ABSTRACT
Israel is a multicultural immigration country that since its creation accepted millions of Jews from all over the world. One of the largest immigrant groups in Israel is that of immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU), about one million of whom arrived in the 1990s. The present chapter reviews the empirical and theoretical literature on the historical and sociocultural characteristics of FSU immigrants as well as on their adjustment in the Israeli society. Specifically, the chapter describes how first and 1.5 generations of FSU immigrants had been affected by the multicultural Israeli society, and how they in turn affected Israel on the economic, social and cultural levels. The perspective of acculturation as a two-way process is proposed to analyze the reciprocal cross-cultural exchange of the FSU immigrants and the majority groups in the Israeli society.
