Imaginary Suitcases in the Lives of Israeli Expatriates in Canada: A Psychological Look at a Unique Historical Phenomenon

Abstract

Israeli expatriates seem to represent a particular type of an immigrant community. Although voluntarily separated from Israel, Israeli expatriates find themselves immersed in an anxious psychological entanglement arising from the discrepancy between their sense of connectedness to Israel and the reality of their separation from it. This paper suggests that the stresses identified as involved in painful losses experienced by most immigrants in uprooting are exacerbated in the Israeli case by a broken expectation to return home. We define this phenomenon as non-event, an anticipated, expected life event that did not occur, thereby altering the person's self-conception. The notion of imaginary suitcases serves as a metaphor for this non-event. In reviewing the literature we focus on the significance of the non-event experiences in the life of Israeli expatriates in Canada. This experience has been alluded to, yet has remained virtually unexplored in the available literature on this unique population.