History of the Jews in Lithuania – Page 44 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Lithuanian Jewish Community Presents Year of Vilna Gaon and Litvak History Commemorative Medallion to Lithuanian President

December 4, 2020

As Lithuania’s Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History draws to a close, Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda met via internet with Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and discussed current issues of concern to the Community.

“Lithuanian Jews are an inseparable part of our society and have been since the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. For centuries we built our country together, strengthening our learning, culture, business and security. Lithuanian Jews living in their homeland and abroad publicize Lithuania’s name,” the president said.

The Litvak contribution was celebrated around the country and the world as Lithuania marked the 300th anniversary of the birth of the great Lithuanian rabbi and Talmudist Elyahu ben Solomon Zalman, better known as the Vilna Gaon, and the 700th anniversary of Jewish history in Lithuania. The World Litvak Congress scheduled to meet in Vilnius and Israeli president Reuven Rivlin’s planned visit to Lithuania were postponed because of corona virus fears.

Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky presented the Lithuanian president a medallion commemorating the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History in the name of the entire Lithuanian Jewish Community. The medallion and commemorative coin issued by the Bank of Lithuania bears a symbol composed of the Jewish Menorah and the Post of Gediminas, an early symbol of Lithuanian statehood and power. The medallion also bears an inscription in Lithuanian from Moshe Kulbak’s poem Vilne: “You are a dark cameo set in Lithuania…”

In their discussion the president said the state is solving and will solve issues involving historical memory and will maintain a policy course of intolerance towards expressions of xenophobia.

The head of state thanked the Jewish community for its active role in society and wished the community light and peace as the holiday of Hanukkah approaches.

Communications group of the Office of President

2020-12-082020-12-08

Veisiejai Synagogue Testifies to Multicultural Past

Photo: Kostas Kajėnas

Veisiejai is one of the oldest settlements in Lithuania and was first mentioned in an act in 1253 by Lithuanian king Mindaugas. Later in 1409 Lithuanian grand duke Vytautas also mentioned this town set on the banks of Lake Ančia. The old section of the town has been declared an urban monument.

Town synagogue. Photo courtesy Yad Vashem.

The network of streets, the layout of the square from the latter 18th century and early 19th century, portions of constructions, the panorama of the old town and the natural surroundings are all protected. The town is surrounded on all sides by water and it seems as if you are on an island as the waves of the emerald lake lit by the autumn sun lap along its banks everywhere.

Beginning in the 18th century, Veisiejai became one of the homes of the Lithuanian Jewish communities. Just a few weeks ago on November 3, the 79th anniversary of the extermination of the Veisiejai Jewish community was commemorated. When Nazi Germany went to war with the Soviet Union, Wehrmacht units occupied Veisiejai on the first day of hostilities, on June 22, 1941. At the end of June and in early July the Jews living in different parts of the town were forced into the area around the synagogue and then removed to a ghetto. On November 3, 1941, the once-thriving and large local Jewish community was no more. Soldiers from the Kaunas self-defense battalion aided by local police shot them all. Post-war exhumation indicated at least 1,503 people had been murdered. The corpses were laid in several rows without clothes and shoes, only in their underwear. Only a very few manages to escape and hide in neighboring villages and the forest. Items left behind by the Jews were sold, their farms were inventoried and parceled out to Lithuanian neighbors and some Jewish buildings were turned over to the local municipality.

The History of the Veisiejai Jewish Community

Full text in Lithuanian here.

2020-12-08

ECRI Says Anti-Semitism Incompatible with Values, Wants National Strategies from Member-States

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, aka ECRI, adopted an “Opinion on the Working Definition of Anti-Semitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)” at its 84th plenary session on December 2. The full text is available here.

IHRA’s working definition begins:

“Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

ECRI noted while many states have adopted the working definition, there are problems applying it legally because of the vagueness of some of the language, and said there are concerns because criticism of the State of Israel might be equated with anti-Semitism in a future redaction. There is also no academic consensus on a definition, the document said.

