A little Yolki Palki

March 16, 2010 - 6:56 PM by

Last night I attended the final evening in Beit Avi Chai’s fine film series “Fact and Fiction.” Each movie, curated by film historian Amy Kronish, presented a different slice of Israeli life from Ethiopia to Russian aliyah. The latter was the subject for last night’s event.

When “Yolki Palki” was first aired on the YES television network a few years back, it garnered controversy for documenting the less than rosy reception some of the million plus immigrants from the Former Soviet Union received on their arrival in Israel.

Indeed, after the film, Dr. Ze’ev Khanin, chief scientist with the Ministry of Absorption and a lecturer at Bar Ilan University, joined Kronish on stage and was at pains to stress that not every Russian oleh suffered the same fate as those depicted on screen.

That said, the interviewees in the film were by and large content with their lives here, despite many falling into the usual stereotype of a former engineer now working in the cow shed at a kibbutz, or a violin virtuoso spending days behind the meat counter in a supermarket.

Has the absorption process changed over the years, I wondered? In the past, most immigrants – wherever they were from – had to take steps down in their careers.

Is that still the case? With hi-tech (and the economy in general) booming in Israel, it’s quite possible for a talented aliyah-bound youngster to land with a high-paying prestigious job already in his or her pocket even before leaving the old country.

Economic success, of course, was not the driver for leaving Russia, those in the film pointed out. Wanting to live in a Jewish country coupled with discrimination and threats back home were much more potent.

At one point in the film, a Sabra informs a Russian immigrant that his children will do fine in Israel, but for him, “your life is over” (the Israeli was presumably referring to his career). The Russian replied “but I’m only 30!” He eventually found a well paying job.

And the violinist working as a butcher – he’s shown later in the film making a comeback as the leader of a Balkan-Gypsy-world music band called Yolki Palki, upon which the film took its name.

The film was ultimately an uplifting, if candid, portrayal of the experiences of one of the largest immigration waves to our small country. Highly recommended if it plays again on TV or appears at a Jewish Film Festival near you.

Tags: • Category: Immigrant Moments, Movies 

Comments

One Comment on A little Yolki Palki

  1. Thomas on Wed, Mar 17th 2010 8:05 PM

    2. I too was at the talk and found it both interesting and uplifting as well – not to mention quite funny. My girlfriend is a Russian immigrant, moving here with her family when she was just 4 years old in 1991. Living on a kibbutz she could definitely relate to the “outsider” status described by the Russian kibbutznik in the film – thankfully not to the extent of being “beaten up” . A UK immigrant myself I enjoy learning about Russian life and traditions through my girlfriend’s family, just as much as I enjoy learning about Judaism and Israel in general (I’m not Jewish). The joys of multiculturalism :)

    In my Ulpan there are still plenty of new young Russian immigrants and it pains me to hear of stories of Jewish-Russians being maltreated or discriminated against in todays post-Communism Russia. It’s really true what the lecturer said about Jewishness being a ethnic identity in Russia, not just a religious identity as it is in the US or Western Europe.

    I would have wanted to ask the lecturer what his thoughts were on Russian immigrants and their involvement in Israeli politics, i.e. why their propensity to vote for far-right parties? We have seen Obama win the Presidency in the US, can we expect to see a Russian-Israeli becoming Prime Minister of Israel any time soon??

    Where can we see the rest of the documentary?

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