Announcements – Page 43 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Kaunas Synagogue Vandalized with Heil Hitler Graffiti

The entrance to the Choral Synagogue in Kaunas was vandalized with a Heil Hitler inscription in black paint. The desecration was discovered Saturday morning and was likely committed during the foregoing night.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky says this anti-Semitic attack against the synagogue in Kaunas confirms attacks on Jews are continuing. There have been five in just the last few months in Vilnius, Kaunas and Šiauliai. Despite criminal investigations, no one has been brought to account so far.

Police spokesman Ramūnas Matonis told BNS said the incidents were undoubtedly anti-Semitic. He said investigations have been started on sowing ethnic discord.

LJC chairwoman Kukliansky said the attacks coming just before important Lithuanian Jewish events were especially surprising.

2019-11-252019-11-29

Goodwill Foundation Announcement on Holocaust Restitution

November 22, 2019

Press Release

Regional Consultation on Restitution of Holocaust-Era Assets

At the beginning of December a regional conference on the restitution of Holocaust-era assets will be held in Vilnius. The experiences of returning assets of European countries will be reviewed and well-known historians will present their research about what happened in Lithuania during WWII.

The conference is dedicated to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Terezin declaration. In 2009, 47 countries, Lithuania among them, signed the document in Praha and announced a program of activities directed at securing assistance, compensation and commemoration of the memory of the victims of the Nazis. It’s noteworthy these countries stressed the importance of ensuring communal and individual property restitution.

“Noting the importance of restituting communal and individual immovable property that belonged to the victims of the Holocaust (Shoah) and other victims of Nazi persecution, the Participating States urge that every effort be made to rectify the consequences of wrongful property seizures, such as confiscations, forced sales and sales under duress of property, which were part of the persecution of these innocent people and groups, the vast majority of whom died heirless,” the Terezin declaration says.

2019-11-22

Presentation of the Gaon Code

You’re invited to a presentation of the adventure novel the Gaon Code at 6:00 P.M. on November 20 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. The novel stems from a Lithuanian man’s desire to demonstrate the significance of Litvaks in Lithuanian and world history. The book presents in an easily readable form numerous facts and stories about the Jewish communities of Vilnius, Želva and Ukmergė and about their contributions to learning and history.

Author Rytis Sabas and Lithuanian historian and journalist Rimvydas Valatka will discuss the book and its inspiration.

Rytis Sabas is also a journalist from Vilnius interested in history. He has travelled extensively including in Bosnia. Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The book is an adventure including a plethora of historical fact and some light fiction. While it attempts to show the grandeur and influence of the Vilna Gaon, it’s intended more to showcase Litvak history and the Litvak heritage. It’s aimed at outsiders, readers who might not know much about Lithuanian Jews.

The book is written in Lithuanian and the presentation will be conducted in Lithuanian. For more information, call 8 678 81 514.

2019-11-192019-11-22

Lithuanian Jewish Community Hopes for Peace for Jews in Israel on Global Sabbath

The Israeli military is attempting to stop Hamas from joining in on acts of aggression by Islamic Jihad. The search for peace is on. Jews in southern Israel feel insecure and despite the announcement of a cease-fire the fighting continues with schools closed across the region including in Ashkelon, Sderot and Netivot. Communities near the border with the Gaza Strip fear a new attack out of Gaza.

A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces said Islamic Jihad is continuing hostilities and that the number of rockets fired today, November 15, had already reached 250.

This Friday evening Jews around the world are joining the Shabat Project’s global sabbath celebration intended to celebrate Jewish unity.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes peace and tranquility for Jews living in Israel and hopes the truce announced before the sabbath will hold.

Lithuanian Jews will mark the sabbath this evening at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius.

2019-11-152019-11-27

Survey of Anti-Semitism in the European Union

Dear friends and colleagues,

Tomorrow, 81 years ago, the Nazi regime ordered a concentrated pogrom against Jewish communities. At least 91 Jews were murdered, hundreds of synagogues were burnt down and thousands of Jewish-owned businesses and houses were looted. Krytasllnacht or the Night of Broken Glass would be remembered as the beginning of the Holocaust and the extermination of six million Jews. More than 75 years after the Holocaust some prefer to think anti-Semitism has been banished from our societies, yet as we witness again and again violence and murder inspired by a hatred of Jews, we can see that anti-Semitism remains deeply ingrained in Europe. The anti-Semitic attack last month on the synagogue in Halle, Germany, once again reminded us anti-Semitism remains a threat to our European values and that we must remember we have responsibilities arising from our shared history.

2019-11-11

World Sabbath Celebration November 15

The Vilnius Jewish Religious Community invites you to take part in the Shabbat Project’s 2019 global sabbath celebration November 15, starting at 4:00 P.M. at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius. Come celebrate the sabbath together with millions of Jews around the world. Sabbath favorites will be served following the service.

South Africa’s Rabbi Warren Goldstein began the global sabbath celebrations in 2013. The goal of the international project is to bring Jews around the world together, to remind them of our roots and to get them involved in the community.

