Herb Keinon is a veteran reporter for The Jerusalem Post. He has been at the paper since 1985, and has covered the diplomatic beat since 2000. Keinon has a BA in political science from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and an MA in Journalism from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Originally from Denver, Keinon moved to Israel in 1981, is married with four children, and lives in Ma’ale Adumim.
This exchange focuses on Keinon’s new book, French Fries in Pita: A Collection of Herb Keinon's Columns on Life in Israel. Part one can be found right here.
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Dear Herb,
In the last round you mentioned how you still feel like an immigrant, even after more than 30 years in Israel. You stated that while “there are some who come to Israel and try to become absorbed completely” and “others come and live in an immigrant cocoon”, you “believe in the middle path”.
Now, immigrant cocoons – like the Russian one and the Ethiopian one – are clearly a very noticeable feature of Israeli society, and so is the country’s multitude of non-immigrant cocoons (the Arab and Haredi cocoons come to mind).
The group you come from – the Anglos – is a curious one in that regard. According to the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI), there are around 200,000 North Americans living in Israel. But while one does notice them it seems that if there is an Anglo immigrant cocoon in Israel it must be a relatively quiet one.
My question:
Is there an Anglo cocoon in Israel? To what extent do you see the large number of Anglo-Israeli olim as an actual community? If it is an actual community, what kind of impact has it had on life in Israel?
Yours,
Shmuel.
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Dear Shmuel,
Yes, there is an Anglo cocoon in Israel, if one wants to live in it. There are neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Ra'anana, Efrat, Ma'ale Adumim, Hashmonaim and elsewhere where there is a high concentration of English-speakers living in close proximity. These are neighborhoods where you will find American products like root beer, Heinz ketchup and Ortega taco shells in the local grocery stores, and where some synagogues will feature regular Torah-classes in English. These are neighborhoods where Anglo immigrants can go to and find a very supportive environment of like-minded, and like-speaking, people.
And there is the rub. It is possible to land in these kinds of communities and never have to integrate into Israeli society, simply because there is no pressing need. You can get by in English, go to the doctor in English, spend money at the makolet (grocery store) in English, and socialize only with other English speakers.
In other words, you can live in Israel, without feeling a part of Israeli society – if you want to. If in the New York area there are neighborhoods where you can walk around and feel as if you are in Jerusalem, there are neighborhoods in Israel where you can walk around and feel as if you are in New York. Neither is natural.
I do not think that at the national level there is a well-defined North American immigrant community to speak of, since this community is so heterogeneous: Right, Left, haredi, religious Zionist, secular. At the local level, however, there are distinct Anglo communities. Go to any of the locales I listed above and you will find people talking about the Americaim (Americans) in their midst, just as they talk about the Russim (Russians) or Etiopim (Ethiopians). People are often defined by how others define them, and if you live here with a heavy American accent and distinct American ways and mannerisms, you will be pegged as one of the Americaim.
The impact of North Americans on Israeli society is also difficult to define, though it is there. While immigrants from the former Soviet Union, for instance, were instrumental in the Israeli high-tech revolution in the 1990s, it is difficult to point to one sphere and say, 'Aaha, that is because of the American immigrants'.”
Which doesn't mean they have not had an influence: they have. The North American immigrant influence has been felt everywhere from heightened consumerism, to a growing sense of environmentalism, to the campaign to end smoking in public spaces. But not all the efforts identified with American immigrants have succeeded: such as electoral reform, a five-day work week, or minor league baseball.
Interestingly, one area where immigrants from North America have been very under-represented is in the Knesset. Currently there is one American-born immigrant, Dov Lipman, and he is the first American born Knesset member in some 30 years. To understand just how little impact American-born olim have had in the Knesset, consider the following statistic: of 885 Knesset members in the state's history, only four have been born in the USA.
Shmuel, you wrote that AACI put the number of North Americans living in Israel at some 200,000, which would meant about 2.5% of the entire population. In America, Jews make up roughly some 2% of the population. Although the percentages are similar, the impact of Jews on American society seems far greater than the impact of North American immigrants on Israeli society. The reasons for that go far beyond the scope of our dialogue, and would actually make for a fascinating doctoral thesis.
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