The results of the survey in the Jewish Autonomous Region of the Russian Federation (JAR), obtained during a large-scale study of the Jewish population of the former USSR initiated by the EAJC and published by Ze'ev Khanin on the website of the Institute for Euro-Asian Jewish Studies, recorded significant features of local Jewish self-identification. This confirms the conclusions of this and other studies that, even 30 years after the start of the mass exodus of Jews from the former USSR, the JAR remains a phenomenon somewhat larger than a historical curiosity or a political artifact. However, the question of the role played in preserving and developing a specific Jewish and non-Jewish identity in the region by the ongoing close relations of its residents with former Birobidzhaners living today in Israel, where they are united by an extensive system of personal and sub-communal communications, remains highly relevant.

The article by Z. Khanin, "Being Jewish in the JAR: Sociological Aspects," recently published on the website of the IEAJS, is based on an analysis of the results of a quantitative study of Jews in the former USSR initiated by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, which also included an expanded sub-sample for the Jewish Autonomous Region.

It should be noted at the outset that there have not been many scientific articles on this topic in the foreseeable past. Connected to this issue is the article by M.I. Chernov, which examines the situation in the Jewish community of the JAR, its role, and the place of the "Jewish factor" in the social structure of the JAR. However, it focuses more on listing the Jewish elements in the life of the region and how the Jewish communities of Birobidzhan live. The statement of well-known facts about Jewish identity, the development of Jewish culture, Jewish symbols, relations between the two Jewish communities, and other aspects of life was no secret to anyone and has been repeatedly reflected in scientific articles and newspaper materials. In his conclusions, Mikhail Chernov also notes that "a unique new ethno-cultural community with its own special features and self-identification is being formed. Non-Jews by origin often perceive Jewish culture and the history of the JAR as part of their own identity"[i].

The research conducted by Prof. Z. Khanin is, to some extent, in line with the above. Z. Khanin rightly notes that without a legitimate set of Jewish attributes—the status of the Yiddish language, the press, theatrical groups, archives, university courses, and other official Jewish symbols and institutions expected of a national-territorial autonomy—their presence or attempts at revival in other parts of the USSR would have been perceived as an undesirable anomaly or as an initiation into "hostile Zionist activity." He also believes that only with Gorbachev's Perestroika did the process of return and secondary legalization of the unique local Jewish consciousness and historical memory of the past begin.

The research conducted by Z. Khanin revealed differences in the values of Jewish identification in the Jewish Autonomy and in other regions of the country where surveys were conducted. The proportion of respondents in Birobidzhan who stated that their sense of Jewishness emerged due to the family atmosphere and family tradition was significantly higher than the average for the Russian sample and the places of historic compact settlement of Jews in the former Pale of Settlement in Moldova, Belarus, and Ukraine.

The comparative analysis of the influence of various factors on Jewish self-consciousness in Birobidzhan and in the metropolitan cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, was also clearly higher in the Autonomy according to the study's results. Of undisputed interest are the survey data showing what constitutes the "tsimes" that allows the region and its residents, despite the low percentage of the Jewish population, to be proud of their Jewish history and culture, and to position and defend their distinctiveness and self-identification. Ultimately, V. Khanin concludes, referring, among others, to the opinions of other scholars such as Mikhail Chlenov, Semyon Kordonsky, and Mikhail Chernov, that 30 years after the start of the mass exodus of Jews from the former USSR, the JAR remains a phenomenon somewhat larger than a historical curiosity or a political artifact.

“The complexity of the issues related to Jewish identity,” Professor Pavel Tolstoguzov of the Sholom-Aleichem Priamursky State University and a member of the Public Chamber of the JAR rightly notes in his commentary on Khanin's article, “increases by orders of magnitude in the era of the Galut. Historically, this identity has accumulated several outer shells that conceal a core that is not always obvious, but almost always present. Khanin speaks of Jewish identity in the JAR as one of the models of 'provincial Jewish identity.' This is accurate, especially if we recall that in the era of the Galut, true Jewish identity was indeed often provincial; this was its essence and its mechanism of self-preservation, as opposed to an overly rapid transition to life tactics, and sometimes even a strategy of cosmopolitanism and identity change among metropolitan Jews. In the Jewish Autonomous Region in the Russian Far East, it seems to me, this very factor explains the Jewish self-awareness that is preserved not only among the now few Jews of the JAR, but also in their friendly non-Jewish environment, which by someone's light hand [L.E. Bliakher – author's note] was called 'Yevreytsy' [Jew-ish ones], while I prefer to call them 'Birobidzhaners.' The uniqueness of our region is, to a large extent, the uniqueness of the local Jewish identity, and we are not ready to exchange it for anything else.”[ii]

