Announcements – Page 30 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Litvaks Who Came Back

The Martynas Mažvydas National Library and its Judaica Center will open an exhibit of photographs, present a book about and hold a discussion on Lithuanian Jews who came back to Lithuania from concentration camps on at 6:00 P.M. January 26. The event will be hosted by director of the Judaica Center Lara Lempertienė and the discussion panel will include several Lithuanian historians and academicians. The discussion will be held in Lithuanian.

“The main target of my searches was people’s faces,” Kęstutis Grigaliūnas, author of the book “Lietuvos žydai, grįžę iš nacių konclagerių” [Lithuanian Jews Who Returned from Nazi Concentration Camps] which will be presented, said in a press release on the library’s facebook page.

The library said the event is closed to people without proof of vaccination and that all faces must be covered by “at least an FFP2-level respirator,” except for people who are unable to cover their faces with such masks due to medical conditions, who must wear plexiglass face shields instead. The library also said attendees must use hand disinfectant and maintain physical distance at the event, and that registration is required.

2022-01-202022-01-20

Silvia Foti Book on Grandfather to be Launched at Vilnius Book Fair

Lithuanian publisher Kitos Knygos has announced the impending launch of SIlvia Foti’s book about her grandfather Jonas Noreika in Lithuanian under the title “Vėtra Lietaus šalyje” [Storm in the Rain Country].

“Journalist Silvija Kučėnaitė-Foti (born 1961) grew up in Chicago’s Lithuanian community hearing about her grandfather’s achievements fighting for Lithuania’s freedom. He was initiator of the June Uprising, imprisoned at the Stutthof camp by the Nazis and killed by the KGB when he returned to Lithuania,” Kitos Knygos wrote on their facebook page.

“Before she died, her mother asked Silvia to complete her mission, to commemorate General Storm in a book. Silvia agreed. Later when she was travelling in Lithuania she discovered people who believed Noreika as head of the Šiauliai district during the Nazi occupation perpetrated Holocaust crimes. Silvia, who considered her grandfather an important hero of the Lithuanian nation, found this incredible: could her family really have hidden from her salient facts in Noreika’s biography?

“In this literary memoir the author presents her 20-year-long investigation of her grandfather’s actions in 1941. This is the story of the author’s own difficult road to learning the truth about her family. Foti relies upon Noreika’s correspondence, orders signed by him, documents issued by the Lithuanian Activists Front and KGB and other documents. The book includes compelling portraits and recollections from Noreika’s fellow travellers.

“This will be an authorized and checked edition. Martas Geležauskas translated from English, Darius Pocevičius translated Russian-language KGB documents and Asta Bučienė and Aira Naiuronytė edited the text. Kazimieras Dainovskis did design.”

Lithuanian publisher’s facebook page here.

2022-01-19

Progressive Judaism Kabalat Shabbat via Internet

A Kabalat Shabbat ceremony will be conducted by internet at 6:00 P.M. on January 21. To register contact Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt

2022-01-192022-01-20

YIVO Vilna Collection Online

Dear Faina,

Today, I am delighted to announce that The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (YIVO) completed the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections Project (EBYVOC), a historic 7-year, $7 million international initiative to process, conserve and digitize YIVO’s divided prewar library and archival collections.

These materials, divided by World War II and located in New York and Vilnius, Lithuania, have now been digitally reunited for the first time.

Comprising approximately 4.1 million pages of archival documents and books, the EBYVOC Project is an international partnership between YIVO, the Lithuanian Central State Archives, the Martynas Mavydas National Library of Lithuania, and the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.

The completion of the EBYVOC Project is an epic milestone in the preservation of Eastern European Jewish history and culture. It was completed on schedule and within budget, providing a global audience access to these treasures through a dedicated web portal free-of-charge. We invite you to explore this remarkable collection at https://vilnacollections.yivo.org/.

2022-01-17

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 4:04 P.M. on Friday, January 14, and concludes at 5:27 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

2022-01-142022-01-14

Tu b’Shvat

Monday, January 17, is the Jewish holiday of Tu b’Shvat, the 15th day of the month of Shvat, the New Year for trees also known as Israeli Arbor Day. It is traditional to eat of the shvat ha’minim (seven species endemic to the Land of Israel): wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Hag sameakh!

