Russian Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...

communities, who now reside within the State of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. They were around 900,000 in 2007.

Immigration history

The largest number of Russian Jews now live in Israel. Israel is home to a core Russian-Jewish population of 900,000, and an enlarged population of 1,544,000 (including halakhically non-Jewish members of Jewish households, but excluding those who reside in Israel illegally). The Aliyah in the 1990s accounts for 85–90% of this population. The population growth rate for

Former Soviet Union The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

(FSU) immigrants were among the lowest for any Israeli groups, with a fertility rate of 1.70 and natural increase of just +0.5% per year. The increase in Jewish birth rate in Israel during the 2000–2007 period was partly due to the increasing birth rate among the FSU immigrants, who now form 20% of the Jewish population of Israel. 96.5% of the enlarged Russian Jewish population in Israel is either Jewish or non-religious, while 3.5% (35,000) belongs to other religions (mostly Christians) and about 10,000 so-called "

messianic Jews Messianic Judaism is a syncretic Abrahamic religious sect that combines Christian theology with select elements of Judaism. It considers itself to be a form of Judaism but is generally considered to be a form of Christianity, including by al ...

". The Total Fertility Rate for FSU immigrants in Israel is given in the table below. The TFR increased with time, peaking in 1997, then slightly decreased after that, and then again increased after 2000. In 1999, about 1,037,000 FSU immigrants lived in Israel, of whom about 738,900 immigrated after 1989. The second largest ethnic group (

Moroccans Moroccans () are the Moroccan nationality law, citizens and nationals of the Morocco, Kingdom of Morocco. The country's population is predominantly composed of Arabs and Berbers (Amazigh). The term also applies more broadly to any people who ...

) numbered just 1,000,000. From 2000–2006, 142,638 FSU immigrants moved to Israel. While 70,000 of them emigrated from Israel to countries like the U.S. and Canada, bringing the total population to 1,150,000 by 2007 January (excluding illegals). The natural increase was around 0.3% in late 1990s. For example 2,456 in 1996 (7,463 births to 5,007 deaths), 2,819 in 1997 (8,214 to 5,395), 2,959 in 1998 (8,926 to 5,967) and 2,970 in 1999 (9,282 to 6,312). In 1999, the natural growth was +0.385%. (Figures only for FSU immigrants moved in after 1989). An estimated 45,000 illegal immigrants from the Former Soviet Union lived in Israel during the end of 2010, but it is not clear how many of them are actually Jews. Currently, Russia has the highest rate of

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

to Israel among any other country. In 2013, 7,520 people, nearly 40% of all olim, immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union. As of 2018, USSR Jews are estimated to be 12.4% of the Israeli population.

Political history

Russian Jews have been very dominant in Israeli politics, due to large number of Russian Jews occupied in the official positions of Israeli Government. Former Israeli Foreign Minister,

Avigdor Lieberman Avigdor Lieberman (, ; born 5 June 1958) is a Soviet-born Israeli politician who served as Ministry of Finance (Israel), Minister of Finance between 2021 and 2022, having previously served twice as Deputy Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to ...

, was born in former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

's Moldova. Many Russian Jews maintain their ties with Russia, and play an important role in the relationship between Russia and Israel.

Demographics

Russian-speaking Jews in Israel include an enlarged population of 1,544,000, if including halakhically non-Jewish members of Jewish households. 96.5% of the enlarged Russian Jewish population in Israel is either Jewish or non-religious, while 3.5% (35,000) belong to other religions (mostly

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

) and about 10,000 identifying as

Messianic Jews Messianic Judaism is a syncretic Abrahamic religious sect that combines Christian theology with select elements of Judaism. It considers itself to be a form of Judaism but is generally considered to be a form of Christianity, including by al ...

separate from

Jewish Christians Jewish Christians were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Roman Judea during the late Second Temple period, under the Herodian tetrarchy (1st century AD). These Jews believed that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah and t ...

Core Jewish population

Soviet and Russian-origin Jews form a core population of around 900,000 in Israel, as of 2007.

Mixed families

As of 2003, approximately 300,000 halakhically non-Jewish members of Jewish households lived in Israel.

