Israelis*In*America

12.02.2004

Israeli Study Initiative Launches "IsraelisInAmerica" Website

IsraelisInAmerica.Org, an evolving online project and part of the Israeli Study Initiative, is pioneering the study of a segment of U.S. population until recently largely neglected — Americans of Israeli descent. The IiA project looks at the Israeli community as a unique group, and as a part of the broader Jewish and Middle Eastern American communities.

What, indeed, is the impact of Israeli Americans on society, culture, economics? How does the community influence the local Jewish population? How will it sustain itself in face of the powerful forces of assimilation and multiculturalism?

What is the nature of its transnational and global identities? Do gender, generation, income and ethno-religious background affect identity within the community?

Faced with the powerful forces of assimilation and multiculturalism, how does it carve its own American identity?

Israelis and other Middle Easterners make up part of a significant wave of educated and professional immigrants that have been settling in the U.S. during the past quarter century. These "new immigrants" have become integral to the economic life of America in view of their highly entrepreneurial spirit and social mobility.

Yet, this same pattern makes Israelis "invisible" immigrants, as their quick absorption into the mainstream American landscape means they do not cluster in highly visible neighborhood enclaves or "Little Jerusalems." How, then, does this very tight-knit community continue to maintain its identity? On the other hand, faced with the powerful forces of assimilation and multiculturalism, how does it carve its own American identity?

Starting with the project's home base in Los Angeles, we expect IsraelisInAmerica.Org to evolve over time, extending in the future to other cities where concentrations of Israeli Americans make their homes —New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Miami. Researchers and educators from UCLA and other institutions will contribute essential information useful not only to scholars and to students of immigration, ethnicity, and diversity, but to the community and the public at large.

This growing collection will include interviews with key members of the Los Angeles community, biographies, information on community organizations, demographic data, and an online photo archive to shed light on Israeli Americans from a variety of perspectives. An annotated bibliography, links to pertinent newspapers and journals, and access to historical documents available at UCLA and the Los Angeles Public Library provide visitors with more valuable resources.

-IiA-