Jews leaving Russia and Ukraine for Israel may soon reach “Exodus” levels

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The UK-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research has reported that the numbers of Jews now leaving Russia and Ukraine for Israel could soon reach “exodus” levels, the Religion News Service (RNS) reports. The IJPR defines “exodus” as the departure of 50% to 75% of Jews in a country over ten years.

While an increased number of Jews began leaving the region following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, there has been an intense upsurge in the numbers leaving both Russia and Ukraine since the Russian invasion of Ukraine which began last year.

Drawing on data from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, the IJPR said that both Russia and Ukraine could lose 80%-90% of their Jewish populations if the current rate of departure continues for the next seven years, RNS reports.

“For Russian and Ukrainian Jews, 2022 was a watershed year: if migration from these countries continues for seven years at the levels seen in 2022 and early 2023, 80%-90% of the 2021 Jewish population of Ukraine and 50%-60% of the 2021 Jewish population of Russia will have emigrated,” the IJPR report explains.

The IJPR report notes that around half of the respective Jewish population left Nazi Germany in the 1930s; North Africa in the 1950s and 1960s; and the former Soviet Union in the 1990s.

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