The thirteenth “Intellectual Wars 2019” festival took place in Odessa under the auspices of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.

Approximately 120 participants representing all Hillel CASE regional centersu2014specifically Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Belarusu2014participated in the "Intellectual Wars." Students traveled from Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Lviv, Chisinau, Simferopol, Tbilisi, Baku, Krakow, Warsaw, Minsk, Moscow, Saratov, Yekaterinburg, and even Chicago.

The Hillel CASE Intellectual Wars is a premier educational initiative founded in Odesa in 2007. Over the course of two days, teams from Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Poland, Israel, Russia, and the United States competed for the title of the most erudite delegation. In addition to the competition, the program featured guided tours of Jewish Odesa and structured evening networking events, fostering cohesion among participants from diverse cities, nations, and continents.

The ceremony was attended by distinguished guests who congratulated and presented awards to the participants: Ilona Khilkovskaya, First Secretary of the Embassy of the State of Israel in Ukraine and Director of the Israeli Cultural Center in Odesa; Iosif Akselrud, Regional Director of Hillel CASE for Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, and Azerbaijan; and Pavel Vugelman, Vice-Mayor of Odesa and Honorary President of Hillel Odessa.