Learning – Page 80 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Makabi Members Invited to Sporting Tournament

Dear Makabi members,

The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club will host a mini-Maccabiah Games event from 12 noon to 4:00 P.M. on June 16 at the Lithuanian Educology University, Studentų street no. 39, Vilnius. Badminton competitions will be held at the A. Puškinas School at Gabijos street no. 8 in Vilnius. Your local teams are invited to compete in:

Indoor soccer (7 players plus coach)
Three-on-three basketball (5 players plus coach)
Volleyball (9 players plus coach)
Table tennis (men’s and women’s)
Chess (men’s, women’s)
Badminton (men’s, women’s)

Rules for the competition will be set following determination of exact numbers of teams and players in different sports.

Please send an application by e-mail to makabilita.duskes@gmail.com by June 14.
For more information, call 8 698 19999

Michailas Duškesas, executive director

2019-06-042019-06-07

Jewish Influences in the Life of Russian Poetess Anna Akhmatova

The Lithuanian Jewish Community will host an event dedicated to celebrating the 130th birthday of the Russian poetess Anna Akhmatova and discussing Jewish influences in her life. The event will take place at the LJC beginning at 1:00 P.M. on June 5. At least five speakers will present various topics. A screening of a film about Isaiah Berlin will punctuate the program of speakers, with a discussion with the audience following the last speaker. The event is expected to be held mainly in Russian.

2019-06-042019-06-07

Jewish Community Remembered in Kalvarija

In the period between the two world wars, the Jewish population was the majority population in Kalvarija, Lithuania. The architecture of the old town, a unique synagogue complex (with a winter and summer synagogue and the Talmud school) and the only surviving Jew, Moishe Segalis–all of this stands as a testimony to that time. For four Saturdays in a row now, as spring blossoms forth, there have been readings from Icchokas Meras’s novel “Lygiosios trunka akimirką” held near the synagogues in Kalvarija and in their courtyards. Lithuanian Jewish Community executive director Renaldas Vaisbrodas attended the final reading on May 24.

Students and soloists from the Sonantem choir in Kalvarija read from the work about the life of the Vilnius ghetto and about life which can be decided by the movement of a single piece on the game board.

A youth initiative invited the local community to an informal meeting with the relatives of those who once lived in Kalvarija, with our ancestors and neighbors.

2019-06-032019-06-06

Latvian President-Elect Has Jewish Roots

President-elect of Lativa Egils Levits, 63, has Jewish roots. His father Jonass was Jewish but his mother was not, he said in an interview last month for the Delfi news channel. He and his parents were allowed to move away from the USSR to West Germany in 1972. His father Jonass was a Jewish engineer and his mother Ingeborga Levita (née Barga, nom-de-plume Aija Zemzare) a Latvian poetess. Egils earned degrees in political science and law before returning to Latvia in 1990 to help draft the Latvian declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. In 1993 he was elected to the Latvian parliament and went on to serve as Latvia’s justice minister and ambassador to Switzerland, Austria and Hungary. Levits was appointed Latvia’s representative at the European Court of Human Rights in 1995 and is currently the Latvian representative at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. He was elected president of Latvia by the parliament on May 29.

Speaking on Latvia’s Radio 1, Levits said he spends all his free time in Latvia with his family. “I like to walk around and meet ordinary people. I will get to know Latvia that way more profoundly and more personally than many of the politicians resident in Riga.”

Many Levits in Riga and Latvia hail from Panevėžys and Pabradė in Lithuania. Egils Levits, who likely has distant Litvak roots, has said Latvia should follow Lithuania’s example in supporting Jewish culture and history issues.

2019-05-312019-06-06

Vilnius: Jerusalem of the North, Jerusalem of Lithuania

15min.lt

A New, Free Tourist Route: Why Vilnius Was Called the Jerusalem of the North

With those who fled coming back and traditional Jewish holidays again becoming part of city life, Jewish culture is experiencing a renaissance in Vilnius. Now there will be another opportunity to discover why Vilnius was called the Jerusalem of the North. A free new tourist route called “Discover Jewish Heritage in Vilnius” will help tell the stories of the Jews who lived and worked in Vilnius, according to a press release from the Vilnius municipal tourism and business growth agency Go Vilnius, which has compiled this guidebook as a way to learn about the world-famous Litvaks whose humble origins were in Vilnius, to discover what traces of them remain and to learn about the history of the Jewish community of Vilnius, including the best of times and the most tragic of times.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2019-05-24

Small but Significant Features of Jewish History in Vilnius

bernardinai.lt

Before World War II a large Jewish community lived in Vilnius whose cultural, religious and social traces are only recalled today in statues and commemorative plaques. It’s a rare resident of the city who knows why Vilnius was called the Jerusalem of Lithuania, who knows what an active community life bustled on the narrow streets of the Old Town and how the tragic events of World War II changed forever the face of the Lithuanian capital.

