Just a few months ago we were wishing happy 75th birthday to the Vilnius Choral Synagogue’s inimitable and much-loved caretaker (and gate-keeper), EUGENIUSZ RUBELSKI, a Catholic Pole of many generations’ Vilna/Wilno heritage who lived all his 75 years in a dwelling in the synagogue’s historic courtyard. He has just passed away suddenly.His earliest memory of life was of one of the last (or the last) large group of Jews from the ghetto opposite being marched from Rūdninkų Street (Yiddish: Rudnítsker gas) right up Pylimo (Zaválne) past the synagogue and past the entrance to his courtyard, where the little boy stood by the gate watching the macabre and unforgettable scene.He recalled the Jewish men, women and children from the Vilna Ghetto, surrounded, driven mercilessly and taunted, by a large contingent of armed local Vilnius police, on their way to the mass killing site Ponár (Paneriai).

For many years, his warm welcome to visitors and kindness to everybody, and unique spritely humor, were part and parcel of the Vilna synagogue experience for visitors from every part of the world. He will be very much missed.

—Dovid Katz