Notable people

Natan Sharansky Natan Sharansky (; born 20 January 1948) is an Israeli politician, human rights activist, and author. He served as Chairman of the Executive for the Jewish Agency for Israel, Jewish Agency from June 2009 to August 2018, and currently serves as ...

* Yuri Foreman * Yuri Stern *

Yuli Edelstein } Yuli-Yoel Edelstein (, ; born 5 August 1958) is an Israeli politician who served as Minister of Health from 2020 to 2021. One of the most prominent refuseniks in the Soviet Union, he was the 16th List of Knesset speakers, Speaker of the Kness ...

* Yoel Razvozov *

Vladimir Beliak Vladimir Beliak (; , born 16 August 1973) is a Russian-Israeli politician. He is currently a member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid. He is a former consultant and (municipal) director. Biography He was born in Kemerovo in the Soviet Union, which l ...

Evgeny Sova Evgeny Sova (; born 29 August 1980) is an Israeli journalist, television presenter and politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu. Biography Born in Pervomaisk in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union, Sova ...

Alex Kushnir Alexander Kushnir (; born 2 November 1978) is an Israeli politician. He currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu. Biography Kushnir was born in the Soviet Union. In 1992, he immigrated to Israel with his mother, settling ...

* Elina Bardach-Yalov * Tania Mazarsky * Yulia Malinovsky * Nachman Dushanski *

Boris Gelfand Boris Abramovich Gelfand (; born 24 June 1968) is a Belarusian-Israeli chess player. A six-time World Championship candidate (1991, 1994–95, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013), he won the Chess World Cup 2009 and the 2011 Candidates Tournament, mak ...

* Alexander Goldstein * Natasha Mozgovaya *

* Anastassia Michaeli * Haim Megrelashvili * Victor Mikhalevski * Evgeny Postny * Maxim Rodshtein * Tatiana Zatulovskaya * Maria Gorokhovskaya * Katia Pisetsky * Aleksandr Averbukh *

Anna Smashnova Anna Aleksandrovna Smashnova (, ; born July 16, 1976) is a Soviet-born Israeli former tennis player. She retired from professional tour after Wimbledon 2007. Smashnova reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 15 in 2003. She reached ...

* Jan Talesnikov * Vadim Alexeev *

Michael Kolganov Michael "Misha" Kolganov (or Kalganov, , ; born 24 October 1974) is a USSR-born Israeli sprint kayaker and former two-time world champion (1998 & 1999). Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the K-1 500 m event ...

* Alexander Danilov * Evgenia Linetskaya * Marina Kravchenko *

David Kazhdan David Kazhdan (), born Dmitry Aleksandrovich Kazhdan (), is a Soviet and Israeli mathematician known for work in representation theory. Kazhdan is a 1990 MacArthur Fellow. Biography Kazhdan was born on 20 June 1946 in Moscow, USSR. His father ...

* Leonid Nevzlin * Vadim Akolzin * Roman Bronfman * Michael Cherney * Victoria Veinberg Filanovsky * Sergei Sakhnovski * Roman Zaretski * Alexandra Zaretski * Larisa Trembovler * Boris Tsirelson * Daniel Samohin *

Margarita Levieva Margarita Levieva is an American actress. Early life Levieva was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russia) into a Russian Jewish family. Both of her grandmothers, as children, survived the siege of Leningrad during World W ...

* Anna Zak * Diana Golbi * Arkadi Duchin * Arcadi Gaydamak * Neta Rivkin *

Artem Dolgopyat Artem Olegovich Dolgopyat (; ; born 16 June 1997) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli artistic gymnast who specializes in the floor exercise. He is the 2020 Olympic champion and the 2023 World champion in the floor exercise. He also won two sil ...

Eliezer Sherbatov Eliezer "Elie" Alexeevich Sherbatov (; born 9 October 1991) is an Israeli-Canadian ice hockey player who plays for the Jonquière Marquis of the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey, after having played for HC Mariupol of the Ukrainian Hockey Leagu ...

Dina Rubina Dina Ilyinichna Rubina (, ; born 19 September 1953 in Tashkent) is a Russian language Israeli prose writer and one of the Russian Jews in Israel. Biography Rubina was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She studied music at the Tashkent Conservatory an ...

Immigration history

Political history

Demographics

Core Jewish population

Mixed families

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading