History of the Jews in Lithuania

Evening to Commemorate Israel Elyashev in Kaunas

Evening to Commemorate Israel Elyashev in Kaunas

The Kaunas Jewish Community invites you to an evening commemorating literary critic and writer Israel (Isidore) Elyashev.

Bal-Makhshoves as he was also known, “man of thoughts,” used that nom-de-plume in his Jewish writing at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The commemoration will be held in the former Jewish cafeteria near Elyashev’s home where he died 100 years ago on January 13, 1924. Speakers will touch upon his friendship with the painter Marc Chagall, Jewish life in Kaunas, Elyashev’s home street now known as Daukšos gatvė but formerly called Yatkever or Butcher’s street with five synagogues located along it, about the return of “evacuated” Jewish exiles in 1921 and about the shared and separate Lithuanian and Jewish cultural legacy in Lithuania’s interwar provisional capital Kaunas.

Speakers will also detail his family, including his sister Ester Veisbart who was an art critic, teacher and Lithuania’s first female doctor of philosophy who died in the Kaunas ghetto; the rest of his family who were killed in the Kaunas and Vilnius ghettos and Soviet labor camps and the members of his family to made it to Palestine and lived.

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Condolences

With deep sadness we report the death of Svetlana Plenkivskaja on January 1. She was born in 1943 and was a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center and a member of the Union of Former Concentration Camp and Ghetto Prisoners.. Our sincere condolences to her sister, son and many friends and relatives. Rest in peace, Svetlana.

Condolences

Frume Malka Kučinskienė died December 22. She was born in 1933. She was a long-time member of the Kaunas Jewish Community, a Holocaust survivor and a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center. We extend our deepest condolences to her family and friends but also to Lithuania for the loss of this friend who suffered so much but never lost her inner light.

Art Exhibit in Inspired by Abraham Sutzkever

Art Exhibit in Inspired by Abraham Sutzkever

The Shofar Gallery of the Jewish Culture Information Center in Vilnius is hosting an exhibit of works by art and book restorer and artist Modestas Saukaitis inspired by Abraham Sutzkever’s poetry. Saukaitis’s works on exhibit are verre églomisé, an ancient technique which uses white gold painted on glass to produce an extraordinary effect.

The exhibit runs till December 23 and is open to the public during the gallery’s working hours, from noon to 6:00 P.M. on weekdays and from noon till 4:00 P.M. on Saturday. The gallery is located at Mėsinių street no. 3A in the Vilnius Old Town.

For more information, see here.

Anniversary of Escape from Ninth Fort

Anniversary of Escape from Ninth Fort

On December 25, 1943, 64 prisoners at the Ninth Fort in Kaunas pulled off a daring escape. The Jews and Soviet POWs were the crew selected by the Nazis to exhume and burn corpses.

The Ninth Fort Museum in Kaunas has set up a special exhibit to mark the 80th anniversary of the escape featuring the testimonies of survivors.

Ya’arit Glezer’s father Pinia Krakinovski was one of the escapees and she came from Israel to speak at the opening of the new exhibition. Yakov Faitelson also spoke through an audio recording–his father Aleks was one of the escapees–as did Medel Deich’s son Grisha Deich. Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg-Silverstein attended the event and spoke to the audience about the importance of history in the context of current events.

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Strashun Street Library Space to House New Museum

Strashun Street Library Space to House New Museum

Lithuanian construction company Infes reported they concluded a contract with the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum for help creating a museum inside the Vilnius ghetto library space located on Žemaitijos street, formerly Strashun street, where library director Herman Kruk wrote most of his Vilnius ghetto diary and where the FPO, the Vilnius ghetto partisan fighters force, had a shooting range in the basement.

Infes said they would undertake capital renovation of the building and do other construction there. According to their press release, the museum will teach visitors about the Vilnius ghetto and the Holocaust in Lithuania and will feature unique items from the Vilna Gaon Museum’s collections.

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Condolences

Condolences

We are saddened to report the death on December 8 of Kaunas ghetto inmate Kęstutis Deltuvas. He was born in 1931. He was a member of the Union of Ghetto Prisoners and a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center. Our deepest condolences to his widow Angelina, son Ričardas, daughter Dalia and grandson Ričardas.

