The Seniors Club at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius celebrated its 25th birthday on Wednesday, April 26.
“Back when the seniors club began operation and now as well the date coincides with the anniversary of Israeli independence. Back in 1988 Israel was turning 50, and now 75. So it’s a double celebration and twice the fun,” LJC programs director Žana Skudovičienė who has been director of the seniors club for its entire 25 years, said.
We wish Gercas Žakas a very happy birthday. He serves as the chairman of the Kaunas Jewish Community and on the executive board of the Goodwill Foundation. Happy birthday wishes from Faina Kukliansky and the entire Lithuanian Jewish Community. May your energy, work and enthusiasm continue for many years to come. Be in good health. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
The Fayerlakh Jewish song and dance ensemble will perform a concert called Promised Land to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel at 4:00 P.M. on May 14 at the House of Polish Culture in Vilnius. Tickets cost 10 euros. For tickets or more information, call +370 687 79 309 or +370 5 261 30 03.
The Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community began celebrating Passover April 5, beginning with the seder in the evening, the first one on the evening of April 5 led by Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky’s sons. On April 6 members of the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community gathered at the Žemaitis restaurant for the second evening’s seder. Community chairman Naum Gleizer greeted the celebrants who were served the traditional Passover dishes. Community member Vadimas Kamrazeris provided for the Jewish music at the restaurant, which led to sing-alongs and dancing.
The Kaunas Jewish Community sent in some snapshots from Passover celebrations in Lithuania’s second city. The holiday celebration there included the traditional dishes, a concert, dance music and even a quiz for people to test their knowledge of Passover.
Passover is usually a family holiday where everyone sits down at the seder table, reads the Hagadah, samples the traditional dishes and has fun. What about those who don’t have families?
LJC programs director Žana Skudovičienė said: “Many of our Community’s elderly are alone. Their families have left and their friends are busy. We are their family, so we celebrate together.”
Professionals prepared the meals for the seniors at the seder and LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky greeted everyone with Passover.
Our younger members certainly don’t lack for attention from their families, but even so, Žana Skudovičienė organized a special seder for young people.
Happy Easter greetings. We wish you a warm, joyful and happy holiday of renewal!
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
.
Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė has issued greetings on the Jewish holiday of Passover:
“The Passover holiday has been associated with essential values for millennia and testifies to the spiritual rebirth and aspiration to freedom of the Jewish people. This is an important reminder especially today to all of us that only free people are capable of overcoming the most horrific losses, only they can be happy and only they are able to create a life for themselves and the state courageously. The special spirit of this holiday teaches us that, led by faith, we can cross the driest dessert, cross the most powerful seas, and reach the Promised Land. I sincerely greet the Jews of Lithuania and the world on the occasion of Passover and wish the joy of sharing accompanies your seder, and that faith, love and hope never abandon your heart nor your home. Hag Pesakh sameakh!”
Dear readers,
I greet you all with our very important holiday Passover. This holy day celebrates the liberation of the Hebrews from the yoke of the Egyptian pharaoh. Let’s always remain free and happy.
I wish you a wonderful holiday. Hag Sameakh!
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky in the name of the entire Community wishes Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community chairman Naum Gleizer a very happy birthday.
We wish you good health, a great mood and many fruitful years to come. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Panevėžys Jewish Community wish a very happy birthday to Aleksandra Narsevič. We wish you many bright days, unforgettable moments and eternal friendships.
Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman:
The year has passed like fog in a ravine,
Like a song at twilight.
It has flown like the fluff of a dandelion,
Scattering in our hair
Like white blossoms.
It was meaningful, and happy.
The year was hard like stones.
So today from our heart we wish you
A happy year and many more to come.
Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Panevėžys, Lithuania
March 28, 2023
A very happy birthday from the entire Lithuanian Jewish Community and chairwoman Faina Kukliansky to Josif Burštein, who has been an active member of the Šiauliai Jewish Community since its inception in 1988 and served as chairman and executive board member there, as well as serving on the executive board of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. We wish you continuing good health, energy, happiness and the fulfillment of your dreams. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
In 2022 the Day of Rescuers of Lithuanian Jews was added to the list of official commemorative dates in Lithuania. The date March 15 was chosen as the day in 1966 when the Yad Vashem Holocaust authority in Israel first recognized a Lithuanian as a Righteous Gentile. As a new commemorative date, there is no set tradition on how to celebrate the holiday. The Lithuanian Government urged public commemoration of March 15 and included two events as possible venues: the opening of an exhibit about Righteous Gentiles at a museum in Vilnius, and a reading of the names of rescuers at Vilnius University, a tradition associated with the many victims of the Holocaust, many of whom remain unknown except for their names, rather that with the heroes of the Holocaust, most of whose biographies at least in Lithuania have been fully explored and documented.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community celebrated the first instance of Rescuers Day by recalling how the Jews of Lithuania actually live. As LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky has said repeatedly, if not for the Righteous Gentiles in Lithuania, no Litvaks would have survived in Lithuania.
This year the Panevėžys Jewish Community held a joint celebration of Purim and International Women’s Day. Community chairman Gennady Kofman kicked off the party with a reading from the Book of Esther, passed out small gifts to the children and conveyed Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky’s holiday greetings. At the holiday table the men greeted the ladies present on International Women’s Day, proposed toasts, gave flowers and sang songs in their honor.
This year Lithuania marks March 15 as the day of rescuers of Lithuanian Jews for the very first time. To celebrate this important date, the Lithuanian Jewish Community presents a special plaque to commemorate the rescuers. The plaque, with multiple layers of symbolism and meaning, will be placed on residences where the rescuers lived and hid Lithuanian Jews from the Nazis.
“This is our thanks to the brave people who didn’t falter in the face of danger and who were not just the rescuers of Jews, but, as Icchokas Meras wrote, were also the blossom of goodness of their nation and heroes of the spirit who resisted the murderers,” LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky commented. Her family was also saved from the Holocaust by brave Lithuanians with big hearts, rescuers who number among the 900 Yad Vashem recognizes as Righteous Gentiles in Lithuania.
Plaque designed by the JUDVI & AŠ creative group.
Project author: International Commission for Assessing the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania.
ongratulations to Lithuania’s most talented animator, not just in drawing but as a master of the spoken word as well, Ilja Bereznickas, who was just awarded the Lithuanian Government’s Culture and Art Prize. May your success continue!
Dear readers,
March 11, 1990, meant rebirth for the Jews of Lithuania. When the country regained independence, the surviving Jewish community began to unite. This was the beginning of restoring our ethnic identity, of active ethnocultural life, and finally we all began to talk openly about the Holocaust and the role played by ethnic Lithuanians.
We have rights and freedoms in independent Lithuania. We speak courageously about what isn’t right, and we initiate change. We host guests and we travel. Our children and grandchildren live here and the whole world is now open to them. Our home is here and we are an integral part of Lithuania.
So congratulations and greetings on this holiday which belongs to all of us, March 11.
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
One of the distinguishing features of the Lithuanian Jewish Community is how we care about our oldest and wisest members, both in daily life and during the holidays. So we celebrated Purim together with our venerable senior citizens in the Jascha Heifetz Hall at the Community building in Vilnius, decorated for the occasion. A pleasant evening was had by all with dinner and a concert performance by members of the Fayerlakh Jewish song and dance ensemble, now celebrating their 50th birthday.