The concert by choirs from Israel in Vilnius July 24 was a great hit. The Vilnius Old Town Hall was full to overflowing for the concert mainly in Hebrew but with some Yiddish and even a Yemeni song.
The Israeli embassy to Lithuania sponsored the free public event and ambassador Amir Maimon reminded the audience the Old Town Hall stood right next to the big and small Vilnius ghettos where almost all prisoners were murdered during the Holocaust.
What do you know about Israeli cinema? The question might make some embarrassed. General knowledge would tend to answer that by saying Israeli cinema is films about Israeli history, Christianity and Jewish-Arab relations. Few could name films, directors or actors. Is Israel too distant culturally, historically and geographically? Well, it’s time to learn about the country. We invite you to Israeli film evenings beginning at the close of July and taking place every Wednesday until the end of August. International relations specialist Giedrius Jokubauskis will be master of ceremonies. Films will be screened in their original language with English subtitles.
Full announcement in Lithuanian on the National Library site here.
Blogger and CEO of the American Jewish Committee David Harris explores the tortured route many Jewish couples are forced to take towards marriage.
Jewish Unity: Call Me Naïve
by David Harris
When I was growing up on the West Side of Manhattan, I recall elderly men from Jerusalem ringing our doorbell a couple of times per year. They were pious, and they were raising money for their institutions in Israel.
My mother and I lived alone, and, as a working woman, she had very limited disposable income, but she never let them leave empty-handed.
When I asked her why she would give money to people who, it was obvious, lived a very different lifestyle than ours, and why she never asked probing questions about the organizations they represented, she would simply say, in effect: “They’re Jews. We’re Jews. We need to support one another. Hitler made no distinction among Jews. We all were targeted for annihilation, irrespective of our beliefs, clothing, dietary habits, whatever. Why should I make a distinction?”
My mother survived the Holocaust. I took her words seriously. Indeed, I took them to heart and have sought to put them into practice on a daily basis. If we really are one people, then, whatever our differences, we need to act as one people.
Forty-two years ago, I joined the Jewish communal world, getting started in Rome and Vienna, the two transit points in Europe for Jews able to leave the Soviet Union and plan new lives beyond the grasp of the communist world.
Full text here.
The Roma Community Center, the Polish Institute and the Vilnius Old Town Hall invite you to come commemorate together the International Day of Commemorating Roma Victims of the Holocaust on August 2.
Planned events:
12:00 noon laying of wreaths at Ponar Memorial Complex
3:00 P.M. Preview of exhibits for International Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Grey Hall of the Vilnius Old Town Hall, Didžioji street no. 31:
Traditions, Customs and History of the Roma of Poland exhibition
Nomads of the Future exhibit of photography by Prashant Rana from Sweden
For more information, contact the organizers at +370 682 41218
Vilnius, July 20, BNS–Jews with Lithuanian origins are actively making use of the opportunity to restore Lithuanian citizenship following amendments which came into effect in July last year making the process easier, officials reported Thursday.
The Lithuanian Migration Department announced 1,131 people restored Lithuanian citizenship in the first half of this year. In the second half of last year the number was 912.
Director Evelina Gudzinskaitė said the majority were Litvaks.
“After the law on citizenship was changed last year, the numbers are really growing. Litvaks from Israel and the Republic of South Africa are the majority, and people who left for the United States are also making active use of the opportunity,” Gudzinskaitė told BNS.
In the first half of last year Lithuanian citizenship was restored to 481 people. In July of 2016 amendments came into effect allowing people who left the country in the interwar period and their descendants to receive Lithuanian citizenship.
The law was changed after Migration Department officials and courts began refusing to restore citizenship to certain Litvaks who failed to provide proof they were persecuted in independent Lithuania between the two world wars. Lithuanian officials calculate there are about 200,000 Jews living in Israel with Lithuanian roots, and more than 70,000 Jews with Litvak roots in South Africa.
Date: from 11:00 A.M. on, Sunday, July 30, 2017
Location: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
Director: FIDE master Boris Rositsan
To register and for more information, contact:
info@metbor.lt
+370 6 55 43 556
The embassy of the State of Israel to Lithuania presents three choirs from Israel in concert at the Old Town Hall in Vilnius at 7:00 P.M., July 24:
Ramot-Musikal Choir
Shiran Choir
Neve Shir Women’s Choir
The program is to include traditional and pop songs. Everyone is welcome and entry is free of charge.
For those who haven’t seen the exhibition at the Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library, People and Books of the Strashun Library will close July 28. Judaica Center director Dr. Lara Lempertienė is planning to lead a tour July 28 for those interesting in learning why the Strashun Library looms so large on the Litvak cultural horizon, to be followed by a discussion. She is inviting interested parties to gather in the exhibition hall on the third floor at the library at 3:00 P.M., July 28.
This last week the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Social Services Department asked our readers and Community members to help a family who needed a computer and a television set. Almost as soon as the post went up in Lithuanian, calls and emails began to come flooding in from people wanting to help. Within one day a flat-screen television had been donated by a staff member at the LJC, and now a Community member who wishes to remain anonymous has donated a 200-euro gift certificate for the family to acquire a computer, which the children need for school.
