Last summer, after three months of teaching in Japan, I decided to return home to Montreal via Birobidzhan, in Russia's Far East. The Jewish Autonomous Region was getting ready to celebrate its 80
th anniversary, and I easily found people to host me.
Built by Jewish enthusiasts from a dozen countries including Argentina, Canada, France, the United States and British Palestine, Birobidzhan is conceptually akin to Israel, which also considers Jews as a nationality rather than a confession. But unlike the State of Israel, Birobidzhan was built on a true "land without a people" and did not have to displace anyone to make the Communist Jewish dream come true. This is one of the reasons an earlier plan to create a Jewish autonomous region in the Crimea, populated for thousands of years, was abandoned in favor of the Far East. Of course, most settlers came from within the Soviet Union, particularly from the Ukraine and Belorussia, where millions of Jews had been living for centuries. They wanted to contribute to the edification of socialism explicitly as Jews.
Two local Jews, cousins Sasha and Igor, met me at the Khabarovsk airport, the closest to Birobidzhan. Igor had recently returned from Israel after 17 years, two of which he spent in the military.
© Yakov RabkinA sign marks the entrance to Birobidzhan.
Comment: More details here: Update: In an odd 'coincidence', Dr. Lorich worked in Haiti where he discovered an almost non-existent medical effort backed by the Clinton Foundation: See also:
'Fostered'? - Haiti official, expected to expose The Clinton Foundation, found dead in Miami
Another mystery Clinton acquaintance death: Close friend of Hillary planning to "step away from politics" found dead in apparent suicide
The Untold Story of Killary's Corrupt Haitian Earthquake Recovery Project