Birobidzhan (English) Биробиджан (Russian)
-  Town[citation needed]  -
250px The main square
Location of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia
Birobidzhan Location of Birobidzhan in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast
Coordinates: 48°48′05″N 132°54′04″E / 48.80139°N 132.90111°E / 48.80139; 132.90111Coordinates: 48°48′05″N 132°54′04″E / 48.80139°N 132.90111°E / 48.80139; 132.90111
Coat of arms
Town Day	Last Saturday of May[1]
Administrative status (as of July 2011)
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Jewish Autonomous Oblast
Administratively subordinated to	town of oblast significance of Birobidzhan[2]
Administrative center of	town of oblast significance of Birobidzhan,[2] Jewish Autonomous Oblast[2]
Municipal status (as of November 2004)
Urban okrug	Birobidzhan Urban Okrug[3]
Administrative center of	Birobidzhan Urban Okrug[3]
Head[citation needed]	Andrey Parkhomenko[citation needed]
Representative body	Town Duma[citation needed]
Statistics
Area	200 km2 (77 sq mi)[citation needed]
Population (2010 Census, preliminary)	75,419 inhabitants[4]
- Rank in 2010	215th
Population (2002 Census)	77,250 inhabitants[5]
- Rank in 2002	206th
Density	377 /km2 (980 /sq mi)[6]
Time zone	VLAT (UTC+11:00)[7]
Founded	1931[8]
Dialing code(s)	+7 42622[citation needed]
Official website
Birobidzhan on WikiCommons

Birobidzhan (Russian: Биробиджа́н; IPA: [bʲɪrəbʲɪˈdʐan]; Yiddish: ביראָבידזשאַנ) is a town and the administrative center of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Trans-Siberian railway, close to the border with China. Population: 75,419 (2010 Census preliminary results);^[4] 77,250 (2002 Census);^[5] 83,667 (1989 Census).^[9]

It was planned by the Swiss architect Hannes Meyer and was granted urban-type settlement status in 1928 and town status in 1937.

Overview[link]

Train station

The town is named after the two largest rivers in the autonomous oblast: the Bira and the Bidzhan, although only the Bira flows through the town, which lies to the east of the Bidzhan Valley. Both rivers are tributaries of the Amur. The chief economic activity is light industry.

Administrative and municipal status[link]

Administratively, it is incorporated as the town of oblast significance of Birobidzhan—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.^[2] Municipally, the town of oblast significance of Birobidzhan is incorporated as Birobidzhan Urban Okrug.^[3]

Jewish and Yiddish culture in Birobidzhan[link]

According to Rabbi Mordechai Scheiner, the Chief Rabbi of Birobidzhan and Chabad Lubavitch representative to the region, "Today one can enjoy the benefits of the Yiddish culture and not be afraid to return to their Jewish traditions. It's safe without any anti-Semitism, and we plan to open the first Jewish day school here."^{[citation needed]} Mordechai Scheiner, an Israeli father of six, has been the rabbi in Birobidzhan for the last five years. He is also the host of the Russian television show, Yiddishkeit. The town's synagogue opened in 2004.^[10] Rabbi Scheiner says there are 4,000 Jews in Birobidzhan, just over 5 percent of the town's population of 75,000.^[11] The Birobidzhan Jewish community was led by Lev Toitman, until his death in September, 2007.^[12]

Jewish culture was revived in Birobidzhan much earlier than elsewhere in the Soviet Union. Yiddish theaters opened in the 1970s. Yiddish and Jewish traditions have been required components in all public schools for almost fifteen years, taught not as Jewish exotica but as part of the region's national heritage.^[13] The Birobidzhan Synagogue, completed in 2004, is next to a complex housing Sunday School classrooms, a library, a museum, and administrative offices. The buildings were officially opened in 2004 to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast.^[14] Concerning the Jewish community of the oblast, Governor Nikolay Mikhaylovich Volkov has stated that he intends to "support every valuable initiative maintained by our local Jewish organizations.".^[15] In 2007, The First Birobidzhan International Summer Program for Yiddish Language and Culture was launched by Yiddish studies professor Boris Kotlerman of Bar-Ilan University. [1] The city's main street is named after the Yiddish language author and humorist Sholom Aleichem.^[16]

For the Chanukah celebration of 2007, officials of Birobidzhan in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast claimed to have built the world's largest chanukia.^[17]

Climate[link]

Birobidzhan experiences a monsoonal humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dwb) with very cold, dry winters and warm, very wet summers.