Our sincerest thanks to everyone who responded.
Sincerely yours,
LJC Social Programs Department
by Donatas Puslys
bernardinai.lt
A unique project should open its doors in 2019: the Lost Shtetl Šeduva Litvak history, culture and commemoration museum. We spoke with the project director and founder of the Šeduva Jewish Memorial Fund Sergejus Kanovičius about his work, commemorating the memory of Litvaks and the challenges he faces.
Let’s begin our conversation with the context surrounding the entire Šeduva project. How are doing here in Lithuania in integrating Lithuanian Jewish history into the general historical narrative? Is it an integral part of the story now, or still just an interesting footnote adding color to the main story?
It’s hard to assess this because you can never have all the information. You can only try to take it all in. What’s important is that all of these kinds of projects, including Šeduva, serve a very noble goal, to preserve or create cultural treasures. I think all the efforts connect up and achieve their goal sooner or later, each project is doing something worthwhile, contributing to educating the public. It might be somewhat boring to keep repeating it, but I will say it again, that everything will change, and I believe it will change for the better, when the educational system gets serious about these matters and the content of textbooks will be much different so that the story of the Jews–of Vilnius, Šeduva, Jonava and Lithuania–doesn’t begin and end in the Holocaust mass graves. There is a normal cycle to life. A person’s life begins with being born, and the history of the Jews of Lithuania begins here with the movement and settlement of people. The history of this settlement is extremely varied and rich and needs to be told. I think this is a question of educational reform.
Full interview in Lithuanian here.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu attending a closed-door meeting of the leaders of the Visegrad group was overheard by Israeli reporters telling the leaders the European Union would “shrivel and die” unless it changes its open-door immigration policies allowing in a flood of refugees from North Africa and the Middle East, and again called upon the EU to change its policies towards the state of Israel which he described as a European Western country.
“I think Europe has to decide if it wants to live and thrive or if it wants to shrivel and disappear,” he said. “I am not very politically correct. I know that’s a shock to some of you. It’s a joke. But the truth is the truth – both about Europe’s security and Europe’s economic future. Both of these concerns mandate a different policy toward Israel,” Netanyahu reportedly said in front of a microphone accidentally left on.
“The European Union is the only association of countries in the world that conditions the relations with Israel, which produces technology in every area, on political conditions. The only ones! Nobody does it,” Netanyahu said before the feed was cut by embarrassed hosts in Budapest.
Dear Gennady,
The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes you a happy 65th birthday!
A person is only happy when he does his daily work well and solves problems to achieve the goals he sets for himself. In your case, Gennady, those goals involve the lives, needs and joys of the Panevėžys Jewish Community. May every day bring you joy and meaning in your work on behalf of the Community, researching Jewish history and caring for your family.
Our respect and good wishes to the chairman of the Panevėžys Jewish Community. May you remain always in good health. Mazl tov!
The summer program of the Vilnius Yiddish Institute at Vilnius University opened with the usual ceremony at a restaurant in Vilnius July 17. This year over 30 students from the USA, Israel, France, Sweden, Poland and Lithuania are attending the intensive language and literature course. The teachers this year include professor Anna Vershik, Abraham Lichtenbaum, Dov Ber Kehler and Vera Shabo.
Vilnius Yiddish Institute director professor Šarūnas Liekis said the summer program is unique for its professionalism, high academic level and because it offers its students the opportunity to communicate with fellow students in Yiddish. It also has an interesting cultural program for students, he noted.
The intensive course with four levels of proficiency will continue until August 11.
Vilnius Jewish Religious Community chairman Shmuel (Simas) Levinas visited the site of the Great Synagogue July 18 where an international team of archaeologists are now working for their second summer. Dr. Jon Seligman acquainted the chairman with current work, including the discovery of two well-preserved ritual baths with original tiles and a well-developed water system. The pieces discovered are washed by volunteers and excavated earth is sent through sieves to find smaller items. Some of the volunteers, mainly from the USA and Israel, and Dr. Seligman have Litvak roots.
On July 19 Dr. Seligman and fellow archaeological dig director professor Freund visited the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius and had a chance to see for themselves the revival of Jewish religious life taking place there.
The visitors saw the synagogue’s Torah scrolls and were especially interested in the scroll donated by Judah Passow which originates in the time of the Vilna Gaon. They were impressed by a matzo-making machine contrived after World War II at the synagogue and were most interested in fragments of the former Great Synagogue preserved at the Choral Synagogue, including plaques with prayers. The two visitors donated Vladimir Levin’s book History of the Synagogues of Vilnius to the library at the Choral Synagogue.
by Gintarė Kubiliūtė
bernardinai.lt
The existence of the Central European University in the Hungarian capital Budapest is now under threat after Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban’s government announced amendments to the education law.
The CEU was established by Hungarian Jewish businessman in 1991. It is accredited in the United States and Hungary, but only operates in Hungary. The right-wing government led by Orban wants the CEU to open a branch in New York state, and if they don’t, the university in Hungary will be shut down. Furthermore, under the new legislation the university would be forced to issue diplomas valid in the US and Hungary.
