Announcements

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 8:45 P.M. on Friday, August 9, and concludes at 10:06 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

News from Šiauliai

News from Šiauliai

Architect Tauras Budzys visited the Šiauliai Jewish Community recently. He’s the person behind the project begun back in 2018 to mark the graves of Righteous Gentiles in Lithuania with a special symbol. He and Šiauliai Jewish Community leaders agreed to hold an exhibit of Lithuanian Righteous Gentiles in Šiauliai in early September. The exhibit was created by Budzys and Barbora Karnienė and features the names, biographical facts and numbers of Jews rescued by 45 Righteous Gentiles in Lithuania.

Call for World Maccabiah Athletes

Call for World Maccabiah Athletes

A year from now the World Maccabiah Games will be held again in Israel. Organizers have asked for lists of contestants, so the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club is asking potential athletes to make themselves known. If you think you might want to be a part of the Lithuanian delegation to the games, register here: https://maccabi.lt/naujienos/pirmieji-pasiruosimo-darbai-2025-makabiadai-izraelyje/

To contact Lithuanian Makabi, click here: www.maccabi.lt.

More information about the World Games is available here: www.maccabi.org.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 8:59 P.M. on Friday, August 2, and concludes at 10:24 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Natalja Cheifec Lecture “Justice and the Courts according to the Torah”

Natalja Cheifec Lecture “Justice and the Courts according to the Torah”

Natalja Cheifec continues her series of lectures on Jewish culture and religion this Tuesday, July 30 with a lecture/discussion called “Justice and the Courts according to the Torah” meeting that day at 5:30 P.M. on the zoom internet platform.

Her lecture will include:

• Criteria for selection of judges
• How theft is defined in Judaism and the 8 types of theft
• Punishment for murder
• What accidental homicide means
• Application of the death penalty in Judaic law
• Who is more at fault, the criminal or the instigator
• What a bribe is
• Compensation for physical and moral damages
• Sanctuary
• Laws of war

The lecture will likely be in Lithuanian, depending on the audience. To receive zoom credentials and attend the virtual lecture, click here: https://shorturl.at/gMbBJ

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:12 P.M. on Friday, July 26, and concludes at 10:41 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Sholem Aleichem Day Camp

Sholem Aleichem Day Camp

The Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium is holding a Young Travellers day camp from August 12 to 16 for children aged 6 to 15. The camp program includes heaps of entertainment, art, games, puzzles and experiments, a change to make new friends and meet old ones, healthy and delicious food and much fun whatever the weather might bring.

To register, click here: https://forms.gle/88qkbq6Rqq15ZyTs9

The price per child is 200 euros including three meals.

Payment:
Recipient: Skaitlis
Account number: LT68 4010 0424 0395 1807

In the reason for payment you must indicate Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium camp and the child’s name and surname. Following the transfer of funds send receipt to vaiva.seliaviene@gmail.com.

The camp is sponsored by the city of Vilnius, the LJC and the Ystreet organization.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:23 P.M. on Friday, July 19, and concludes at 10:57 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Saturday is also World Chess Day.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:32 P.M. on Friday, July 12, and concludes at 11:11 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Mechanical Puppet Show for the Whole Family

Mechanical Puppet Show for the Whole Family

The Cvi Park Israeli street food kiosk and performance space invites you to a mechanical wooden puppet show called Kuthi put on by the family endeavor Wooden Laboratory Tricktrek based in Tallinn. While the puppet show is intended for children, adults will find something to like in it as well.

The play features the marriage of a princess, the most important event in the country during the height of which the kuthi, ancient crow warriors, begin their attack. The puppet show continues with a siege of the palace, catapults, the clever tricks by defenders, moving parts, secret rooms and mysterious characters. The musical accompaniment adds to the suspenseful atmosphere of secrets, magic and the mediaeval Gothic.

Following the culmination of the play, audience members will have the chance to take a closer look at the mechanisms involved and the creators will share a few of their engineering secrets. Parents and children will have the opportunity to touch and try out the mechanical puppets.

Marking the 80th Anniversary of the Liquidation of Shavl Ghetto

Marking the 80th Anniversary of the Liquidation of Shavl Ghetto

July 15 is the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the liquidation of the Šiauliai ghetto in 1944 when the surviving 3,000 Jews were transported to Dachau and Stutthof concentration camps, condemned to die there instead. The Lithuanian Jewish Community and both Šiauliai Jewish Communities invite the public to remember and pay honor to the victims of the Šiauliai ghetto, the men, women, children and elderly who were murdered this July 15.

