Kehilla Projects

BALTIMORE – ODESSA

THE ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore established its partnership with the Odessa Jewish community in 1995. Over the last 12 years, Jewish life in Odessa has changed dramatically due to the support from the Jewish community in Baltimore. The mission of the partnership is to strengthen the Odessa Jewish community and foster a sense of responsibility for and connection to global Jewish peoplehood within Baltimore. 

During the early 1990s, volunteer and professional leaders from Baltimore visited Odessa and observed early Jewish communal activists providing support to needy Jews and encouraging Jewish culture through the Migdal Or dance troupe. In 1994 the Gmilus Hesed welfare organization was established in Odessa, similar to those across the Former Soviet Union, to serve elderly residents with home visits, food packages and warm homes. Today the Gmilus Hesed society brings together a growing volunteer movement to serve 9,000 clients in Odessa.

By the end of the decade, the Odessa Jewish community had grown to include the Jewish Open University, a library, two JCCs, two synagogues, yeshivot and numerous social clubs. Under the guidance of the JDC, leaders in Odessa began to submit written grant proposals to THE ASSOCIATED’s Odessa Partnership Committee.

In Spring 2002, an educators’ mission from Baltimore brought together the CJE and the Associated together with their counterparts to discuss joint initiatives in the areas of Holocaust education, early childhood education, day school, adult learning, and incorporating Judaism within social service delivery. The Jewish Museum of Maryland and the Jewish Museum of Odessa began to collaborate on projects and students from Hillel of Greater Baltimore traveled to Odessa during their Spring Break for the Hillel Passover Project. Subsequent visits from Hillel students across Maryland have focused on community service projects and recording oral histories of Jewish elderly residents and Righteous Gentiles. 

Baltimore enjoyed a week of community cultural arts programs and concerts aimed at creating meaningful exchange when the Migdal Or Dance Troupe from Odessa visited in 2003. 

Initially purchased in 2001, the Odessa Jewish community made arrangements to move into a fully-functioning central address serving all the community’s welfare and renewal needs by Summer 2005. Leaders from the Baltimore JCC went to Odessa to provide consultation on the new building at this time and in February 2006, the JDC sponsored a mission to Baltimore for continued consultation on the Odessa JCC campus and facility. This exchange marked the first time lay leaders from Odessa have come to Baltimore and demonstrates the tremendous growth of volunteerism in the FSU.

The opening of the new 47,000 square-foot JCC campus, constructed with significant funds from Baltimore, and which will house community organizations, will dramatically reshape the landscape of Odessa’s Jewish community by providing a modern facility that will enable the community to continue to flourish. Leadership from Baltimore’s Jewish Community Center have been engaged in the development of business strategies, and the executive directors of Baltimore’s and Odessa’s community centers are currently engaged in a mentorship through the Jewish Community Center Association (JCCA).

Today, Odessa’s Jewish community thrives with more than 20 local organizations including the Gmilus Hesed welfare center, seven primary and day schools, three synagogues, four kindergartens, two JCCs, a Hillel center, three Jewish newspapers and three kosher restaurants. 


THE ASSOCIATED is actively engaged in the partnership through exchanges that bring community leaders, professionals, volunteers, and teens together to interact and learn from each other and begin building personal bonds between the communities. These exchanges have taken place over the life of the partnership and are occurring with increasing frequency as both communities continue to work together developing new priorities and programs.

Working with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), Baltimore’s Jewish community continues to support the revitalization of Jewish life in Odessa and bring about the emergence of local community leaders who will strengthen the Odessa community for generations to come.


To learn more about the Baltimore-Odessa Partnership, please contact Jonathan Strausberg at 410-369-9242.