Yiddish – Page 3 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Eightieth Anniversary of the Liquidation of and Uprising in the Vilnius Ghetto: Film “Samuel Bak: Painter of Questions”

The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum will screen the documentary film “Samuel Bak: Painter of Questions” following a discussion of the film and the artist. The film was made by Christa Singer in 2003 and looks at the life and work of Samuel Bak through the prism of his childhood in the Vilnius ghetto. In the film he returns to Vilnius, walks the streets of the ghetto and visits Ponar where his father and grandparents were murdered. The film is in English and there won’t be subtitles in Lithuanian. The event begins at 6:00 P.M. on September 21. The Tolerance Center is located at Naugarduko street no. 10 in Vilnius.

imdb entry here.

#VilniusGhetto80

2023-09-19

Eightieth Anniversary of the Liquidation of and Uprising in the Vilnius Ghetto: March of the Living

The March of the Living this year will include marchers who begin the trek to Ponar from Rūdninkų square in the former ghetto in the Vilnius Old Town, located across the street and kitty-corner from the Greek embassy. The marchers are set to gather on Rūdninkų square at 1:00 P.M. on September 21. Most will take the train or private transportation to reach Ponar. Actually marching from Old Town to Upper Ponar on foot would take several hours at least. The LJC will provide a bus for those needing transportation. For more information, see the top of the English-language version of this webpage.

#VilniusGhetto80

2023-09-192023-09-20

Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of the Vilnius Ghetto: Exhibit “Wandering Stars, the History of Jewish Theater in Lithuania”

The exhibit uses modern technology in light, audio and visual installations to tell the little-known story of Jewish theater in Lithuania, presenting the stars of the stage in Kaunas and the founders behind the ghetto theater in Vilnius. It goes on public display at the Museum of Lithuanian Theater, Music and Cinema at Vilniaus street no. 41 in Vilnius on September 20.

2023-09-18

Marija Krupoves: Vilna Ghetto Songs Became My Destiny

by Olga Ugriumova, LRT.lt, September 6, 2023

What is the Puppet Theater in the Lithuanian capital today was the Vilnius ghetto theater during the Holocaust. It is hosting a concert to mark the 80th anniversary of the destruction of the ghetto. The concert is preceded by the opening of an exhibit dedicated to the memory of Leiba and Khael Rosenthal in the courtyard, which was the courtyard of the Vilnius ghetto Judenrat or Jewish council during Nazi rule.

The concert includes songs sung by Marija Krupoves, Arkadijus Gotesmanas doing percussion, Boris Kizner on violin, Artūras Anusauskas on piano and other well-known musicians. Krupoves ,besides earning renown for her musical performances, is also an academic who explores the folklore of many peoples and her song repertoire includes texts in Yiddish, Polish, Lithuanian, Belarussian, Ukrainian, Roma, Tartar and Karaïte, among other languages and dialects.

Marija says the songs of the Vilnius ghetto became her destiny.

2023-09-132023-09-13

European Days of Jewish Culture in Ukmergė

The Lithuanian Jewish Community was gratified to see so many young people attend European Days of Jewish Culture events held in Ukmergė (Vilkomir) last Tuesday. A large number of local residents and a delegation of 62 students from Israel attended events including a reading of the names of Holocaust victims from the area.

The Lithuanian town where about half of all households spoke Yiddish until World War II had multiple working synagogues, a Jewish hospital, Jewish schools and other Jewish institutions. Ukmergė Jewish Community chairman Artūras Taicas introduced local Holocaust survivor Elena Jakiševa, said to be the only Jew from Vilkomir to survive the Holocaust, to participants who were keen to hear everything she had to say. Chairman Taicas said it was important for the current generation of young people to learn from living witnesses without distortion and suppression.

2023-09-11

European Days of Jewish Culture in Klaipėda

The Klaipėda Jewish Community will present a program of events to celebrate European Days of Jewish Culture beginning Sunday afternoon on September 10 at the Klaipėda Jewish Community located at Sinagogų street no. 13 in the port city.