2022-01-14

YIVO Director Thanks LJC on Milestone Achievement

Dear Faina,

Today YIVO announces the completion of the Vilna Collection Project–4.1 million pages of documents and books online for people around the world–and you have been such a tremendous part of it. You introduced me to so many people, helped shepherd our grant through the Goodwill Foundation and advised on so many things. Thank you. This project truly opens new doorways for millions of people around the world. Without your support and enthusiasm I am not sure we would have been successful. I hope that when I am in Vilnius … we will be able to celebrate together.

Here is a link to the website: https://vilnacollections.yivo.org/
With my warmest good wishes for a healthy, happy, peaceful New Year,

Jonathan

Jonathan Brent
Executive Director/CEO
The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

2022-01-112022-01-11

Kabbalat Shabat

A Kabbalat Shabat ceremony will be held to usher in the Sabbath under the tenets of progressive Judaism at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius at 6:00 P.M. on January 14, followed by a glass of wine and challa bread. To register, write Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt or call 8 672 50699.

2022-01-11

Discussion on Jewish Contributions to Lithuanian Statehood

Arkadijus Vinokuras will moderate a discussion on Jewish contributions to Lithuanian statehood from 1918 to 1940 and from 1988 to 2022 as part of the #ŽydiškiPašnekesiai series of talks at the Bagel Shop Café in the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius at 5:00 P.M. on January 12. This is the eve of January 13, an important date in modern Lithuania’s history, the morning on which Soviet tanks attacked and killed citizens defending the Vilnius television tower in 1991. Participants are to include father of Lithuanian independence Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and Lithuanian MP and signatory to the 1990 Independence Act Emanuelis Zingeris, among others.

Musical accompaniment is to be provided by Vytas Mikeliūnas on violin and Darius Mažintas on piano performing Lithuanian and Jewish songs. The discussion will be held in Lithuanian. Those wishing to attend may come in person or watch the live-feed on the LJC facebook page.

2022-01-10

Joint Lithuanian-YIVO Digitization Project Complete

New York-based YIVO has announced the completion of a joint project to digitize the Edward Blank collection in what is known as the Edward Blank Vilna On-Line Collections Project. The historic initiative took seven years and $7 million to complete. The goal was to sort, conserve and digitize pre-war collections from the YIVO library and archives, and to make them available to everyone online.

The project was carried in concert with the Lithuanian Central State Archive, the Martynas Mažvydas Lithuanian National Library and the Vrublevskiai Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.

Ruth Levine, the director of the board of YIVO, called the completion of the project a new phase in the modern history of the YIVO institute and part of their main mission. She said heroes and martyrs gave their lives to preserve the books and documents in the collection, and expressed gratitude to the Lithuanian partners in the project.

2022-01-102022-01-11

Launch of New Book of Stories about Jewish Vilnius

The Vilnius Jewish Public Library will hold the launch of the new book Чаепитие с попугаем [Tea with Parrots] at 6:00 P.M. on Thursday, January 20. The book was published by the Lithuanian publishing house Kitos Knygos.

This is the author Chona Leibovičius’s first book of short stories, where he tells in his own voice the story of an entire generation of Vilna Jews, many of whom are no longer with us and many others having left to live around the world. The time-period is from the 1950s to the 1980s when the old city was undergoing serious changes, when new suburbs were being built by the Soviets and outside powers were tearing apart the fabric of the city undergoing rapid demographic change.

The author and others will be at the book launch. Others include Donatas Valančiauskas who is the director of Lithuanian state television’s Jewish affairs program Menora and Kitos Knygos author and representative Darius Pocevičius. The library is located in the courtyard at Gedimino prospect no. 24 in Vilnius.

More about the book in Lithuanian and Russian here.

2022-01-102022-01-10

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 3:52 P.M. on Friday, January 7, and concludes at 5:17 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

2022-01-072022-01-07

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 3:44 P.M. on Friday, December 31, and concludes at 5:08 P.M. on Saturday, January 1, in the Vilnius region.

2021-12-312021-12-31

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 3:38 P.M. on Friday, December 24, and concludes at 5:03 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

2021-12-24

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 3:34 P.M. on Friday, December 17, and concludes at 4:58 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

2021-12-172021-12-17

Kaunas Jewish Community to Hold Concert to Commemorate Rescuers

The Kaunas Jewish Community is planning an evening of classical music dedicated to those who rescued Jews during the Holocaust at 6:00 P.M. on December 27 at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. Actor and director Aleksandras Rubinovas will speak about the Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews 80 years ago. The event is free to the public but prior registration is required at https://forms.gle/1vzWccjif3yduBFv6

For more information call+370 652 19204 or write ieva0102@yahoo.com

2021-12-162021-12-20