2020-12-072020-12-11

Happy Birthday to Eugenijus Bunka

We wish Eugenijus Bunka a happy 70th birthday. He created the Litvak Memorial Garden in the Žemaitijan National Park, is a great journalist, ethnographer and public figure.

Bunka was awarded the title of Tolerant Person of the Year for 2019. The award is made annually by the Chiune Sugihara/Diplomats for Life Foundation to Lithuanian citizens who stand up against xenophobia, anti-Semitism, radicalism and expressions of violence in Lithuanian public life by their words and deed.

Eugenijus has long led his father and sculptor Jakov Bunka’s fund, civic initiatives and restoring Jewish memory of Plungė, Žemaitija and Lithuania locally and around the world.

We wish you excellent health and may your life also be illuminated by happiness and joyful moments.

Mazl tov! Bis 120!

2020-12-07

Academic discussion “Lithuanian Jewish History: Modern Directions.”

You are welcome to join, watch and listen to the online academic discussion “Lithuanian Jewish History: Modern Directions.”

The Lithuanian Jewish Community with the Lithuanian History Institute and other partners have organizes a series of discussions to commemorate 2020 as the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Lithuanian Jewish History. Due to the COVID-19, the World Jewish Congress in Lithuania was postponed and other events related to the Year of Vilna Gaon were not held. So this online series of discussions are the final touch to commemorate the Year of Vilna Gaon by gathering members of the global Jewish community and everyone interested in Jewish history and culture to share their thoughts virtually.

Time: 9:45 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. (UTC+2)

THe nline discussion with simultaneous translation to English will be broadcast on the event’s website: >>HERE

Audience members may join the discussion by writing questions in the chat.

2020-12-052021-01-28

Discussion “Lithuanian Jewish History: Modern Directions”

You are welcome to join, watch and listen to the online academic discussion “Lithuanian Jewish History: Modern Directions.”

Time: 9:45 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. (UTC+2)

THe nline discussion with simultaneous translation to English will be broadcast on the event’s website: >>HERE

Audience members may join the discussion by writing questions in the chat.

2020-12-042020-12-05

International Day for Tolerance Event Darna on Facebook

The International Day for Tolerance will be marked around the world on Monday, November 16. The Lithuanian Jewish Community has prepared a virtual celebration called Darna which will run from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M. that day, including well-known performers Jurgis Didžiulis, Erca Jennings, Afrodelic and Paulius Kibauskas. It will also include yoga and meditation activities, a discussion on the topic of tolerance and other activities.

The first Darna festival for celebrating the International Day for Tolerance invites the public to celebrate tolerance, harmony and concord, and to do so through the creation of art and community. The LJC had planned to hold the celebration as a real event, but decided to make it virtual because of concerns about the corona virus and to make an entire day’s worth of events available to those homebound.

Event organizer Rafael Gimelstein said: “We are trying to encourage the celebration of human ties and a harmonious and tolerant life through this event. We wanted to bring together all people who think the same way and to commemorate these values through creative work. To show we have very diverse and talented people who are united by a shared idea, and that tolerance is a very topical idea to them.”

2020-11-132020-12-10

Searching for the Synagogues of Pakruojis, They Found Part of the Old Town

by Živilė Kavaliauskaitė

Archaeologists working in Kranto street in Pakruojis, Lithuania, found the foundations of the Winter Synagogue and also uncovered cultural strata from the 17th and 18th centuries of the Old Town there. They were unable to locate a shtibl believed to be located at the Tailors’ Synagogue there. Team leader Dr. Ernestas Vasiliauskas said there is still no comprehensive historical or archaeological studies of the Winter and Tailors’ Synagogues.

Shtetl by the River

Archaeological digs took place at Kranto street no. 8 in Pakruojis in later August and early September. The public entity Archeologijos Centras performed the work by order of the Pakruojis regional administration.

