Rimma Rozenberg

This is me, Rimma Rozenberg. This photo was taken in Odessa in 2001, at the jubilee of my husband's brother Vadim Shestopalov. For me the rebirth of Jewish life in Odessa started with an International Festival of Jewish Music in 1992. Iosif Dorman, a renowned musician from Israel, a composer and pianist and a former pupil of mine, came to Odessa. There was a symposium where representatives of Israel, France and America spoke. In particular, the musicologist Mary Green came from America. I communicated with her very fruitfully after I wrote a report on the role of Jewish musicians in the musical life of Odessa. I regularly write articles on the subjects of Jewish musical history for newspapers. Thanks to those publications I met the chairman of the Odessa Jewish history club, Anna Kelina. Now I am an active member of this club: I help collect materials about Jewish musicians from Odessa; I compile their biographies and lecture on these subjects a lot. In 2003 my husband and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. Gemilut Hesed, a Jewish Charity Association, invited us for the Sabbath where they warmly greeted us for this occasion. My husband and I don't use this organization's services, since we earn enough not to, but we enjoy attending some of their events.