Community members are invited to a traditional Sabbath dinner accompanied by guitar music. There will be the traditional Sabbath prayer followed by dinner, and if you play guitar, or sing, feel free to join in the music afterwards. Bring your own guitar!
When: 6:30 P.M., April 8
Where: Bagel Shop Café
Cost: 15 euros
Registration: viljamas@lzb.lt, telephone number +37067250699
The second series of “Sunday school” #KinderTiš classes is beginning. Passover, one of the most important Jewish holidays, is coming. Not only should we know the traditions and significance of the Passover holy days, but we should also known how to prepare for the Passover seder. You are invited to come discuss Passover traditions at the Bagel Shop Café at 4:00 P.M. on April 14. And of course there will be a culinary lesson about Passover foods and ke’arah seder plate. We will also make matzo kugel together and will refresh our knowledge for making khremslakh, Passover pancakes.
Children aged 5 to 12 are invited to attend. While you’re waiting, we invite you to send us a letter telling us about your family’s traditional Passover dishes and what your favorites are. We are hoping to hold more classes more often in the #KinderTiš series of events.
To register, click here.
For more information, contact projects@lzb.lt
Arkadijus Vinokuras will lead a discussion on what Lithuania’s ethnic minority communities think about the Russian invasion of the Ukraine at 5:00 P.M. on Wednesday, April 13, at the Bagel Shop Café.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community has always maintained special ties with the Ukrainian Jewish community. In December last year we ordered matzo from the Ukrainian Jewish community which was supposed to be baked and certified kosher under the authority of chief Ukrainian rabbi Dov Yaakov Bleich and then packed and shipped in our original-style package.
We have received a query from Ukrainian Jewish community leaders in recent days asking whether they could return 9,000 euros already paid for this. While we appreciate their honesty and conscientiousness, our reply was that this constitutes a portion of our aid to the Ukrainian Jewish community and this money should be used for the needs of members of the Ukrainian Jewish community.
We reminded the Ukrainian Jewish community every Lithuanian Jewish family stands ready to help all Ukrainian Jews who need help.
We have a special telephone help hotline,+370 665 064 60, and may also be reached at ukraina@lzb.lt
The Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Bagel Shop Café is offering students and teachers the opportunity to learn Jewish cooking secrets in classes held every Thursday. The classes are intended for students in grades 5 to 10 and the cost is 12 euros per 60-minute class. For more information see the details in Lithuanian here.
Note: Postponed due to illness. A later date for the discussion will be announced.
With the majority of people in Lithuania appearing to support the Ukraine in the current conflict with Russia, Israel’s position doesn’t seem to make sense. At the same time, the majority population of Lithuania is questioning the Lithuania Jewish Community’s position regarding the war.
To address these questions and to discuss the atrocious current events coming out of the war, the #ŽydiškiPašnekesiai discussion club is holding its fifth round entitled “What do the Lithuanian ethnic minority communities think about Russia’s aggression against the Ukraine? The position of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and of Israel.”
The panel discussion will take place at the Bagel Shop Café located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius on Wednesday, March 16. You are invited to attend in person or watch on facebook. Speakers will include conservative Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris, cultural historian Violeta Davoliūtė, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and a surprise guest. Arkadijus Vinokuras will serve as moderator on the panel. The discussion will take place in the Lithuanian language.
For more information and to view live, see the announcement on facebook here.
Note: Postponed due to illness. A later date for the discussion will be announced.
Purim is coming up and as usual the Lithuanian Jewish Community is sponsoring multiple celebrations for all age-groups, including but not limited to the following three:
Purim celebration for seniors from the LJC Social Department starting at 1:00 P.M. on March 17. Register by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or call +37067881514;
Family Purim celebration at 6:30 P.M. on March 18 at the Bagel Shop Café with Rabbi Nathan Alfred, including reading the Book of Esther, Sabbath ceremony and food. Cost is 15 euros. Register by contacting Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt or +3067250699;
Purim carnival for children at 12 noon on March 20 with a traditional Purim shpil with the Fayerlakh musical ensemble and our favorite madrichs. Purim foods including Hamen tashn and special guests. Children expected to wear costumes. Register by contacting Margarita at margarita.kozevatova@gmail.com or +37061800577. The event is free.
Progressive Rabbi Nathan Alfred from Israel led a Kabbalat Shabat ceremony with about 50 members of the Lithuanian Jewish Community including our seniors and families with children. In the afternoon prior he attended the LJC Seniors Club Abi Men Zet Zich and sang the hymns to usher in the Sabbath. One of our oldest members, Libė Britaniskina, lit the Sabbath candles and the meeting concluded with songs in Hebrew and Yiddish. He led the prayer service and delivered the weekly Torah portion.
