About the book: 1978 / The collection you are now holding in your hands was prepared by a group of repatriates from the Soviet Union, organizers and participants in a seminar on humanitarian issues. Most of us arrived in 1976 and 1975, when the failures and difficulties of our predecessors were already known and, moreover, widely publicized. We all remember the ongoing debates and persistent attempts to find out the reasons, to understand, to imagine, to explain. And the information that reached us was quite contradictory. However, already there, in Russia, it was clear, and our some experience in the country confirmed that aliyah and absorption - difficult for everyone, but especially for repatriates from the Union - are not limited to failures and fatigue, conflicts and disappointments. But what is it like - that experience of life organization and life affirmation that has gradually accumulated over the seven years of the current Russian aliyah? After all, it is clear that the experience and positions of our friends and colleagues—acquaintances and strangers, who have managed to establish themselves in a new life—in many ways make it easier for us and for those who will follow us. Therefore, it was important to understand how and at what cost they build their life, their home in this new world for us. We tried to find out what they think, how they live, how they feel in a country where, according to Saul Bellow, the spirit of Sparta and the spirit of Athens are simultaneously present, in a country where, even with the most brutal struggle for its existence, everything must be done to preserve and enriching the traditional creativity of Jews - in the field of spiritual, ethical, intellectual and social. We interviewed many people to find out what problems they faced and what ways they solved them; how they entered into the life of the country and how their relations with the Israelis developed; what caused the protest and what were their proposals; how they evaluate the experience of the past, new life prospects - their own and their children's; how their perception of the world changed during their stay in the country; how do they understand the problems of Jewry and Israel, what role, in their opinion, does Russian aliyah play and can play? These were the questions with which we addressed those who came at different times and from different cities of the Union, people of different professions and generations, united only the fact that each of them found their place in a new world for them. Since we are convinced that the problems of aliyah and absorption are, first of all, moral, psychological, social problems, our goal was not statistics, not numbers, not reports and not certificates, but an attempt to document, through living evidence, to recreate the real destinies of Russian Jews in Israel, their attitude towards the country, their prospects and hopes. Here are the stories of more than two dozen people [1], who, of course, cannot represent the entire aliyah. They only testify to how diverse the paths and possibilities are for those who strive for life, albeit difficult and not problematic, but meaningful and harmonious. A life in which human and national dignity cease to be the reason and reason for constant mental division. It seems to us that they also indicate that there are people among us who, years later, will be able to repeat what the old Israeli said to one of the olim[2 ]: “You will see after living for several years that there are a lot of shortcomings. Perhaps you will see the good sides, if you are able to see. But always know that we tried. We wanted only the best for the country and for those who come after us.” Maybe we are overly arrogant. But the people we met, their abilities, professionalism, ability to defend their positions, deep and personal interest in the fate of the country and Jewry (Russian, of course, first of all) - all this supports our hope that our aliyah, like the previous ones , will be able to write his own page in the history of the people and the country. But this page has just begun. We are Ph.D. Philosopher Sciences L. Dymerskaya-Tsigelman (Kyiv, Jerusalem University)[3], Ph.D. physical Sciences V. Yakhot (Moscow, Rehovot, Institute named after.