Everyone is invited to come celebrate Purim starting at 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday, March 7, at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius.
Preparations for Marking Yom haShoah in Alytus
A delegation from the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel headed by director Arie Ben-Ari Grodzensky visited Alytus, Lithuania, yesterday and met with mayor Nerijus Cesiulis and staff to discuss commemorating Yom haShoah, Israel’s Holocaust remembrance day on the 25th of Adar, in the town southwest of Vilnius. The delegation visited the synagogue recently restored there and the mass murder site in Vidzgiris forest to pay their respects to the victims of the Holocaust there. The plan is to mark Yom haShoah in Alytus on April 17.
Condolences
We are sad to report the death of long-standing member and volunteer Izabela Svešnikova. She was born in 1933. We extend our deepest condolences to her son Aleksejus, her family and many friends.
Happy Birthday to Dmitrijus Zaičikas
A very happy birthday to Dmitrijus Zaičikas. We wish you happiness, health and continued longevity. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Righteous Gentiles Exhibit
Architect Tauras Budzys and art historian Barbora Karnienė have constructed an exhibit to mark March 15, the day designated to commemorate Lithuanian rescuers of Jews from the Holocaust. The exhibit is called “Righteous among the Nations: Not Afraid to Die, They Became Immortal.” The exhibit will be on display until April 10 in the home and museum of Marija and Jurgis Šlapelis located at Pilies street no. 40 in Vilnius.
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.
Discussion Club Topic: The Three Abrahamic Religions
The next meeting of the discussion club #ŽydiškiPašnekesiai will be held at 5:00 P.M. on March 8 at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The topic will be “The Three Major Religions’ Attitude towards One Another, towards Responsibility, Love, Morality, Punishment and Politics.”
Moderator Arkadijus Vinokuras says there is a lack of interfaith dialogue in Lithuania. The benefits of interfaith discussion on society is obvious because of existing superstitions people hold regarding other religions and a general lack of knowledge.
Discussion panel participants are to include Simas Levinas, Lithuanian Mufti Aleksandras Beganskas, author and Catholic priest Mozė Mitkevičius and Arkadijus Vinokuras.
LJC Chairwoman Attends WJC Jewish Youth Assembly
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky attended the World Jewish Congress’s Jewish Youth Assembly last week, also attended by students from 85 schools in 20 countries, including a Lithuanian delegation.
The Jewish Youth Assembly is a multi-day conference for students aged 15-18 to learn about Jewish communities around the world and discuss the most pressing issues facing the Jewish people today. Replicating the WJC’s structure, students at JYA gain an inside look into the WJC process and build techniques to problem-solve issues of concern to the Jewish community across the world. The conference allows students to collaboratively work to represent specific communities, conduct research on their history, learn about the issues the WJC is tackling, and speak directly to represented communities and expert leaders. This interactive experience culminates in crucial reports that serve as the collective voice of Jewish youth across the world in day-to-day deliberations of the World Jewish Congress, according to the JYA webpage.
The Assembly’s goal this year was to encourage Jewish young people to get involved in current events facing society currently and to think about passing on Jewish heritage to the next generation.
Chairwoman Kukliansky delivered an address to the Assembly.
Jewish Scouts Expand Their Horizons
Over the weekend LJC scouts went to Panevėžys to celebrate with fellow scouts the birthday of Robert Baden-Powell.
On January 24, 1908, the Boy Scouts movement began in England with the publication of the first installment of Robert Baden-Powell’s “Scouting for Boys.”
Besides celebrating their founder’s birthday, the Jewish scouts from around Lithuania met up with other scouting groups, did handicrafts, built snow forts and snowmen and learned more about the natural environment in Panevėžys.
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
Lithuanian Jewish Community Conducting Project to Digitize and Preserve Lithuanian Jewish History
The open-source RODA (Repository of Authentic Digital Objects*) platform has been chosen to digitize and conserve our European Jewish legacy.
The international J-Ark European Jewish Community Archive project was started in early 2021 and will continue till early 2023, creating and testing a long-term storage platform for digital content. This digital Jewish archive will include selected video, audio, visual, photographic and other materials connected with the history of the Lithuanian Jewish Community since the restoration of Lithuanian independence.
