- October 21, 2025
- 9:55 pm
- Ukraine
In Odessa, the Days of Jewish Culture continue, bringing together residents, guests, and numerous friends of Israel. The festival, taking place from October 19 to 26, 2025, has become a true cultural bridge between the past and the present, between Odessa and Tel Aviv, between memory and inspiration. Organizers emphasize that the idea of these days is not just to celebrate heritage, but to show that Jewish culture remains a living part of Odessa’s soul.
The program, said the Department of International Cooperation, Culture, and Marketing of the Odessa City Council (OMC), includes theatrical performances, concerts, poetry evenings, lectures, and excursions, as well as meetings with writers and artists whose names have long been inscribed in the cultural history of the city.
Musical and Literary Meeting at the Ivan Franko Library
Particular attention was drawn to the meeting on October 23 at the Ivan Franko Library — a musical and literary program “Jewish Culture of Odessa”, organized with the participation of the creative association Creative World (Israel–Ukraine).
The evening will unite the voices of poets, actors, and musicians who continue the traditions of the Odessa Jewish school.
On stage, songs will be performed in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ukrainian by Semyon and Inna Vainblat, students of Art School No. 13 under the direction of Alla Kochiashvili-Zemlyanskaya, as well as students of the creative Jewish center “Migdal”. The audience will meet the famous writer Igor Pototsky, author of touching Odessa stories about Grandma Tsila, which have long become folk classics.
The program includes poems by Inna Bogachinskaya and Boris Khersonsky performed by Galina Verd and Anastasia Esti Artseva, as well as works by modern Israeli poets from Odessa Esti Artseva and Zoya Arav, who grew up by the Black Sea and now live in Israel.
The audience will also see a children’s art exhibition from the “Migdal” studio, conveying the warmth, brightness, and humor of the Odessa Jewish soul.
Culture that Connects Cities and Generations
Organizers emphasize: the goal of the festival is to connect times and spaces, to show how powerfully Jewish culture has influenced and continues to influence Odessa.
“There is no sphere in the life of the city that has not been influenced by Jewish Odessa,” say festival participants.
And they add: the Jewish community not only preserves traditions but also actively supports Ukraine in times of trials.
Among those who create and help are Inna Bogachinskaya, Grigory Samuelyan, Konstantin Shvuim, Boris Yudilevich, Kira Kaft, Boris Khersonsky, Eduard Amcheslavsky, Lesya Verba, and many others.
“Jews left Odessa, but as the Odessans themselves say, there are no former Odessans. Wherever they live — in Israel, Canada, or the USA — they still remain a part of this city,” noted Zoya Arav, one of the project curators.
Jewish Culture of Odessa: Memory and Inspiration
The festival is held at the initiative of the JCC “Beit Grand”, The Joint, the Israeli Cultural Center “Nativ”, the JCC “Hillel”, the MEOC “Migdal”, the “Hesed Shaarei Zion” foundation, the NGO “Odessa Holocaust Research Center”, “Chabad Odessa”, the “Sokhnut-Ukraine” branch, the association of former ghetto and concentration camp prisoners, and with the support of the Odessa City Council and Regional State Administration.
A special place in the program was taken by children’s excursions to the Jewish Museum “Migdal-Shorashim”, where kids learn how the Jewish community was born on the Black Sea coast, listen to stories of Odessa rabbis, and learn about the holidays of Hanukkah, Passover, and Shabbat.
Many visited the museum for the first time — and, as librarians note, this is where the love for the history and culture of their city begins.
Festival Program “Days of Jewish Culture”
October 19
10:00 – Walking tour “Ze’ev Jabotinsky in Odessa”
12:00 – Lecture “Interesting Judaism”
13:00 – Interactive lecture “Jewish Theater from Odessa to New York”
13:40 – Lecture “Architect Yehuda Magidovich”
14:00 – “Jewish Memories from the First Person”
16:00 – Exhibition “So that the Connection of Times Does Not Break: Judaica in the Works of Odessa Artists”
October 20
12:00 – Program “Dialogues on Nezhinskaya”
13:00 and 14:00 – Tours of the Museum of the History of Jews of Odessa
15:00 – Exhibition by Pavel Kozlenko “Under the Star of David”
18:30 – Lecture by Sonia Kapinus “Sholem Aleichem: Life, Texts, Stage”
October 21
13:00 and 14:00 – Tours of the Museum of the History of Jews of Odessa
15:30 – Tour for teenagers
18:30 – Meeting with Nesia Ferdman “Envy: What Really Activates When We Look at Another?”
October 22
16:00 – Club “Such a Different Odessa”
18:00 – Concert “Let’s Touch the Strings of the Jewish Soul”
18:30 – Art Evening “Our Kira Muratova”
October 23
12:00 – Film screening “Zone of Interest”
15:00 – Lecture by Pavel Kozlenko “Odessa Babi Yar”
16:00 – Tour “Jewish Odessa” (Migdal-Shorashim)
18:00 – Play “Kaddish”
October 24
16:00 – Tour of Jewish Odessa
October 25
19:00 – Play “Random Encounters”
19:30 – Hebrew Calligraphy Master Class “Unconditional Love”
Full festival program: https://linktr.ee/jewish_culture_days
Odessa and Israel: A Connection That Does Not Break
Jewish Odessa is not a museum past, but a living organism where traditions and modernity meet.
The city still breathes music and languages of different peoples. And in these October days on the Black Sea coast, voices are heard again — from songs in Yiddish to poems written in Tel Aviv.
