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.
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.
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
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 5:26 P.M. on Friday, February 24, and concludes at 6:40 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
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.
Jews, Hungarians, Beggars and Blockheads: Trakai Shrovetide Invitation Still Full of Stereotypes
by Olga Ugriumova
The municipality of Trakai invited the public to a Shrovetide ball in the town, including pupils of local schools and community members. The poster announcing the event calls it a winter fair in the charming town with a “Svetelių eisena marga.” This can be translated as a “gaudy procession of strangers or foreigners.” The poster continues to the effect that Jews, Hungarians, beggars, doctors, cranes, bears, roosters, Gypsies and all sorts of blockheads and horrific monsters will turn out for the winter festival and see the sun.
Full article in Russian here.
Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim Descendant Visits Panevėžys
In the 19th century there were five working synagogues in Panevėžys and a strong and widely-celebrated Jewish community. The Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim, also known by the acronym ADeReT, lived and worked in Panevėžys from 1871 to 1891 and was the head of the community. He later served as the rabbi of Mir in what is now Belarus, and went on to lead the Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem.
His great-grandson Rabbi Reuven Yeshua Koehn paid a visit to the Panevėžys last week and presented a portrait of his famous great-grandfather as a gift to the Panevėžys Jewish Community. He also met with the mayor of the city and presented a project currently being conducted in Israel to build a Litvak Heritage Center. The Center’s displays will include various Lithuanian shtetls and cities including Panevėžys.
Rabbi Koehn also visited the local regional history museum. Students from his yeshiva are expected to visit Panevėžys in late April.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 5:12 P.M. on Friday, February 17, and concludes at 6:26 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Knafaim Club Open Again
After a short vacation, the Knafaim Club for youth aged 13 to 17 has reopened, ready to receive members and friends every Friday at 6:00 P.M., with different games and activities to improve Jewish and general knowledge, followed by a ceremony to greet the Sabbath. For more information, contact programs director Žana Skudovičienė at zanas@sc.lzb.lt or call+370 678 81514.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 4:57 P.M. on Friday, February 10, and concludes at 6:13 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Weekly Quiz
The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to a new series of quizzes on Sundays on Jewish history. Writer Arkadijus Vinokuras will moderate the quiz at the Bagel Shop Café on Sundays with a new topic every week. Come and show off your knowledge, or just come to learn something new. The first quiz will be held at 2:00 P.M. this Sunday, February 12, at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The topic will be Jewish music, with musc professor Leonidas Melnikas offering his expert opinion as judge. Register by sending an email to katrina@lzb.lt.
Leader of Antakya Jewish Community Still Missing, Wife Found Dead
Antakya Jewish community leader Saul Cenudioglu remains missing but the body of his wife has been found, according to the newspaper Haaretz. Days of major earthquakes have rendered much of the area around Syrian-Turkish border including the small town of Antakya an urban wasteland. The number of known dead is now approaching 20,000.
World Jewish Congress vice-president Maramas Stern and Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky express their deepest condolences in the face of this indescribable tragedy. The WJC is in contact with the Jewish community in Antakya and is attempted to send aid to the earthquake victims there.
“In these difficult times we extend our deepest condolences to the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost family members, with those experiencing trauma and who have lost their homes,” WJC executive vice-president Maramas Stern wrote in a letter circulating among Jewish communities around the world.
“We grieve together with the family members of those who have perished and we are praying for all victims and those missing. We wish you strength in this difficult moment,” LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky wrote.
Discussion Club: Was Jewish Life Wonderful under Smetona?
The #ŽydiškųPašnekesiai discussion club will address the topic “Was Jewish Life Great during the Smetona Era” at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius at 5:00 P.M. on February 8. The discussion will be live-streamed on the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s facebook page.
In the broader public discussion of whether to erect a statue to the interwar Lithuanian president and dictator Antanas Smetona, proponents have begun saying he defended Lithuania’s Jewish population and was even known as “King of the Jews.” Opponents of the monument counter there were no stops placed on anti-Semitism in Lithuania in the period between the two world wars, meaning the entire span of Lithuanian independence, and Jews were banned from public service and elsewhere.
What do today’s Jews and Lithuania’s current crop of historians think about these issues? Attend or tune in to find out.
Moderator and club founder Arkadijus Vinokuras will put the question to Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman, Lithuanian Jewish Community; Žygimantas Menčenkovas, member of the Leftist Alliance, philosopher, teacher and activist and via internet Linas Venclauskas, historian and author of a recent book on Lithuanian anti-Semitism prior to 1940.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 4:42 P.M. on Friday, February 3, and concludes at 6:00 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Tolerance Lesson in Panevėžys
On February 1 the Panevėžys Jewish Community held a tolerance lesson attended by students from Panevėžys Gymnasium No. 5. Participants spoke about how to encourage tolerance among people of different ethnic backgrounds.
Gymnasium No. 5 is one of the leaders in Lithuania in terms of teaching the Holocaust to young people, mainly in the upper grades. It has its own Tolerance Center directed by history teacher Beata Viederienė. In fact it’s become a sort of tradition for students in the upper grades to make posters about the Holocaust and to display them in Panevėžys, leading to greater public awareness of the Holocaust.
“Learning about the Holocaust is important both as history and overall in general education. We have to understand this better to insure it doesn’t happen again,” Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman said.
He provided the visiting students with a brief overview of the Jewish history, culture and traditions in Panevėžys, and the reputation local Jews had for higher religious learning.
LJC Asks Conservative Party to Look Into Member’s Anti-Semitic Remark
Photo: Old cemetery in Nemakščiai
The Lithuanian Jewish Community has asked Gabrielius Landsbergis, the leader of the conservative Homeland Union/Lithuanian Christian Democrats Party, to look into remarks made by fellow party member Remigijus Laugalis.
“If you don’t vote for me, then you can bury yourself in the Jewish cemetery,” Laugalis allegedly remarked.
Remigijus Laugalis is currently the alderman of the town of Nemakščiai and is seeking to be elected to the town council of Raseiniai, Lithuania.
The LJC has asked Landsbergis to undertake actions to educate residents of the Raseiniai district about the consequences of uncontrolled anti-Semitism and racism. The LJC has offered to help hold educational meetings with historians, cultural experts and writers in a spirit of cooperation based on mutual respect.
Update: The politician apparently made a glib comment as a joke in response to a question posed by a reporter which he found ridiculous. The questions was, is it true you said if people didn’t vote for you, you wouldn’t allow them to be buried in the local cemetery?
First Plaque Commemorating Jews of Palanga
International Holocaust Remembrance Day reminds residents of Lithuania’s sea-side city of Palanga of June 27 and October 12, 941, the days on which more than 400 fellow residents, the Jews of Palanga who were hard-working, innovative lovers of life and the sea, became victims of the Holocaust. One out of eight residents of Palanga was murdered during those two days. And that’s not a definite tally, it might be higher.
Friday Palanga mayor Šarūnas Vaitkus, deputy mayor Rimantas Antanas Mikalkėnas, director of the city’s Culture Department Robertas Trautmanas, Palanga Jewish Community chairman Vilius Gutmanas and other members of the Palanga Jewish Community observed a moment of silence at a memorial in the Palanga cemetery to remember the 106 Jews and Lithuanians murdered in the southern part of Birutė Park on June 27, 1941, the majority of whom lived in Palanga.
Candles were lit and the traditional stones were left to honor and remember the city residents who became the first victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Friday also saw a new page of history open with the unveiling of a commemorative plaque to mark the site of the former synagogue complex at what is now a supermarket on Vytauto street.
Full story in Lithuanian here.