Odessa–Tel Aviv, Corner of Bialik
Meeting the Participants of Limmud FSU Ukraine in the Odessa
"Chaim Nachman Bialik, 140 years after his birth, is close to the heart of the participants in this Limmud FSU Ukraine taking place in Odessa. More than 600 people from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Moldova, have paid in order to learn about him, but not only about him.
A slogan of Limmud is intellectual pluralism and in Odessa this is clearly evident. Jewish organizations, that at the beginning perhaps greeted Limmud with a certain degree of skepticism, have representatives there. Interestingly, Yona Kreminetsky, the first chairman of Jewish National Fund, was born in Odessa. We talk to participants, such as: Ayelet Bitan-Shlonsky, the director and curator of Bialik House in Tel Aviv, Prof. Dvora Hacohen, “The social and cultural absorption of immigrants from the former Soviet Union”, her husband, Rabbi Menachem Hacohen, their son, Aviad Hacohen, Asi Mendel, and his parents, Dorit Reuveni and Yankele Mandel, Larissa Popovskaya, a member of the organizing committee, Margarita Lopatina, Yulia Dor, Igor Shchupak, Larissa Patrishov, and more,"
About Odessa
A Multiethnic Cultural Center
Odessa or Odesa is the third most populous city of Ukraine and a major tourism center, seaport and transport hub located on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. It is also the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast and a multiethnic cultural center. Odessa is sometimes called the "pearl of the Black Sea", the "South Capital" (under the Russian Empire and Soviet Union), and "Southern Palmyra".
Before the Tsarist establishment of Odessa, an ancient Greek settlement existed at its location. A more recent Tatar settlement was also founded at the location by Hacı I Giray, the Khan of Crimea in 1440 that was named after him as Hacibey (or Khadjibey). After a period of Lithuanian Grand Duchy control, Hacibey and surroundings became part of the domain of the Ottomans in 1529 and remained there until the empire's defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1792.
In 1794, the city of Odessa was founded by a decree of the Russian empress Catherine the Great. From 1819 to 1858, Odessa was a free port—a porto-franco. During the Soviet period, it was the most important port of trade in the Soviet Union and a Soviet naval base. On 1 January 2000, the Quarantine Pier at Odessa Commercial Sea Port was declared a free port and free economic zone for a period of 25 years.
During the 19th century, Odessa was the fourth largest city of Imperial Russia, after Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Warsaw. Its historical architecture has a style more Mediterranean than Russian, having been heavily influenced by French and Italian styles. Some buildings are built in a mixture of different styles, including Art Nouveau, Renaissance and Classicist.