The Shtatil theater troupe is to perform a play about Jewish stories and events in Klaipėda city and district, formerly known under East Prussian rule as Memel and Memelland (or Memelgebiet), respectively. The performance won’t be confined to the theater: players promise a tour through the city to illustrate the fictional stories about Jewish life which could have happened there.

The play concludes at the Klaipėda Puppet Theater at Turgaus street no. 9, followed there by a presentation of more Jewish stories, namely fairy tales, for the whole family, narrated by Klaipėda Jewish Theater director Nerijus Gedminas and actors.

#EDJC2023 #Atmintis #Memory #AEPJ #UNESCO #Lietuvos žydų bendruomenė ##KlaiėdosŽydųBendromenė #OurCommunities

2023-09-08

Golda Meir: 11 Little-Known Facts about Israel’s Remarkable Prime Minister

by Yvette Alt Miller, August 24, 2023

There’s a lot you don’t know about Israel’s Iron Lady.

The new movie Golda depicts former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir’s day-by-day decisions during the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Viewers watch as Golda, played by Helen Mirren, juggles high-stakes diplomacy and brinkmanship over 19 excruciating days which defined her premiership. Israel ultimately won the war but with a terrible loss of life.

Here are 11 lesser-known facts about Golda Meir, one of Israel’s most famous founders.

1. Golda’s first memory was fearing for her life.

Born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1898, Golda spent her first eight years in the shadow of horrific antisemitism there. Her very first memory was of her father Moshe desperately trying to reinforce the entrance to the little house they shared with another Jewish family while a violent mob brayed for blood outside.

Golda later described:

I can still recall quite distinctly hearing about a pogrom that was to descend upon us… I knew it had something to do with being Jewish and with the rabble that used to surge through town, brandishing knives and huge sticks, screaming “Christ-killers” as they looked for the Jews and who were now going to do terrible things to me and to my family…to this day I remember how scared I was and how angry that all my father could do to protect me was to nail a few planks together while he waited for the hooligans to come. (Quoted from My Life by Golda Meir: 1975)

Golda later described that the fear of that terrible night never left her, and helped motivate her to build a Jewish state where Jews could live freely in safety.

2. Her namesake was a Jewish grandma with a will of steel.

2023-08-31

Nechama Lifshitz Song Contest Slated for Mid-September

The Nechama Lifshitz Song Contest is back and scheduled for several days in mid-September. A big hit last year, we expect it will draw even more attention this third time around.

Nechama, or Nekhama according to a stricter transcription, was an amazing Yiddish-language songstress sometimes called the Jewish Nightingale who began her professional career in Vilnius and Kaunas, going on to fame in the Soviet Union and world renown with concert tours abroad.

The best voices from Lithuania and abroad will meet at the Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy performance hall from 11:00 A.M. till 6:00 P.M. on September 17. The hall is located at Tilto street no. 16 in central Vilnius. That same evening Jazz Cellar 11 at Aušros vartų street no. 11 in Vilnius will host popular music vocalists starting at 8:00 P.M.

On September 18 there will be a concert performed by prize winners at the Old Town Hall in Vilnius starting at 6:00 P.M. The same evening the party continues at Jazz Cellar 11 with the closing ceremony for the song contest.

2023-08-30

Yiddish Lesson with Simas Levinas

“I grew up in a Jewish setting. We lit candles during Hanukkah as did everyone, we ate home cooking. Only now, thinking about how that food was prepared, so I realize this was kosher food. We were surrounded by Jews, Jews came over as guests, when you got sick it was Jews who treated you. When I was small I didn’t even know things could be any other way. I only saw girls dressed colorfully next to the Gates of Dawn in Vilnius, and I wanted those kinds of clothes, too, but my grandmother wouldn’t let me, saying only Polish girls dressed that way,” Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman and attorney Faina Kukliansky recalled about her early childhood.

