A home away from home? Israel Shelanu and the self-perceptions of Israeli migrants.

IN THE LAST THREE DECADES, the question of Israeli migration to the U.S. has been intensively discussed by Israeli media, and it has become the subject of many scholarly works. The fact that the phenomenon of migration from Israel is known as yerida [descending] while migration to Israel is described as aliyah [ascending] reveals the profound nature of the emotional and ideological factors in the relations between the migrants and their fellow countrymen who stayed in Israel. Moreover, when, in 1976, Yitzhak Rabin, Israel's prime minister, defined migrants as "the leftovers of weaklings," (1) his phrase clearly reflected their stigmatization in Israeli society. These attitudes were prevalent not only among Israelis living in Israel, but also among those who migrated from the country, so most early studies portrayed the Israeli migrants as individuals subject to constant internal conflict.

The media created by migrants in the U.S. and elsewhere has long interested scholars. This is because, as Sally M. Miller puts it, "the [migrant] press is the best source for an understanding of the world of non-English-speaking groups in the United States, their experience and concerns, their background and evolution as individual communities." (2) In a sense, the migrant media provide a vantage point from which researchers can learn about the inner dynamics that characterize an ethnic or national group; for instance, the migrant press can reflect migrants' attempts to preserve their old language and culture, while at the same time revealing their attempts to assimilate into American society. (3) Furthermore, migrant media can supply the means through which "fragile" groups constitute their identity, or recreate it under new circumstances. (4)

An investigation of the Israeli migrant media can deepen our understanding of this unique community. Studying the media organizations that serve a community that declines to define itself as a community--or at least declined to do so in the past--can reveal the mechanisms through which the migrants deal with the inherent conflicts in which they exist. Furthermore, a chronological investigation of the themes that appear in these media can enhance our understanding of the major changes in migrants' self-perception over time, and of Israeli attitudes toward them. In a larger sense, a study of the way Israeli migrants perceive themselves and their relations with Israel over a period of time can illuminate broader phenomena within Israeli society. (5) The extent to which Israeli migrants are viewed as a challenge or even a threat to the existence of the Jewish State exposes some of the inner tensions and instabilities that shape Israeli reality. The ways in which Israeli migrants position themselves within the context of the meta-Zionist narrative are unique signifiers of the centrality and potency of this interpretive scheme and its role in molding Israeli identity.

Today, the Hebrew-reading population in the U.S. is offered a variety of sources of information. Hard copy issues of Ha'aretz, Ma'ariv, Yedi'ot Aharonoth, and several Israeli magazines are available in all of North America's large cities, while the Internet offers access to Israeli news sites, radio stations, and the sites of some of the dailies. In terms of Hebrew news sources that are written and edited in the U.S, the selection is more limited: Ma'ariv and Yedi'ot Aharonoth attach modest local supplements (Ma'ariv America and Yedi'ot America) to their weekend supplements. Each of those supplements usually contains one or two feature stories, several regular columns (shopping, health, American sports, Israeli music, etc.), and a detailed New York City events guide. There are also a few weekly Hebrew radio shows aired in the New York and Los Angeles areas.

The weekly Israel Shelanu [Our Israel], the first Israeli migrants' newspaper in the U.S., was established in September 1979 and ceased to appear in August 1998. Israel Shelanu was closed due to financial difficulties, most likely caused by the increasing availability of hard copy Israeli dailies in the U.S. and Israeli news web sites. (6) Since Israel Shelanu folded, Shalom L.A., a West Coast weekly, is the only Israeli migrants' newspaper published in the U.S. that is not affiliated with an Israeli-based newspaper. (7) Shmuel Shmueli, the founder of Israel Shelanu, was the weekly's publisher through its 20 years of existence. He also used to write most of the weekly's editorials, many of which reflected his right-wing political beliefs supporting Likud governments, denouncing the Oslo accords, and so on. Although, at some stages, the issues of Israel Shelanu contained around 80 pages, the editorial staff of the Brooklyn-based newspaper usually included only 8-10 reporters, (8) and so, at times, Israel Shelanu would republish items that had already appeared in Israeli newspapers, mainly articles dealing with political events occurring in Israel. (9) At the same time, Israel Shelanu employed well-known Israeli reporters and editors, such as Eli Tavor, Uri Dan, Ofer Taler, and others, at certain stages. Through the years, many high-ranking American and Israeli diplomats and politicians, from Yitzhak Mordechai to Dennis Ross, also granted interviews to Israel Shelanu.

I have chosen to focus on Israel Shelanu, since its relative longevity enabled me to analyze it over three distinct time periods. Another reason for choosing the weekly was its relatively high readership: estimates for various periods range from 25,000 to around 100,000 copies. (10) In any event, it seems that, through all its years of existence, Israel Shelanu was the most popular Hebrew-language newspaper published in the U.S. that was not a supplement of an Israeli-based newspaper. Finally, I chose Israel Shelanu since several studies have identified its consumption as a characteristic of the migrants' patterns of social behavior. (11)

This paper includes four sections: first, a discussion of studies of Israeli migration that offers relevant theoretical framework for this project; second, the operationalization of these theoretical concepts into detailed research questions; third, an analysis of three samples of Israel Shelanu--its first, eighth, (12) and final (20th) years of publication--focusing on the ways in which the newspaper addressed Israeli migration to the U.S., Israeli and Jewish-American migration (back) to Israel, and the development of an institutional migrants' community; and finally, a discussion of findings in view of the ways in which Israel Shelanu served its readers by offering them a means of appeasing the inner tension they were experiencing.