Almost one year ago, about as far east as one can travel in Russia, LimmudFSU gathered in Birobidzhan for four days of seminars, workshops, entertainment and just plain fun. News of Limmud’s success traveled far and wide and now Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has made history becoming the first sitting president to visit the Jewish Autonomous Region and Birobidzhan.

On the itinerary, the city’s Freud Jewish Community Center, where Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar and Federation of Jewish Communities chairman Alexander Boroda gave Medvedev a guided tour where he perused Jewish texts in the center’s library, toured a synagogue and placed a stone at the city’s Holocaust memorial.

Lazar called the visit “a sign of confidence in and respect for the Jewish community.”

LimmudFSU has some exciting plans for 2011 – let’s see if Russia’s leadership again takes note!

image: courtesy Jewlicious.ru