Jewish Cuisine – Page 4 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Nancy Sasson Travels to Panevėžys Seeking Family Roots

Last week Nancy Sasson from the United States arrived in Panevėžys seeking genealogical information about her family. She believes her grandfather and perhaps great-grandfather lived in Panevėžys. She was accompanied by her old friend from Lithuania Vaida Zlatkutė and a guide who travelled from Israel to help.

Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman received them warmly and he and the Israeli guide gave the two women a tour of the city, pointing out significant Jewish locations and telling the Litvak story, the many important cultural contributions Litvaks made and the horrific end they suffered.

Nancy Sasson was visibly moved during the tour down the streets and sidewalks once traversed by her forebears.

2023-03-312023-03-31

Matzo on Sale

Matzo has arrived for Passover and is available in 450 gram for 5 euros and 1 kilogram boxes for 10 euros at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius, on workdays except Tuesday, from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.

2023-03-282023-03-29

Cvi Park Kiosk and Performance Space Ready for Spring

Spring is in the air and the Israeli street food kiosk and performance space Cvi Park at the former Cvirka square in Vilnius is getting ready for a new season of food and all kinds of music.

Music such as that performed by violinist Dalia Dėdinskaitė and cellist Gleb Pyšniak at Cvi Park in the past: http://shorturl.at/xGQZ6

2023-03-28

Sunday Quiz: Why Is This Night Like No Other?

Next Sunday’s quiz at the Bagel Shop Café is called “What Is Passover?” As usual, accomplished circus clown and investigative journalist Arkadijus Vinokuras will lead the fun, and shut-ins will be able to at least watch on the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s facebook page. It all happens at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, April 2. Be there or be late to the table.

2023-03-272023-03-27

Purim for Seniors at the 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.

2023-03-082023-03-08

Purim Celebration at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius

Tuesday evening, March 7, Community members and friends gathered at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius to celebrate Purim. The Book of Esther was read, the congregation was in high spirits, everyone got the traditional hamentashen pastries and some not so traditional variations, and the children dazzled everyone with their amazing costumes.

2023-03-08

Purim Wouldn’t Be the Same without Hamentashen

Purim starts tonight at sundown when the 14th day of the month of Adar begins on the Jewish calendar. One of the constituent features of Purim is the traditional pastry known as hamentashen. Although everyone has their own special recipe, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky makes her family’s version with poppy-seed filling, the traditional Litvak treat. The recipe dates beck to the period between the two world wars.

“This recipe was probably used earlier and recalls the time when the aroma of the pastry filled the Vilnius Old Town and many other cities and towns where Jews lived in Lithuania. Although you can purchase this version now, it’s always more fun to make it yourself,” she commented.

Happy Purim! Hag Purim sameakh!

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Faina Kukliansky’s hamantashen recipe:

2023-03-06

Celebrate Purim at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius

Everyone is invited to come celebrate Purim starting at 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday, March 7, at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius.

2023-03-032023-03-03

Purim Celebration at Former Great Synagogue in Vilnius

A Progressive Judaism celebration of Purim including all mitzvot, reading of the Esther scroll, tzadka collections and mishloah manot will be held at the site of the former Great Synagogue in Vilnius (the school building at Vokiečių street no. 13A, formerly Žydų street no. 6) starting at 6:30 P.M. on March 6. Congregants are urged to bring fruit to share. To register, send an email to viljamas@lzb.lt or call 8672 50 699.

2023-03-02

Purim Celebration with the Fayerlakh Ensemble at the Bagel Shop

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Fayerlakh ensemble invite you to a Purim celebration.

The celebration will include the traditional Purimshpil carnaval, costume contest, live music and other diversions.

Attendees are expected to dress up for the occasion. Tickets are €30 for adults and €20 for children 13 and under.

Tickets and more information available by calling +370 687 79309.

When: 4:00 P.M., Sunday, March 5
Where: Bagel Shop Café, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

2023-02-282023-02-28

Lithuanian Radio and Television Reports on Hanukkah in Lithuania

Lithuanian state radio and television reported the beginning of Hanukkah at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius Sunday. On Monday, the first Hanukkah light was lit, according to LRT, by speaker of parliament Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen.

“As we light the Hanukkah candles every year, the Jewish community sends out a message of light and friendship to all of the Lithuanian ethnic communities and to the Jewish communities around the world. We want to remind people that we can only overcome the greatest challenges by being and working together, by communicating and trying to understand one another, to light the light of knowledge, understanding and tolerance. We can all be part of the light,” Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said.

It’s customary for people to come together, have fun and share traditional Hanukkah treats such as doughnuts and latkes over all eight days of the Hanukkah holiday. Children receive traditional gifts. Faina Kukliansky recalls Litvaks traditionally ate their Hanukkah latkes with cranberry sauce.

