Close to 250,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union have arrived in the United States since the early 1970s. In recent years, former Soviets have been the largest refugee population to enter the United States. These immigrants are generally well-equipped for adjusting to American life. They are skilled, educated, and possess urban experience. Because they enjoy refugee status, they are eligible for a variety of resettlement services. In addition, they frequently arrive as intact families. Nevertheless, some families find it difficult to adapt to the United States. Problems they face include the dependency of the young and the old, reversals of provider/recipient roles, status loss, and generational differences in religious identity. Teachers, resettlement workers, and other authority figures are often frustrated by the behavior of Russian Jews, who are used to dealing with authority figures in the Russian style, which placed a premium on influence and negotiation. Students frequently find that the lack of English skills requires them to repeat subject content they have already mastered because they are not able to demonstrate mastery. Precisely because so many Russian Jews do adapt rapidly, those who do not tend to regard their difficulties as the result of personal failure. Some suggestions are given for teachers working with Jewish immigrants. (Contains 62 references.) (SLD)