“Russians” in the Jewish State: Blood, Identity and National Bureaucracy
By Julia Lerner
English
This article presents an ethnographic grasp of the question of the belonging of Russian speaking immigrants in Israel as experienced in their encounter with national bureaucracy. It discusses the embrace of religious categories by the Jewish state, explaining its meanings and outcomes for the everyday immigrants’ lives and identities. Unfolding one ethnographic narrative, I reveal the discrepancy between Israeli citizenship and nationality, expose the contradictions between the Soviet and Israeli perceptions of Jewishness, and interpret the role of religion in the acculturation of Russian speaking immigrants.
Keywords
- post-Soviet/Russian speaking immigrants
- Jewish identity
- anthropology of bureaucracy