Hag Purim Sameach!
Dear readers,
I would like to greet you in the name of the entire Lithuanian Jewish Community on the occasion of the happy holiday of Purim.
May this Purim be filled with happiness, fun, good moods and the warmth of family and friends.
Hag Purim sameach!
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
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:
State Protection Proposed for Great Synagogue Ruins
The ruins of the Great Synagogue and attached ritual Jewish bath in Vilnius has been proposed as a site for protection by the state.
The State Cultural Heritage Commission approved that recommendation but the actual listing of the site is up to the Lithuanian minister of culture. The site has architectural, archaeological, historical, commemorative and sacred features.
The State Cultural Heritage Commission said in a press release: “The archaeological, architectural, historical, commemorative and sacred significance of this complex in the Vilnius Old Town is undisputed.”
Full story in Lithuanian here.
Overnight Scouting Camp for Lithuanian Independence Day
March 11 is one of Lithuania’s two independence days, marking the day in 1990 when the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet declared Lithuania’s independence from the Soviet Union. In line with pre-WWII Jewish scouting traditions, the Lithuanian Jewish Community invites young people and their friends and classmates to an overnight Jewish scouting camp to celebrate Lithuanian independence. The camp will include entertaining games, a scouting program, a flag-raising ceremony and a Sabbath ceremony as well as the chance to meet new friends.
Parents should deliver their children to the Sholem Aleichem ORT school in Vilnius from 3:00 to 3:30 P.M. on March 10 and the camp ends at 7:00 P.M. on March 11. Children and young people need to bring along written consent from their parents, a sleeping bag, dishes and utensils for food, toothbrushes and other personal hygiene items. The cost is 25 euros per person and includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
Registration is open till 11:00 P.M. on April 7. Written consent needs to be delivered by parents to the scout leader at the collection point at Sholem Aleichem school.
To register, fill out the form here:
https://forms.gle/XYhx29EpZwLZiFrN7
For more information, write skautai@lzb.lt.
Dubi Club Purim
The Dubi Club continues to meet at noon on Sundays. This Sunday the children will receive a Purim surprise. All children aged 4 to 6 are invited to attend. For more information, contact Margarita Koževatova by telephone at +37061800577.
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.
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.