Education[link]

The Birobidzhan Jewish National University works in cooperation with the local religious community. The university is unique in the Russian Far East. The basis of the training course is study of the Hebrew language, history and classic Jewish texts.^[19] The town now boasts several state-run schools that teach Yiddish, as well as an Anglo-Yiddish faculty at its higher education college, a Yiddish school for religious instruction and a kindergarten. The five- to seven-year-olds spend two lessons a week learning to speak Yiddish, as well as being taught Jewish songs, dance and traditions.^[20] The school menorah was created in 1991. It is a public school that offers a half-day Yiddish and Jewish curriculum for those parents who choose it. About half the school’s 120 pupils are enrolled in the Yiddish course. Many of them continue on to Public School No. 2, which offers the same half-day Yiddish/Jewish curriculum from first through 12th grade. Yiddish is also offered at Birobidzhan’s Pedagogical Institute, one of the only university-level Yiddish courses in the country.^[21] Today, the city’s 14 public schools must teach Yiddish and Jewish tradition.

Sports[link]

The bandy club Nadezhda [2] plays in the 2nd highest division of the Russian Bandy League.

[edit] L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin!

A documentary film, L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin!^[22] on Stalin's creation of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast and its partial settlement by thousands of Russian and Yiddish-speaking Jews was released in 2003. As well as relating the history of the creation of the proposed Jewish homeland, the film features scenes of life in contemporary Birobidzhan and interviews with Jewish residents.

According to The New York Times, Stalin promoted the city as a home for secular Jews.^[23]

International relations[link]

Twin towns and sister cities[link]

Birobidzhan is twinned with:

• Beaverton, Oregon, United States
• Hegang, Heilongjiang, China
• Ma'alot-Tarshiha, Israel
• Niigata, Japan

See also[link]

	Soviet Union portal
	Russia portal
	Judaism portal

• In Search of Happiness, a documentary about modern day Birobidzhan
• Organization for Jewish Colonisation in the Soviet Union (IKOR)
• Jews and Judaism in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast
• Beit T'shuva
• Boris "Dov" Kaufman

References[link]

Notes[link]

Sources[link]

• Законодательное Собрание Еврейской автономной области. Закон №982-ОЗ от 20 июля 2011 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Еврейской автономной области». Вступил в силу через 10 дней после дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Биробиджанская звезда", №54, 29 июля 2011 г. (Legislative Assembly of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Law #982-OZ of July 20, 2011 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Effective as of the day which is 10 days after the day of the official publication.).
• Законодательное Собрание Еврейской автономной области. Закон №226-ОЗ от 26 ноября 2003 г. «О статусе и границе городского округа "город Биробиджан"», в ред. Закона №340-ОЗ от 2 ноября 2004 г «О внесении изменений в некоторые законы Еврейской автономной области о статусе и границе муниципальных районов, городского округа». Вступил в силу через 10 дней после официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Биробиджанская звезда", №93, 23 декабря 2003 г. (Legislative Assembly of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Law #226-OZ of November 26, 2003 On the Status and the Border of the Urban Okrug of the "City of Birobidzhan", as amended by the Law #340-OZ of November 2, 2004 On Amending Several Laws of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast on the Status and the Borders of the Municipal Districts, an Urban Okrug. Effective as of the day which is 10 days after the official publication.).
• Weinberg, Robert (1998). Stalin's Forgotten Zion: Birobidzhan and the Making of a Soviet Jewish Homeland: An Illustrated History, 1928-1996. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20990-9. 
• Birobidjan, Birobidjan !, documentary by writer Marek Halter.

External links[link]

• Birobidzhan from 1929 to 1931 - photo album (Digitized page images), at the US Library of Congress
• Atlas: Birobidzhan
• Birobidzhan government homepage (official)
  • Birobidzhan Photo Gallery (official)
• The Jewish story about Birobidzhan (Birobidjan) 1928-1970 (from Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971 a.o., with photos added)
• The Jewish Autonomous Region, by D. Bergelson (1937) - Soviet pamphlet

v t e Cities and towns in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Administrative center: Birobidzhan Obluchye

vep:Birobidžan