"The mass rise"

- CONTENT -
THE MASS IMMIGRATION IS THE RISE THAT BEGAN IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL. IT WAS THE RISE OF REFUGEES IN THE MAJORITY – HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS FROM EUROPE AND JEWISH REFUGEES FROM ARAB COUNTRIES. THIS INCREASE RESULTED IN A HUGE INCREASE IN THE POPULATION, WITH ONLY 18 MONTHS THE POPULATION DOUBLED FROM 650,000 TO 1,300 PEOPLE. THIS IS AN UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH RATE COMPARED TO IMMIGRATION COUNTRIES.

THE IMMIGRANTS CAME FROM MANY COUNTRIES AND PARTS OF THE WORLD: FROM EUROPE, ASIA AND NORTH AFRICA. SOME HAVE BROUGHT A DIFFERENT CULTURAL TRADITION THAN THE OLD, ASHKENAZI MAJORITY.
THE DIFFICULTIES THAT DEPOSITED THE YOUNG STATE DURING THIS PERIOD ARE AT LEAST PARTLY DUE TO THE RAPID GROWTH OF THE POPULATION. THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN IMMIGRANTS AND VETERANS, AND ITS IMPACT ON THE VOTES AND INPUTS ALIKE, WAS A VERY SIGNIFICANT EVENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISRAELI SOCIETY.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ISRAELI SOCIETY ON THE EVE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE
IN MAY 1948, THE JEWISH POPULATION IN ISRAEL HAD 650,000 SOULS. THIS POPULATION CONSISTED OF ABOUT 80% ASHKENAZIM AND ABOUT 20% EAST.

THE HIGH AND HIGHER EDUCATION RATE WAS ABOUT A THIRD OF THE JEWISH POPULATION, A HIGH RATE FOR ALL OPINIONS. MOST OF THE RESIDENTS OF THE COMMUNITY RULED IN HEBREW AND IN YIDDISH, ALTHOUGH THEY DID NOT USE IT IN DAILY LIFE, AND MOST OF THEM WERE SECULAR FROM CHOICE. MOST OF THE RESIDENTS WERE YOUNG AND BACHELORS OR SMALL FAMILIES, AND THE NUMBER OF MEN WAS MUCH LARGER THAN THAT OF WOMEN - 1,133 MEN ON EVERY 1,000 WOMEN.

THE COMPANY’S EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE WAS ONE THAT COULD BE MODERNIZED, WHICH IS SIMILAR TO THAT IN EUROPE AT THE TIME: MANY HAVE BEEN ENGAGED IN PRODUCTIVE PROFESSIONS IN AGRICULTURE, BUILDING AND INDUSTRY, AND MANY OTHERS HAVE BEEN ENGAGED IN SMALL TRADE, DUTIES AND CRAFTS, PROFESSIONS THAT MOST JEWS DEALT WITH IN THEIR COUNTRIES.

THE SOCIAL ELITES THAT EMERGED IN THE SETTLEMENT SOCIETY SUCCEEDED IN SHAPING A UNIQUE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CULTURE. THEY TRIED TO PRESERVE IT EVEN AFTER THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE, BUT THE MASS IMMIGRATION TOOK PROFOUND CHANGES IN ISRAELI SOCIETY’S CULTURE, AS WELL AS THE STATUS OF THE SOCIAL ELITE.

THE CHARACTERISTICS THAT ARISE IN THE MASSES

IMMEDIATELY WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE AND ESPECIALLY AFTER THE ENACTMENT OF THE LAW OF RETURNS, THE GATES OF THE LAND WERE OPENED TO AN UNLIMITED RISE OF JEWS, AND MASSES OF PEOPLE BEGAN TO FLOW TO IT. IN TOTAL, THE FIRST DECADE AFTER THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE MORE THAN 900,000 IMMIGRANTS – NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD HAS FACED SO LARGE NUMBERS OF IMMIGRANTS AND SUCH A RAPID POPULATION GROWTH RATE. THE RATE OF IMMIGRATION IN THE FIRST DECADE WAS NOT UNIFORM, AND IT CAME IN TWO WAVES: THE FIRST WAVE OF IMMIGRATION CONTINUED FROM THE COUNTRY UNTIL THE END OF 1951, AND THE POPULATION DOUBLED. THE SECOND WAVE BEGAN IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE DECADE, FROM 1956 ONWARDS.

UPON THE DECLARATION OF THE STATE, IMMIGRANTS FROM THE DETENTION CAMPS IN CYPRUS FIRST ARRIVED. THESE IMMIGRANTS WERE ALSO CONSIDERED SOCIOLOGICALLY TO PART OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY DESCRIBED IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER OF THIS VALUE, AND THOSE WHOSE HEALTH CONDITION ALLOWED IT, PLAYED AN ACTIVE PART IN FIGHTING THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. LATER, THEY ARRIVED AT THE LAND OF IMMIGRANTS WHO WERE ON THE EVE OF THE DECLARATION OF THE STATE IN THE ALLIED CAMPS IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA. AS WELL AS LARGE JEWISH COMMUNITIES LEFT IN EASTERN EUROPE AND BULGARIA. THESE ARE MOSTLY ABANDONED ARAB NEIGHBORHOODS IN JAFFA AND HAIFA. AFTER THE ARAB NEIGHBORHOODS WERE FILLED WITH IMMIGRANTS, THE RISING CAMPS WERE ESTABLISHED, AND THE GATE OF THE RISE IN THE SOUTHERN ENTRANCE TO HAIFA. THE MASS IMMIGRATION OF REFUGEES FROM ARAB COUNTRIES SUCH AS OPERATION EZRA AND SHANGHAI AND THE OPERATION OF THE MAGIC BRIGADES HAVE ALREADY ARRIVED AFTER THE IMMIGRANT MILLS STOOD AT THE THRESHOLD OF THEIR CAPACITY AND BEGAN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CROSSINGS BUILT IN 1951 A POPULATION OF ABOUT 250,000 PEOPLE.

THE YOUNG STATE OF ISRAEL HAS DIFFICULTY ABSORBING MASS IMMIGRATION AND FINDING THE NECESSARY RESOURCES FOR THIS. THE DECISION MAKERS UNDERSTOOD THAT THEY HAD TO START