21st Century Bogatyr: The Town of First Landing

by Zvi Baranoff

The town of First Landing is the third largest city on Planet Birobidzhan. It is a dreadful place.

First Landing sits at the approximate center of Planet Birobidzhan's most populous continent. It is a dusty and wind-blown industrial town. It is at the eternal crossroads. The horizon is flat and unimpressive in every direction.

Nearly every building was constructed from prefabricated materials that had arrived on board the various transit ships or made from the hulls and cannibalized innards of those ships. It exudes a sense of decay and projects an aura of disintegration.

Few people would consciously choose to live in such a place. There is very little reason to stay put in a place like First Landing, other than inertia. Of course, for some inertia is the primary force of their existence. That is really the best explanation for the continued habitation of First Landing after so many generations.

The intention of the Founders was for this place to be primarily a transit station. The spot was chosen because it was flat and central. These two factors made it the ideal landing spot for the ships coming from Earth. After landing and orientation, it was assumed that the Yidden would flow outward in all directions, filling the land.

Generations after the last transport from the Home Planet landed here, First Landing remains a transient location. There is an airport and a train station, being about halfway between New Jerusalem and New New York. The continent's two main highways cross here as well.

First Landing has the largest slaughterhouse and meat packing facility on the planet. The Currency Printing Press and what can roughly be called the Central Bank is located there.

There is a scattering of small Shuls. A distillery produces a balm for the tedium of existence. Birobidzhan's only zoo is in New Landing, a monument of sorts to the disjointed thinking of the Agency planners.

The original greenhouses are still functioning, growing winter fruits and vegetables. The planet's first vineyard and winery is situated nearby, on the outskirts of town.

For nearly eighteen years, the intergalactic starship the Hatikvah traveled through the void from the Home Planet. The trajectory was preprogrammed and automated.

For all those years the half dozen pilots on board had no responsibilities other than to wait for the starship to arrive at the coordinates of our new homeland.

When the place that would eventually be known as Planet Birobidzhan was reached and orbiting was set, only one pilot was required for the landing. Nonetheless, they all met on the flight deck.

The pilots worked closely together, scrutinizing charts and computer projections, in order to determine the best place on this planet to land. Wherever they put down would serve as the entrance point for all new arrivals for the foreseeable future.

When the Hatikvah was safely landed, the passengers were tasked with establishment of the infrastructure for the survivability of the new settlement.

The pilots focused on building and maintenance of the landing site and providing electronic guidance for the subsequent unpiloted transit ships.

It can be said that in this aspect, the planning by the Agency and the presumptions and projections of the Earth-bound were right on target. This aspect of the settlement worked out just fine. However, not much else worked according to plan.

On Earth, the public position expressed by the Agency was that the entire Earth Jewish population of twenty-five million would be transported in short order. Realistically, no one expected that to actually unfold but it was widely assumed that most of that population - perhaps as many as fifteen to twenty million would leave the Home Planet.

The optimists suggested that could be accomplished in ten years or less, not counting the actual transportation time, of course. The pessimistic position was that it would take twice as long.

No one projected that before the third year of active transports, the flights would grind to a halt with less than two million Yidden actually transported.

The skyport that the pilots had built and maintained is now the airport. Flights of a ten passenger plane between New Jerusalem and New New York operate five days a week with a short stop at First Landing.

The old observation tower and telescopes are used by amateur astronomers. Of course, a sighting of a ship from The Home Planet - or anywhere else - would be a huge event but no one realistically expects any outside contact these days.

The end of the immigration flights played havoc with the various presumptions of the Agency. Much was based on the idea that supplies and personnel for settlement were to arrive in conjunction with timely needs. For instance, it was presumed that schools would not be a big priority for the first five years so teachers and school supplies would arrive later. They, of course, never did arrive.

For the eighteen years of the Hatikvah's flight and for the first couple of months on the new planet, there were sufficient varied food supplies for everyone. The Founders had grown accustomed to the consistency of fresh food and the relative comfort of the living quarters on board that continued to provide shelter on this new planet.

The first of the void-transcending herring tins arrived just a couple of months after the Hatikva. There were 10,000 cryogenically preserved Yidden on board.

When the cryogenically stored loads of new immigrants began arriving by the tens of thousands, the capacity to feed everyone satisfactorily was thoroughly strained and housing for the new immigrants was sketchy.

