In historical terms, Odessa is a relatively new city. It was the brainchild of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great and her lover General Grigory Potemkin who in the late 18th Century envisioned a southern version of St Petersburg on the site of a captured Turkish fort.

Over the next several decades, Odessa was the Russian Empire's "Wild West" - very much the frontier mentality where fortunes could be made. By 1819, Odessa had become a duty-free port and the boom times began in earnest as traders from Germany, Greece, France, Poland, Romania and many others poured in. Great mansions and palaces were constructed overlooking the harbour so that the traders could watch as their ships came and went laden with goods moving into and out of the Russian Empire.

During the 19th century large numbers of Jews moved to Odessa from other areas of the Russian Empire and Europe where they were being persecuted. Among 19th Century Russian Jews, most of whom lived in shtetls around the Russian empire, Odessa represented the pinnacle of life - a life of comfort and pleasure-seeking. Hence the Yiddish saying which is the title of this entry. At its peak, almost 40% of Odessa’s population was Jewish ranging from the ultra-orthodox to progressive. Though such was the schism between the two extremes of Judaism, that another Yiddish saying coined by the more conservative orthodox Jews went “Seven miles around Odessa burn the fires of hell!

Although a third of the city’s Jewish population lived in poverty, many of Odessa’s Jews were very successful and wealthy. For instance at the start of the 20th century, Jews managed most of the grain export business, owned 50% of all the city's factories, managed the Russian Empire's largest tobacco factory and controlled the supply of limestone for building. Frequent pogroms, particularly towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries led many Odessa Jews to leave for Palestine, then under the control of the Ottomans. Persecution of the Jews in Odessa at this time also helped stimulate the development of Zionism under the leadership of the Palestine Committee, one of the most active members of which was Meir Dizengoff who became the first mayor of Tel Aviv. Zionist leader, Zeev Jabotinsky and writer, Isaac Babel were other members of Odessa's flourishing Jewish Community.

Some consider that Odessa is the birthplace (or at least one of the birthplaces) of Zionism and hence of the State of Israel

Despite early 20th century migration from Odessa to Palestine, at the outbreak of WWII there were still some 200,000 Jews living in the city many in the Moldavanka district. Tens of thousands of Jews were murdered or deported to concentration camps in neighbouring Transnistria by the Nazis, both Romanian and German. Many had already fled to other parts of the Soviet Union before the Nazis arrived, but it's estimated that some 100,000 Jews perished.

There remains today a strong Jewish influence in Odessa and it's estimated that some 3-5% of the city's population is Jewish. Apart from several active synagogues and Jewish schools, there are numerous kosher restaurants in the city though even in non-kosher restaurants traditional East European Jewish dishes such as gefilte fish, chopped herring, lokshen pudding feature on many menus!

With the loss of Crimea to Russia in 2014, Odessa is once again regaining its status as Ukraine's most largest and most important Black Sea port. Some of the city's grand 19th century limestone palaces and mansions have been restored and the central area - really the old historic centre of the city is bustling and lively particularly during the evening. Unfortunately even in the city centre and certainly outside the centre, many buildings are crumbling and in a very poor state of repair. Many people still live in ghastly Soviet-era concrete apartment blocks, which were it not for a few A/C units, satellite dishes and windows covered in aluminium foil (apparently a lot of people are nervous about A/C and try to keep their apartments cool by covering the windows) would seem to be derelict.

So we spent a fascinating few days in and around Odessa, a city now more than a century past its heyday and unless things improve radically in Ukraine it will be another century at least before it comes close to getting back to anything resembling the dream of Catherine the Great and her doomed lover, Grigory Potemkin....