Launch of Lithuanian Translation of Lea Goldberg’s Children’s Book
The Lithuanian translation of Lithuanian Jewish writer Lea Goldberg’s children’s book “Room for Rent” will be launched at the Vilnius Book Fair Sunday with a special panel discussion including the translator, Antanas Jonynas, designer Sigutė Chlebinskaitė who designed the format for the Yitzhak Rudashevski Vilnius Ghetto Diary published in Lithuanian several years ago by the Lithuanian Jewish Community and writer Daiva Čepauskaitė. Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Silverstein is also expected to attend.
Goldberg wasn’t born in Lithuania but spent much of her childhood in Kaunas. She returned to Kaunas after World War I and attended university there. She went on to win the Israeli National Prize for her varied literary work in Hebrew.
The book launch and panel discussion will start at 12 noon on Sunday, February 26, in hall 5-3 at the Lithuanian Expo Center in Vilnius, the venue for the annual Vilnius Book Fair.
Recently Published Books about Jewish Lithuania in Lithuanian
“Vilna. Žydiškojo Vilniaus istorija” [Vilna: The History of Jewish Vilnius] by Israel Cohen, 2nd edition, 2023, translated by Miglė Anušauskaitė, 384 pages.
The Vilnius publishing house Hubris has published a Lithuanian translation of British writer and early proponent of Zionism Israel Cohen’s book “Vilna: A History of Jewish Vilnius.” The author was born in London to a family of Jewish immigrants from Poland. He worked as a correspondent for the Times of London, the Manchester Guardian, Manchester Evening Chronicle and Jewish World. The book was first published in 1943 by the Jewish Publication Society as part of a series showcasing Jewish communities in various countries for English speakers.
More information in Lithuanian here. See below for an excerpt from the original English edition.
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“Slaptoji Kauno žydų geto policijos istorija” [Secret History of the Kaunas Ghetto Police] by anonymous Kaunas ghetto police officers, published 2021, translated by Aistis Žekevičius from the English edition edited by Samuel Schalkowsky, 504 pages.
A unique document written in Yiddish by Kaunas ghetto police between 1942 and 1943. It lay buried in Slobodka for years and was discovered in 1964 when construction was underway at the site, and turned over to the Soviet KGB. It was translated to English and published in the USA in 2014.
US Issues Arrest Warrant for Israeli Professor in Cyprus
The United States asked Cyprus to arrest Israeli professor Gal Luft on charges of weapons trafficking, following Luft’s internet posts concerning Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden and brother Jim Biden.
“I’ve been arrested in Cyprus on a politically-motivated extradition request by the US. The US, claiming I’m an arms dealer. It would be funny if it weren’t tragic. I’ve never been an arms dealer. The US Department of Justice is trying to bury me to protect Joe, Jim and Hunter Biden. Shall I name the names?” Luft wrote in a twitter post.
Gal Luft is the co-director of Washington, D. C.,-based the Institute for Analysis of Global Security and has been an outspoken critic of the Biden administration’s foreign policy.
Luft says he has information about corrupt business deals by Joe Biden’s son Hunter and how they have had an influence over the Office of the President’s foreign policy decisions. Luft was detained for allegedly violating US sanctions against Libya and China and allegedly shipping arms to both countries. He denies all such allegations. He further said the Biden regime should be worried by the information he possesses.
Three Groups Found Worthy of “Legitimate” Derision in Lithuania: The Circus, Homosexuals and Jews
by Arkadijus Vinokuras
Conservative Party candidate for Vilnius mayor Valdas Benkunskas yells in his political advertisements: “A mayor without circuses!” Kaunas mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis, frightened by public debate, echoes the sentiment: “Kaunas doesn’t need a circus!” The press frequently carries headlines such as “Politics Is Not a Circus,” “Circus in the Political Arena,” and so on. It’s horrifying, wherever you look, there’s that damned circus again. Really?
Let me first take care of the myth the circus is worthy of derision. First, for example, the flying trapezist: if he were to act like the MP Petras Gražulis, Ramūnas Karbauskis, Visvaldis Matijošaitis or Valdas Benkunskas, he’d kill himself after attempting his first salto mortale. The flame appearing in the hands of the circus magician would burn him up immediately, and the trick of sawing the young female assistant in half would result in her real dissection. In other words, the professional circus has nothing in common with the political balagan.