Program

11:30 A.M. Gathering at Šiauliai ghetto gate monument at the intersection of Trakų and Ežero streets to remember the victims;

12:00 noon procession to Chaim Frenkl villa at Vilnaius street no. 74 with stopover on Righteous Gentiles Square;

12:30 P.M. Commemoration of victims at Frenkl villa.

Transportation: there will be minibus to carry passengers to the event leaving from the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius at 8:15 A.M. on July 15. Passengers must register before the event (see below).

Registration: Those wishing to attend are asked to please register before 4:00 P.M. on July 12 by calling Liuba Šerienė at (+370) 5 261 3003 or by sending an email to office@lzb.lt.

Natalja Cheifec Discussion Club Zoom Meeting

Natalja Cheifec Discussion Club Zoom Meeting

Natalja Cheifec’s Shalom discussion club is planning a meeting on the zoom internet platform at 5:30 P.M. on Tuesday, July 2. The discussion will focus on “forbidden topics” such as why Jewish women aren’t allowed to wear the tallis and tefellin, on the less controversial topic of women serving in the Israeli military, but also any topic participants wish to discuss. Participants are urged to send in their topics of interest prior to the internet meeting.

To obtain zoom credentials to participate and to propose topics for discussion, see here: https://mailchi.mp/a60b2d1747ba/alom-12683479

Everyone is welcome.

Concert Dedicated to 80th Anniversary of Liquidation of Kaunas Ghetto

Concert Dedicated to 80th Anniversary of Liquidation of Kaunas Ghetto

Photo by George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin courtesy of U.S. Holocaust Museum.

The Kaunas Jewish Community invites you to a concert in memory of the victims of the Kaunas ghetto. The concert is free and open to the general public. Following the concert, a procession will make their way to the monument marking the former gates of the Kaunas ghetto at Linkuvos street no. 2.

Time: 3:00 P.M., Wednesday, July 10
Place: Great Hall at Vytautas Magnus University, Gimnazijos street no. 7, Kaunas

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:41 P.M. on Friday, June 28, and concludes at 11:30 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

New Jewish Kindergarten Set to Open September 1

New Jewish Kindergarten Set to Open September 1

A new Jewish kindergarten in Vilnius long in the works is set to open its doors at the beginning of the next school year, September 1.

Located within the territory of the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium but in a newly renovated building separate from the main school, the kindergarten will cater to Jewish children and provide an introduction to Hebrew and Jewish culture and tradition with respect paid to the individual needs of each child in a safe and secure environment

More information for registering children to attend is available in Lithuanian here.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:42 P.M. on Friday, June 21, and concludes at 11:32 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Note: St. John’s Eve or Midsummer’s Eve, aka Joninės in Lithuanian and Litha in Celtic lore, is an official holiday in Lithuania observed this year from Saturday through Monday with government offices and some businesses closed.

Velvl Chernin Giving Lecture on Israel and Repatriation

Velvl Chernin Giving Lecture on Israel and Repatriation

Yiddish poet, literary scholar, author and SF enthusiast Velvl Chernin who is now also an envoy for the Jewish Agency will deliver a lecture next week at the Lithuanian Jewish Community on the current political and economic situation in Israel and opportunities for making aliyah and settling in Israel.

Time: 6:30 P.M., Tuesday, June 25
Place: Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

Silvia Foti Speaking in Šiauliai

Silvia Foti Speaking in Šiauliai

The Šiauliai Jewish Community invites you to a meeting and discussion with Silvia Foti.

Foti is a Lithuanian-American writer who lives in Chicago. She is also the granddaughter of Lithuanian Nazi commander Jonas Noreika. When she began writing her family’s story, she approached it from the viewpoint of modern Lithuanian Holocaust denial, but quickly discovered her grandfather was responsible for the mass murder of Jews, and she began writing about that, alienating the Lithuanian public in North America and Lithuania who were raised to deny Lithuanian complicity in the Holocaust.

Foti’s books have been published in English and Lithuanian and she has appeared on major media telling her story of the journey from Holocaust denial to the truth, including on the BBC’s Hard Talk interview program.

Everyone is welcome to attend and participate.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Friday, June 21
Place: Šiauliai Jewish Community, P. Višinskio street no. 24, Šiauliai