Out of Israel: Ausraelis re-invent the diasporic identity
离开以色列:居澳以人重新定义流散身份

【在澳大利亚犹太侨民早已认可了锡安主义的梦想之后,更多新晋的“居澳以人”都将离开以色列视为一种解脱。澳大利亚联合通讯社/ Dean Lewins】

Approximately 15,000 Israelis live in Australia, mostly in Melbourne and Sydney. Almost all of them are Jews and they constitute around 12% of the 120,000-strong Australian Jewish community. Yet several factors and recent developments give “Ausraelis” (Australian-resident Israelis) an importance that outweighs their numbers.

澳大利亚有着将近15000名以色列人,他们中的大多数都生活在墨尔本和悉尼。这些以色列人几乎全都是犹太人,大约占12万澳大利亚犹太人群体的12%。然而,由于某些原因和近来的发展,这些“居澳以人”(居住在澳大利亚的以色列人)的数量并不足以说明他们的重要性。

The first factor is demography, as reflected in Australian census data. Since the turn of the century, immigration from Israel to Australia has skyrocketed, leading to a 20% jump in the number of Ausraelis every five years. This trend escalated recently, with a possible 30% growth since 2011.

第一个因素便是人口结构,澳大利亚人口统计数据也显示了这一点。自本世纪始,移民澳大利亚的以色列人暴涨,每隔5年居澳以色列人就增长20%。这一趋势在近年来还在加剧,2011年以来的增幅可能达到30%。

Israelis are by far the fastest-growing non-Australian-born group in the Australian Jewish community in recent years.

近些年来,以色列人是澳大利亚犹太人中,人数增长遥遥领先的“非澳大利亚出生”群体。

These Ausraelis make a range of positive contributions to the demographic profile of Australian Jews. Many are young families with children, who invigorate an ageing population. Recent Israeli emigrants are skilled and educated, and can integrate relatively swiftly as middle-class Australians.

这些以色列人给澳大利亚的犹太人人口结构做出了一系列积极的贡献。他们大多是有孩子的年轻家庭,令原本正在老龄化的人口年轻化。新来的以色列移民身怀技能并受过良好的教育,他们作为澳大利亚的中产阶级能相对迅速地融入社会。

【从以色列到澳大利亚的移民在近几年有所加快。来源:移民局】

From a Jewish community perspective, Ausraelis could be regarded as a healthy cadre for a new generation of active members. However, as a rule, Israelis remain estranged from organised Jewish Australia.

从犹太社群的角度看,这些以色列人可以被视为新一代活跃成员的健康核心。然而,以色列人通常和有组织的澳大利亚犹太人社会保持距离。

One reason for this is life in Israel, where the state provides all educational, social and religious services for the Jewish majority. Israelis abroad rarely go to or join synagogues, which are centres of social activity for diaspora Jews.

其中一个原因是,在以色列,国家会为作为主体民族的犹太人提供全面的教育、社会和宗教服务。所以国外的以色列人很少去犹太会堂,但那里却是流散犹太人社会活动的中心。

Most Israeli emigrants are secular. They associate synagogues with religion and its institutions and political parties. Both are unpopular in light of Israel’s long history of secular-religious tensions.

多数以色列侨民是世俗的。他们会将犹太会堂同宗教以及与之相应的机构和政治党派这三者联系起来。由于以色列长期以来世俗-宗教之间存在的紧张气氛,两者都不受他们欢迎。

The lack of a community mentality is just the tip of the iceberg. Living in a diaspora setting determines the boundaries and content of the conversation between Ausraelis and Australian Jewry. The latter can be conceptualised as the Aussie subsidiary of a historic worldwide religious diaspora. The former is evolving a budding Ausraelidiasporic identity, part of the wider national Israeli diaspora.