For many years Vilnius was a Jewish spiritual and academic center. Besides some faded inscriptions in Hebrew characters on buildings which were part of the Vilnius ghetto, there are more surviving traces of the history of this people. Before World War II Jews accounted for more than a third of all city residents.

Today we invite you to discover with us some small details of this history, small but important to our city.

Full text in Lithuanian here.

2019-05-242019-05-31

Markas Petuchauskas on the Presentation of His Book in Germany

I’d like to expand on the information about the book presentations in Germany by talking about the topics which were discussed at the Leipzig International Book Fair and the presentation held at the Lithuanian embassy where, besides Grigorij H. von Leitis, Lithuanian honorary consul professor Wolfgang von Stetten and Michael Lahr, the executive director of the Lahr von Leitis Academy and Archive, also took part.

I talked about the presentations of the Vilnius ghetto theater which have lodged themselves so colorfully in my memory, about the people who started that theater, the remarkable artists of the Jerusalem of Lithuania. Their figures loom large among the ranks of the great Litvaks of the world: Chaim Soutine, Jacques Lipchitz, Neemija Arbit Blatas, Ben Shahn, Emmanuel Levinas, Jascha Heifetz, Romain Gary and others.

Much space in the book is devoted to the branch of the Petuchovski (Petuchowski, Petuchauskai) family who in the second half of the 19th century moved to Germany and attained world-renown as active rabbis and philosophers of the Litvak persuasion.

The first of those to speak about the Vilnius ghetto theater, I demonstrated how that cramped stage was able to contain a vast cultural continent, a unique theater now widely recognized as such. Thanks to the theater, the ghetto became a symbol of spiritual resistance to the Nazis. The ideas of patience, tolerance and unity came to the fore in the spiritual resistance of the Vilnius ghetto. These ideas called out with the entire experience of the European Holocaust, urging unity against Naziism, giving form to the goal of nations recognizing the principles of Western democracy to come and join together.

Markas Petuchauskas
Author of Der Preis der Eintracht [German translation of The Price of Concord]
May 21, 2019

2019-05-232019-05-29

Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club Annual Reporting Conference

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky greeted the participants at the annual Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club reporting conference at the LJC on May 19.

The agenda included an annual report on governing bodies and presentation of the action plan for 2019. Lithuanian Makabi president Semionas Finkelšteinas in his speech recalled Lithuanian Makabi was the first Jewish organization in contemporary Lithuania, formed even before Lithuanian independence, on January 8, 1989. He delivered a report on Makabi activities for 2018, thanked those in attendance and said the organization was looking forward to the European Maccabiah Games to be held in Budapest this year, with 10 highly qualified competitors from Lithuania seeking medals there.

Lithuanian Makabi vice president Daumantas Levas Todesas, who has served in that post since the organization was formed in 1989, resigned, and president Finkelšteinas thanked him for many years of hard and successful work for the benefit of Lithuanian Makabi.

2019-05-232019-05-29

Markas Petuchauskas’s Book Price of Concord Presented in Berlin

The Lithuanian embassy in Germany on May 15 hosted a presentation of Markas Petuchauskas’s memoires The Price of Concord now translated into German as Der Preis der Eintracht, published by the LIT Verlag publishing house in Germany. Mark Roduner translated the book which was originally published in English. The director Grigory von Leit, with Litvak roots, read excerpts from the book. A discussion with the author followed. The vent was organized by the embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to Germany in cooperation with the Lietis Academy and Archive and the Lithuanian Culture Institute.

This isn’t the first time the German translation of Litvak drama critic Markas Petuchauskas was presented in Germany. Back in March there were two presentations of the book at the Leipzig International Book Fair.

The Price of Concord is a compendium of more than five decades of conversation with a number of theater figures, artists and musicians in which keen observations and sudden realizations and correspondence with different well-known personalities turn into a seamless book, one of whose sections contains complex moments of a fairly diverse life. Petuchauskas goes beyond discussion of episodes remembered from childhood and loss of family members leading to the pain experienced during occupation, and recalls the goodness, understanding and help of so many people encountered in the course of life.

