The Second Promised Land: Exploring the Secondary Migration of Soviet Jews from Israel to Canada

Between 1989 and 2009, over a million Jews left the former Soviet Union and arrived in Israel. One in six later chose to leave Israel, with many arriving in Canada. This strong pattern of onward migration occurred despite Soviet Jews being well-integrated by standard measures. The pattern is only partially explained by existing theory and push factors in Israel, including security concerns or economic and socio-cultural factors. It is better explained through the addition of key characteristics of Soviet Jews as multipliers on push-pull factors, including low ties to Israel, high economic human capital, and human capital from previous migration experience. Examining the responses of Soviet Jews who engaged in onward migration to Canada contributes to the current understanding of the Jewish identity, and to existing theory on migration, characterizing it not as a unidirectional process with a concrete terminus but as a lifelong, ongoing process with multiple possible outcomes.