缺乏共同体精神只是问题的冰山一角。流散的生存环境决定了居澳以人和澳大利亚犹太人之间的交流范围和内容。概念上,可将后者视为历史上全球流散的犹太人在澳大利亚的分支。前者则正在萌生为一种“居澳流散以人”的身份认同,这是更广泛的以色列民族流散的一部分。

This new identity is constructed around a triangle of affiliations: Israeli (homeland nationalism), Australian (new home society) and Jewish (religious). Each is internally debated: by individuals themselves and/or vis-à-vis the relevant sector of Israeli residents in Australia, other Australian Jews and the wider Australian society.

该新身份由相互关联的三个角色构成:以色列人(故土民族主义)、澳大利亚人(以澳大利亚社会为新家园)和犹太人(宗教身份)。你会发现这些角色相互之间都存在纷争:作为个人的居澳以人之间,作为在澳以色列人社群成员之间,他们同其他澳大利亚犹太人之间,以及和更广泛的澳大利亚社会之间。

The state of Israel participates in, and even moderates, discussion between its national and historic diasporas across the globe. These days, Jerusalem is officially reaching out to and embracing its former residents. This is possible because current Israeli emigrants display features of confident transnational migrants, with a growing cross-border political awareness of issues facing the homeland.

以色列国家政权会参与,甚至出面缓和以色列国民与散布全球的流散以色列人之间的讨论。如今,耶路撒冷正式伸出双手拥抱以前居住在那里的居民。这可能是因为现在的以色列侨民展现出自信的跨国移民的风范,当面对故土时,他们越来越有跨越国界的政治觉悟。

Institutionalisation is the latest trend of the Israeli diaspora. Newly formed local organisations of Israelis abroad, including AIA (the Association of Israelis in Australia, co-founded by the author), are on the verge of creating a global Israeli diaspora roof body.

流散以色列人最近呈现出组织化的趋势。包括像AIA(澳大利亚以色列人协会,由作者参与创立)这种以色列人在国外新成立的地方组织,正成为全球流散以色列人的庇护所。

【虽然犹太会堂对于散居犹太人来说有非常的历史意义,但它并不是现代居澳以人身份的重点。澳大利亚联合通讯社/ Julian Smith】

Reversing the Zionist narrative
颠覆关于锡安主义的叙事

【译注:锡安主义又称为犹太复国主义,是犹太人发起的一种民族主义政治运动和犹太文化模式,旨在支持或认同在以色列地带重建“犹太家园”的行为,也是建基于犹太人在宗教思想与传统上对以色列土地之联系的一种意识形态】

Tapping into the inner voices of the Australian Israeli community reveals another interesting finding. Inside closed online social platforms, within their own Hebrew-only forums, websites and print media, Ausraelis are engaged in a dynamic redefinition of their identity in the diaspora setting. Specifically, among recent Israeli newcomers to Australia is a dominant group with a distinct self-perception, the “Ausraeli approach”.

倾听澳大利亚以色列人群体的心声,会有另外一个有趣的发现。在他们封闭的网上社交平台,在他们自己的希伯来语论坛、网站和出版媒体上,居澳以人在风风火火地讨论如何重新定义他们在流散环境下的身份。特别是在新到澳大利亚来的以色列人中,有一个占主导地位的群体,他们带有一种清晰的自我认知,叫“居澳以人路线”(“Ausraeli approach”)。

This is based on a certain demarcation of Israel’s past and on a negative prognosis for its future. The Ausraeli approach challenges the original Zionist nation-building narrative, which stigmatised past emigrants as Yordim (descending) – a derogatory label. In 1976, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin described Yordim as “the fallen among the weaklings”.

这一路线基于同以色列的过往划定界限和对以色列未来的消极预测。“居澳以人路线”质疑锡安主义者的民族建构叙事,后者为以前移居他国的以色列人烙上了 Yordim这个带有侮辱性的负面标签。1976年,以色列总理伊扎克·拉宾形容 Yordim 是“弱者中的堕落者”。

Yerida (the act of emigration) revolved around guilt, shame and temporariness as embodied in cultivation of the “myth of return”, constantly contemplating resettling in Israel. The Ausraeli approach sees immigration to Australia as Aliyah (ascendance) – a term exclusively used for incoming Jews to Israel (Olim, ascenders). Aliyah further implies an improved personal status and a higher moral and normative character as a result of the homecoming.