The opening of an exhibition of paintings by Sergei Liser called “Išlikę indai” [Surviving Vessels] was held January 30 at the Bagel Shop Café at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius with the painter and his family, many friends and some famous artists. LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Vilnius Art Academy rector and teacher Ieva Skauronė and LJC programs director Žana Skudovičienė welcomed visitors at the event.
“Surviving Vessels is my second individual exhibit. It’s strange tales about the history of dishes where the fates of people as well as dishes are intertwined. Dishes, like people, change in appearance over time–they mature, grow old and die, they change color and form, they wear out,” Sergei Liser said. “But sometimes they become members of the family, preserving important memories and pass biographies and stories on to us. And for that, we love and honor them, even when they get grey and old, break down and become dysfunctional.”
The exhibit will run till February 28 and the paintings are available for purchase.
The year 2021 reminded us all of the suffering and misfortune the people of Lithuania had to live through in the 20th century, finding themselves at the intersection of the interests of the world’s great powers. There were commemorations, conferences and exhibitions throughout Lithuania. Even so, we haven’t done all our homework to insure the preservation of historical memory and teaching the younger generation a deeper sense of history don’t merely become annual events, but an inalienable part of national politics where all institutions work towards a common goal in a coordinated way, so that the combined resources of the state and society work together according to a clear strategy.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Roma Social Center are beginning the implementation of a project called Young Leaders of the Jewish and Roma Communities for the Preservation of Historical Memory and Justice organized by Germany’s EVZ Foundation aimed at teaching the public the importance of the history of the Roma and Jewish communities with the goal of including and engaging the younger generation of both communities.
Do members of these communities feel safe living in their own country?
Arkadijus Vinokuras will host a discussion on the topic “Challenges of the Holocaust to Commemorative Culture and the Legal System” in Lithuanian as part of the #ŽydiskiPašnekesai series of discussions at 5:00 P.M. on February 9. The discussion will likely include a streaming video available via the Community’s facebook page.
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 28, followed by a glass of wine and challa bread. To register, write Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt or call 8 672 50699.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community is pleased to announce the opening of an exhibit of paintings by Sergei Liser called “Surviving Vessels.” The opening will be held at 3:00 P.M. on January 30 at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The exhibit will run till February 28.
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.
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.
Dear Community members,
An exceptional Hanukkah Evening: we’ll light the seventh Hanukkah candle while tasting and discussing wine.
Do you know which wine goes with what dish at the dinner table? Wine expert Edvinas Gurinas will be present at this wine tasting and you’ll learn which wine is appropriate for different dishes through tasting. Traditional Jewish snacks and dishes will be served. We’ll learn why some wine/food combinations work while others put a damper on taste and mood.
Please register by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt. Space is very limited. The event will take place at 5:00 P.M. on December 4at the Bagel Shop Café.
The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club, an associate member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, held their annual conference and presentation of the past several years’ activities at the Bagel Shop Café in Vilnius on November 21. Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Žakas Gercas moderated the meeting of members of the board, athletes and special guests. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman delivered a welcome speech and noted the significance of the Makabi club for the Lithuanian Jewish Community as an athletic and cultural movement. She invited Makabi members to participate more in Jewish cultural life and holiday celebrations and to celebrate their Jewish roots.
Makabi president Semionas Finkelšteinas presented a report on the club’s activities over the last three years, noting good results from the Maccabee Games in Budapest, the annual Fun Run and continual operation during the global virus panic.
It was quite a Sunday afternoon at the Lithuanian Jewish Community. We were not able to count the number of children in attendance nor the abundance of food made. We cooked, we baked, we sampled and we did it all over again numerous times. This was the fourth round of the Kinder Tish Sunday school activities. The chicken bullion–Jewish penicillin–was cooking in the pot since 8 in the morning. We’ll be meeting again in two weeks for the Miracle of Hanukkah. #BalabostaRiva
Fun is tricks, costumes, ghosts, pumpkins and screaming children.
Last Friday evening the third Kinder Tish event was held at the Bagel Shop Café. The children made bagels with maple syrup and pumpkin-seed toppings. Friends from the US embassy in Vilnius also attended. We learned all about Halloween, received many horrible gifts and had fun ushering in the Sabbath. Cultural attaché Caitlin Nettleton from the US embassy in Vilnius and colleagues explained Halloween traditions, costumes, tricks and jack-o’-lanterns.
The Bagel Shop Café baked 75 small and large loaves of challa bread Friday evening as part of the world Shabbos Project. The Sabbath on October 22 was special. The Lithuanian Jewish Community invited everyone young and old to bake challa together with the world Jewish community. Members, friends and a ton of children gathered at the Bagel Shop Café, had fun making and baking challa, and were treated to a performance by the Fayerlakh ensemble. We counted around 75 loaves. Snapshots below.