| Birobidzhan (English) Биробиджан (Russian) |
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The main square |
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Birobidzhan
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| Town Day | Last Saturday of May[1] |
| Administrative status | |
| Country | Russia |
| Federal subject | Jewish Autonomous Oblast |
| Administrative center of | Jewish Autonomous Oblast |
| Municipal status | |
| Urban okrug | Birobidzhan Urban Okrug |
| Head | Andrey Parkhomenko |
| Representative body | Town Duma |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 200 km2 (77 sq mi) |
| Population (2010 Census, preliminary) |
75,419 inhabitants[2] |
| - Rank in 2010 | 215th |
| Population (2002 Census) | 77,250 inhabitants[3] |
| - Rank in 2002 | 206th |
| Density | 377 /km2 (980 /sq mi)[4] |
| Time zone | [5] |
| Founded | 1931[6] |
| Dialing code(s) | +7 42622 |
| Official website | |
Birobidzhan (Russian: Биробиджа́н; 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);[2] 77,250 (2002 Census);[3] 83,667 (1989 Census).[7]
It was planned by the Swiss architect Hannes Meyer and was granted urban-type settlement status in 1928 and town status in 1937.
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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.
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." 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.[8] Rabbi Scheiner says there are 4,000 Jews in Birobidzhan, just over 5 percent of the town's 75,000 population.[9] The Birobidzhan Jewish community was led by Lev Toitman, until his death in September, 2007.[10]
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.[11] 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.[12] 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.".[13] 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.[14]
For the Chanukah celebration of 2007, officials of Birobidzhan in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast claimed to have built the world's largest chanukia.[15]
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.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18] Today, the city’s 14 public schools must teach Yiddish and Jewish tradition.
The bandy club Nadezhda [2] plays in the 2nd highest division of the Russian Bandy League.
A documentary film, L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin![19] 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.[20]
Birobidzhan experiences a monsoonal humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dwb) with very cold, dry winters and warm, very wet summers.
| Climate data for Birobidzhan | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −16.6 (2.1) |
−10.9 (12.4) |
−1.2 (29.8) |
9.5 (49.1) |
18.2 (64.8) |
23.5 (74.3) |
26.1 (79.0) |
24.0 (75.2) |
18.1 (64.6) |
8.5 (47.3) |
−5.1 (22.8) |
−15.2 (4.6) |
6.58 (43.84) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −29.4 (−20.9) |
−26.4 (−15.5) |
−16.5 (2.3) |
−3.4 (25.9) |
3.0 (37.4) |
9.5 (49.1) |
14.1 (57.4) |
12.4 (54.3) |
4.9 (40.8) |
−4.3 (24.3) |
−16.9 (1.6) |
−26.6 (−15.9) |
−6.63 (20.06) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 6 (0.24) |
5 (0.2) |
13 (0.51) |
35 (1.38) |
61 (2.4) |
108 (4.25) |
147 (5.79) |
154 (6.06) |
88 (3.46) |
35 (1.38) |
19 (0.75) |
11 (0.43) |
682 (26.85) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 84 |
| Source: World Meteorological Organisation (UN) [21] | |||||||||||||
Birobidzhan is twinned with:
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