在“回归神话”的建立之中,Yerida(移居他国的行为)【译注:Yerida是一个希伯来术语,指的是以色列的犹太人移民到别的国家的行为,贬义】总是与负罪、耻辱和临时性联系在一起,移居他国的人则终日思索着重返以色列。居澳以人则将移民澳洲视为Aliyah——这个褒义词原本专门用于指代回归以色列的犹太人。Aliyah一词进而也暗示了因为回归故土而拥有的更高的个人地位和道德规范。

The Ausraeli approach is a reversal of this. The classic Zionist discourse sees settling in Israel as the only path towards redemption for diaspora Jews and the only way to escape a deterministic fate in the “Mortified Exile” (GolahDvuyaih). This idea of “negation of exile” was embodied by early Zionism’s adoption of “the wandering Jew” anti-Semitic myth.

但“居澳以人路线”颠覆了这种说法。经典的锡安主义话语将定居以色列视为流散犹太人达成救赎的唯一途径,并且也是逃脱“耻辱放逐”(GolahDvuyaih)这一注定命运的唯一方法。早期锡安主义对“流浪犹太人”这个反犹寓言的采纳,便体现了“反对放逐”这一观念。

The Christian fable of “the wandering Jew” holds that Jews are to always wander the earth. The Zionist version suggested that the Israeli – a new and reinvented national Jew – was supposed to lay his wandering forefather to rest.

“流浪犹太人”这个基督教寓言认为,犹太人会一直在地球上流浪下去。而锡安主义的版本却认为,以色列——一个重新创造的新生犹太民族——会让其流浪的远古祖先灵魂安定下来。

On the other hand, the Ausraeli approach repositions leaving Israel as an escape to the diaspora from a deterministic fate of never-ending troublesome life in Israel with its ongoing security and social tensions (“the myth of no return”). It suggests that “the wandering Jew” did not find spiritual relief following Jewish national resurrection in Israel. Therefore, his journey continues.

另一方面,鉴于以色列持续的安全问题和社会紧张,烦恼的生活注定永无休止,“居澳以人路线”转而将离开以色列投入流散生活视为从这种注定命运的逃离(“不归神话”)。这表明了“流浪犹太人”并没有因犹太国家复兴而得到精神上的宽慰。因此,他们将继续流浪下去。

What can be learnt from the Ausraeli approach? That Zionist success in manufacturing new Jews – the Israelis – was so great that Israeli emigrants feel detached from their forefathers, diaspora Jews. The emigrants themselves are evolving into a new segment of Israeli society, as Israeli diasporants.

那么,我们可以从“居澳以人路线”中学到什么呢?锡安主义成功地制造了新犹太人——以色列人,他们如此成功,以至于移居他国的以色列侨民发觉,他们与自己的流散犹太人祖先越来越疏离。以色列海外侨民们正演变成为以色列社会的一个新组成部分——以色列流散者。

Now it is high time to examine the identity of children of Ausraelis. As one vocal Ausraeli said in an internal online forum: “What is the relevance of an Israeli tradition for a child who is about to turn into an Australian?” I wonder.

如今,是时候思考居澳以人的后代拥有何种身份了。正如一位在内部在线论坛积极发言的居澳以人所说:“对于一个即将成为澳大利亚人的孩子来说,以色列的传统和他有什么关系呢?”我也想知道。

This article is based on a chapter written by the author in the new book Australia and Israel: A Diasporic, Cultural and Political Relationship (Sussex Academic, 2015) launched in Sydney on August 9 and in Melbourne on August 13.
这篇文章是基于本文作者新书《澳大利亚和以色列:流散,文化及政治关系》(Sussex Acadamic出版社,2015年出版)中的一个章节写就,该书于8月9日在悉尼发表,8月13日在墨尔本发表。

翻译:带菜刀的诗人(@帶菜刀的詩人_)
校对:小册子(@昵称被抢的小册子),Drunkplane (@Drunkplane-zny)
编辑:辉格@whigzhou

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