Rabbi Arthur Segal: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: AUTONOMOUS JEWISH STATE STILL EXISTS IN BIROBIDZHAN RUSSIA

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: AUTONOMOUS JEWISH STATE STILL EXISTS IN BIROBIDZHAN RUSSIA

AUTONOMOUS JEWISH STATE STILL EXISTS IN 21ST CENTURY RUSSIA

BLUFFTON SUN, BLUFFTON SC, HILTON HEAD SC, JUNE 3, 2015 EDITION

RABBI DR ARTHUR SEGAL

Shalom and peace:

In our journey though Jewish international communities, let us study the relatively unknown Jewish Autonomous Oblast (State) of Birobidzhan in Eastern Russia on the Chinese border, founded in 1934 with 18,000 Jews. In May 1928 the first group of Jews from western Russia arrived. It was founded by Stalin to 'pursue Yiddish cultural heritage.' By 1948, 30,000 Jews lived there. The ''USA Communist Organization for Jewish Colonization in the Soviet Union'' successfully encouraged America Jews' immigration.

Stalin set up a "Soviet Zion", where Jewish culture developed with Yiddish, not Hebrew nor Russian, as the state language. Jewish literature and arts (so-called Cultural Judaism) would replace God, religion and Zionism. Birobidzhan was important for propaganda purposes as an argument against Zionism which was a rival ideology to Marxism among left-wing Jews.

Stalin used massive propaganda to induce more Jewish settlers. Posters and Yiddish-language novels described a socialist Jewish utopia. Leaflets from an airplane were dropped over USSR Jewish neighborhoods. Stalin produced a Yiddish film,'' Seekers of Happiness,'' of an American Jewish family fleeing the Depression to live a happy life in Birobidzhan.

Settlers established a Yiddish newspaper, theater, schools, synagogues, and named streets after Yiddish authors like Sholom Aleichem and Y. L. Peretz. The Birobidzhan Jewish National University specializes in study of Hebrew language, Jewish history and classic texts. The Jewish center's Sunday school has children studying Yiddish, Jewish folk dances, and Jewish history. While the Jewish population has dropped to 4000, Yiddish is taught public schools, a Yiddish radio station operates, and the once all- Yiddish newspaper, the Birobidzhaner Shtern, includes sections in Yiddish. Regardless of their religion, all five- to seven year-olds spend two lessons a week learning Yiddish, and being taught Jewish songs, dance, and traditions. Birobidzhan's fourteen public schools must teach Yiddish and Jewish tradition through the 12th grade. In 2007 the First Birobidzhan International Summer Program for Yiddish Language and Culture started and continues.

The New Birobidzhan Synagogue, opened in 2004, marked the 70th anniversary of the founding Birobidzhan. The Old Synagogue is renamed Beit Teshuvah with traditional Hebrew services. In 2007, the world's tallest Chanukia, 69 feet tall, was built for public Chanukah lightings. The Oblast is another unusual example of Judaism's survival outside of Israel.

Rabbi Arthur Segal is an international lecturer, author, and teacher. Visit him at www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org . Email at RabbiASegal@aol.com