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Yehuda Zuller has two computers on his desk at his Ma'aleh Adumim home. The owner of a large printing business, Zuller uses one to be in constant e-mail contact with clients and to manage the store's day-to-day operation. He supervises his 22 employees in the store by closed-circuit TV with the second one.
"There are two cameras in the back, so I can see who comes and goes," the 38-year old told Anglo File, "and six cameras inside - it's a pretty big place."
What may sound like an Orwellian nightmare is for Zuller nothing more than a circumstantial necessity. After all, he and his family moved last month to Israel, 5,700 miles away from his Brooklyn-based business.
"It's almost as if I'm there," Zuller said about his surveillance system. The operative word is almost. "We came on July 7, and I only stayed for six days," he said of his aliyah date. "I went back right away for ten days. Now I'm here for 10 days, then I'm leaving again. For the next three months I'll be going back and forth every four to five days, but on a long-term basis, I plan on being here 10 days and then go over there for 10 days."
Zullerman is one of thousands of Anglos who want to live in Israel but are unable - or unwilling - to give up their jobs back home. According to immigration professionals, almost a quarter of all North American immigrants commute in some way or another. While an increasingly popular option in recent years, today's financial climate makes the trend's future unclear.
In a 2005 article, American-Israeli sociologist Chaim Waxman suggested that up to 30 percent of American families who immigrated in the past 10 years had a family member hopping between the continents. He estimates this rate has dropped by some 10 to 20 percent. "I don't have any hard data, but my impression is that this significant decline is due to the economic crisis and more expensive plane tickets."
Nefesh B'Nefesh's employment director, Daniella Slasky, also said the number of commuters is down from a few years ago. "A lot of people who were commuting were either let go or decided they preferred to work from Israel," she said, citing the recession and the growing telecommuting field as possible factors.
Rising expectations
Israel Pupko, who is currently writing his dissertation about multi-local immigration (by which people split their time between different places) to Israel, disagrees. Rather, the recession keeps immigrants tied to their former place of origin, says Pupko, who has interviewed 200 commuters. "I actually think the economic crisis will increase the number of commuters because people won't detach from their jobs in the U.S. so easily."
Waxman believes the numbers won't rebound until the economy does. "As soon at the economy picks up commuting will pick up as well, because it'll be more feasible again," Waxman said. While technological advances have enabled some immigrants to telecommute, he said, the same progress made commuting more comfortable, as Skype, Web cams and other such devices permit families to stay in touch despite geographic distance. Furthermore, many professions still require face-to-face contact with clients, patients or staffers.
"Additionally, commuting will increase due to the changing perceptions of Zionism," Waxman stressed. "When this phenomenon became popular about five to ten years ago, I found both Americans and Israelis saying that commuters are not real Israelis, that they aren't fully committed to aliyah. I think today there is less and less criticism of this kind. The Jewish people are becoming more global in their consciousness and Israelis are not looking as negatively on commuting as they used to."
Pupko described another paradigm shift. "Once we used to speak of emigrants and immigrants. Now everyone is called a migrant... moving between places and not from and to places." He said this is a global phenomenon related to a perceived shrinkage of time and space. "Technology and the availability of means of communication and transportation are only going to improve," he noted. "The consequence: more people will move to Israel but work elsewhere."
Another reason for an increase in commuters, according to Pupko, is rooted in the nature of Israeli society. "The Israeli work force is not even close to being capable of absorbing all these immigrants," the Hadera resident said. "Doctors have a difficult time having their credentials recognized, some think the tiring bureaucratic process is just not worth it."
Furthermore, he concluded, his research has shown that many commuters have more time to spend with their family than people working in Israel. "I'm not saying it's easy to commute," Pupko continued. "But keeping in mind those reasons - and the fact that commuters have the best of both worlds - I am sure their number is going to increase."
New route: Tel Aviv - Johannesburg
European immigrants have been doing it for decades, North Americans started just a few years ago - but in recent months another group joined the frequent fliers club of international commuters: South Africans. "In spite of the schlep, we are seeing more and more of our immigrants commuting," said Telfed's Dorron Kline, explaining that while there were no commuters in the past, today about five percent of South African immigrants fly back and forth.
Thanks to push factors such as crime, many families put up with regular eight-hour flights to keep their businesses after emigrating, Kline continued. There is no jet lag between Israel and South Africa, which makes commuting yet more attractive, he added.
"Sometimes I leave my home at 10 P.M. at night and I'm at my office [in Johannesburg] at 9:30 the next morning," said Howard Tolkin, who moved to Modi'in about two years ago but has kept his steel manufacturing business overseas. Every eight weeks, Tolkin leaves for about 14 days. "It's the best of both of worlds," he told Anglo File. "Sure, when I travel I miss my family but it's not that bad. I'm also going back to a familiar place." |
