| The catastrophic effects of the Holocaust on the Jewish people as a whole and on many of the early immigrants to the newly formed state significantly influenced the state's political ethos. This ethos has affected numerous areas of Israeli policy, including immigration. Encouraging and enabling Jewish immigration to Israel is a fundamental element of the Zionist thought that serves as a basis for Israeli law and policy. The Hebrew term for Jewish immigration to Israel, "aliya" or ascent, symbolizes the significance placed on this process. Israel's "Law of Return" enables any Jew from anywhere in the world to become a full citizen when he or she arrives in the country. Since the establishment of the state in 1948, Israel's population has increased more than sixfold, largely as a result of the immigration of Jews that arrived from all over the world, bringing with them a range of cultures and customs. When the state was established in 1948, the Jewish population was 650,000. Over the next ten years, Israel absorbed 325,000 European concentration camp survivors and nearly half a million Jewish refugees from Moslem countries (Israel Foreign Ministry, 1994). Large segments of the Israeli population underwent traumatic upheavals in their life histories as individuals and families and came to Israel with only the clothes on their backs.
The absorption of an enormous number of immigrants without economic resources from different cultures was a significant economic burden on the newly established state, particularly in light of the state's limited resources at the time. As a result, many lived in tent cities and temporary housing for a number of years; compulsory elementary education was first adopted only in 1956 and even then with barely sufficient teachers and facilities.
After the massive waves of immigration to Israel in the 1950s, significant immigration continued in the 1970s and the late 1980s. The most recent wave of mass immigration began at the end of 1989 and brought 668,000 more people to Israel through June 1995, increasing the state's population by another 15% over a period of six and a half years. The vast majority of these recent immigrants, approximately 575,000 or 86%, came from the former Soviet Union (FSU). Another 30,000 immigrants arrived from Ethiopia (Central Bureau of Statistics, 1989-1994; 1995c). Many of the Ethiopian immigrants lived as farmers within villages in the mountains of Ethiopia with very little exposure to education or literacy. They have been transported into a radically different society. This group of Ethiopians, combined with the 15,000 that arrived in the early 1980s, is small in numerical terms, but the cultural uniqueness, limited educational background and limited economic resources of these immigrants pose unique challenges in achieving social and economic integration. The absorption of such a large number of immigrants presents many challenges to the state, with many broad social consequences (Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and National Insurance Institute, 1995).
Immigration has also contributed to the unique cultural diversity among Israel's Jewish population. Israel's Jewish population is a mix of people that have been nurtured in almost all the world's great cultures and regions. As a result, the theme of ethnic diversity and inter-group equity within the Jewish population has been a major issue throughout Israel's history. This has been complicated by the fact that there were significant differences in educational backgrounds and family size between the two largest groups of immigrants in the 1940s and 1950s: the immigrants from Asia and Africa had lower levels of education and larger families than those from European countries. As a result of the way in which Israeli society at that time coped with housing, employment and social integration, the former group had a more difficult time adjusting to the new society and achieving social and economic success. For example, residential segregation contributed to prolonging the differences between the two population groups. The immigrants from Asia and Africa were first settled in refugee camps, then in old inner-city areas, low-cost housing estates and peripheral development areas with insufficient infrastructure. The ones who were less successful found it difficult to move into better housing or into more central areas. These immigrants also had a difficult time competing economically and educationally with the immigrants from Europe. Though the distinctions between the two groups have been reduced, Jews of Asian and African origin are still over-represented among the lower socio-economic strata. Thus, there is a high correlation between country of origin, place of residence and socio-economic status. This has been a major source of social tension that has at times threatened social integration (Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and National Insurance Institute, 1995).
There have also been major shifts in Israel's approach to social integration. In the early years of the state the Asian-African immigrants were encouraged to abandon their cultural and even religious traditions in favor of a new, evolving "Israeli" culture. The immigrants from Europe and America were more prepared educationally, socially and culturally to adapt to this culture than those from Asia and Africa. Over the years, Israel has developed a much more pluralistic approach and the importance of preserving different cultural traditions for the immigrants themselves as well as for Israel as a society is now recognized and reflected in government policies and resource allocation.
Another way of categorizing Israel's Jewish population is according to the degree of religious observance. It is possible to identify three principal groups. The first is ultra- Orthodox Jews who observe religious laws very strictly. They generally have a distinct manner of dress, live in separate neighborhoods, and operate their own separate educational system. The second group comprises religious Zionists who also strictly observe religious laws but are integrated in all areas of the general society. The remaining group, non-observant secular Jews, comprise the majority of the population, however, many among this group observe some religious customs. Relations among these various religious groups and competing images of Israel as a society is another major social issue.
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