Next Tuesday, April 26, Hebrew classes will not be held.
They will resume and take place at the usual time on May 10 and May 19.
The final class in the current course taught by Yehuda Vagneris will be held May 26.
Prayer Schedule for Choral Synagogue in Vilnius
Morning prayer
Saturday and Sunday: 9:00 A.M.
Workdays: 8:30 A.M.
Evening prayer
Workdays: 7:30 P.M.
American Virtuosi Concert in Vilnius
Don’t miss your chance to experience the American Virtuosi and Jerusalem of Lithuania performing live at the Vilnius Choral Synagogue Thursday, April 21 at 5:00 P.M.! The address is Pylimo street no. 39 and the concert is free and open to the public.
Some photos of their visit at the Lithuanian Jewish Community are available here.
Pope Visit to Israel Photo Exhibit Goes to Kaunas
An exhibition of photographs documenting Pope Francis’s visit to Israel in 2014 will be placed on display for public viewing in Kaunas at the Old Town Hall there on Wednesday, April 20. The exhibit contains 20 photographs illustrating Pope Francis’s visit and meetings in Israel. An opening ceremony for the exhibit is planned for 4:00 P.M. on April 20 to be attended by Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas, Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon, Kaunas archbishop Lionginas Virbalas and Kaunas mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis.
Francis’s visit in 2014 came 50 years after Pope Paul VI’s historic visit.
The mobile exhibit was the result of an initiative by the Israeli embassy in Lithuania and has been show around the country in large and small towns. The Kaunas showing is scheduled to end in mid-May.
Lesson about Passover with Rabbi Samson Isaacson
The Student Union of the LJC invites you to attend a lecture by Rabbi Samson Isaacson about Passover this Sunday at 4:45 P.M. at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius.
We will conduct our own kind of exodus from a room decorated with Egyptian motids immediately following (ExitRoom.lt).
A good time is guaranteed.
Registration required. Send your full name to LUJSINFO@gmail.com
or see:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1065169300210620/
The Student Union is also holding a “youth seder” at 8:45 P.M. on April 23 at the kosher Rishon restaurant. Entrance is 5 euros.
Event program:
Havdalah ceremony with Rabbi Samson Isaacson;
delicious dinner with the tradition four cups of wine;
hunt for/theft of the afikoman;
reading of the haggadah and much more!
Space is limited so please register by April 20.
http://apklausa.lt/f/pesach-sederis-xkebhyc/answers/new.fullpage
For more information contact:
lujsinfo@gmail.com
869227326
Meet the American Virtuosi
The Destinies series of talks will host an evening with the American Virtuosi musical ensemble moderated by professor Leonidas Melnikas. The event will be moderated in Russian and entry is free to the public. The event will be held at 6:00 P.M. on Tuesday, April 19 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius.
Passover Seder
The Lithuanian Jewish Community will hold a Passover seder on April 22, 2016. It will be held at the Conti Hotel in Vilnius (Raugyklos street No. 7) and will start at 9:00 P.M. Rabbi Samson Isaacson will lead the event.
Tickets are now sold out.
For more information, contact:
telephone 867881514, email zanas@sc.lzb.lt
Passing Out Matzo for Passover at the LJC Social Center
Matzo for Passover being distributed at the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Social Center.
Children’s Chess Competition
11:00 A.M., April 9
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Rositsan and Maccabi Chess and Checkers Club
invite you to a children’s chess competition.
The match is dedicated to the memory of Vladas Mikėnas
Children up to age 10 will participate. The competition will take place at Kaštonų street No. 2, Vilnius (at the Children’s Chess School)
Tournament director: FIDE master Boris Rositsan, senior referee/judge: Ričardas Fichmanas
To register or for more information, contact: info@metbor.lt or telephone +3706 5543556
Amercian Virtuosi to Play Panevėžys
The Panevėžys Musical Theater
Nepriklausomybės [Independence] square No. 8
5:30 P.M., April 20, 2016
Concert
Music: The Best Bridge between All Nations
The American Virtuosi ensemble:
Emmanuel Borowsky on violin, Frances Borowsky on cello, Elizabeth Borowsky on piano, Charles Borowsky on harmonica and voice.
Jerusalem of Lithuania ensemble musicians to perform at the concert:
Boris Traub on violin, Henrikas Marcinkus on alto violin and Valentinas Kaplūnas on cello.
Program:
Day One: Faustas Latėnas – Borisas Traubas. “Jerusalem of Lithuania,” musical score for Grigorijus Kanovičius’s drama “Nusišypsok mums, Viešpatie!” [“Smile upon us, O Lord!”]. Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911) – Five pieces (an adaptation by Boris Traub). Luigi Boccerini, quintet, “Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid” [“Night Music of the Streets of Madrid”].