Lost World Photo Exhibit

Lost World Photo Exhibit

December 13 the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture opened an exhibit of 15 specially selected photographs of the former Jewish quarter and Great Synagogue by pre-war photographer Jan Bulhak as part of closing ceremonies in the celebration of Vilnius’s 700th birthday, the newspaper Lietuvos Rytas reports on its website lrytas.lt

Culture minister Simonas Kairys, former culture minister Arūnas Gelūnas who now directs the Lithuanian National Art Museum which selected the photographs for the exhibit, Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg-Silverstein, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and others attended the opening. Boris Kizner provided Jewish airs on violin.

Gelūnas told Lietuvos Rytas television only two of the fifteen photographs contain human beings because the photographer thought empty streets and vacant sidewalks showed off the architecture better and presented a more romantic picture of the city.

“In a way he was prophetic in this: after World War II all these streets were emptied of people,” Gelūnas noted. He added the lessons of history haven’t been learned, anti-Semitism is alive and well in the world and people still cling to authoritarianism.

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Lecture: The Miracle of Hanukkah

Lecture: The Miracle of Hanukkah

You’re invited to a lecture by Natalja Cheifec called The Miracle of Hanukkah this Wednesday at 5:30 P.M. via the zoom internet platform. You’ll learn:

-about Hanukkah as a holiday preserving tradition
-what the Most High does during Hanukkah
-why Jews gaze at candle flames during Hanukkah
-about Hanukkah doughnuts and Hanukkah gelt

Register and receive log-in credentials here: https://bit.ly/3K73kEE

Let’s Make a Hanukkah Miracle Happen

Let’s Make a Hanukkah Miracle Happen

Hanukkah begins today at sundown. The eight-day holiday symbolizes the miracle of the victory of light over darkness. Today Sandra Cohen from Lithuania and her two sons Liam and Dylan need that kind of miracle.

Sandra, a Lithuanian citizen, lived peacefully with her three children in the Be’eri kibbutz until October 7, when Hamas attacked.

The terrorists entered Sandra’s home. Her husband Oher was brutally murdered and her son Liam was wounded by ricochet fragments. Her 10-month-old daughter Mila was shot in her mother’s arms. The bullet passed through the baby and wounded Mila. Her three-year-old son Dylan survived but experienced extreme trauma. Everything took place in front of the family.

Sandra has been recovering at Ikhilov Hospital in Tel Aviv for two months now. She still needs surgery to remove the bullet from her body. Liam is also recovering from his wounds, and all three surviving family members still need a good deal of time to return to some semblance of normal life.

They have no home to which to return. The terrorists burnt their home and those of others on the kibbutz to the ground. Everything they had and treasures was lost–photographs, children’s drawings, toys… Only one photo survived, that of Mila, on her Lithuanian passport, which Sandra still hadn’t received on October 7.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites everyone to help make a Hanukkah miracle happen by helping Sandra’s family. Even the smallest donation is very welcome for helping Sandra and her children.

In Lithuania donations can be made by addressing a bank transfer to “Lietuvos žydų (litvakų) bendruomenė” at the bank account LT167044060000907924 for Sandra Cohen.

In other countries address your donation to Sandra Cohen at Bank Hapoalim B.M., IBAN number IL84-0126-3400-0000-0168-502, SWIFT code POALILIT.

Thank you.

Maria Krupoves Lecture and Concert

Maria Krupoves Lecture and Concert

Eastern European folklore and folk-song expert and performer Maria Krupoves-Berg will present a lecture and concert at the Lithuanian National Library’s Hall of Statehood at 6:00 P.M. on December 14. The event is free and open to the public.

The event called “The Sounds of Eastern European Jewish History and Music” sponsored by the National Library’s Judaica Studies Center will talk about and demonstrate genres of Yiddish song and how some songs became a kind of national anthem, accompanying Ashkenazi and especially Litvaks at crucial points in history, reflecting yidishe neshama, Jewish identity. Krupoves will perform with Boris Kizner on violin. The scheduled duration is one and a half hours.

Big Hanukkah Finale

Big Hanukkah Finale

The Lithuanian Jewish Community, the Vilnius Religious Jewish Community and the Shalom Aleichem ORT Gymnasium invite you to a big event to mark the eighth and final day of Hanukkah on Friday, December 15. It all happens at the Litexpo exhibit and concert center in Vilnius starting at 7:00 P.M. Students will perform a play called “Hanukkah: The Festival of Light,” the musical group Yes Duet will perform, the dance troupe Simcha will appear and Arkadijus Vinokuras will be there with another quiz/game show, along with more singing, dancing and dinner. Michailas Frišmanas will serve as master of ceremonies and madrichs will be on hand to provide child-care and children’s holiday activities.