The possible new requirements by Orban’s government could be fatal to the Central European University because there is not enough funding to open a branch campus in New York state and coordination the issuing of diplomas between governments would be slow, complicated and, one can say, the university wouldn’t have very much influence on the process. Therefore the legislative amendments would make the CEU completely dependant on the Hungarian ruling party.
Full story in Lithuanian here.
Members of the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club delegation to the 20th Maccabiah Games in Israel returned home on the evening of July 18 and Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon met them at Vilnius International. The athletes come home with six medals, including two gold. Congratulations to the entire team!
The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum screened the NOVA documentary about Jewish Vilna which aired earlier in the spring on the PBS network in the United States on July 18. The event space was filled with audience members and staff had to find additional chairs for the large crowd. Many sat in the upstairs balcony overlooking the space. Also in attendance were current and former staff from the Vilna Gaon museum and MP Emanuelis Zingeris. The audience was mainly interested members of the Lithuanian public including a large number of young Lithuanians.
Speaking before the film, museum director Markas Zingeris praised the documentary about archaeological digs at the site of the former Great Synagogue in Vilnius and at the Holocaust mass murder site Ponar just outside the Lithuanian capital.
Deputy chief of mission at the United States embassy to Lithuania Howard Solomon also called the film important and reiterated long-standing US support for the Lithuanian Jewish community.
Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon noted Israelis remember the heroes as well as the victims during Holocaust commemorations, and said his personal hero was Fania Brancovskaja, the FPO partisan present in the audience. He also expressed the hope the documentary would be shown throughout Lithuania.
Jews around the world are suffering the effects of anti-Israel hate speech, Lauder says
NEW YORK – World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder on Monday applauded and thanked French president Emmanuel Macron for denouncing anti-Zionism as a “renewed form of anti-Semitism,” and for his pledge to “never surrender to the messages of hate.”
“At a time of resurging anti-Semitism across Europe, including in France, the World Jewish Congress is encouraged by president Macron’s recognition that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are two sides of the same coin,” Lauder said.
“It has become all too normative and acceptable for anti-Semites to hide behind the so-called politically correct curtain of criticizing Israel, and Jewish communities around the world are suffering the effects. Anyone who challenges the Jewish right to self-determination is an anti-Semite, and anyone who believes that it is even remotely acceptable to lash out at Jews amid criticism of the Jewish state is an anti-Semite.
“Thank you, president Macron for your pledge to protect the Jewish community of France against messages of hate. I trust that you will fulfill this commitment to fighting anti-Semitism in both its traditional form and in its new manifestation of anti-Zionism.
“Europe as a whole is contending with the rise of global terror, coupled with a dangerous atmosphere of xenophobia. We must do everything in our power to curb the violence and incitement, and ensure that all communities in Europe, large and small, are able to live under the values of liberty and justice that makes European society so strong,” Lauder concluded.
A delegation of 28 athletes from the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club participated at the 20th quadrennial Maccabiah Games in Israel from July 4 to July 18. The Lithuanian team took part in 7 different sports and won six medals, two gold in the youth singles competitions and with Israeli table tennis athlete Janin Karmazin in doubles, won by Lithuanian table tennis player Neta Alon. She won another bronze medal in women’s doubles matches with teammate Vanesa Ražanskytė.
In badminton Mark Šames took silver in singles matches and Daniel Tarachovskij with Ukraine’s Natalija Ruzgaizer won bronze in mixed doubles matches.
Chess master Eduardas Rozentalis won another bronze for Lithuanian Makabi.
Our mini-soccer team (top rated among European teams) took a very respectable fifth place, defeating Mexico 6:6 due to a penalty on July 16. During matches the Lithuanian Makabi mini-soccer team beat Cuba, Gibraltar and Sweden, lost to Australia and tied with Brasil but failed to secure the right to compete for bronze because of an overall worse proportion of goals.
During the Maccabiah Games members of the delegation, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and leaders of Litvak organizations in Israel participated in a meeting with Lithuanian embassy consular officer Aleksandras Kubada.
The official closing ceremony for the 20th Maccabiah Games takes place July 17.
Semionas Finkelšteinas, president
Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club
It seems the French social welfare system has no equal. We visited one of the oldest Jewish social support organizations, the OSE (Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants), whose origins extend back to St. Petersburg, Russia in 1912, when the Interior Ministry of the Russian Empire granted permission for the establishment of the OZE (Obshchestvo Zdravookhraneniya Evreev), the Jewish health-protection association. Russia was enveloped in heavy anti-Semitism at the time and pogroms were frequent. The granting of permission for the organization coincided in time with the beginning of the movement for Jewish cultural autonomy. The main goal of OZE was to establish a modern social welfare and health-care system for Jews for whom medical care was inaccessible in the Russian Empire. The organization established a branch in France in 1933.
During the Nazi occupation Jewish children were ruthlessly murdered. Various ways to save them were found, either sending them out of the country, or hiding them. One of the more active players in rescuing Jewish children was the Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants organization, or OSE, who saved hundreds of children.