2019-11-112019-11-25

Come Celebrate Simchat Torah

This marks the end of the Jewish New Year cycle. On the 23rd of Tishrei we celebrate the last but happiest of the New Year holidays, Simchat Torah. The name itself says this is a day we should be happy together. Simchat Torah is a holiday symbolizing the unity of our people, independent of age or religiosity. Simchat Torah is the day we realize we are one family, sharing the bond of faith and love of the Most High.

We wish you a happy and joyful 5780 in the name of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, the Vilnius Jewish Religious Community and the Lithuanian Jewish Religious Association. Everyone is invited to carrying of the Torah and a shared meal at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius at 7:00 P.M. on October 21.

Faina Kukliansky, Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky and Simas Levinas

2019-10-21

Yossi Levy’s Love Peddlers Published in Lithuanian

Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Yossi Avni-Levy isn’t just a seasoned diplomat, he’s also an accomplished Israeli writer. One of his short stories was the basis for a film in 2013 and his “Man Without a Shadow” is currently being filmed. Now his novel “Love Peddlers” (“Rochlei haAhavot,” Hebrew, 2016) has been published in Lithuanian.

According to the Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature:

A couple returns to their apartment in Tel Aviv with a tiny baby wrapped in a blanket. They are welcomed by the grandmother who showers them with candies and the grandfather who heaps blessings upon them. Far away, in time and space, a frightened, handsome Jewish lad sets out on the journey of his life, a journey to the maze of alleys of the legendary city of Herat in Afghanistan. What is the thread that connects the boy slipping away from school so that he can watch the dancers in their colorful garb cavorting in the marketplaces, to Assaf, an Israeli professor of linguistics, a gay man, a new father, who wants to be reconciled with his own father?

Yossi Avny-Levy’s novel is an emotional confession of a father to his newly born first son who embodies a mixture of different cultures, an intimate confession through which he tries to trace his own identity. Assaf unfolds the saga of his family, beginning in Afghanistan in the 1940s, and reveals the story of his father and in particular the story of his father’s younger brother, Assaf’s uncle, who was a dancer in the Herat marketplaces and a lover of a Pashtun man.

It is a book that is both sad and amusing, a powerful and humane love story which will resonate all around the globe – a constricted, unspoken love between a son and his father, an unrestrained love of a child for his mother, and a tortuous love between two fathers. It is also a story of love for a world that is no more, for its colors and fragrances, studded with characters who are both delightful and heart-breaking. In his inimitable and sensual language, Avni-Levy leads the reader through the poverty-stricken and yet magnificent streets of a dusty Israeli town of the 1960s to the picturesque streets of a remote city in Afghanistan, where humans and demons live side by side.

2019-10-18

Special Guests from America and Israel at Kaunas Ghetto Concert

DELFI.lt

Many Lithuanians know something about the ghetto in Kaunas where tens of thousands of Jews were imprisoned from 1941 to 1944. Nonetheless, even if it’s not a secret, what life was like there behind the walls is a page of history which hasn’t been considered yet. One event in the Kaunas 2022 history festival will spotlight one of the ghetto’s leading lights, the Kaunas ghetto orchestra. On October 20 the music of the “Final Concert” at the Kaunas cultural center will mirror history: performed in the same building where the Gestapo was headquartered during World War II.

Full Lithuanian text here.

2019-10-11

Children Invited to Sukkot Event

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Ilan and Dubi Clubs invite children to a fun gathering at 1:00 P.M. on October 13 called “From Rosh Hashanah to Sukkot.” We’ll “dwell” in the Sukkot booth and have traditional Jewish snacks and treats. Lego engineering teachers will be on hand for building and playing. Come to the Ilan Club at the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Registration is required, so call 8 601 46656 or send an email to sofja@lzb.lt

2019-10-10

Yom Kippur at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius

Yom Kippur ceremonies will be held at the Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street no. 39, Vilnius, according to the following schedule:

Monday, October 7:

6:30 P.M. preparations for Yom Kippur, lessons on the holy day, Kaparot ritual

Tuesday, October 8:

5:30 P.M. dinner before fast
6:10 Kol Nidre
6:20 fast begins

Wednesday, October 9:

9:30 A.M. Shakharit
12 noon Izkor
5:30 P.M. Minkha
6:30 Niila
7:29 fast ends, dinner

2019-10-042019-10-08

Holocaust Commemoration in Švenčionys October 6

There will be a Holocaust commemoration held in Švenčionys on Sunday, October 6. At 11:00 A.M. there will be a remembrance ceremony at the Menorah sculpture in the city park. At 12 noon there will be a commemoration at the mass murder site at the Švenčionėliai military base in Platumai village.

