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Israeli Russian vernacular as a vehicle for the negotiation of Jewish religious identities in a digital diaspora

Mon, December 18, 5:00 to 6:30pm, Marriott Marquis Washington, DC, Marquis Salon 4

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that Russian-speaking Israelis exploit the choice of linguistic code (Standard Russian, Israeli Russian vernacular, Hebrew, and more) for identity construction around religious topics. Linguistic tensions play a crucial role in the history of the so-called “the Great Aliya,” the immigration wave from former Soviet spaces that brought over a million people to Israel. The new immigrants, often accused of lacking in knowledge of Jewish religious practices, were disadvantaged by the fact that religious observance was forbidden in the Soviet Union. However, once in Israel, the members of the Great Aliya constructed a complex and multi-faceted relationship with Judaism, (re)discovering Jewish traditions while struggling with the role of organized religion.

The immigrants’ identity construction both incorporates and pushes against religious norms. In the 21st century, identity negotiation often happens in online communities of practice. For immigrants, such communities become digital diasporas: virtual locations in which transnational identities are discursively developed. I examine conversational data from souz.co.il, a community for ex-Soviets living in Israel. This multi-participant online environment encourages both constructive argument (Russ. spor) and iterative discussions which often touch upon the intersection of religion and Israeli politics. Deep knowledge of religion is at the same time praised and can become the subject of mockery.

In this paper I am focusing on online conflict discourse as a vehicle of discursive identity construction around Jewish religious concepts and practices. I analyze multi-participant sequences to show how Russian-speaking ex-Soviets claim or reject their affiliation with Judaism through choices of linguistic code between Modern Standard Russian, Israeli Russian vernacular, Hebrew written in Cyrillic, Hebrew written in Hebrew, Yiddish, and the markedly humorous use of Jewish Russian/South Russian features.

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