The regional administration is preparing a project for putting the banks of the Kruoja River and the city park in order and the Lithuanian Jewish Community is offering observations for the identification and investigation of Jewish heritage buildings there.

“Almost nothing is known about the sites being sought, except for material from 1938 in an expedition by Chaim Lemchen and the Aušra Museum of Šiauliai, and the research by synagogue researcher Marija Rupeikienė, but this is comprised of just a few sentences. Everyone writes about the Summer Synagogue,” Dr. Vasiliauskas commented.

2020-11-112020-12-09

Dr. Moshe Kantor Re-Elected President of the EJC

Dr. Moshe Kantor has been re-elected the president of the European Jewish Congress by representatives of European Jewish communities. A press release from the EJC said there were no election violations and voting was safe and credible in the vote of confidence.

Marie van der Zyl, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, was re-elected head of the EJC’s executive committee.

“I am honored and I feel the support shown by the Jewish leaders and communities across the entire Continent,” Dr. Kantor said. “European Jews are a powerful force in the Jewish world; we have remained in the forefront in fighting anti-Semitism, defending Jewish traditions and reviving Jewish communities and institutions.”

In recent months the EJC under Kantor’s leadership has undertaken new action helping provide support to Jewish communities and institutions, including schools, community centers and other organizations vitally important to European Jews facing the complex challenge of the corona virus epidemic.

2020-11-102020-11-20

Happy Birthday, Libė Britanskina

The Lithuanian Jewish Community sends heartfelt congratulations to Libė Britanskina on her milestone birthday and we wish you a happy birthday, great health and much joy!

Libė is said to the be the only Jew left from Utena and is an active member of the Community and our seniors club.

Mazl tov! May you live to 120!

2020-11-09

Vilna Gaon Commemorative Coin Causing Consternation among Collectors

Some coin collectors who weren’t able to purchase the Vilna Gaon 300th birthday commemorative coin issued recently by the Bank of Lithuania are saying the release was a carefully-planned scam for a small group of people to get rich.

Bank of Lithuania officials said they found this reaction strange because anyone who wanted the coin was able to purchase two of them in early sales on the internet. The coin was officially released to the public on October 20, but weren’t available for sale at banks in Vilnius and Kaunas that day. Instead there was a flood of resellers offering the coin at inflated prices. The central Bank of Lithuania sold the coin for 62 euros, while in the initial days of the official release internet speculators offered it for hundreds of euros, and the asking price later climbed.

A week later vendors were asking for up to 990 dollars, or 846 euros, on ebay.com, and one Lithuanian internet commerce site asked for 1,500 euros for one coin. That vendor’s offer was exceptional, but others sold the coin for from 500 to 600 euros.

2020-11-09

Dr. Ruth Reches Presents Her New Book on the Holocaust and Identity

The Holocaust is the worst tragedy of humanity in the 20th century and its consequences remain the object of study of famous scholars, historians, artists, film and state directors and the best authors and poets of our time. The sum of their work brings us back into the past, recalling the horrific atrocities of the Nazi era and cautioning us against further crimes against humanity as the Holocaust makes us say and think, “never again.”

The Lithuanian Jewish Community hosted Dr. Ruth Reches’s presentation of her new book on personal identity and the Holocaust on October 19. Besides teaching Hebrew, then becoming acting principal and now principal at the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius, Ruth Reches recently defended her doctoral thesis in psychology.

Her book “Holokaustą patyrusių asmenų tapatumo išgyvenimas” [The Experience of Identity by Holocaust Survivors] is based on her doctoral thesis. She examines how Holocaust-induced trauma changed the identity–self-identity, personality and values system–of its experiencers during the war and long after.

There has been research on how the pain experienced during the Holocaust doesn’t just affect victims directly, but can be passed on generationally, even to the third generation. Ruth Reches, the granddaughter of a ghetto prisoner, drew on her own experience in presenting the book.

