The Role of Religious Identification in North American Migration to Israel

This study investigates the effects of religious and ethnic identification on the full migration/ return-migration cycle. The analysis goes beyond the standard push-pull migration factors to account for the variables associated with remaining or returning. Data were derived from a multiphase research project including 1) a panel survey of American immigrants in Israel, and 2) interviews with persons seriously considering living in Israel or who had migrated to Israel after 1967 and returned subsequently to the United States. These data, together with data from the 1971 National Jewish Population Survey, confirm previous research findings that the motivation for migration is tied primarily to a strong sense of Jewish religious and ethnic identification and some estrangement from both the American Jewish and the larger communities. However, the decision whether to remain in Israel or return to the United States rests on another complex array of variables which does not include religious identification.