Learning – Page 24 – 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

Lithuanian-Born Yiddish Poet Rivka Basman Ben-Haim Dead at 98

Yiddish poet Rivka Basman Ben-Haim died last week at the age of 98, the Jerusalem Post reports. She was the last living Yiddish poet of her generation.

She refused to call herself a Holocaust survivor. The person who entered the Nazi camps, she explained, did not survive, but died, and a different person emerged. Rivka found comfort in their new families, friendships and in love.

She was born in Wilkomir [Ukmergė], Lithuania. Her father and brother were murdered. She spent around two years in the Vilna ghetto and was then sent to the Kaiserwald concentration camp in Riga.

Full Jerusalem Post story here.

More information about Basman’s Litvak origins and life here.

2023-03-302023-04-03

Shalom Discussion Club to Meet

Natalja Cheifec’s Shalom discussion club is planning to meet for an open-ended discussion at 5:30 P.M. on Wednesday, March 29, on the zoom internet platform. To receive login credentials register at https://bit.ly/3q0j7hg and when you’re filling out the questionnaire don’t forget to mention the topics you’d like to see discussed by the club. Wednesday evening’s meeting will include a link to a film which will be a topic for discussion as well.

2023-03-292023-03-29

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

New Holocaust Play from Klaipėda Coming to Vilnius

The Klaipėda Jewish Community theater Šatil is preparing to stage the play “Man baisus pasaulis, kuriame nėra tavęs” [A World Without You Horrifies Me] based on the work of Maja Tarachovskaja (Майя Тараховская, Maya Tarakhovskaya) in Vilnius.

The play tells the story of a Jewish girl named Mirka who escaped from a train on the way to a death camp. She is forced by circumstances to make the hard decision to leave her son with the villager woman who rescued them in order to save her newborn baby.

“And I left, in the night, for nowhere, leaving to that woman two priceless gifts: I gave her you, and the only existing photograph of your father,” a heartbroken Mirka says in the play.

The play, directed by Nerijus Gedminas, is in Russian and will debut Tuesday, April 11, at the Russian Drama Theater at Jono Basanavičiaus street no. 13 in Vilnius.

2023-03-272023-03-27

Synagogue Restored in Kupiškis

One of the synagogues in Kupiškis, Lithuania, which houses the town’s public library has been undergoing restoration for the last six years. On Friday, March 24, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Israel ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein and US ambassador Robert Gilchrist visited the synagogue and saw the results of the reconstruction work.

“A large Jewish community lived in Kupiškis before the war,” chairwoman Kukliansky said. “They were almost all exterminated by the Nazis and local collaborators. It is right that their story is remembered, if only eighty years later, and that the residents of Kupiškis who come here or pass by outside will see this building and be reminded of the great contribution Jews made to the community’s success.”

Jews settled in Kupiškis sometime in the 17th century. In 1682 bishop Mikołaj Pac (Mikolajus Pacas in Lithuanian) issued a permit for the construction of a synagogue. Around 2,661 Jews accounting for 71% of the population lived in Kupiškis in 1897. During the period between the two world wars there were three working synagogues in the town, adjacent and forming a courtyard, with the Great Synagogue on the northern side, the Small Synagogue on the south and the Hassidic synagogue on the western side. The Great and Hassidic synagogues survive. In 1950 the Great synagogue building was used as the town’s public library. The entrance way into the library has a commemorative plaque with a citation from the Book of Isaiah, 56:5: “I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off,” in Hebrew, English and Lithuanian. The first floor of the building is now being used as a library with the second storey as space dedicated to the Jewish community.

2023-03-272023-03-27

ORT Technicum in Vilnius: A Window to the Future

The Lithuanian National Martyna Mažvydas Library will host an exhibit called “The Vilnius ORT Technicum: A Window to the Future” as part of the 700th birthday celebrations for the city of Vilnius. The exhibit will talk about the history of the Jewish vocational institution and the importance of acquiring a craft or trade for economic survival in the early 20th century. Work by students and original documents and textbooks in Yiddish will be displayed. The exhibit will also include a projection of documents from the library’s Judaica center projected on windows located at Islandijos street no. 3, formerly Gdansk street where the ORT operated starting in 1925. The light show is to take place from 8:00 P.M. to 4:00 A.M. during the entire course of the exhibit at the library. The main exhibit will be demonstrated on the fifth floor of the national library. The exhibit will run from April 4 to May 31 during the library’s working houses and is open to the public. An opening ceremony is scheduled for 6:00 P.M., April 4, in the atrium on the fifth floor.

More information is available in Lithuanian here.

