The paradox of integration and isolation within immigrant organisations: the case of a Latin American Association in Israel

The Centrality of Events, Religion, Spirituality, and Subjective Well-Being in Latin American Jewish Immigrants in Israel

“…An understanding of Latin Americans’ motivations for emigration could go some way to explaining the relationship between the centrality of migration and SWB, but there are other factors not yet properly studied within social psychology that are also relevant to this line of research. As Babis (2016) has pointed out, post-migration stressors for Latin Americans are strong and go beyond language barriers: the integration/isolation process among immigrants is relevant to the community as a whole. Even though acculturation has been widely studied among immigrants in Israel, most of the research has focused on Russians ( Roccas et al, 2000 ; Tartakovsky, 2012 ) and Africans ( Nakash et al, 2015 , 2016 ).…”

“…For example, the cyclical behavior of the Argentine economy and the 2-year anti-Semitic campaign that followed the kidnapping of Eichmann contributed to a surge in the number of Argentine immigrants to Israel in 1963 (Rein, 2001) and, besides the impact of anti-Semitism on migrants' decisions, most were seriously affected by the country's economic fluctuations, recessions, and currency devaluations (Krupnik, 2020). Political persecution during military regimes in some Latin American countries, like Argentina and Chile, has also been flagged as factors that influenced this immigration during the 1970s (Babis, 2016). More recently, the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, and Argentina's political and economic crisis between 1999 and 2002 have also been flagged among events that Migration, Trauma, and Well-Being According to the literature, when migration is triggered by preservation motivation -when physical, social, and psychological security for self and family are motivators of emigration -it can be a stressful and traumatic event, and may have a negative impact on mental health (Finklestein and Solomon, 2009;Vathi and King, 2017).…”

“…More recently, the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, and Argentina's political and economic crisis between 1999 and 2002 have also been flagged among events that Migration, Trauma, and Well-Being According to the literature, when migration is triggered by preservation motivation -when physical, social, and psychological security for self and family are motivators of emigration -it can be a stressful and traumatic event, and may have a negative impact on mental health (Finklestein and Solomon, 2009;Vathi and King, 2017). Migrants from socio-politically unstable countries may have been in situations where their lives or those of friends and family members, were in danger, so they not only have to negotiate the process of adaptation to a new social environment (Babis, 2016;Hashemi et al, 2019), but also may simultaneously experience vulnerability to various psychological symptoms related to higher levels of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and lower levels of subjective and psychological well-being (Foster, 2001;Kalir, 2015;Tartakovsky et al, 2017). Gal (2020) has recently explored childhood experiences of anti-Semitism during Argentina's last military dictatorship (1976)(1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982)(1983).…”

“…Since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, about 92,000 Jews migrated from Latin America ( Lesser, 2016 ) and well over half this group have come from Argentina (58%), with smaller groups from Brazil (11%), Uruguay (9%), Chile (6%), Mexico (4%), Colombia (3%), Venezuela (2%), and other countries (7%) ( Babis, 2016 ). Although ideological, political, and religious reasons for aliyah have featured emphatically in the academic literature ( Babis, 2016 ), Latin Americans’ motivations to migrate to Israel frequently include financial and political factors, and anti-Semitism ( Rein, 2010 , 2013 ; Siebzehner, 2010 , 2016 ; Klor, 2016 ). For example, the cyclical behavior of the Argentine economy and the 2-year anti-Semitic campaign that followed the kidnapping of Eichmann contributed to a surge in the number of Argentine immigrants to Israel in 1963 ( Rein, 2001 ) and, besides the impact of anti-Semitism on migrants’ decisions, most were seriously affected by the country’s economic fluctuations, recessions, and currency devaluations ( Krupnik, 2020 ).…”

“…Political persecution during military regimes in some Latin American countries, like Argentina and Chile, has also been flagged as factors that influenced this immigration during the 1970s ( Babis, 2016 ). More recently, the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, and Argentina’s political and economic crisis between 1999 and 2002 have also been flagged among events that have led to Latin American emigration to Israel ( Krupnik, 2011 ; Sznajder, 2015 ; Babis, 2016 ; Lesser, 2016 ).…”