“It’s crucial to understand the feelings and thoughts of the people who went through the Holocaust. As time passes we will in the future only have a chance to interpret their emotional legacy. I often think about how the war changed the life of my grandparents. What would they have become if the war hadn’t happened? Who would I be? Even 70 years after the war, Holocaust survivors continue to live with the past. This tragedy affected their emotional, social and spiritual development,” she said.

2020-10-302020-12-14

Israel Thanks Lithuania for Wonderful Gesture, Netanyahu Calls Commemorative Coin Exciting

LRT.lt

The Bank of Lithuania has issued a coin with Hebrew inscriptions commemorating the Vilna Gaon as part of the project to mark 2020 as the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History. Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday this was an “exciting” moment.

The new coin with a nominal value of 10 euros was issued publicly last week.

“Yesterday I heard that the Lithuanian government minted a coin in honor of Vilna Gaon, who was one of the biggest Jewish philosophers and Torah specialists and one of the greatest people to have been born into the Jewish nation. It’s very exciting to have a European coin with Hebrew letters on it, commemorating one of our greatest people,” Netanyahu said Sunday, adding: “I say this as Israel’s prime minister and as a son of the Jewish nation, but also because my family is related to Vilna Gaon’s family.”

2020-10-282020-12-09

New Archaeological Discoveries at Pakruojis Synagogue Complex

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Pakruojis regional administration mayor Saulius Margis, administration director Ilona Gelažnikienė, deputy mayor Virginijus Kacilevičius and others attended a lecture by Dr. Ernestas Vasiliauskas presenting new archaeological discoveries at the Pakruojis synagogue complex.

The Pakruojis regional administration reports:

Dr. Ernestas Vasiliauskas gave a presentation October 14 detailing the newest archaeological discoveries in the winter synagogue and shtibl at the Pakruojis synagogue complex. The project “Maintenance of the City Park and the Banks of the Kruoja River in the City of Pakruojis” decided to perform the archaeology in concert with the Cultural Heritage Department of the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture.

There is a lot of surviving information about the summer synagogue in Pakruojis, but very little about the winter synagogue and the shtibl. Senior archaeologist Dr. Vasiliauskas said the wooden synagogue complex built in the 19th century in Pakruojis is unique in Lithuania and blends different architectural styles, including late baroque (summer synagogue), classicism (winter synagogue) and traditional architecture (the shtibl), and was an important part of the cityscape, one of the dominant buildings on the Pakruojis skyline.

2020-10-282020-11-13

Kaunas Commemorates Lea Goldberg

There’s a larger-than-life fresco painted on the wall of a building on Kęstutis street in Kaunas featuring a portrait of celebrated Israeli poetess Lea Goldberg, with a poem by her in Hebrew and Lithuanian. Her family fled their home in this building 85 years ago, with Leah making aliyah and settling in Tel Aviv in 1935, after receiving PhDs from universities in Bonn and Berlin in Semitic and Germanic languages.

Now the Lithuanian city is scheduled to become the European Union’s honorary European Capital of Culture for the year 2022. Now, in the run-up to that auspicious year, local and visiting Jews in Kaunas held a celebration of, perhaps, the town’s most famous poet, as well as its lost Jewish heritage.

Bella Shirin, who has been appointed “ambassador” of Kaunas, Capital of European Culture 2022, recited in selections from Goldberg’s corpus in Hebrew to musical accompaniment. Israeli exchange student Shahar Berkowitz sang Goldberg’s work.

2020-10-152020-11-11

Year of Eliyahu Exhibition

The Torah itself witnesses: I am Wisdom, who found a haven in Eliyahu’s soul, and through him was revealed to the world.

This fragment of the epithet inscribed on the headstone commemorating Eliyahu ben Solomon Zalman reflects well the significance of the Vilna Gaon for Litvak and global Jewish culture. As Lithuanian marks 2020 as the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak Culture, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library is contributing with an exhibit of publications and documents called “The Year of Eliyahu: The Vilna Gaon’s Influence on Litvak Culture.”