2023-03-23

New Publication of Shur’s Entries: A Chronicle of the Vilna Ghetto, 1941-1944

Grigoriy Shur’s Vilnius ghetto diary has been reissued with support from the Goodwill Foundation, with a new cover and new introduction.

Perhaps the most informative of the several Vilnius ghetto diaries, Shur’s manuscript was originally published in Lithuanian translation by the Era publishing house in Vilnius in 1997 with partial funding from the Lithuanian Culture Ministry, and was roundly ignored by the general public.

The new edition is the same translation published by Era back in 1997 by Nijolė Kvaraciejūtė and Algimantas Antanavičius. It contains the same introduction by Pranas Morkus and forward by Vladimir Porudominsky, but adds a new and short introduction by the writer Vytautas Toleikis, who surveys recent Holocaust literature published in Lithuanian, including his keen observations about the book “Mūsiškai” [Our People] by Rūta Vanagaitė and Efraim Zuroff, or more precisely, how Lithuanian nationalists responded to it. Here’s a rough translation of part of Toleikis’s introduction:

2023-03-202023-03-29

Senior Citizens Visit High School Freshmen

As part of the “From Generation to Generation” project by the Anu Museum of the Diaspora in Israel, seniors from the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s social center met with 9th-grade students from the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius to share thoughts and bridge the generations.

A few weeks ago the high school students visited the Seniors’ Club at the LJC. This time the seniors went back to school where they were given a tour of the facilities including the modern classrooms, labs and an art exhibit currently on display there. Our seniors also attended a Sabbath ceremony with students from all grades. The students presented drawings they made to the seniors as gifts. Seniors and students later met in the library and shared stories, which were recorded and will be sent to the Anu Museum in Tel Aviv.

2023-03-202023-03-20

Getting Acquainted in Panevėžys

The Union of People with Disabilities from the Panevėžys Region hosted a two-day getting-acquainted session with the Lithuanian Jewish and Roma communities.

The activities over the two days were intended to teach about other ethnic communities living in the same area, their traditions and culture, and to stop the spread of stereotypes anti-Semitism and Romophobia.

The program was prepared in concert with specialists from #PadėkPritapti #LietuvosŽydųBendruomenė and #Lietuvosžmogausteisiųcentras.

You can find out more about upcoming getting-acquainted sessions here:
https://www.lzb.lt/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2-dienų-patyrimo-kelionė-INFO-4.pdf

2023-03-172023-03-17

First Day of Rescuers Celebrated at Lithuanian Jewish Community

In 2022 the Day of Rescuers of Lithuanian Jews was added to the list of official commemorative dates in Lithuania. The date March 15 was chosen as the day in 1966 when the Yad Vashem Holocaust authority in Israel first recognized a Lithuanian as a Righteous Gentile. As a new commemorative date, there is no set tradition on how to celebrate the holiday. The Lithuanian Government urged public commemoration of March 15 and included two events as possible venues: the opening of an exhibit about Righteous Gentiles at a museum in Vilnius, and a reading of the names of rescuers at Vilnius University, a tradition associated with the many victims of the Holocaust, many of whom remain unknown except for their names, rather that with the heroes of the Holocaust, most of whose biographies at least in Lithuania have been fully explored and documented.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community celebrated the first instance of Rescuers Day by recalling how the Jews of Lithuania actually live. As LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky has said repeatedly, if not for the Righteous Gentiles in Lithuania, no Litvaks would have survived in Lithuania.

2023-03-162023-03-16

Stories of Lithuanian Rescuers of Jews

In 2005 the Department of Righteous Gentiles of the Vilna Gaon Museum published their third edition of “Hands Bringing Life and Bread” in a combined Lithuanian- and English-language edition. According to the museum’s website it:

“contains stories of those who showed humanity during the darkest hours of history, the Righteous Gentiles. It is dedicated to Ona Simaitė in celebration of the 110th anniversary of her birth. This courageous woman is well known for her deeds during WWII, but is only one of 72 Rescuers of Jews in Lithuania presented in this volume.”

Compiled by Viktorija Sakaitė and edited by Dalija Epšteinaitė, 2005, 128 pp.; Lithuanian & English, ISBN 9986-34-144-2

Featured here.

2023-03-152023-03-16

Lithuanian PM Calls for Celebration of First Jewish Rescuer Day in Lithuania

On March 15 Lithuania will celebrate the Day of Rescuers of Lithuanian Jews for the first time, included on the official list of commemorative days late last year. The day will include a number of events including a reading of the names of rescuers at Vilnius University at 4:00 P.M. and the opening of an exhibition on Righteous Gentiles at the Marija and Jurgis Šlapelis Museum located at Pilies street no. 40 in Vilnius.

