The mass immigration to Israel during the earliest months and years of statehood created a complex reality. More than 700,000 immigrants landed on the shores of Israel within just three and a half years, more than doubling its Jewish population.  Given the objective conditions in the state-in-the-making, namely a long war followed by instability, a shaky economy and a new and inexperienced government, immigrants faced obvious difficulties. The course tackles issues of immigration and immigrants from two main perspectives: those of the policy makers and those of the immigrants. We will also examine the multi-faced relationship between old timers and immigrants in the broader context of the Israeli society as a whole. The course will focus on the gap between the utopian ideal of the ‘ingathering of exiles’ and the hardships of everyday reality. We will explore the challenges faced by the policy makers, and examine the solutions they formulated. Finally, we will evaluate the achievements and the failures of the establishment, the immigrants themselves, and Israeli society as a whole.