Making Aliyah: Olim with PhDs vs. the Education Ministry

People who move to Israel are not referred to by local residents as immigrants. They are referred to in Modern Hebrew as olim - "ascenders," lost souls who were finally allowed to ascend to the spiritual spheres that only the State of Israel can offer. That is, if they're Jewish. But leaving the ethnic and religious debate aside, the issue of new immigrants to Israel has never been dealt with lucidly. Over more than sixty years, a myth has been cultivated of grateful immigrants, overcoming great difficulties in the struggle to be a part of Israeli society. Abandoning an inferior lifestyle in their countries of origin, they are at the threshold of a new life and a better future. This can be a true myth for many immigrants. But like any other myth, it leaves little room for anyone who does not fit the mold.

The possibility that some new immigrants have a past; that they can be competent, well trained professionals who can contribute to Israeli society as well as to benefit from it, clashes with the romantic notion that some pioneering efforts are required on the part of new immigrants. Keeping in mind the heroic tales of their parents and grandparents who immigrated to Palestine in earlier times, Israelis judge the experiences of new immigrants with perceptions taken from the first half of the twentieth century. To come to Israel and land (so to speak) a good job off the cuff seems to many Israelis a sacrilege.

Particularly the arrival of highly professional immigrants with doctoral degrees strikes an emotional cord with Israelis who remember, either from the stories of their own ancestors or the stories of others, the pride that highly professional immigrants in the nineteen-thirties took at working the land and performing manual labor. Many of them feel that today's immigrants should, of course, be able to work in their chosen professions but… not right away.

To this, one should add that jealousy and the fear of competition are equally influential contributors to a less than enthusiastic reception of immigrants with PhDs, either from unknown universities in Eastern Europe or from the American Ivy Leagues.

Because I was born and raised in Israel, I never gave much thought to the various challenges that are put in the way of new immigrants to this country. Motivated by professional considerations - and the depleted state of English Departments in Israeli Universities - I completed my doctorate at New York University. It was only when I returned to Israel with my American diploma that I received some idea of what immigrants must suffer in this country.

I graduated in 2001, and worked overseas for three years before I returned to Israel. Here, I was referred to the Ministry of Education in order to have my diploma recognized. With a quick phone call, I found out the appropriate address at the ministry. I drove directly from the Ministry of Absorption [that's really what they call it] in Kfar Saba to the Ministry of Education in Tel Aviv. But the process of getting my diploma recognized, which I expected to take one afternoon, has now been going on for the past six years.

To make a very long story short, I have been asked to fill out different series of documents, sign affidavits and submit my dissertation for examination. During this time, I left Israel for three years and came back. Over the past six years, the procedure for recognizing doctoral degrees from overseas has been changed. A few times I was told that I only have to fill out "one more form" and everything would be fine. Finally, after six years, about four months ago, I was invited to appear before a graduate committee. Two Israeli professors were to read my dissertation and examine me for a doctoral degree.

Setting aside the fact that I had already graduated eight years ago, it was difficult not to notice that while one of the appointed professors was an expert on philosophy and education, the other was an expert on women's experiences during the holocaust. Neither was qualified to review my work. I informed the Ministry of Education that I did not find the committee appropriate. It in turn informed me that it had no further interest in entertaining my application.

The bottom line isn't that bad. I work in four different institutions of higher education, including Tel Aviv and Bar Ilan Universities. In perfect Israeli fashion, institutions of higher learning in this country are aware of how dysfunctional the Ministry of Education is, and take little notice of its policies and decisions.

Because I teach in one Teacher's College that is directly subordinate to the Ministry of Education, I'm still pursuing my request to have my NYU diploma recognized. I also do this because I am, after all, a stubborn Israeli and simply don't want to let the matter go.

But on some level, Israeli authorities are right to treat me like an immigrant. Even though I was born and raised in this country, I can no longer understand the ways in which it works; the complete lack of common sense; and the gross incompetence of a country that is ruled by a tyrannical bureaucracy. The only difference is that, unlike other immigrants to Israel, I can't go back to where I came from. I only wish that I could.

Dror Abend-David is Chair of the Program in English Education at Ohalo College.