Announcements

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

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:39 P.M. on Friday, June 14, and concludes at 11:30 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Litvak Literature Conference

Litvak Literature Conference

The Vilnius Jewish Public Library will host a conference on Litvak literature on Sunday, June 22, at 1:00 P.M. Yuri Greisman, Arkadijus Vinokuras, Elena Suodienė, Samoilas Lormanas, Leonida Kriščiūnienė and others will give presentations in Lithuanian. The Vilnius Jewish Public Library is located at Gedimino prospect no. 24 in Vilnius.

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Ilan Club Ending Season

Ilan Club Ending Season

After a fun, intriguing and crazily fantastic season for the Ilan Club for children, the closing ceremony should be just as much fun. It happens this Sunday. To find out where and when, register by sending an email to levickajasimona@gmail.com. Please register by June 8.

Let’s Celebrate Shavuot

Let’s Celebrate Shavuot

The Saul Kagan Welfare Center and the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s social services department greet you on the up-coming holiday of Shavuot and invite members and clients to a holiday concert. The Jewish song and dance ensemble Simcha from the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium promise a fun and interesting experience.

Registration required by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or by calling (+370) 678 81514.

Time: 1:00 P.M., Monday, June 10
Place: Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

Remembering David Brenner

Remembering David Brenner

Viktor David Brenner (1871-1924) is probably best known as the artist responsible for the Lincoln one-cent coin design, the U.S. penny, but was also a versatile artist, sculptor and designer with many works to his credit. Back in 2016 late novelist and long-time director of the Vilna Gaon Museum Markas Zingeris spoke at the unveiling of a plaque commemorating Brenner in the latter’s home town Šiauliai saying the commemoration of the famous Litvak V. D. Brenner gave rise to wider thoughts on historical memory, identity, national traditions and culture.

There will be a commemoration at the commemorative plaque on the Šiauliai Bank building in Šiauliai at 12:00 noon on June 12, with plaque authors and creators Vaidotas Janulis and Jonas Nekrašius, with a musical interlude by violinists from a local music school.

At 5:30 P.M. the same day the Šiauliai Jewish Community at P. Višinskio street no. 24 will open an exhibit of reproductions of works by Brenner including coins, medallions and bas-reliefs from the collection of the M. K. Čiurlionis Museum, with a discussion over tea and coffee moderated by Jonas Nekrašius. Šiauliai Bank is sponsoring these events.

Jerusalem Day

Jerusalem Day

Today, the 28th day of the month of Iyar on the Hebrew calendar, is the Israeli national holiday Jerusalem Day, commemorating Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War in 1967 and the return of the ancient capital to the Jewish state.

It has been declared a minor religious holiday by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and it is a holiday on which Israelis get a day off work. It is also a day when schools, government offices, and many businesses are closed.

Art Studio Ends Season with Exhibit

Art Studio Ends Season with Exhibit

The Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Art Studio under the tutelage of master painter Raimondas Savickas is ending the season with an exhibit of works by participants. Everyone is welcome, but registration is required by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Friday, June 7
Place: Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:26 P.M. on Friday, May 30, and concludes at 11:10 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Call for Volunteers to Clean Up Jewish Cemetery

Call for Volunteers to Clean Up Jewish Cemetery

You are invited to volunteer for what has become a beautiful tradition sponsored by the US embassy in Vilnius and various volunteers: to help maintain the old Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania. This time we’ll work on the old Jewish cemetery in the village of Turgeliai in the Šalčininkai region of Lithuania south of Vilnius.

Time: 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., Sunday, June 2
Place: Old Jewish cemetery in Turgeliai in the Šalčininkai region
Link: https://shorturl.at/QILlI

Everyone is invited to take part. Come show your respect and concern for the history of the Jews of Lithuania and for Lithuania. It’s a small sacrifice, only a few hours, and no heavy lifting is involved!

Shalom Culture and Music Festival Presents Wagon of Shoes

Shalom Culture and Music Festival Presents Wagon of Shoes

At 7:00 P.M. on June 4 the Shalom Culture and Music Festival presents a concert at the Church of St. Kotryna (aka St. Catherine) in Vilnius, with performances by opera soloist Rafailas Karpis, violinist Boris Kirzner and the Vilnius State Choir conducted by Artūras Dambrauskas. This will be the first performance in Lithuania of “Wagon of Shoes” by Lee Kesselman. The concert program is to include works by Jewish composers for solo and choir.