Upon defrosting on a strange planet, the new immigrants were housed in substandard dormitories and fed a diet consisting mainly of potatoes. Starvation was not an actual danger but there were shortages of everything with the exception of potatoes for the next three years.

According to the orientation before flight - and the master plan - a year's supply of kosher MRE would be sent with each cryogenic flight to assure that food supplies would last until the cultivation levels could sustain the population.

However, the first of those flights included perhaps an eight month bare minimum food supply and each subsequent ship held less than the one before it. The Agency seemed to have just presumed that the pioneering spirit would suffice if supplies dwindled.

The financial committee was certainly capable of getting the printing press up and running quickly and printing plenty of cash. However, there was no real way to determine the value of the money and virtually nothing to spend the money on. There was a need for devising a distribution system for necessities in short supply. Ration coupons were far more important to those immigrants than paper shekels.

On Earth, it had been determined that the currency of the new settlement would be called the Shekel and that its value was equivalent to the Dollar. All potential immigrants were given the opportunity to transfer dollars to the Agency in exchange for credit in shekels on arrival. That was the case for the passengers of the Hatikvah and the first of the subsequent flights.

As time elapsed, the Agency found a growing reluctance to make an exchange of hard cash for abstract promises. As an incentive, the rate of exchange increased. New immigrants thus arrived shekel-rich with their wealth duly noted in the ship computers. On arrival, they would receive stacks of nearly worthless cash.

The cash the Agency acquired, and spent, on Earth to purchase the ships and supplies for the next waves of immigration. The financial model was essentially similar to a pyramid or that of a ponzi scheme. The payoff for the immigrants was eighteen years away on a distant planet with no direct accountability for the plans made by pencil pushers and accountants on Earth.

It was presumed that a market economy would be developed. No one really had a clue how that would happen or how long that would take.

It was also presumed that at some point intergalactic trade would develop and that ships would be outfitted for return flights and flights to other settled planets. Generations later, those hopes have yet to be realized.

It was presumed, on Earth, that the large bison-like creatures that roam our planet were similar enough to cattle to be a source of kosher meat. This was a false hope.

After a few years, it was determined that the wild hog-like creatures that the rabbis first disdained are actually kosher. So, at that point meat became plentiful as the Yidden learned to appreciate the kosher ham, pork and bacon. For the first few critical years, meat was in very short supply.

When the first few flights arrived, they were greeted with excitement and hope by the earlier immigrants. New people and fresh supplies held promise. The feelings of hope and promise soon began to fade as an account of the situation became clearer.

Supplies were inadequate. No one could make sense of the decisions made on Earth as to what was needed here on Planet Birobidzhan. Perhaps the Agency was just clueless. Perhaps they were making purchases based on calculations that were beyond comprehension. Perhaps there was a payola factor.

The initial charter for the settlement provided no formula for governance. Very little that resembles a government has ever developed here. There is no military, secular courts, police, public schools, jails, taxes or welfare. Also, virtually no public planning. In the early days, a lot of decisions were temporarily put off until those with more expertise arrived. Of course, those experts never arrived.

We do have rabbis - lots of rabbis - and rabbinic courts. However, because of the plethora, none of them carry a whole lot of weight. They can each, for instance, rule concerning marriage and divorce, dogma and theology, even declare excommunication. They can also contradict each other. If one is unhappy with a ruling from a Beit Din, a different answer to the question at hand might be found at a shul literally within a stone's throw.

There are historical reasons for the relative weakness of rabbinic authority on Planet Birobidzhan. The rabbis that arrived on the Hatikvah had been transformed by their time in transit. By the time they had reached the new planet, they had all developed a fairly laissez-faire attitude about most matters.

When the subsequent flights arrived, the rabbis that came along were much younger than those from the Hatikvah, so were inclined to give their elders leeway, treat their decisions as precedence and follow the example of those that arrived earlier.

This is not to say that the rabbis did not have some real world matters to grapple with upon arrival. For those that traveled on the Hatikvah, ship time had been pinned to the Earth time of their departure point. Upon arrival, the clocks and calendar needed resetting.

The days of the week were certainly consistent. The daylight determined the time of the day.

The moon was a whole other factor. That is, on Earth, the new month of the Jewish calendar begins with a new moon. On Planet Birobidzhan, there are two moons and the cycle of neither one is the same as the Earthly moon. Additionally, the seasons in this new land were significantly different from those of the Home Planet.