The exhibit showcases the Gaon’s biography, personality and intellectual and pedagogical activity as well as his influence over Vilnius Jews, on their mentality and culture. Documents illustrating the sage’s life and works by the Gaon and his followers will be displayed. One of the major items is the pinkos of the synagogue of the Vilna Gaon conserved by the YIVO institute in New York City. This document, a compendium of vital statistics of the Jewish community, will be exhibited using a holographic projection system. The exhibit will also showcase the abundant and diverse Judaica collection conserved at Lithuania’s National Library.

The opening ceremony will be held in the atrium on the third floor at 5:30 P.M. on Tuesday, October 20, and will include a musical performance and installation employing modern audio-visual technology to transform an ancient text into a tale, providing a hint into the Gaon’s thought-processes.

The exhibit will also feature the issue of the Bank of Lithuania’s 10-euro silver coin commemorating the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Vilna Gaon, designed by our own Victoria Sideraitė-Alon, Jūratė Juozėnienė and Albinas Šimanauskas.

2020-10-152020-10-20

Dr. Ruth Reches to Present Her Book on Identity among Holocaust Survivors

Psychologist Dr. Ruth Reches will present her book called “Holokaustą patyrusių asmenų tapatumo išgyvenimas” [The Experience of Identity by People Who Survived the Holocaust] at a special event at 6:00 P.M. on Monday, October 19, 2020, at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The event in Lithuanian will include a panel moderated by Vytautas Magnus University lecturer and philosopher Algirdas Davidavičius. Guests will be asked to wear masks. Please report your intention to attend by sending an email to info@lzb.lt

2020-10-14

Monument to Commemorate Makabi Stadium in Kaunas

Photo: A sculpture commemorating the Makabi Stadium in Kaunas. Photographs by Laimutis Brundza

A sculpture by Gediminas Pašvenskas will mark the spot where the Makabi Stadium was opened 100 years on Jonavos street in Kaunas. When you drive along the street today, you’d likely never think there was a soccer stadium here. Opened on October 19, 1920, by the Makabi Jewish athletics and gymnastics association, exactly one year later it was outfitted as a soccer stadium.

“The first stadium was in Ąžuolynas. The second was here, actually, a little bit away from this location where we’re standing now. There was a third in Panemunė, but back then Panemunė wasn’t part of the city of Kaunas, it belonged to the Kaunas district,” Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas, who used to play soccer there, said at the ceremony to unveil the new sculpture.

The arena operated from 1920 to 1940 and held 2,500 people. It had a running track and other facilities as well. “Everything was fine if the ball didn’t go into the Neris River, at which point all the spectators would disperse. They didn’t wait the ten minutes it took to get the ball out of the water,” Žakas recalled.

Lithuanian Makabi president Semionas Finkelšteinas shared his own memories, not just balls going into the water, but water coming into the stadium. In 1931 the river overflowed and covered the entire field.

2020-10-082020-11-09

Righteous Gentile Aldona Radzevičienė-Norvaišaitytė Has Died

Sad news came from Kaunas October 2: Righteous Gentile Aldona Radzevičienė-Norvaišaitytė has passed away. Three years ago the Kaunas Jewish Community celebrated her 90th birthday where she even danced the waltz.

She and her family lived in Vilkaviškis where they rescued the Jews Alper Kirkilovski, Haim Chernevski and the sisters Shenka and Tsipka Verber who had escaped the Vilkaviškis ghetto just before it was liquidated and all of whom survived the war. In 1993 then-president Algirdas Brazauskas awarded Aldona the Life-Saver’s Cross and Yad Vashem recognized her as a Righteous Gentile on Junly 16, 2001.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community mourns the loss of Aldona Radzevičienė-Norvaišaitytė together with her family and many friends. Her memory will always remain vivid in our hearts.

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