“Later on life changed, school, studies, new people, new homes where you couldn’t keep chickens with their legs tied as in my grandmother’s kitchen. One important thing, however, didn’t change: the Yiddish language which we used at home, all our relatives and closest friends…” …

Simas Levinas will deliver a lesson in basic Yiddish at 11:00 A.M. on September 3 in the kitchen of the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius. Everyone is welcome to attend the free event which is part of the European Day of Jewish Culture celebrations in Lithuania.

2023-08-302023-08-30

Presentation/Discussion of Book about Vilnius Yiddish Folk Theater

You’re invited to a presentation and discussion of the book “Вильнюсский еврейский Народный театр 1971-1999” [Vilnius Jewish Folk Theater 1971-1999] with the author Betsalel “Tsalik” Frank from Israel. Boris Kirzner will serve as moderator for the Russian-language event. Following the event, the author will invite the audience to share a glass of wine and celebrate Sabbath together. The event will take place in the Jascha Heifetz Hall at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius at 6:00 P.M. on Friday, September 8.

2023-08-292023-08-29

Jewish Community of Balbirishok Remembered

A stone stele marking the site of the synagogue which once served the Jewish community in Balbirishok (Balbieriškis) was unveiled in the small Lithuanian town last week.

Attending the unveiling ceremony were Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas, US embassy chief of mission William Kendrick, Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein, educational program coordinator of the International Commission for Assessing the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania Ingrida Vilkienė, representatives of the Prienai regional administration and the Balbieriškis aldermanship and a large contingent of local residents and students from the Balbieriškis primary school’s Tolerance Center.

LJC chairwoman Kukliansky welcomed the audience and said she was impressed and pleased the truly significant role played by Litvaks in the history of the town was being remembered and appreciated.

2023-08-242023-08-24

European Day of Jewish Culture Events in Vilnius

September 3rd is coming. The first Sunday in autumn, the day the Lithuanian Jewish Community will again celebrate the European Day of Jewish Culture, a day the Community has celebrated for a decade now. As in previous years, all events across Europe to celebrate the day are modeled on a general theme. This year it’s memory. This topic is like a bridge leading to the Jewish cultural legacy which remains to a great extent unknown by the wider population. #Atmintis or Memory doesn’t end on the first Sunday in September, of course, and in September and October the Lithuanian Jewish Community will hold and coordinate events throughout Lithuania.

Below you’ll find the events program for September 3, all of which are free and open to everyone.

#EŽKD2023 #EDJC2023 #Atmintis #AEPJ #LietuvosŽydų(litvakų)Bendruomenė #CviParkas #BeigeliųKrautuvėlė Kultūros Paveldo Departamentas Tautinių mažumų departamentas prie Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybės #mūsųbendruomenės #OurCommunities

2023-08-232023-08-23

Rugelakh Now Available at Bagel Shop Café

As the Lithuanian Jewish Community counts down the days to the New Year 5784, the Bagel Shop Café has come up with some new menu items. One of them is rugelakh, the amazing pastry traditionally served during Shavuot and Rosh Hashanah. The name comes from the Yiddish root “rugel” meaning little twist or tie.

2023-08-022023-08-02

Roots: Save Our Trees Protest at Romain Gary Square in Vilnius

The small square–actually more of a triangle–on Basanavičiaus street in Vilnius with a sculpture of Litvak writer in French and diplomat Romain Gary as a boy was the sight of a fairly large protest Wednesday last week.

Several hundred people came to protest plans by the adjacent cafė to cut down some larger trees around the sculpture.

The cafė owner claimed the trees weren’t rooted in soil and had simply grown over pavement, and posed an obstacle to renovating the terrace there.

Protestors called for tree specialists to make a determination about root-depth. Last Friday the Vilnius city municipality rescinded permission to remove the nine trees until experts have had a chance to look at the situation.

