It was the first of the starships with many more scheduled to follow. The ship was loaded with Jews headed to begin the settlement of a distant planet. The ship had been carefully built and the selection of passengers went through a vigorous vetting process.
Only around twelve hundred Yidden would travel on the first ship and a lot of responsibility was laid on their shoulders. The future of the Jewish People was contingent on the groundwork that would be done by the volunteers on the initial transport.
A second ship, with tens of thousands of passengers in a deep sleep would follow within a couple of months. Over the next few years, if all went well, most of Earth’s twenty-five million Yidden would be transported in this manner.
The cryogenic technicians, other technical support teams and the spiritual leadership on the first ship needed to be in place when the subsequent transport vehicles began to arrive.
Great hope and expectations were held by all involved in this complicated enterprise. The ship had been named Hatikvah – The Hope. Bands played and banners waved. Crowds of family, friends, and well-wishers cheered. The volunteers walked to the ship that would be their home for the nearly eighteen years of the voyage.
The Luftmenschen of Planet Birobidzhan is now available wherever books are sold!
The novel can also be bought, at a discount, through this direct purchase link:
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Purim on Planet Birobidzhan
The Jewish calendar is sprinkled with holidays calling for observance. Obligations, commandments, and traditions dictate our practices on Holy Days. Most of these days are treated with a similar sanctity as Shabbos. Work, handling money, lighting fires, and other such activities are proscribed or limited. Additionally, we are told that certain foods must be eaten and others are forbidden or how and where we must sit or items of clothing we must wear or that are forbidden.
Purim is probably the most uncharacteristic and even counterintuitive of all the Jewish holidays. On Purim, we are told that we must listen to the reading of the Megillah Esther, we should give gifts of treats, and that drinking to excess is considered a mitzvah. Das iz alts. What kind of meshugganah holiday is this?
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Purim is a raucous celebration on Planet Birobidzhan, and particularly so in Niu Niu Yark. The celebration on Planet Birobidzhan was likely influenced by the way that Holi and Mardi Gras was celebrated on Planet Earth. The festivities start out staid enough in the early evening with a family oriented costumed parade that weaves through the city, leading to the largest shuls, where the Megillah Esther is read, according to tradition.
Following the Megillah reading, the crowds from the shuls empty into the streets, led by the rabbis. Bottles of schnapps are passed around while singing and dancing take place. As the night progresses, parents with young children and those with less wild inclination clear the streets.
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The Luftmenschen of Planet Birobidzhan is the story of a world populated by Yidden stranded on a planet far from Planet Earth.
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The Luftmenschen of Planet Birobidzhan is now available wherever books are sold!
The novel can also be bought, at a discount, through this direct purchase link:
Zvi Baranoff - Author 