This is also proven by the fact the largest American circus, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baily Circus, has revenues reaching $98 million annually. Another US circus, Circus Circus, has annual revenue of $160 million and employs 1,500 people. There are around 300 circuses operating in the United States. Cirque du Soleil, Inc. pays a circus actor from $6,000 to $10,000 per month. (The largest circus in Scandinavia is the Cirkus Scott, to the premieres of which the entire ruling elite of Sweden turn out. King Carl XVI Gustaf often attends with the royal family. In the 1989-1990 period this circus paid me €6,000 per month. How long did my performance take? Ten minutes. This was a gigantic sum back in those days, even in Sweden.)
Dubi Mishpocha Club Open for Children Aged 0 to 3
Traditions are a treasure we pass on from generation to generation. We are glad to be able to share that treasure with others and to see how children grow up and take their children to the Lithuanian Jewish Community youth clubs.
It is so important for the younger generation of Jews to learn and practice our traditions from a very early age, so the Dubi Mishpocha Club welcomes you and your children aged 0 to 3 every Wednesday from 10:30 A.M. The club is located inside the LJC.
For more information, contact LJC programs director Žana Skudovičienė by e-mail at zanas@sc.lzb.lt.
Anti-Semitic Attacks in Los Angeles
Last week two Jewish men were shot as they left synagogue in the space of 24 hours in the predominantly Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles. A suspect has been arrested, 28-year-old Jaime Tran, known for his anti-Semitic rants on the internet and death threats sent by e-mail to former classmates.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper speaking to media at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in LA said the men were only wounded.
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky expressed her and the Community’s support and prayers for the affected community in Los Angeles.
“This event shows yet again that we must not remain silent when there are outbreaks of hatred. Only in that way will we stop evil from taking root,” she commented.
Litvak Comedienne Calls Leftist Woke Culture Fascist on Highest-Rated News Program in America
Roseanne Barr, who described herself as ethnically Russian, Polish and Lithuanian Jewish in her autobiography (Roseanne: My Life as a Woman, New York 1989, Harper and Row), has staged a comedic comeback on the documentary channel of America’s most-viewed television personality, Tucker Carlson.
Barr said she was blackballed, or “canceled,” by Hollywood after she tweeted disparaging remarks about Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett in 2018. Barr wrote of Jarrett: “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=v.” Jarrett then claimed she was a “person of color” because she had Persian ancestry, and that the “ape” reference was therefore racist. Barr countered she thought Jarrett was white, and that the charge of racism was purely political, stemming from Barr’s support for the policies of then-president Donald Trump. The American television network ABC promptly canceled Barr’s revamped “Roseanne” series and removed all references to it from their website.
Barr is no stranger to controversy. She parodied the American national anthem at a nationally-televised baseball game in 1990, which then-president George H. W. Bush called “disgraceful.” Her first series “Roseanne” ran from 1988 to 1997, outliving the bush presidency, and was updated by ABC in 2018 with most of the same members of the cast, albeit 20 years older.
Jews, Hungarians, Beggars and Blockheads: Trakai Shrovetide Invitation Still Full of Stereotypes
by Olga Ugriumova
The municipality of Trakai invited the public to a Shrovetide ball in the town, including pupils of local schools and community members. The poster announcing the event calls it a winter fair in the charming town with a “Svetelių eisena marga.” This can be translated as a “gaudy procession of strangers or foreigners.” The poster continues to the effect that Jews, Hungarians, beggars, doctors, cranes, bears, roosters, Gypsies and all sorts of blockheads and horrific monsters will turn out for the winter festival and see the sun.
Full article in Russian here.
Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim Descendant Visits Panevėžys
In the 19th century there were five working synagogues in Panevėžys and a strong and widely-celebrated Jewish community. The Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim, also known by the acronym ADeReT, lived and worked in Panevėžys from 1871 to 1891 and was the head of the community. He later served as the rabbi of Mir in what is now Belarus, and went on to lead the Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem.
His great-grandson Rabbi Reuven Yeshua Koehn paid a visit to the Panevėžys last week and presented a portrait of his famous great-grandfather as a gift to the Panevėžys Jewish Community. He also met with the mayor of the city and presented a project currently being conducted in Israel to build a Litvak Heritage Center. The Center’s displays will include various Lithuanian shtetls and cities including Panevėžys.
Rabbi Koehn also visited the local regional history museum. Students from his yeshiva are expected to visit Panevėžys in late April.