“Great challenges don’t just destroy, they also awaken heroes. Those whose deeds kindle endless hope. Those thanks to whom today we aren’t just talking about victims and murderers, but also about the rescuers. Those who pass on to all coming generations the clear knowledge that we can always chose the light, even in the darkest night,” Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė said.

Full article in Lithuanian here.

2023-03-152023-03-15

Commemorating Righteous Gentile Ona Šimaitė

On March 12 in the middle of a blizzard people gathered at the Litvak Commemorative Garden in Plateliai, Lithuania, to commemorate Lithuania’s first-recognized Righteous Gentile, Vilnius University librarian Ona Šimaitė.

Lithuania marks the first-ever Day of Rescuers of Lithuanian Jews in the country March 15. It was on this day in 1966 that Yad Vashem in Israel recognized Ona Šimaitė as the first Righteous Gentile from Lithuania.

The Litvak Commemorative Garden has a number of metal apple tree sculptures with the names of Lithuanian Jewish communities exterminated in the Holocaust and Lithuanian Righteous Gentiles inscribed on the apples.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2023-03-15

Oldest Nearly Complete Hebrew Bible to Sell at Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s will auction off the oldest surviving, nearly complete Hebrew Bible, known as the Codex Sassoon, the auction house announced. The 1,100-year old volume carries an estimate of $30 million to $50 million which could make it the most valuable historical document ever sold at auction.

The Codex is named after businessman, philanthropist and Judaica collector David Solomon Sassoon who once owned the item. According to Sotheby’s it predates the earliest entirely complete Hebrew Bible, the Leningrad Codex, by nearly a century. While the Aleppo Codex at the Israel Museum is older than the Codex Sassoon, almost two-fifths of its pages are missing.

“Codex Sassoon has long held a revered and fabled place in the pantheon of surviving historic documents and is undeniably one of the most important and singular texts in human history,” Sotheby’s global head of books and manuscripts Richard Austin said in a statement.

2023-03-14

YIVO to Digitize Treasure Trove of Leftist History

New York Jewish Week–YIVO has launched an eight-year project to digitize its Jewish Labor and Political Archives, widening access to some 3.5 million pages related to Jewish revolutionary, socialist and labor movements in Europe and America.

The project, the largest archival digitization project in the history of the Jewish research institute, will shine a light on the Jewish Labor Bund whose archives survived the Nazis and form the core of the collection.

Founded in Vilna in 1897 by Jews influenced by Marxism, the Bund played a central role in organizing Jewish trade unions and aligned with various socialist parties in pre-WWII Europe. It administered a massive network of secular Yiddish schools, stood up against anti-Semitism and supported an underground network against the Nazi genocide, activities kept up by members who managed to flee to New York in the early 1940s.

That history is reflected in the journey of the archive materials which were seized by the Nazis but were later rediscovered in France after the German army’s retreat. In 1951 the Bund Archives was brought to New York, and transferred to YIVO in 1992.

2023-03-14

Sunday Quiz on Jewish Theater

The quizzes go on, this coming Sunday around the topic of Jewish theater. Come and show off your knowledge, or learn something new. Presented by writer, philosopher, mime and circus performer Arkadijus Vinokuras, the quiz will take place at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, March 19. Register by sending an e-mail to Katrina at katrina@lzb.lt.

2023-03-13

Purim in Panevėžys

This year the Panevėžys Jewish Community held a joint celebration of Purim and International Women’s Day. Community chairman Gennady Kofman kicked off the party with a reading from the Book of Esther, passed out small gifts to the children and conveyed Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky’s holiday greetings. At the holiday table the men greeted the ladies present on International Women’s Day, proposed toasts, gave flowers and sang songs in their honor.

2023-03-13

Condolences

Semion “Sam” Yossman, born in Vilnius, former host of the Vatican’s Lithuanian-language radio service, BBC Russian-language department staff and radio host, author of an extensive book about the Cold War and Litvak, passed away last week, according to sources in London. Our deepest condolences to his many friends and family members.

More information about this outstanding man can be found here.

2023-03-132023-03-13

European Days of Jewish Culture 2023

Organizers and coordinators of the European Days of Jewish Culture for 2023 events met in Paris in late February and decided upon the theme “Citizens, equality, rights and values” for this year’s celebrations.

Most meetings and seminars took place at the Shoah memorial in Paris with meetings on the second day at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

The European Days of Jewish Culture are scheduled to begin on the first Sunday in September, 2023.

2023-03-13