On Friday, April 24, 2015 members of the Lithuanian Jewish community and an assortment of Lithuanian and foreign friends of Israel gathered on the first floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius in the newly renovated restaurant section to pay their respects to Israel on Israeli Independence Day.

Independence Day, or Yom haAtzma’ut, falls on or around the 5th day of Iyar on the Hebrew calendar, the day in 1948 when David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of the State of Israel and on the last day the British Mandate for Palestine was legally in force. The declaration of independence and the end of the mandate presaged the opening of hostilities within the disputed territory over the next few days, with the armies of Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Iraq, and Syria firing on Israeli troops.

The speakers and guests at the 2015 ceremony included the ambassador of Norway to Lithuania Dag Malmer Halvorsen, Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon, Lithuanian Jewish Community chair Faina Kukliansky and Nida Degutienė, the wife of Lithuanian ambassador to Israel Darius Degutis and the author of a book on Jewish cooking. Fainia Kukliansky also singled out audience member Rachel Kostanian for praise for her outstanding contributions to the Lithuanian Jewish community and Holocaust education over the years. Kostanian is the long-time director of the Green House Holocaust exhibit of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum now working part-time in semi-retirement and the author of Spiritual Resistance in the Vilna Ghetto, among other things. Faina Kukliansky presented her with a bouquet of red flowers.

Speakers waiting in the first row, including Faina Kukliansky, Norwegian ambassador Dag Halvorsen, Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon and Nida Degutienė

The Norwegian ambassador noted the heavy attendance at the event and said this was evidence the pro-tolerance anti-xenophobic project called The Bagel Shop with heavy funding from Norway and much volunteer input from Lithuanians had borne fruit. The celebration of the Jewish state coincided with the conclusion of the first phase of the Bagel Shop project.

Israeli ambassador Maimon said that since this was his first formal introduction to the Lithuanian Jewish community, he would like to use his time to speak about something of personal importance to him, and gave a brief overview of his career in the military and diplomatic corps, and how Israel’s peace negotiations with the Palestinians appeared from both perspectives.

Nida Degutienė spoke about food, and said she was surprised to learn several years ago that many of the food dishes Lithuanians think of as theirs are actually, or also, traditional Jewish dishes.

After the speakers guests were treated to a variety of cold dishes provided on tables at both ends of the long hall. There was also a special table for vegetarians.