September 8, 2006

In an April 2006 article for The Forward, journalist Irin Carmon links this widespread phenomenon — Israelis on tourist visas working at mall kiosks — to the \”wander year\” taken by young Israelis after completing military service. The article suggests that young Israelis — who feel alienated by their military service and by the tenor of life in Israel, where daily interactions are a struggle — come to live and work in the United States because they like the relative ease and quiet of life in America. The article implies that the tension of working in the United States illegally is minimal when compared to the tension of living in Israel.