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Romanian Jews in Israel refers to the community of Romanian Jews who migrated to Israel beginning in the later 19th century, continued migrating to Israel after the formation of the modern state in 1948, and live within the state of Israel. The descendants of those who made aliyah in the 1930s, the wave of emigrants after World War II or after the fall of communism, with their children and grandchildren born in Israel, represent about 10% of the population.[4] According to the Association of Romanian Journalists Abroad, about 400,000 Romanian Jews live in Israel.[5] They have established several kibbutzim, moshavim and towns (Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat Tiv'on, Rosh Pinna, Zikhron Ya'akov). Between 1882 and 1884, Romanian Jews in Israel already established nine localities.
Mass emigration to Israel ensued (see Bricha and Aliyah). According to Sachar, for the first two post-war years, tens of thousands of Romanian Jews left for Israel; the Romanian government did not try to stop them, especially due to its desire to reduce its historically suspect and now impoverished Jewish minority. Afterwards, Jewish emigration began to encounter obstacles. In 1948, the year of Israeli independence, Zionism came under renewed suspicion, and the government began a campaign of liquidation against Zionist funds and training farms. However, emigration was not completely banned; Romanian Foreign Minister Ana Pauker, herself a Jew with a father and brother in Israel, negotiated an agreement with Israeli ambassador Reuven Rubin, a Romanian immigrant to Israel, under which the Romanian government would allow 4,000 Jews a month to emigrate to Israel; this decision was at least partially influenced by a large Jewish Agency bribe to the Romanian government. This agreement applied mainly to ruined businessmen and other economically "redundant" Jews. Around this time, Israel also secured another agreement with the Romanian government, under which Romania issued 100,000 exit visas for Jews and Israel supplied Romania with oil drills and pipes to aid the struggling Romanian oil industry.[6] By December 1951, about 115,000 Romanian Jews had emigrated to Israel.[7]
Throughout the period of Communist rule, Romania allowed limited numbers of Jews to emigrate to Israel, in exchange for much-needed Israeli economic aid. By 1965, Israel was funding agricultural and industrial projects throughout Romania, and in exchange, Romania allowed emigration of limited numbers of Jews to Israel. When Nicolae Ceaușescu came to power in 1965, he initially ended the trade in deference to the Eastern bloc's Arab allies. However, by 1969, he decided to exchange Jews for cash from Israel. Ceaușescu wanted economic independence from the Soviet Union, which was content to keep Romania a backwater and as nothing more than a supplier of raw materials, but to fund economic projects, he needed hard cash. As a result, from then until the Ceaușescu regime fell in 1989, about 1,500 Jews a year were granted exit visas to Israel in exchange for a payment of cash for every Jew allowed to leave, in addition to other Israeli aid. The exact payments were determined by the age, education, profession, employment, and family status of the emigrant. Israel paid a minimum of $2,000 per head for every emigrant, and paid prices in the range of $25,000 for doctors or scientists. In addition to these payments, Israel also secured loans for Romania and paid off the interest itself, and supplied the Romanian Army with military equipment.[6][8]
As a result of aliyah, the Romanian-Jewish community was gradually depleted. By 1987, just 23,000 Jews were left in Romania, half of whom were over 65 years old.[9]
Romanian Jews in Israel have strong relations with Romanian culture. Moreover, there is an intense activity among writers of Romanian language. In Israel exist 11 associations of writers in foreign languages, including the Association of Israeli Writers of Romanian Language (Romanian: Asociația Scriitorilor Israelieni de Limbă Română). Likewise, there are publications in Romanian languages, weekly, monthly or quarterly, plus several local issues.