2022-12-20

Community Hanukkah Events

In addition to all the other events already announced, the Lithuanian Jewish Community is offering a walking tour of Jewish Vilna with guide Viljamas Žitkauskas and an Israeli dance marathon with Rikudim.

The tour begins at 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, December 17, meeting at the bell tower at the Arch-Cathedral in Vilnius. Program: Tour, avdala ceremony, dinner at the Bagel Shop Café, performance by the children’s section of the Fayerlakh Jewish song and dance ensemble. Registration required. Send an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or call +37067881514 on weekdays between 10:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M.

The Rikudim Israeli dance marathon will be held in the Jascha Heifetz Hall at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius from 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. on Sunday, December 18. To register send an email to Julija at Juliradv@gmail.com.

2022-12-14

Family Sabbath

You and your family are invited to a Sabbath celebration under the tenets of progressive Judaism in the run-up to Hanukkah, the holiday of light and miracles, at 6:30 P.M. on Friday, December 16. The prayer service will be held on the third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius followed by kiddush at 8:30 P.M. at the Bagel Shop Café at the same address. The Sabbath ceremony and Sabbath dinner will be followed by a Hanukkah surprise. To register, write viljamas@lzb.lt or call +37067250699.

2022-12-12

Lecture on Judaism’s View of Vegetarianism

Natalja Cheifec will deliver a lecture on Judaism’s view of vegetarianism followed by a discussion of whether this is a characteristic Jewish tradition via internet at 5:30 P.M. on November 30. Register to receive the zoom program login credentials here: https://bit.ly/3K73kEE

2022-11-28

Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community Celebrates World Shabbos

Millions of Jews around the world baked challa, blessed the bread and wine and sat at the Sabbath table with family members and friends, singing the Sabbath hymns last Friday as part of the Global Shabbos project. Members of the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community joined the project and were happy to host a guest from Germany, a former resident of Šiauliai, Lörrach community chairwoman Hanna Scheinker-Stark. Snapshots below.

2022-11-16

LJC Celebrates Tolerance Day with Darna Event

The first Darna event was held in 2020 during the corona virus panic. Despite many restrictions that time we were able to do more than we had expected, creating an entire virtual festival to mark the International Day of Tolerance. We tried to show during that tough time what diverse and interesting things we have right here in Lithuania, and how these differences are not only interesting, but complement one another perfectly. Today we are very happy to announce we can continue this event for its third year in a row, only this time we can meet face-to-face at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. Everyone of all religious, ethnic and other backgrounds and of all views is invited to come have a cup of tea or coffee, listen to live music and sample Israeli street food from our Cvi Park kiosk starting at 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday, November 16, at the LJC. Note: please disregard earlier announcements which stated the event would be held at the Choral Synagogue. It will be held on the third floor of the LJC at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius.

The event program is available here. Musical performers, cooking workshops and meaningful conversations from the first Darna festival can be found here. More information about this iteration of the celebration can be found here.

#InternationalDayOfTolerance

2022-11-152022-11-15

Global Sabbath and Challa Bake-Off at the Bagel Shop

The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you and your family to come back challa and celebrate the Sabbath in the Shabbos Project’s Global Challa Bake-Off at the Bagel Shop Café in Vilnius from 2:00 to 4:00 P.M. on Friday, November 11.

Every fall millions of Jews around the world come together in an extraordinarily moving activity, baking challa, blessing the wine and bread, singing the Sabbath hymns, celebrating the Sabbath together with friends and family and lighting the havdalah candle.

Senior Bagel Shop Café chef Riva Portnaja and other Community members will share their families’ traditions celebrating the Sabbath. You are invited to come make challa together, to take the loaves home, to invite our more isolated members to come as well and to bless the loaves and the wine together with the entire world Jewish community as we enter into the blessed rest of the Sabbath. The event is free and open to the public.

2022-11-08

Sukkot Begins Next Week

Sukkot, or Sukkos in Ashkenazic, begins at 6:17 P.M. this Sunday, October 9.

The Festival of Sukkot–literally meaning booths, tents, tabernacles–is celebrated for seven days in Israel and eight days in the Diaspora, starting on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. It is one of the three festivals during which Jewish men were required to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the times of the Holy Temple.

2022-10-072022-10-07

Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community Ushers In Rosh Hashanah with Musical

Members of the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community and the general public ushered in the Jewish new year last week with a musical/dramatized concert called “About Her and about Us” at the Šiauliai chamber concert hall, a project of the Šalom, Akmene! initiative dedicated to the memory of Nechama Lifshitz and performed by young students from Akmenė and Joniškis regional art schools and by opera singer Rafailas Karpis. The concert was followed by a buffet.

2022-09-30