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Community Hanukkah Events

Community Hanukkah Events

In addition to all the other events already announced, the Lithuanian Jewish Community is offering a walking tour of Jewish Vilna with guide Viljamas Žitkauskas and an Israeli dance marathon with Rikudim.

The tour begins at 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, December 17, meeting at the bell tower at the Arch-Cathedral in Vilnius. Program: Tour, avdala ceremony, dinner at the Bagel Shop Café, performance by the children’s section of the Fayerlakh Jewish song and dance ensemble. Registration required. Send an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or call +37067881514 on weekdays between 10:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M.

The Rikudim Israeli dance marathon will be held in the Jascha Heifetz Hall at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius from 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. on Sunday, December 18. To register send an email to Julija at Juliradv@gmail.com.

Clubs Celebrate Hanukkah

Clubs Celebrate Hanukkah

The various clubs at the Lithuanian Jewish Community are planning Hanukkah celebrations of their own.

The Yiddish-language Mameloshen Club is holding a Yiddish Hanukkah for members on December 18, call *37067881514 to register and for more information.

Knaifaim Club for adolescents aged 13 to 17 plans to hold a Hanukkah celebration at a special location at 8:00 P.M. on Friday, December 16. Contact Mark at margaris146@gmail.com or Elanas at Elan.Chackelevic@gmail.com.

Ilan Club for children aged 7 to 12 will hold a Hanukkah celebration at 12:00 noon on December !8. Contact Mark at margaris146@gmail.com or Elanas at Elan.Chackelevic@gmail.com.

Dubi Club for chilren from 4 to 6 will also hold a Hanukkah celebration at 12:00 noon on December !8. Register by contacting Margarita at +37061800577.

Dubi Mishpoha Club for children from 0 to 3 will hold a Hanukkah celebration at 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, December 21. Register by contacting Aleksandra at +37067250599.

US Envoy Welcomes Lithuanian Government’s Jewish Private Property Restitution Proposal

US Envoy Welcomes Lithuanian Government’s Jewish Private Property Restitution Proposal

VILNIUS–Ellen Germain, special envoy for Holocaust issues at the US State Department, welcomed the Lithuanian Government’s proposal to compensate Jews for lost private property when she visited Vilnius on Monday, the Foreign Ministry said.

“Germain welcomed the draft law submitted by the Lithuanian government to the Seimas, which aims to address the outstanding issues of the unreturned property of Jewish persons who lived in Lithuania before or during World War Two, stressing that ensuring justice for Holocaust survivors and their heirs is an important issue of human rights and the rule of law,” it said in a press release.

The bill calls for transferring 37 million euros to the Goodwill Foundation in 2024 to 2030 as compensation for expropriated private Jewish property. The foundation would pay out the money to property owners and their heirs based on the claims received.

Under the existing law adopted in 2011, Lithuania committed to paying 37 million euros over a decade in compensation for seized Jewish communal property. The process should be completed by next March.

Full story here.

Hanukkah 5783/2022

Hanukkah 5783/2022

Hanukkah begins Sunday evening, December 18, 2022, and continues through Monday, December 26, 2022. Hanukkah is the eight-day Jewish wintertime “festival of lights” celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting, special prayers and fried foods. The first candle will be lit on Sunday evening on the menorah candelabrum, also known as the hanukiya, in Jewish homes around the world. To learn more about this holiday, click here.

The Ten Commandments in Judaism

The Ten Commandments in Judaism

Natalja Cheifec invites you to a lecture on the meaning of the Most High’s Ten Commandments, including what punishment faces those who violate them, the significance of the eighth commandment “Thou shalt not steal,” whom Judaism considers a murderer, which violations of the Ten Commandments cannot be redeemed, and other topics.

The lecture will take place via internet at 5:30 P.M. on Wednesday, December 14. To access the zoom platform for the lecture, register at https://bit.ly/3K73kEE.

Children and the Internet: From Appropriate Use to Pathology

Children and the Internet: From Appropriate Use to Pathology

by Asta Katutė

Today digital technology, the internet and social media have become an indivisible part of the life of children as well as adults.

The ever-increasing use of digital technology by adolescents over the past decade reached a peak during the corona virus pandemic when even the educational process took place as distance learning on the internet. This made clear the negative influence too intense use of information technologies has on the physical and mental health of children.

The Lithuanian Health Ministry says there was increased depression and anxiety disorders during the pandemic and there was also a significant worsening of the emotional health of students in general. Dr. Giedrė Širvinskienė, the director of the Psychological Health Cathedral under the Social Health Faculty at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences spoke to us in depth on this topic.

Q.: What factors have a causal influence on the worsening emotional health of children? Is the problem the large amounts of time children spend on the internet? Are there other causes?

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Happy Hanukkah Greetings

Happy Hanukkah Greetings

Dear readers,

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and Vilnius Jewish Religious Community chairman Shmuel Levinas wish everyone an excellent and happy Hanukkah holiday.

“I wish light, peace and happiness in everyone’s hearts, and invite you to attend the lighting of the Hanukkah lights at 7:00 P.M. on Monday, December 19, at the Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street number 39, Vilnius,” chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said.

Hag Hanukkah sameakh!

Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community

Shmuel Levinas, chairman
Vilnius Jewish Religious Community

LJC Members and Friends Recognized on International Human Rights Day

LJC Members and Friends Recognized on International Human Rights Day

To mark international Human Rights Day on December 10, Lithuania’s Department of Ethnic Minorities held an awards ceremony at the M. K. Čiurlionis School of the Arts in Vilnius and recognized the work of a number of members and friends of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, including architect and designer Victoria Sideraitė-Alon, LJC executive board member and president of the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club Semionas Finkelšteinas, chairman of the Klaipėda Jewish Community Feliksas Puzemskis, Vilnius Jewish Public Library director Žilvanas Bielauskas, violinist and member of the Fayerlakh Jewish song and dance ensemble Boris Kirzner, Fayerlakh chairwoman Larisa Vyšniauskienė and documentary filmmaker and television producer Lilija Kopač.

The Ethnic Minorities Department awards are distributed to members of ethnic communities, the media and NGOs for their work increasing ethnic harmony, encouraging cultural diversity and unifying multicultural Lithuania.

We sincerely congratulate all prize recipients on the recognition of their work forging a better future for the Lithuanian Jewish Community and Lithuania.

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Family Sabbath

Family Sabbath

You and your family are invited to a Sabbath celebration under the tenets of progressive Judaism in the run-up to Hanukkah, the holiday of light and miracles, at 6:30 P.M. on Friday, December 16. The prayer service will be held on the third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius followed by kiddush at 8:30 P.M. at the Bagel Shop Café at the same address. The Sabbath ceremony and Sabbath dinner will be followed by a Hanukkah surprise. To register, write viljamas@lzb.lt or call +37067250699.

Hanukkah in Israel

Hanukkah in Israel

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Israel Agency Sokhnut’s Lithuanian office invite you to a Hanukkah celebration and workshop called “Hanukkah in Israel” at 6:00 P.M. on December 15 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius. Program:

•Education in Israel: from kindergarten to university, by Konstantin Shveibish from Israel;
•First steps in Israel, buying and renting real estate, attorney Sabina Shternin from Israel;
•Working in Israel, Oleg Dobkin from Israel,
•Questions from the audience;
•Hanukkah treats.

The event is free. For more information write info@ystreet.lv or call +3706998839.

Condolences

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and LJC chairwoman extend our deepest condolences on the death of Adolfas Šleževičius to his many friends and relatives. The Lithuanian prime minister from 1993 to 1996 was born February 2, 1948 and his parents rescued Jews from the Holocaust. His Government stabilized the Lithuanian economy not least of all through the re-introduction of the Lithuanian currency the litas, and through improved relations with neighboring countries in the aftermath of the break-up of the Soviet Union. He is the author of over 50 articles and two books. Both his parents were recognized as Righteous Gentiles in 1994 by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Commemoration and Education Institute in Jerusalem.

Yakov Perelman: Singer of Science

Yakov Perelman: Singer of Science

by Sergei Konstantinov

That’s what his friends called him. And also a singer of mathematics and physics, a poet of astronomy, a prophet of aeronautics. He stands at the head of the river of using entertainment to popularize the fundamentals of real scientific knowledge. Perelman had the special gift of being able to translate dry axiomata into interesting material leaving listeners and readers thirsty for more. He knew how to tantalize the reader in such a way he was hooked from the very first line.

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Upcoming Vilnius Jewish Public Library Events

Upcoming Vilnius Jewish Public Library Events

The Vilnius Jewish Public Library presents a lecture by Oleksii Chebotarov called “Topography of Pogroms: Spatial and Social History of Anti-Jewish Violence on the Imperial Peripheries” on December 15.

On December 22 the library will feature an evening of poetry and music by Leonard Cohen.

On December 29 the library will screen the made-for-tv documentary film “The World Was Ours” (2007) about the pre-WWII Jewish community of Vilnius. According to imdb:

“A documentary chronicling the rich, vibrant history of the Jewish community of Vilna (then Poland, now Lithuania) known as ‘The Jerusalem of Lithuania’ before its destruction in World War II.”

For more information, send an e-mail to vzvbvjpl@gmail.com or call 8 604 15765.

World Jewish Restitution Organization Welcomes Lithuanian PM’s Proposal for Holocaust-Era Property Restitution

World Jewish Restitution Organization Welcomes Lithuanian PM’s Proposal for Holocaust-Era Property Restitution

The proposed legislation provides €37 million as symbolic compensation for private property expropriated during the Holocaust and addresses heirless Jewish property.

New York, NY, November 20, 2022–The World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) welcomes legislation introduced by Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė addressing restitution claims of Holocaust victims. The new legislation being proposed by the government would provide €37 million as symbolic compensation to private claimants and to the Lithuanian Goodwill Foundation with respect to heirless Jewish property.

Prime minister Šimonytė’s proposal is an important step to providing a measure of justice to Lithuanian Holocaust survivors and their families for the horrors they suffered during World War II and its aftermath. We look forward to the opportunity to review this new legislation which would continue the process of property restitution and support Jewish life in Lithuania.

Over a decade ago following intensive negotiations with the Lithuanian Jewish Community and WJRO, the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, passed legislation to pay €37 million in compensation for former Jewish communal property. This payment represented only a partial value of the properties, but it provided much needed funds to support Jewish communal life in Lithuania, restored several Jewish heritage sites and offered modest payments to needy survivors.

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Jewish Scout Jamboree

Jewish Scout Jamboree

The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites all students to attend a Jewish scouting jamboree under the guidance of scout leader Adomas Kofman at 2:00 P.M. on December 4 at the Ilan Club at the Lithuanian Jewish Community located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. Contact skautai@lzb.lt for more information.„“