The Mountain Jewish immigrant community in Israel (MJ) native of the Eastern Caucasus is unique in using two heritage languages (HLs) Juhuri and Russian in addition to the societal language Hebrew. The native language of MJs Juhuri an endangered language with around 200000 speakers around the world is used along with Russian the dominant language MJs spoke in Soviet Union. These languages became two HLs in Hebrew-dominated Israel thus creating an interesting mix of languages and identities. The present study explores the linguistic behavior of MJs in the context of immigration and socialization into life in Israel. Audio recordings were elicited to examine differences in language use across three generations of MJs the first two having immigrated during the 1990s: Generation 1 (G1; aged 60-75) Generation 2 (G2; aged 33-50) and Generation 3 (G3; aged 9-21). Six female G2 participants engaged in 12 conversations six with G1 (mothers) and six with G3 (children) interlocutors. The findings revealed significant cross-generational differences where the use of both Russian and Juhuri decreased across generations along with ever-increasing use of Hebrew. G1 speakers have little or no proficiency of Hebrew while Russian is the most spoken language in this study mostly by the G1 followed by G2 speakers. The maintenance of Juhuri is by and large recorded only among G1 participants mostly in code-switching (CS) from Russian with G2 speakers. For example, Degeštem nichego strašnevo xaste bistorum eri televizor vklučila xaber bistorum' I lied down never mind I got tired yes I put on the TV it woke me up.' G2 speakers mostly retain Juhuri as a HL at the level of comprehension with G3 speakers abandoning it completely. Language shift to Hebrew was further evidenced in CS directionality which predominantly occurred from Russian to Juhuri among G1 speakers and from Russian to Hebrew among G2 speakers. CS was almost absent in the speech of G3 speakers most of whom comprehend Russian but essentially speak Hebrew; only occasional switching to Russian was found among two participants in this group. Findings are explained in terms of language shift and maintenance ethnic and social identities attitudes toward the HLs and toward bilingualism and motivation to learn the societal language. CS was found to serve as a basis for construction of social identity adjusting social distance and affiliation and establishing interspeaker accommodation. The study offers an unusual opportunity to observe CS across two HLs rather than just one providing a glimpse into how they interconnect and develop in the same environment. The two HLs particularly Juhuri were observed as the primary representative tools of speakers' collective and individual identity enabling them to set communal boundaries and highlight their ethnocultural background. The results contribute to better knowledge of HLs and in particular sheds light on the role of CS in language maintenance and shift which has rarely been touched upon in research on CS.

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