2023-07-252023-07-25

New Installations in Anykščiai Mark Jewish Heritage Sites

BNS, July 23, 2023

Two new artistic installations now grace the Old Town in Anykščiai, Lithuania, north of Vilnius intended to commemorate the former Jewish population.

The Anykščiai municipality reports a sculptural relief by professor Romualdas Inčirauskas and Zita Inčirauskienė called “Memorial Marker for the Former Synagogues” was installed at the site of the former synagogue at Šaltupio street. It reportedly includes portion of a map of the town from 1925 with the sites of six former synagogues marked.

The same artists installed a bench in front of the building located at Baranauskas Square no. 7. There are seven human figure sculptures on top of the bench back to symbolize the days of the week with the Sabbath represented as a rabbi.

2023-07-252023-07-25

Congratulations to Lara Lempertienė

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda presented the Lithuanian medal “For Merit” to Lara Lempertienė, director of the Judaica Research Center of the Lithuanian National Library, on July 6, Lithuania’s State Day, Coronation of Mindaugas Day. She received the award in recognition of her work at the Center going beyond textual research and including exhibits, publications, presentations at international conferences and presenting the Litvak cultural legacy in Lithuania and abroad. The Lithuanian Jewish Community congratulates Lara on yet another Lithuanian state award and wish her continued success.

2023-07-10

Library Named after Litvak Novelist in Home Town

The public library in Jonava, Lithuania, has been renamed the Grigoriy Kanovitch library. The late Litvak writer came from Jonava originally.

At the naming ceremony the writer’s son, Sergejus Kanovičius, also a writer, quoted from an interview made with his father several years ago:

Q.: If you could be anywhere in an instant, which location do you hold most dear?
A.: I’d go back to my childhood. To Jonava, on the banks of the Vilija [Neris River].

Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein and Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky both attended the ceremony at the town hall as well. Both women thanked the city council and the library for the name-change. The library awards a Gigoriiy Kanovitch literary prize annually.

“A few days ago my father would have celebrated his 94th birthday and tomorrow would be exactly 82 years since he and his family were forced to leave Jonava, as he believed, for life. I am extraordinarily grateful that after so many years you have brought his memory back to Jonava, to his childhood on the banks of the Vilija,” his son said.

2023-06-262023-06-26

Against Anti-Semitism in Name Only

by Geoff Vasil

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda has joined the chorus, the other two heads of state, the prime minister and the speaker of parliament, in declaring Lithuania has zero tolerance for anti-Semitism. At the same time, the state and the nation continue to glorify, lionize and commemorate, often enthusiastically, Lithuanian Nazis who were complicit in Holocaust crimes and responsible for the death of nearly every Lithuanian Jew.

The state-funded Lithuanian Academy of Sciences has removed the Jonas Noreika plaque on its walls “for repairs” even though permission was never granted by any state or municipal body to place the plaque there. Its latest incarnation was the work of enthusiastic Lithuanian neo-Nazis. Streets, schools and squares retain the names of known Holocaust perpetrators with commemorative plaques and statues to them scattered across Lithuania.

At the same time, the ruling coalition, aka the Lithuanian Government, has engaged in rank censorship for two and a half years now, along with a complicit media and law enforcement bodies. This has created a virtual atmosphere of full-fledged fascism and conformity in the country, with straight-up propaganda de rigueur on a range of topics.

2023-06-222023-06-23

Nechama Lifshitz Young Jewish Vocalists Contest

Vocalists aged 10 to 35 are invited to register for the Nechama Lifshitz Vocalist Contest to be held in Vilnius in September. The goal of the competition is to inspire creativity and talent in the younger generation, to popularize vocal Jewish music and to discover talented young Jewish performers and song writers. The contest is named after renowned singer Nechama Lifshitz who was born in Kaunas and was sometimes called the Jewish nightingale. She became famous throughout the Soviet Union and the world.

2023-06-072023-06-07