The Sabbath begins at 5:53 P.M. on Friday, February 28, and concludes at 6:49 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 5:35 P.M. and completed before sunset at 5:53 P.M. Friday is also Losar, Tibetan New Year 2152, and Saturday is the related Mongolian New Year, Tsagaan Sar.
Samuel Bak himself and a panel of experts will launch a Bak catalog in Lithuanian on the first day of the Vilnius Book Fair. The catalog of his artwork is called “Gydantys simboliai.”
Joining via video link from the USA, Litvak painter from Vilnius Samuel Bak will speak with Bak Museum senior curator Ieva Šadzevičienė, illustrator Jokūbas Jacovskis and others with synchronous translations in Lithuanian and English.
Time: 2:00 P.M., February 27
Place: conference hall 5.5, Litexpo building, Laisvės prospect no. 5, Vilnius
The Sholem Aleichem kindergarten in Vilnius is accepting applications until March 1. For more information, call +370 672 35592 or write rastine@ort.lt.
The Sabbath begins at 5:39 P.M. on Friday, February 21, and concludes at 6:35 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 5:21 P.M. and completed before sunset at 5:39 P.M. Sunday is also the Emperor’s Birthday in Japan, observed on Monday, and National Day in the Sultante of Brunei. Monday is Independence Day in Estonia.
Internationally-acclaimed violinist Evgenia Epshtein makes her debut appearance in Lithuania with pianist Donaldas Račys at 7:00 P.M. on Friday, February 28 at the Organum hall in Vilnius then at 5:00 P.M. on Sunday, March 2, at the Kaunas State Philharmonic in Kaunas.
Epshtein was born in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) in the Soviet Union and now lives in Split, Croatia. She began her musical career at the Buchmann-Mehta school of music in Tel Aviv and has performed in Azerbaijan, Mexico, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain and Croatia.
Račys is a professor of music at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. He received his musical training at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and has also performed around the world.
The program includes Nimrod Borenstein’s Quasi Una Cadenza solo work for violin, works by Brahms, Moritz Moszkowski and Edvard Grieg.
The Vilnius concert has tickets available starting at 12 euros. More information on the Vilnius concert available by clicking here or by calling +370 686 87510. Tickets for the Kaunas appearance cost 15 euros with discounts for seniors and students if purchased at the box office, and are also available here. More information is available here.
Natalja CHeifec’s #ŠALOM discussion club continues this Thursday, February 20, at 5:30 P.M. on the zoom platform. This week she’ll lead a discussion on Jewish tradition in general. To register and acquire zoom credentials, fill out the form here.
The Sabbath begins at 5:24 P.M. on Friday, February 14, and concludes at 6:22 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 5:06 P.M. and completed before sunset at 5:24 P.M. Friday is also Valentine’s Day and Sunday, February 16, is Restoration of Lithuanian Statehood Day celebrated now and during the first Lithuanian republic between the two world wars.
The Martynas Mažvydas Lithuanian National Library conserves a YIVO document collection of very significant volume and content. The YIVO was established exactly a century ago in Vilnius in 1925. It is the only Vilnius Jewish institution which did not stop operating during the Holocaust and which continues to operate today. After World War II YIVO made its main headquarters at its branch in New York City. This branch took over the institute’s functions as a center for the preservation of Jewish heritage and research.
Many traces of the institute’s work survived in Vilnius: fragments of its documentation, correspondence, library collection and archives, scattered among several commemorative institutions. The National Library is conducting a study of the institute’s archives which is revealing YIVO’s origins in Vilnius and its especially fruitful period of activity in Vilnius before WWII.
The 100-year anniversary of the founding of the YIVO was noted back in 2023 in a resolution by the Lithuanian parliament as being of special significance to world culture and the National Library. Lithuanian National Library director Aušrinė Žilinskienė spoke about this at the Lithuanian embassy in Washington, D.C., on December 9, 2024. That event to mark the anniversary was organized with YIVO headquarters in New York.
The National Library is holding an event in cooperation with a large number of Lithuanian and foreign partners with a spectacular program, including the publication of books on the history of the YIVO, an international academic forum and an exhibit of textual heritage.
The Sabbath begins at 5:10 P.M. on Friday, February 7, and concludes at 6:08 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 4:52 P.M. and completed before sunset at 5:10 P.M.
Litvak Raffael Hletzer will speak at the Lithuanian Jewish Community Sunday. He was born in Lithuania but left for Israel with his family at a young age. He is currently the executive director of the renowned Kehilor Netaim Jewish educational program. His presentation will be about his roots in Lithuania, the upcoming holiday Tu b’Shvat and connections with the past and present. The event is free but registration is required by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt.
Time: 1:00 P.M., Sunday, February 9
Place: Room 306, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
The Ilan Club will meet this Saturday for the first time since winter vacation. The club is intended for children and adolescents and the guides have prepared an impressive program of activities. The club will continue to meet every Saturday at the same place and time.