The rabbis had plenty to argue over concerning how to define time and the order for traditional celebrations under these totally new conditions. Of course, rabbinical arguments have a long tradition.

Not long after the two major cities of New New York and New Jerusalem were settled, a major Yeshiva (and multiple minor ones just to add to the confusion) was in each of these cities with each reflecting an opposition to the other on almost every issue. It took years to reach a general consensus on the issues surrounding the calendar.

The new immigrants that arrived after the Hatikvah were predominantly very young. The Agency, it seems, believed that what was needed were young men with strong backs and women of a breeding age. So, what the immigrants lacked in education, they compensated with inexperience.

Those that had arrived on the Hatikvah were more skilled, far better educated and much older than the fresh arrivals. It was their mission to try to motivate the growing number of youthful immigrants to take on the task of exploring and settling the vast and empty planet.

An initial analysis of the planet projected that it could optimally sustain a population of five to seven billion people. Even if all of Earth's Yidden had been delivered at once, the Planet Birobidzhan would be sparsely populated for a very long time. This may have been why the Agency chose to ship absolutely no type of birth control - no condoms, no diaphragms and no birth control pills - of any amounts on any of those ships.

Five major projects were seen as essential to those with any interest in planning.

The founding and development of the two major cities, New New York on the west coast of the continent and New Jerusalem on the east coast was deemed paramount. The location for these cities were chosen because of the deep natural harbors that could provide logical jumping off points for outward expansion to the rest of the planet.

The harvest of hardwood trees for lumber was considered essential for any advanced construction. In the southern part of the continent, the forest to sustain such an industry offered itself to developing.

Also to the south of First Landing were mineral deposits for potential mining.

The production of a wide variety of food to sustain the growing population required settlements in rural areas and the creation from scratch of an agricultural economy.

The piles of near worthless cash did not excite the new settlers. Ship load after ship load of immigrants arrived. The young people filled up First Landing waiting for inspiration and motivation. Other incentives besides illusory wealth were needed to encourage the youthful arrivals to take on such tasks.

Potatoes at every meal and nightmares of potatoes was the most compelling argument for carrying on the pioneering experiment. The potato has a rightful place in the history of Planet Birobidzhan. Probably, the tedium of potatoes was more significant motivation than all of the planning and tinkering of ideologues, the theorizing of theoreticians, the philosophies or theological positioning of rabbis and sages on the Home Planet or here.

Der mensch tracht un gott lacht. (Man plans and God laughs.)

This is not a Jewish story. It is, however, a story about Jews. One does not need to be Jewish to read this tale any more than one needs to be a Hobbit or an Elf to read Lord of the Rings.

This story is a work of fiction. The setting for this tale is in the distant future, on the far away Planet Birobidzhan. This planet was settled by Jewish exiles from Planet Earth.

The population of Planet Birobidzhan has been cut off from the Home Planet for a long time. They have developed their own unique culture, traditions and linguistics.

The language spoken on Planet Birobidzhan is primarily Yiddish. I have sprinkled a significant number of Yiddish words and phrases throughout the telling of the tale. I also refer to various Jewish religious and cultural touchstones.

To make this story more accessible, I have included a glossary of words and phrases in Yiddish and Hebrew that are used as well as some explanations of religious terms and holidays.

I hope that readers find this to be useful.

The link to the Glossary is here:

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-useful-guide-glossary-to-planet.html?m=1

פּלאַנעט ביראָבידזשאַן

Do you want to read more about Planet Birobidzhan? Here are all the posted installments so far, in the order that they were posted. Just click your way through the story!

1 On A Planet Safe for Yidden

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/02/on-planet-safe-for-yidden.html

2 Yenne Velt: A History of Planet Birobidzhan

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/02/yenne-velt-history-of-planet-birobidzhan.html

3 Another Globe, Perhaps?

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/02/another-globe-perhaps.html

4 Bereshis: The Transport & Transformation of the Founders

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/03/bereshis-transport-transformation-of.html

5 The Town of First Landing

https://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-town-of-first-landing.html

6 A Personal History of an Early Settler on Planet Birobidzhan

http://21stcenturybogatyr.blogspot.com/2022/05/a-personal-history-of-early-settler-on.html