The Kaganovich Jewish Theater was named after prominent party leader Lazar Kaganovich, who was Jewish. The theater was established in 1934, when members of the Moscow State Jewish Theater arrived in the J.A.R. along with musicians, technical personnel, and costumes. Its first show was an adaptation of a Sholem Aleichem story.	with a sizable Judaica collection opened in the mid-1930s. Soviet Jewish writers and artists were expected to condemn Judaism and traditional Jewish life, glorifying instead the achievements of Soviet power, particularly the establishment of the Jewish Autonomous Region.