According to Rabbi Scheiner there are 4,000 Jews in Birobidzhan, or just over 5 percent of the town's 75,000 population.[7] In 2006, Rabbi Scheiner visited the villages of Bira (Jewish Autonomous Oblast), Naifeld, Londoko, Birakan and Birofeld with the Jewish Community of Birobidzhan. Together they inspected local cemeteries and gathered information about the Jews buried there in the years prior to World War Two. The names of these individuals are listed in the Memory Book in the Birobidzhan Synagogue. The dates of birth and death are written down according to the Hebrew calendar as well as the modern calendar.[8] As of 2007, some of the original Jewish settlers were still present in these villages.[9] Lev Toitman led the community of Birobidzhan from 1997 until he died on September 11, 2007.[10]
International support
In 2004, the Jewish community in Birobidzhan received an Aron Kodesh. This special storage case for the Torah, from Birobidzhan's sister city in China, was made in accordance with Jewish canons.[11] In 2008, Shalom Brandman a resident of Ramat Gan, Israel, donated a Judaic studies collection to the synagogue after his visit to Birobidzhan during the 2007 summer Yiddish program.[12]
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