Romania has an embassy in Tel Aviv, three honorary consulates in Jerusalem, Beersheba and Haifa and a cultural institute in Tel Aviv.[10]
This is a highly incomplete list of Israeli people of Romanian Jewish descent:[11]
- Aaron Aaronsohn (1876–1919), agronomist, botanist and Zionist activist; discoverer of the wild precursor of domesticated wheat[12]
- Yigal Allon (1918–1980), politician and general
- Mosko Alkalai (1931-2008), actor
- Richard Wurmbrand (1909-2001), Christian minister, founder of Voice of the Martyrs[13][14]
- Jean Ancel (1940–2008), author and historian specialised in the history of 20th-century Romanian Jewry[15]
- Aharon Appelfeld (1932–2018), novelist and Holocaust survivor
- Moshe Arad (1934–2019), Israeli diplomat
- Uzi Arad (b. 1947), strategist in foreign policy and security
- Yardena Arazi (b. 1951), singer and entertainer
- Shari Arison (b. 1957), American-born businesswoman and philanthropist, Israel's wealthiest woman
- Ted Arison (1924–1999), founder of Carnival Cruise Lines
- Shlomo Artzi (b. 1949), singer-songwriter
- Asaf Avidan (b. 1980), singer-songwriter and musician
- Colette Avital (b. 1940), diplomat and politician
- Haim Aviv (b. 1940), molecular biologist
- Élie Barnavi (b. 1946), historian and diplomat
- Miki Berkovich (b. 1954), professional basketball player
- Herman Berkovits (b. 1947), the personal physician of Benjamin Netanyahu
- Michaela Bercu (b. 1967), model and actress
- Steve Bond (b. 1953), Israeli-American television actor and model
- Nancy Brandes (b. 1946), musician and comedian
- Rozina Cambos (1951–2012), actress
- Yigal Carmon (b. 1946), intelligence officer, counter-terrorism adviser, Middle East analyst
- Adrian Dvir, computer scientist and author
- Gilad Erdan (b. 1979), politician, member of the Knesset for Likud and the Minister of Public Security, Strategic Affairs and Minister of Information
- Miriam Eshkol (1929–2016), wife of Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol
- Miriam Feirberg (b. 1951), mayor of Netanya, a city in the Centre District of Israel
- Mei Finegold (b. 1982), singer
- Benny Gantz (b. 1959), Army general and politician
- Oded Gavish (b. 1979), professional football player
- Yael German (b. 1947), politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid
- Dan Goldstein (b. 1954), pioneer of the Israeli software industry
- Amos Guttman (1954–1993), film director
- Zvika Hadar (b. 1966), actor, comedian and television host
- Esther Hayut (b. 1953), Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel
- Gabriel Herman, professor specialised in ancient Greek social history
- Eliahu Itzkovitz, notable for executing the concentration camp guard who had killed his family
- Marcel Janco (1895–1984), visual artist, architect and art theorist
- Moshe Idel (b.1947), historian and philosopher of Jewish mysticism
- Yisrael Katz (b. 1955), Likud politician
- Avi Kornick (b. 1983), actor
- Yair Lapid (b. 1963), journalist and politician, former Prime Minister of Israel (July-December 2022)
- Adi Lev (1953–2006), actress
- Yonit Levi (b. 1977), television presenter and journalist
- Gita Luka (1921–2001), actress, singer and entertainer
- Sarah Marom-Shalev (b. 1934), politician
- Moshe, Mordechai and Menachem Meir, brothers and businessmen who built the Shalom Meir Tower in Tel Aviv
- Miss Israel titleholders, chronologically:
- Aviva Pe'er, Miss Israel 1954
- Atara Barzilay, Miss Israel 1957
- Miri Zamir, Miss Israel 1968
- Zehava Vardi, Miss Israel 1977
- Dana Wexler, Miss Israel 1981
- Sapir Koffmann, Miss Israel 1984
- Rina Mor (b. 1956), lawyer, writer and beauty queen who won Miss Universe 1976
- Tali Moreno (b. 1981), news anchor and reporter
- Michael Moshonov (b. 1986), actor, singer, musician and TV host
- Meir Nitzan (b. 1931), politician, long-time mayor of Rishon Lezion
- Eyal Ofer (b. 1950), real estate and shipping magnate
- Idan Ofer (b. 1955), business magnate and philanthropist
- Sammy Ofer (1922–2011), shipping magnate and philanthropist
- Yuli Ofer (1924–2011), businessman in real estate and industry
- Keren Peles (b. 1979), singer-songwriter and pianist
- Natalie Portman (b. 1981), actress, producer and director
- Eyal Ran (b. 1972), tennis player and Captain of the Israel Davis Cup team
- Zeev Rosenstein - drug dealer
- Karol Rotner, professional football player
- Reuven Rubin (1893–1974), painter and diplomat
- Edmond Schmilovich, football coach
- Dudi Sela (b. 1985), professional tennis player
- Itay Shechter (b. 1987), professional football player
- Eliyahu Tamler (1919-1948), Irgun commander
- Idan Vered (b. 1989), professional football player
- Leon Volovici (1938–2011), literary historian and historian, professor of Modern Jewry
- Yaakov Yardaur (1912-1997), Lehi militant
- Dov Zeltzer (b. 1932), composer and conductor
- Margalit Zimmerman and Lily Zimmerman, sisters, both married at some point to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
- Yisrael Zinger (b. 1948), politician and current mayor of Ramat Gan
- In the teen film Lemon Popsicle, Stella ("A-cumming Stella", portrayed by Ophelia Shtruhl) she is immigrant from Romania and in the Sequel "Going Steady" Tammy (Yvonne Michaels) she is daughter of immigrants from Romania.
- The plot of the film The Matchmaker is about Holocaust survivors from Romania who live in Haifa.
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