The study's data are highly relevant against the background of various articles appearing in Russia in recent years, whose primary goal may be to "gauge" the reaction of the local population to the topic of merging with neighboring regions. Knowing about these publications, Z. Khanin did not draw parallels or link the research results to this sensitive issue for the region. The sociological data indirectly provide an objective assessment of this. As the author writes in the conclusion, the presence of a specific model of "provincial Jewish identity" with a historically built set of identification features, a complex combination of material and mental structures and institutions, combined with the positive dynamics of demographic, economic, and political factors, may play a role when deciding the fate of the JAR as a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

There is also something that, in our view, was omitted from the study and, consequently, not mentioned in the article. There are several directions directly related to the level of self-awareness and Jewish identity in the region and its development. One of them is the ongoing warm and close relations of former residents of the JAR, who left for permanent residence in Israel, with their relatives and friends (a topic on which the Polish-Russian anthropologist Maria Makarova works fruitfully)[iii]. This process is mutual and occurs not only at the level of family and personal relationships. It should be noted that on the municipal level, Birobidzhan has long had strong sister-city ties, which were established back in 1994 by the then-Deputy Mayor of Birobidzhan, David Vaiserman, with the city of Ma'alot-Tarshiha. Currently, Birobidzhan's sister city is Nof HaGalil (formerly Nazareth Illit), where a large number of former residents of the region reside. D. Vaiserman currently lives in Israel and heads the Birobidzhan community in the south, in Beersheba; in the north of Israel, this work is led by Radik Sandik, former second secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU. Through their active work, Birobidzhan Day is regularly celebrated in Israel, to which an official delegation from the Birobidzhan municipality is invited. This event gathers up to a thousand people in Israel.

Former Israeli Birobidzhaners did not stand aside when the residents of the region suffered from a severe flood in 2013. R. Sandik and D. Vaiserman organized a fundraising campaign to assist the flood victims. They collected 47,000 shekels, which were sent to purchase winter clothing for the residents of the orphanage in the village of Leninskoye.

Another equally significant factor in maintaining Jewish identity in the region is a unique socio-cultural project: the International Festival of Jewish Culture and Art, which has been held in the JAR every two years since 1989. The festival showcases the development of the contemporary Jewish community of the autonomous region, positioning Birobidzhan as a center of Jewish culture and art in Russia. During the festival, the entire region transforms into an international center of concert programs, exhibitions, expositions, music and poetry salons, creative meetings, photo exhibitions, theatrical performances, presentations, scientific and press conferences, film screenings, and sports competitions. The geography of the festival expands every year: it includes not only representatives of various regions of Russia, but also foreign guests from the USA, Israel, Germany, China, Korea, Japan, Austria, Ukraine, Latvia, and other countries. This already recognized international project undoubtedly has a direct impact on the development of Jewish culture in the autonomy and fully influences Jewish identification and the recognition of the legitimacy of the existence of the region with such a clear and understandable name: the Jewish Autonomous Region.

In the time since the studies were conducted, a mikveh, a Jewish youth center, and a kosher restaurant—the first in the Russian Far East—have been opened in Birobidzhan. This is also evidence of the development of Jewish symbols and essential attributes of Jewish life.

The region is steeped in Jewish history; its presence and influence are felt at every step, starting from the main street of Birobidzhan, named after the great Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem, to the names of settlements like Waldheim, Neifeld, Birofeld, and Amurzet. The Jewish Autonomy has also become a spiritual symbol for neighbors living on the opposite bank of the Amur River. Built in the village of Minshan (Heilongjiang Province), the "Canaan" Star Town demonstrates Jewish culture and customs, reflecting the characteristics of Jewish symbolism[iv]. With the opening of such a Jewish center in China, whatever the motives of its creators, it will become an object of tourist attention, a path of friendship between our territories for the purpose of learning about Jewish history and culture on both sides of the Amur. Perhaps subsequent projects will also consider these symbols of the Jewish culture of the autonomous region, which, I hope, will no longer disappear from our lives.

[i] Chernov M.I. "Jewish Communities and the 'Jewish Factor' in the Jewish Autonomous Region." Ideas and Ideals, 2018 (4), vol. 1. pp. 160-171.

[ii] Commentary of Prof. P. Tolstoguzov was received by the author via email on February 9, 2020.

[iii] See: Makarova M. "We are a lost generation." Birobidzhan Jewish communities in Israel: report from field research, July 2012.

[iv] Brener I.S., Zaremba A.V. The Birobidzhan Project in Scientific Research: Values and Interests in the History of the Jewish Autonomous Region, 2013. pp. 354-355.