The cost is €20 for adults and €10 for children under 13. Payment can be made by bank transfer to the LJC’s account LT067044060005757425 with purpose of payment indicated as Hanukkah and the names of the people for whom payment is being made. Registration must be made before December 13 by filling out the internet form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfR6VpFNmGPs9k_1z42Jwt20x563ULujZoIFInjcJuLi1VuDQ/viewform

For more information, call (+370) 659 52604.

Hope to see you there!

Concert in Remembrance of Grigoriy Kanovitch

Concert in Remembrance of Grigoriy Kanovitch

The Šalom, Akmenė! project with the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum are holding a concert to remember the late novelist Grigoriy Kanovitch. It is to include students from art schools in the Akmenė and Joniškis regions and students from the Song Cathedral of the Music Academy of Vytautas Magnus University. The program includes songs in Yiddish.

Time: 3:00 P.M., Sunday, December 3
Place: Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon Museum, Naugarduko street no. 10, Vilnius

The concert is free and open to the public.

Condolences

With deep sadness we report the death of Henry Kissinger. He was born May 27, 1933, to a German Jewish family and went on to serve as secretary of state and national security advisor under US presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and remained the main voice of American foreign policy under president Jimmy Carter. He was the architect of US foreign policy who engineered the withdrawal of US troops from South Viet Nam “with dignity” (for which he was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973), Nixon’s overture to Red China, NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Yugoslavia–calling for the “Finlandization” of the constituent break-away republics–and of policy surrounding the dismantling of the Soviet Union and the emergent Russian Federation. An outstanding proponent of the State of Israel, although he refused to take up the cause of Soviet refuseniks as antithetical to US interests–and he seemed to have a personal antipathy towards Soviet Jews–, in more recent times he was an outspoken proponent for peace in the Ukraine, calling upon NATO to take Russia’s security concerns seriously and for the parties involved to develop a real post-Cold War security architecture for Europe which would take Russia’s legitimate security interests into account. He died aged 100. Our deepest condolences to his many friends and family members.

Condolences

We are sad to report the death of Markas Javičius. He was born in 1938 and was a member of the Kaunas Jewish Community, and a client of the LJC Saul Kagan Social Welfare Center. We extend our deepest condolences to his wife, son and many friends and family members.

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of Vilnius Ghetto: International Conference “Ideologies of Hate and Hope in Modern Jewish History”

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of Vilnius Ghetto: International Conference “Ideologies of Hate and Hope in Modern Jewish History”

You’re invited to the final event in our commemoration of the 80th anniversary of liquidation of the Vilnius ghetto this year, the international conference “Ideologies of Hate and Hope in Modern Jewish History” in Constitution Hall in Building 1 at the Lithuanian parliament on Tuesday, November 28, 2023.

Participants must register by internet before 3:00 P.M. on Monday, November 27, here: https://bit.ly/40NAUZ3

The conference will be conducted in Lithuanian and English with translations. It is being held through the efforts of the Polish Jewish History Institute, YIVO and the Lithuanian Jewish Community. It will be streamed on the LJC’s facebook page.

Program:

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Scout Hike

Scout Hike

Scouts and parents are invited to a fall hike Sunday, November 26. The hike is a free event and open to all children and their parents. Please register by internet before midnight, November 24, by clicking here: https://forms.gle/fbDdB1HDhBUQKw976

For more information, contact hike leader Adelina Kofman by telephone at 860581922 or write skautai@lzb.lt.

Ilja Bereznickas Exhibit

Ilja Bereznickas Exhibit

The Jewish Culture and Information Center in Vilnius is hosting an exhibit this week till November 26 of works by Ilja Bereznickas, the Lithuanian animator, caricaturist, author and filmmaker. The exhibit celebrates Ilja’s 75th birthday. The Jewish Culture and Information Center is located at Mėsinių street no. 3a/5 in the Vilnius Old Town.

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Standing with Israel in Pakruojis

Standing with Israel in Pakruojis

The Pakruojis wooden synagogue hosted an event yesterday to support Israel, organized by the Šiauliai Jewish Religious Community.

Before the Holocaust the wooden synagogue–one of only a handful still standing in Europe–was the center of Jewish life and religion.

The one-day photography exhibit there was actually two related exhibits: 22 photographs out of the 724 victims to mark the 80th anniversary of the Kinder Aktion or children’s mass murder operation in the Šiauliai ghetto collected and arranged by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Authority in Israel and the Šiauliai Jewish Religious Community, and pictures of the 242 hostages taken by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, including babies, children, adolescents, adults and the elderly.

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