Time: 1:00 P.M., Saturday
Place: Second floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
The Lithuanian Jewish Community will host an evening with Russian television personality, actor and comedienne Tatyana Lazareva. She will share her subtly self-ironic and philosophical thoughts during a dialogue called “Here’s Lazareva” including on her life and career.
Tickets are available here.
Enter our contest to win two free tickets here. Winners will be announced on February 14, Valentine’s Day.
Time: 7:00 P.M., Friday, February 28
Place: Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius (elevator available)
This Thursday Natalja Cheifec’s discussion club will address male and female relations in Judaism. The Talmud says a God-fearing man vindicates an immoral woman and becomes immoral himself, but when an unjust man marries a God-fearing woman, he comes God-fearing.
This discussion will also talk about the hidden strengths of the Jewish family, the circumstances surrounding quick divorce, legends about Jewish weddings, the concept of love in Judaism and miracle-births by Jewish women.
To receive zoom credentials, click here. To make a donation to #NataljosPaskaita and/or the LJC, click here.
Time: 5:30 P.M., February 6
Place: internet
The Sabbath begins at 4:55 P.M. on Friday, January 31, and concludes at 5:55 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit starting at 4:37 P.M. and completed before sunset at 4:55 P.M. Different countries celebrate Lunar or Chinese New Year from before to several days after the weekend, and the United States and Canada celebrate Groundhog Day on February 2, which coincides with the Christian holy day Candlemas.
Younger Community members exclusively again have the opportunity to meet with a representative of the NAALE Elite Academy at the Lithuanian Jewish Community this Sunday.
NAALE is a unique program providing Jewish adolescents the opportunity to receive a scholarship and to study from 3 to 4 years at an institution of higher learning in Israel.
The program was established in 1992 by the Society for Advancement of Education in partnership with The Ministry of Education and the Jewish Agency, as a response to the pressing need for quality education for Jewish youth after the dissolution of the former Soviet Union had left the educational system there in disarray. Initially intended for those repatriating to Israel, it came to include talented Jewish teenagers from around the world, providing them the best high school education and a priceless tool to achieve their future goals. NAALE Elite Academy also helps reestablish firm ties with Jewish roots and friendships which last a lifetime.
Different Israeli schools have NAALE programs which have their own individual features tailored to different styles, interests and religious and secular views.
Project leader of the NAALE directorate Igal Brantman will visit the Lithuanian Jewish Community this week to answer all your questions.
You must register to attend the event by sending an email to viljamas@lzb.lt.
Time: 11:00 A.M., Sunday, February 2
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius
Natalja Cheifec’s #EDUKACIJOS discussion club invites you to a zoom discussion on the place of vegetarianism in Judaism at 5:30 P.M. this Thursday, January 30. She will cite precedents mentioned in the Bible, for example, the hidden meaning of the story of Cain and Abel and their sacrifices, as well as tackling Nazi ideology about subhumans and the more recent controversy surrounding the ad campaign “The Holocaust on your plate.” She will also address a number of points about blessings over food, Judaism’s restrictions on meat consumption, the hierarchy of God’s Creation and others.
To register and receive zoom credentials, click here.
The Sabbath begins at 4:51 P.M. on Friday, January 24, and concludes at 5:43 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 4:23 P.M. and completed before sunset at 4:51 P.M. Sunday is also Australia Day and Monday is the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.
Dear Community members,
We invite you to a Kabbalat Shbbat prayer service led by Rabbi Robin Li-Paz from Los Angeles, California, at 6:30 this Friday, January 24, at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. Registration is required by sending an email to viljamas@lzb.lt. The cost is 20 euros for adults and 10 euros for children. All are welcome.
The Litvak Culture and Identity Museum will show the film Izaokas for free at 4:00 P.M. on Sunday, January 26. The event includes an introduction by film critic Izolda Keidošiūtė and a discussion between her and actress Severija Janušauskaitė who plays a role in the film.
The film begins with a Lithuanian murdering the Jewish man Izaokas at the garage massacre in Kaunas in 1941. The perpetrator is haunted by visions of the crime and an increasing sense of guilt for years afterwards.
The screening is in honor of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust proclaimed by UNESCO in 2005 on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army in 1945. That anniversary is Monday.
The film is in Lithuanian.
Time: 4:00 P.M., Sunday, January 26
Place: Litvak Museum, Pylimo street no. 4A, Vilnius
Natalja Cheifec’s discussion club meets via internet at 5:30 this Thursday, January 23, with the topic of health and medicine. She will discuss 33 recommendations by Maimonides on how to stay healthy into old age, including the relationship between physical and spiritual health, the place of vegetarianism within the Jewish worldview, and much more information on avoiding illness and maintaining a healthy mind.
To receive zoom credentials, click here.