Next year in Birobidzhan

My review of the Birobidzhan flag, sold by Amazon 

This is the flag of the Jewish Autonomous Region, one of the most idiosyncratic “subjects” of the Russian Federation. I'm almost tempted to say that it's neither Jewish, autonomous nor a region! Situated around the town of Birobidzhan in the Russian Far East, immediately north of the Chinese border, the region was originally intended to become a Communist alternative to Zionism. Perhaps its establishment was also a deliberate challenge to Nationalist China, since anti-Communists Russian Jews lived on the Chinese side of the border in Harbin. I mean, why else would anyone want to establish a Jewish settlement at this G-d forsaken place?

The Jewish residents of the Birobidzhan region have never comprised more than 25% of its total population, and today only form a tiny 1%. Still, the illusion of a “Jewish” homeland is maintained with schools teaching the Yiddish and Hebrew languages, a Yiddish newspaper and a huge menorah at the Birobidzhan town square. The flag is also intended to invoke Jewish traditions, since its seven-colored rainbow apparently symbolize the seven-branched menorah. Ironically, some of the cultural projects in the region are financed by Israel, the Zionist project the Jewish Autonomous Region was once intended to derail…

The world, agent Cooper, is a strange and beautiful place.

PS. The design shown here is somewhat different from the one shown at the Jewish region's official website. The rainbow in the center should be much wider.