2019-05-212019-05-28

Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium Holds Bar/Bat Mitzva Cermemonies

Fifty-six seventh graders from the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius celebrated their bar and bat mitzvas Monday. This coming-of-age ceremony is extremely important in Judaism. Following the ceremony a boy or girl is considered an adult. Whereas before his or her parents are responsible for the child following the traditions and laws of Judaism, after the ceremony the individual is himself or herself responsible and has the right to study Torah, follow its laws and is considered responsible for his or her actions.

Leron Blank celebrated his bar mitzva at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius. Before the ceremony Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky spoke about how significant this ceremony is for every Jewish boy, his family and his friends.

“This is a great joy–publicly, following all the rules–to celebrate bar mitzva! My bar mitzva was at home with the curtains closed… We were, after all, afraid… It was dangerous… So we really appreciate what we have,” Sholem Aleichem Gymnasium principal Miša Jakobas said at the ceremony. Leron read a passage from the Torah out in public, an essential part of the ceremony. His parents, teachers, relatives and friends watched with obvious emotion.

2019-05-212019-05-27

Irish Litvaks Celebrate Sabbath at Choral Synagogue

A delegation of 26 Jews from the Republic of Ireland visited Lithuania last week and attended a special Sabbath celebration held Friday for them at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius.

The tour was organized by the Irish Jewish Community with help from Irish ambassador to Lithuania David Noonan and his Lithuanian counterpart in Dublin, ambassador Egidijus Meilūnas. Most Irish Jews are descended from Litvaks with the major wave of immigration before World War I. Since then there has been little contact between Litvaks and Ireland and Litvaks in Lithuania. The Irish delegation is re-establishing contact while exploring their own roots, visiting their ancestral shtetls. Not all members of the delegation belong to the Irish Jewish Community, but all do share a connection with it.

Ambassador Noonan said: “I am very happy to see the visit taking place–the connection between the Jewish communities is one of the earliest connections between Ireland and Lithuania and deserves greater exploration. I was honoured to join the group on Friday for dinner and the Sabbath service; it was not my first time in the Synagogue but it was the first time I attended a service there. To attend with my fellow Irishmen and women made it a very special occasion indeed.”

Vilnius Jewish Religious Community chairman Simas Levinas said the Irish party had Sabbath dinner on the second floor of the synagogue and everyone was very satisfied with the event. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said the Irish Jewish delegation were very religiously devout and did all the proper things to mark Sabbath. Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon also attended the Sabbath celebration.

2019-05-202019-05-20

German Translation of Markas Petuchauskas’s Book at Lithuanian Embassy Berlin

The German translation of Markas Petuchauskas’s book “The Price of Concord” (Der Preis der Eintracht) will be presented at the Lithuanian embassy in Berlin May 15. The event will be moderated by theater director Gregorij H. von Leitis who is known for his work presenting and promoting Jewish culture. Von Leitis has Litvak roots.

This is not the first presentation of Petuchauskas’s book in Germany. Back in March it made a splash at the Leipzig International Book Fair with well-known personalities leading a panel discussion about the Litvak drama critic’s main work published originally in English.

2019-05-152019-05-23

Musical Evening “The Sounds of Music and Janusz Korczak”

Time: 5:30 P.M., May 15, 2019
Place: Central Library of the City of Vilnius

The Dr. Janusz Korczak Center and the Central Library of the City of Vilnius are pleased to invite you to an evening of music entitled Sounds of Music and Janusz Korczak.

Markas Volynskij and Marija Duškina will perform Yiddish songs.

Dr. Janusz Korczak Center director I. Belienė will be master of ceremonies.

Janusz Korczak’s real name was Henrik Goldshmit and was also known as Stary Doktor (Old Doctor) and Pan Doktor (Mr. Doctor). He was born in Warsaw on July 22, 1878, and died in August of 1942 at Treblinka. He was a doctor, teacher, writer, publicist and Jewish public figure. He was the originator of children’s rights and the idea that children should enjoy equal rights.

The Central Library of the City of Vilnius is located at Žirmūnų street no. 6 in Vilnius.

2019-05-15

Rescuers Celebrated in Kaunas

The Kaunas Jewish Community continued this year its spring tradition of commemorating those who rescued Jews from the Holocaust.

Rescuers and the rescued came together again in a warm celebration of friendship and humanity. Professor Saulius Kaušinis who spoke at this year’s event said it and the stories behind could serve as an example of peace and peaceful coexistence in today’s world troubled by conflict, hate and terrorism.

This year the commemoration coincided with Holocaust Day and six candles were lit in memory of the six million Jews murdered in Europe.

