Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Not until 1948 did things change. As the country's Declaration of Independence declares,
“The State of Israel will be open to Jewish immigration.” Two years later, in 1950, the Knesset
passed the Law of Return, proclaiming that every Jew has the right to immigrate to Israel as
long as the potential immigrant is not deemed a security or public health risk. Between 1948
and 2000, more than 2.9 million people immigrated to Israel under this law. Every wave of im-
migration, before and after Israel became a state, shaped Israeli society by contributing ethnic
and other characteristics and by widening its horizons.
During the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, Israel became a haven fi rst for Holocaust refugees from
Europe and then for Jewish refugees fl eeing Arabic-speaking lands. In 1948, about 650,000
Jews resided in Israel, 85 percent of whom were Ashkenazim, with 110,000 living on agricul-
tural settlements. The largest concentration of Jews from Asia and Africa — and also of highly
religious Jews — lived in cities, particularly Jerusalem and Safed. Thus, in the pre-state years,
society was dominated by European infl uences and ideas. And this infl uence continued after
the state was established, even after a higher proportion of Sephardic and religiously observant
European Jews arrived. By 1965, Sephardic Jews outnumbered Ashkenazic Jews.
Once Israel was established, however, Jews could immigrate freely. Within the fi rst three
and a half years of statehood, 680,000 Jews immigrated to Israel, doubling the size of the popu-
lation. These included both Holocaust survivors and Middle Eastern and North African Jews,
two very distinct groups with somewhat different needs, cultures, expectations, and skills.
A Jewish family look out from their tent in a new immigrants' camp, or ma'abara, Beit Lid, December 1949.
(Getty Images / Image Bank.)
