them Their experiences, encountered while still suffering from the trauma of departure from the Soviet Union, are unlikely to facilitate rapid and successful adjustment in the destination country They are confronted with an unfamiliar environment, poor housing conditions stemming from financial restrictions, a transient status as other emigres come and go with little opportunity to form stable groups for English classes or simply for socializing, and uncertainty and fear about their reception in the United States or another country And once they have arrived in their countries of destination, many newcomers suffer from various disabilities often first manifest in the Soviet Union and sometimes exacerbated by the trauma of emigration and resettlement One of every three Soviet Jewish families in New York has a major illness Psychiatric social workers and other professionals assisting newcomers in Boston believe that five to ten percent of Soviet immigrants in that city suffer from longstanding and deep-seated psychiatric disorders As in any large group, there are some who are disagreeable, lazy, or deceitful, or possess other traits which may impede absorption into a new society Much of the aggressiveness often expressed by immigrants in their dealings with social service agencies stems from the immigrant's own confusion and need to reaffirm his or her own identity But some difficulties are generated, however inadvertently, by social workers, agencies, and the larger community Few American Jewish social workers, employment counselors, or other professionals speak Russian or are familiar with the Soviet social environment from which the new settlers come To be sure, expectation of prior expertise in such areas is unrealistic and many agencies are taking steps to educate their employees about the nature of Soviet society, but social service professionals are in many ways inadequately prepared to receive the immigrants Given these circumstances, it is not surprising that tensions have arisen and an adversary relationship developed in many instances It is perhaps understandable that some psychiatric social workers prefer work for which they are trained as opposed to acting as airport receptionists, real estate agents, school registrars, paymasters, recipients of anonymous telephone calls by immigrants snitching on other immigrants, and targets of abuse by immigrants demanding that the agency move them out of apartment buildings in which Odessans also live, lend them money to buy automobiles, and buy them $20,000 cellos to replace the $3,000 Soviet models they had to leave behind in Leningrad That the feeling is mutual is evident from interviews with immigrants in a midwestern city during which one newcomer called Jewish Family Service personnel "scoundrels, thieves, bandits, and liars," and five settlers, when questioned about encounters with anti-Semitism in the United States, said that the JFS was anti-Semitic Polemics aside, there are real issues over which tensions may arise between immigrants and social service agencies In the crucial areas of employment and financial support, it is the policy of most agencies to place settlers in jobs as quickly as possible so that dependency may be reduced —an objective with both psychological and financial foundations Many immigrants, however, reject entry-level employment, preferring to live on agency allowances until the "perfect" position presents itself Employment opportunities deemed unsatisfactory may even be sabotaged In response, most agencies now terminate financial support after an immigrant refuses three reasonable job offers The proportions of allowances to be issued as grants or as loans is another question, psychological and financial factors may suggest a preference for loans, but in some areas the rate of loan repayment has been very low Flexibility with financial arrangements may sound nice, but such a policy leads to inconsistency and is a consequent source of manipulation and ill feeling Inequalities in the nature and amount of support offered by different communities are inevitable and, although there is little evidence that immigrants have drawn up a scorecard rating cities according to their largesse, it is possible that pursuit of more generous financial assistance has been one factor in the decision of from one-quarter to one-third of immigrants to move from the place of initial settlement to another area The determination of immigrant clients to move on is interpreted as a personal insult by some social workers and is a source of recrimination in a few agencies, although the mobility may be caused by honest perceptions of better employment opportunities in other communities Despite the difficulties Soviet Jewish emigres have encountered in adjusting to new conditions, several studies suggest that the majority of those in America and those who plan to stay in Israel claim to feel at home in their respective new countries and are generally optimistic about their eventual complete adjustment Some of these professions of faith may, of course, represent only hopes and wishes, not objective evaluations] but indeed hope for the future is probably necessary if there is to be any chance at all of successful absorption Given the intensifying anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union, one may be justified in stating that Soviet Jews, particularly those with children facing limited educational opportunities due to increased application of anti-Semitic quotas in institutions of higher education in the USSR, would be better advised to buck inevitable adjustment problems in Israel or the United States than to stay in the Soviet Union It is not enough to write to Jews in the Soviet Union or to demonstrate for their freedom...