Tenth-grade Art Gymnasium student Patricija Pugžlytė performed a piece from Schindler’s List on cello. Actress Kristina Kazakevičiūtė, herself the daughter of a rescuer, helped create an atmosphere of reflection and at the same time joy, and after all the point of the ceremony was to celebrate life. The saxophonist Michail Javič also performed.

It was sad to note the dwindling ranks of both the rescuers and the rescued, but at the same time it was a great joy to see their children and grandchildren there who were eager to share their family stories.

2019-05-132019-05-23

Why Does the Founder of an International Corporation Talk about a Small Lithuanian Town?

by Romas Sadauskas-Kvietkevičius, DELFI.lt

According to Felix Zandman, the founder of the famous semiconductors producer Vishay International, whenever a new company client asked what the name of the corporation means, he told them about his grandmother and the mass murder of the Jews of Veisiejai.

Vishay is the Jewish name of Veisiejai used from the 18th century to the Holocaust. Survivors scattered around the world carried with them memories of their town and local placenames. The large Jewish population of the small town migrated before the war as well, and by the end of the 19th century of the 1,540 local inhabitants, 974 were Jewish. The Jewish population was rounded up and shot with other Jews from the Lazdijai district at Katkiškė village. The town of Veisiejai was probably best known for Ludovik Zamenhof, or Dr. Esperanto, who lived there in 1886 and 1887.

Felix Zandman passed away in 2011. His company had turnover in earlier years of $2.6 billion and employed over 20,000 people, or about 10 times the population of Veisiejai today.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2019-05-13

Irena Vesaitė Awarded Polish Prize

Kauno diena

The Borders ethnic, cultural and art foundation in Sejny, Poland, awarded its “Person on the Edge” prize to Lithuanian professor Irena Vesaitė Thursday.

“Her intellectual courage and active community work has made Vesaitė a true moral authority in Lithuania and Europe. The path upon which she found meaning and her goal is the path of the teacher who understands life itself as art,” foundation director Krzysztof Czyżewski said in a press release from the Ministry of Culture.

The press release said the professor was awarded the prize for her practice of the ethos of the marginalized, her art and her philosophy of life which were an inspiration to all recipients of the prize and a pillar of support in moments of doubt.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2019-05-13

Victory Day at the LJC

The world marks Victory Day, the end of World War II, on May 8 and 9, and every year the Lithuanian Jewish Community has honored the veterans and the fallen. This year Victory Day coincided with Israel’s national holidays to honor fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of terrorism as well as the anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. This year Israeli veterans also attended the LJC ceremony.

As in prior years, veterans were singled out and congratulated and thanked, including this year Fania Brancovskaja, Riva Špiz, Tatjana Archipova Efros, Borisas Berinas and Aleksandras Asovsky.

LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky greeted veterans as did executive director Renaldas Vaisbrodas and Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon, himself a military veteran. Žana Skudovičienė moderated the ceremony.

2019-05-102019-05-16

Heritas: Special Focus on Litvak Heritage

The second Heritas International Exhibit on Heritage Recognition, Maintenance and Technologies held May 3 and 4 focused on Lithuanian Jewish or Litvak heritage.

In cooperation with the Lithuanian Jewish Community attendees had the unique opportunity to visit the Zavl synagogue currently undergoing restoration at Gėlių street no. 6 in Vilnius.

The seminar portion of the exhibit discussed a topic proposed by LJC heritage protection specialist Martynas Užpelkis, “Litvak Heritage: A Matter for the Jewish Community and/or Local Communities?”

2019-05-102019-05-15

Suicide Prevention Workshop safeTALK May 23, 2019

The public health unit of the Vilnius municipality invites the public to attend a workshop called safeTALK on suicide prevention to teach people how to recognize the signs of someone in crisis and how to react appropriately to suicidal behavior.

The workshop will be held from 2 to 6:00 P.M. on May 23, 2019, at the Lithuanian Jewish Community located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. Speakers include Vaiva Juškevičiūtė and Giedrė Putelytė. Note the workshop will run for four hours with a break.

This is a Lithuanian adaptation of the safeTALK suicide prevention program created by the LivingWorks Education organization. It is constantly updated based on global academic studies and practical experience in the field of suicide prevention. The workshops are conducted by a team of specialists trained and certified by LivingWorks Education. For more information on the workshops, see http://www.vvsb.lt/mokymai-ir-renginiai/ in Lithuanian and https://www.livingworks.net/programs/safetalk/ in English.

The workshop is accredited by the Lithuanian Health Protection Ministry and is financed by the city of Vilnius. Those completing the workshop will be issued an international certificate. Prior registration is required and space is limited. Register here: http://www.vvsb.lt/savizudybiu-prevencija/

2019-05-102019-05-24