For those wishing to attend, a bus will depart from the Lithuanian Jewish Community at 9:00 A.M. Sunday. Register by calling +370 5 261 3003 or writing info@lzb.lt

Moisej Šapiro, chiarman
Švenčionys Jewish Community

2019-10-042019-10-07

Concert to Celebrate 90th Birthday of Grigoriy Kanovitch

A series of several concerts with world-famous performers, composers and material from the works of Grigoriy Kanovitch will be held to celebrate Kanovitch’s 90th birthday. Kanovitch is the author of a number of classics in Jewish literature and is a recipient of the Lithuanian National Art and Culture Prize. Lithuanian Jewish Community members will receive a 40% discount on the ticket price.

For more information, see here.

2019-10-03

President Congratulates Lithuanian Jewish Community on New Year

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda greeted Lithuanian and European Jewish communities, the people of Israel and everyone around the globe celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Watch the video here.

2019-09-292019-10-03

Rosh Hashanah 5780 at the Choral Synagogue

Rosh Hashanah 5780 at the Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street no. 39, Vilnius:

Sunday, September 29

6:00 P.M. Minkha/Maariv, prayers, Kiddush/pastry table

Monday, September 30

9:30 A.M. Shakharit (morning prayer)

12:00 noon Blowing of the shofar horn. Special souvenir for participants and new 5780 Jewish calendar

12:30 P.M. Musaf (prayer)

5:00 P.M. Tashlikh (prayer at the river, Bokšto street no. 19, Vilnius)

6:00 P.M. Rosh Hashanah celebration: blowing of shofarhorn, presentation of new Jewish calendar, treats, special Rosh Hashanah souvenir

7:51 P.M. Maariv prayer

Tuesday, October 1

9:30 A.M. Shakharit
12:00 noon Blowing of shofar
6:30 P.M. Blowing of shofar horn (at Bokšto street no. 19 with entrance from Kazimiero street no. 12)

2019-09-27

Traditions of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year

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The most iconic image of the Rosh Hashanah or Jewish New Year celebration is the blowing of the shofar horn. It is a ram’s horn and it is difficult to blow it correctly. The shofar reminds believers of the coming Day of Judgment. Jews gather at synagogue and read prayers for two days during the holiday.

An important Rosh Hashanah tradition is to take clothing to a body of water and shake the pockets out, symbolically ridding oneself of remaining sin. A special prayer is read for this. The ritual is called tashlikh (Hebrew “cast off”).

The main holiday treat on Rosh Hashanah is the pomegranate. This is replaced by apples and honey in Lithuania where the fruit doesn’t grow to maturity. The honey is intended to make the coming year sweet. In fact the salutation “sweet year” is a requisite part of the well-wishing involved in the holiday.

Often guests are served fish and it must have a head, because Rosh Hashanah literally translates as “head of the year.” A round loaf of challa bread is baked for the dinner table symbolizing the cyclicity of the year. On Rosh Hashanah G_d decides a person’s destiny for the coming year, in this case 5780. There is a Rosh Hashanah greeting, “khatima tova,” which is a wish for success you will be written into the Book of Life.

The tenth day of Rosh Hashanah is Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. The Torah tells us not to do anything on that except reflect on our actions over the preceding year. It is the time when a final decision will be made regarding the destiny of the individual over the coming year. Jews wish one another “gmar khatima tova,” good luck with the final inscription.

The Vilnius Jewish Religious Community, the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Goodwill Foundation greet you with “shana tova u’metuka,” or “sweet new year,” and hope to see you at synagogue!

Simas Levinas, chairman
Vilnius Jewish Religious Community

2019-09-272019-10-03

Attention Eleventh and Twelfth Graders: English Lessons

Attention all eleventh and twelfth graders: there will be additional English lessons for 11th and 12th graders beginning in October. The goal is to help students prepare for exams, both the state exam and IELTS, and to increase general English facility in areas such as grammar, speaking and reading.

The major gaps in knowledge are usually found in the field of grammar and we will spend most of the class time on English grammar, including theory, practice and activities. Children and young people will get to know English grammar structures and will have the chance to use them.

The maximum class size per group is limited to 12 students. There will be two lessons every week. The teacher is Viačeslav Mlynkovskij, an English teacher at the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius. Classes will be held at the Lithuanian Jewish Community located at Pylimo street no. 4 with easy access by foot and mass transit.

Schedule:

Monday, 6:30 P.M.
Wednesday, 6:30 P.M.

The cost is 48 euros per month (comprising 8 lessons). Individual lessons cost 7 euros apiece. To register call 8 652 05992 or write mlynkovskij@gmail.com

2019-09-262019-10-02

Rosh Hashanah on September 29

Israeli ambassador Yossi Levy, LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and designer and architect Victoria Sideraitë-Alon hold up the new Jewish calendar for 5780.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community has published a new Jewish calendar for 5780 as we prepare for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This year’s calendar features Lithuanian synagogues past and present.

The year 5780/2020 contains some anniversaries of global significance to Jews, including the 300th birthday of the Vilna Gaon and the 580th anniversary of the building of the Great Synagogue in Vilnius.

LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky calls for everyone to come together for a noble cause, to work together to protect the small surviving inheritance of Litvak culture for our grandchildren and the future.

2019-09-252019-09-27