Russian In Israel: Group Competition and Language Status

A linguistic situation in Israel has been charged with conflicts since the formation of the state. The primacy of Hebrew was the ideological cornerstone of Zionism. But the language that for centuries had been primarily used in religious practices had to compete with the flourishing languages of the Jewish Diaspora: Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic and others, as well as with the European languages such as Polish, German, Rumanian and so on. Irrespective of the size of immigrant waves, all groups either voluntarily or by coercion rejected the language of their homelands in favor of Hebrew.  The first immigrant group that showed determination to preserve its language and promote its status was Ex-Soviets immigrants of the 1990s. Today, Israel has two state languages, Hebrew and Arabic. De facto English functions as an official language, has high status and is essential for socio-economic upward mobility.      

Ex-Soviet immigrants were primarily monolingual Russian speakers brought up in a multiethnic country where Russian dominated. Members of this group had higher education status than average Israelis and rejection of their mother tongue was perceived as the first step in downward mobility. This paper will analyze how creation of Russian-language media, schools, theaters, associations of compatriots and various informal networks went hand in hand with the promotion of the Russian language in the host society. We will look into the role of immigrant politicians, scientists and artists in bringing Russian culture to native Israelis thus preventing ghettoization of the immigrant community. We will also discuss linguistic implications of the rising status of Russian-speaking Israelis for one-and-a half and second generation immigrants. Material for the paper was drawn from in-depth interviews, conventional and electronic media and participant observation.