Day Two: Max Bruch, Scottish Fantasy, op. 46, parts 2 and 3. Francis Poulenc, Sonata for cello, FP 143, parts 2 and 3. “Music from around the World” medley by the American Virtuosi.
Lithuanian concerts by the American Virtuosi supported by:
Matzo to be Given to Members
Dear members of the Vilnius Jewish Community,
Greetings on the upcoming holiday of Passover!
We are distributing matzo to VJC members again this year free of charge. Please pick up your matzo package from 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. on workdays from April 4 to April 11 at room no. 201 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community.
Each member is to receive one 1 kilogram package. You must provide identification or a VJC member’s card to receive the package.
Members of the Social Club are receiving matzo separately from 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. in the computer room on the first floor from April 4 to 15.
This is also a good time for those who need to pay their membership dues to do so, from 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. in room 209, or by transferring funds to the Vilnius Jewish Community, institutional code 291199610, bank account LT137044060000908075, bank code 70440. Please indicate for whom the membership fees are being paid.
LJC and Rositsan and Maccabi Elite Checkers and Chess Club Chess Championship
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Rositsan and Maccabi Elite Checkers and Chess Club invite you to a chess championship open to the public at 11:00 A.M. on April 3.
At 11:00 A.M. on April 10 there will be a chess tournament dedicated to the memory of chess master Donatas Lapienis.
Both events are to take place at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo No. 4, Vilnius.
Boris Rositsan, FIDE master, will direct both competitions.
For more information and to register, contact:
info@metbor.lt
telephone +3706 5543556
Lox on Bagels: An Answer to Eggs Benedict?
A Bit about Bagels
The history of the bagel is surrounded by myth and legend but seems to begin in the 12th century. One version has it that a Church ban on commercial Jewish bakeries was responsible for its appearance. In 1264 Polish grand duke Bolesław the Pious issued his Statute of Kalisz or Charter for Jews of Grand Poland which allowed Jews to freely by, sell and touch bread in common with Christians. In response a group of Polish bishops forbade Christians from buying any food at all from Jews, as it were anathema. As Moses ben Israel Isserles put it in the 16th century” “it is preferable to live on dry bread and in peace in Poland” than to remain in better conditions in lands more dangerous for Jews. At some point Jews were allowed to work with bread which was boiled, and they created the bagel to comply with his ruling, according to this version. In 1610 the first mention appears of the word “bagel” in Yiddish in the written sources, in regulations issued by the Jewish council of Kraków, which stated that bagels were to be given as a gift to women in childbirth.
Whatever the case, the bagel was popular among Jews in Eastern Europe, and came with them to America in the 19th and 20th centuries.
New Issue of Bagel Shop Newsletter
An English translation of the new issue of the Bagel Shop newsletter is now available.
Please click BK_16_1_ENG_A4_screen for a PDF version.
Kaunas Jewish Community Purim Celebration
The Kaunas Jewish Community sends its Purim greetings to everyone and invites you to attend their combined Purim and Sabbath celebration on Friday, March 25.
Extra Day Off
LJC staff will get an additional day off on Thursday, March 24 for the Purim holiday. The community building will remain open as usual so if you need to come in to work for organizing events or other matters, you will be able to do so. Staff are also invited to attend the Purim celebration at the synagogue beginning at 6:00 P.M. Thursday.
Stories about Rabbis: Exhibit of Pastel Work
The Jewish Culture and Information Center’s Shofar Gallery (Mėsinių street no. 3, Vilnius) presented an exhibit of pastel works by Kęstutis Milkevičius called “Stories about Rabbis” March 17.
The collection on exhibit was formed at the initiative of the leader of the Kaunas Jewish religious community, Maushe Bairak. Artist Raimundas Majauskas commented on Milkevičius’s artworks:
“The old portraits of wise Jewish rabbis are suffused with time and come down to us from a modified Rembrandtesque chromatic environment. The artist is a master of line and composition. The individualized, artistically realistic works betraying a deep aesthetic foundation are part of the cultural and communal life of Kaunas and Lithuania.”
Litvak cultural heritage scholar Asia Gutermanaitė opened the exhibit. The opening including stories and interesting tales about rabbis. The exhibit will run until April 12.
Lecture Series
The Sunday lectures continue at 12:00 noon on March 20:
Subject: Sacred Text
by Rabbi Shimshon Daniel Isaacson
Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4
Purim Begins Evening of March 23 and Runs till March 25
Remember the Victims of the Children’s Aktion in Kaunas
A ceremony to mark the 72nd anniversary of the Children’s Aktion in the Kaunas ghetto will be held at 4:00 P.M. on March 25, 2016, at E. Ožeškienės street No. 13 in Kaunas. We will never forget the horror of that day when over 2,000 children were torn from their families and brutally murdered.