“Wagon of Shoes” is a work for choir, soloist, piano and violin by Lee Kesselman based on the poem by Abraham Sutzkever, Yiddish poet, Jewish partisan and survivor of the Vilnius ghetto. The Jewish composer lives in the USA and wrote the piece for the 700th anniversary of Vilnius under commission by the Lithuanian Consulate in Chicago and the Dainava Choir of the Lithuanian Community in Chicago. The premiere took place in June of 2022 in Chicago.

The Shalom Culture and Music Festival is being held in eleven Lithuanian cities and towns from May to October of 2024. The half-year tour will feature classical and contemporary music, klezmer, improvisational jazz, exhibitions and artistic activities. Musicians and singers from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Germany and Israel will participate in the festival. This year’s festival program includes over 20 concerts in concert halls in Vilnius, Kaunas, Šiauliai and Palanga, the Old Zapyškis Church, synagogues in Alytus, Joniškis, Kėdainiai, Pakruojis and Žiežmariai and at the former Telšiai yeshiva.

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Intensive Yiddish Course 2024

Intensive Yiddish Course 2024

Embark on a journey to learn a 1000-year-old language with a rich cultural heritage in Vilnius, the fabled “Jerusalem of North!”

You will meet and learn from world-names in Yiddish education: professors Avrom Lichtenboim (Argentina), Dov-Ber Kerler (US) and Anna Verschik (Estonia). Apart from directly learning Yiddish, You will get tons of additional and fun educational events–museum and cultural site tours, film-screenings and Yiddish song–every afternoon!

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Lithuanian Makabi Sporting Extravaganza in June

Lithuanian Makabi Sporting Extravaganza in June

The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club invites families with children to their summer sporting holiday at the Pailgio Perlas recreational site June 8 and 9. The two days of sport include the traditional competitions and fun, but this year there will also be a Makabi Challenge including orienteering, puzzles and tug-of-war.

Lithuania’s top players Ignas and Gerda Šišanovas and Rafaelis Gimelšteinas will be there to teach ping-pong. Registration is required before June 4 by sending an email to info.maccabilt@gmail.com.

Cost:

• Children under 7 free;
• aged 7-12 with overnight stay 25 euros;
• 13 and older with overnight accomodation 40 euros;
• 7-12 without overnight 15 euros;
• 13 and older without overnight stay 25 euros.

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Ystreet Camp on Seaside in Latvia

Ystreet Camp on Seaside in Latvia

Jewish children and young people aged 7 to 17 (in grades 2 to 11) are invited to attend a varied set of classes from singing to handicrafts on the Baltic Sea in Latvia in comfortable conditions under the tutelage of qualified adult consultants. Participants are expected from the Baltic states and beyond, and space is limited.

The camp will take place from June 26 to July 4, for nine days and eight nights, at the Minhauzena Unda Hotel (https://www.hotelunda.com) just outside Riga. The cost is 450 euros per participant with payment plans available, and 390 euros if you register before May 20.

For more information and to register, call +371 2918 7555 (Ilona) or +370 6300 3388 (Alina), or send an email to info@ystreet.lv. The YStreet organization is also on facebook and Instagram:

www.facebook.com/YStreet/
www.instagram.com/ystreetriga/

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 8:52 P.M. on Friday, May 10, and concludes at 10:23 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Lithuanians will vote in national elections held this Sunday.

Next Quiz

Next Quiz

Those who like to exercise their mental faculties are invited to the next “Kas, kur, kada?” quiz with Irina Slutsker as MC. Registration is required by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or by calling (+370) 678 81514 by next Wednesday, May 15. This time there is also a participation fee of 5 euros, which can be paid by bank transfer to the Lithuanian Jewish Community, account number LT 06 7044 0600 0575 7425 with the word “PROTMŪŠIS” indicated in the appropriate line. The quiz will be conducted in Lithuanian.

Time: 7:00 P.M., Friday, May 17
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius