CRASSH

This paper will explore some of the ways in which the Jewish population of Odessa has been shaped by the processes of post- Soviet migration as a result of which, the city has lost a great number of its Jewish residents but has also gained new Jews from abroad and a growing number of returnees.  The transformations of Jewish identification, values and community structures, which follow from the practices and involvement of the new Jewish contingent in the city, are the main themes of this presentation.  Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in 2005-2007, this paper will discuss some of the ways Jewish migration in the city has altered the intra and inter communal dynamics of Odessa’s Jewish population.  It argues that newly defined living practices of Odessa’s Jews, in large promoted by migrating Jews, have been  instrumental in cultivating new alliances and divisions among the local population based on divergent understandings of what it means to be Jewish in Odessa.