For a new immigrant it is especially hard to advance in this system (Israel), this system is built on connections."

Dvrdon says he quickly discovered that Israeli-born Jews had all the good jobs and all that all the promotions went other Israeli Jews and their relatives. He says Israeli-born doctors at his hospital used their connections to evade compulsory military service. He on the other hand ended up serving four-month stints on the army front lines every year. "I was in Lebanon, I was two times in the occupied territory in Hebron, Bethlehem, I said 'Enough!'"

No matter how hard he tried to learn Hebrew and fit in Dvrdon says Israeli Jews always considered him a Russian rather than a Jew. And he says, he missed Russia terribly.