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Shofar Procession through Vilnius
Dear Community members,
In celebration of Rosh Hashanah a shofar procession will make its way from the inner courtyard of the Old Arsenal next to the Tower of Gediminas, in honor of grand duke Gediminas who invited Jewish merchants, artisans and craftsmen from European cities to come settle in Lithuania, and wind through Cathedral Square to end up at the Vilnius Old Town Hall on Wednesday, October 2.
Shofar horns and shofar blowers from the Baltic states, the Ukraine, Israel and Great Britain will take part in the procession and sound the ancient ram horn instrument, dispelling evil and announcing the new year 5785.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community will hold a reception at the Old Town Hall following the procession.
Schedule (approximate):
October 2
4:00 P.M. Ceremony to kick off the march, inner courtyard, Old Arsenal, Arsenalo street no. 3
4:30 P.M. Procession along Arsenalo and Vrublevskio streets
4:40 P.M. Procession through Cathedral Square and along Pilies and Didžiosios streets
5:05 P.M. LJC reception for participants at Old Town Hall with sampling of holiday dishes
5:45 P.M. End of event
Superpower Israel Goes It Alone in Proxy Wars with Iran
Following an operation coup against Hezbollah, Israel targeted and killed almost all of the terrorist organization’s top leaders including the supreme leader on Friday, despite calls from the United States, France, Great Britain, Canada and Australia to Israel to work out a ceasefire with the Iranian-backed proxy army in Lebanon. Israel also says it has destroyed all but one battalion of Hamas, also an Iranian proxy, again despite international calls to Israel to make peace with the terrorists attacking the country. Israel also bombed Houthi positions in Yemen over the weekend, another proxy army funded and armed by Iran. News reports Sunday and Monday claimed the new president of Iran and/or the supreme leader the Ayatollah were taken to allegedly safe locations in case Israel decided to bring the war back to Tehran.
Rosh Hashanah Event Program
Rosh Hashanah is almost here. When the sun sets Wednesday, the celebration begins.
Program of LJC Rosh Hashanah events:
Choral Synagogue:
October 2
6:00 P.M. Mincha and Maariv prayer service
October 3
10:00 A.M. Shacharis
12:00 noon Blowing of the shofar
12:15 P.M. Torah reading and Musaf
2:30 P.M. Mincha
6:00 P.M. BLowing of the shofar
7:42 P.M. Maariv
Bnei Maskilim Progressive Judaism Community Invites You to Celebrate Rosh Hashanah
Dear reader,
As Rosh Hashanah draws near, the Jewish new year 5785, with its accompanying holiday, we invite you to join in with our community’s holiday prayers and events.
This year one of our guests will be former US Army chaplain Rabbi Hanoch M. Fields.
During the celebration we will pray, sing and sample sweet symbolic foods, for example, apples with honey, so that the New Year would be sweet and filled with delight.
May this New Year bring everyone health, peace and happiness!
Shana tova u’metukah!
The cost is 20 euros per person. For more information and to register, send an email to viljamas@lzb.lt.
Time: 6:30 P.M., October 3
Place: Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
Final Concert in the Shalom Culture and Music Festival
The final concert of the Shalom Culture and Music Festival will take place at 7:00 P.M. on October 3 at the Church of St. Catherine (St. Kotryna) in Vilnius. The special ROsh Hashanah program includes works by Ofer ben Amots, Philip Glass, Faustas Latėnas and others.
Tickets available here: https://bit.ly/4d3993B
Rosh Hashanah Celebration for Seniors
The LJC’s Saul Kagan Welfare Center and the Abi Men Zet Zich Club invite seniors to celebrate the new year 5785 together.
Registration required by contacting Žana at zanas@sc.lzb.lt or +370) 678 81514.
Time: 2:00 P.M., Tuesday, October 1
Place: Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
Shana tova!
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 6:46 P.M. on Friday, September 27, and concludes at 7:55 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews Marked in Kupiškis
Photos by Miglė Zakarauskaitės and Aušra Jonušytė
Local residents and politicians commemorated Lithuania’s Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews September 23 at a monument to Holocaust victims at the Jewish cemetery there and visited an older Jewish cemetery in the once-thriving shtetl, laying stones gathered from streets in the town.
The same day the public library housed in the restored synagogue held a lesson on Jewish life in Kupiškis for students in grades 1 through 4.
Šiauliai Jewish Community Meets to Discuss Rosh Hashanah
Last Tuesday the Šiauliai Jewish Community held a meeting of members and friends with Rabbi Kalev Krelin to discuss material and spiritual preparations for the upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year celebration.
Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews Marked at Ponar
The Lithuanian Jewish Community, Lithuanian politicians and foreign ambassadors marked the Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews September 23 at the Ponar Memorial Complex outside Vilnius.
LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky spoke at the event, saying among other things: “I have several requests by the Lithuanian Jewish Community. First, I want to know the names of the people who were murdered here. And throughout Lithuania as well, where 400, 500, 600 Jews were murdered in every town. Where are their names? … The Lithuanian Jewish Community also wants to know the names of the murderers. Many years ago now we were promised they would be made public, but they remain unknown to us. I am convinced it has to be made very clear who was a murderer and who was a rescuer. So I would like to ask sincerely the lists of those are known now at least be made available to us.”
Also attending and speaking were Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris, Israeli ambassador Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein with Israeli embassy chargé-d’affaires Erez Golan, German ambassador Cornelius Zimmermann, US ambassador Kara McDonald, speaker of Lithuanian parliament Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė and others. Choral Synagogue cantor Shmuel Yaatom performed kaddish. Vilnius Religious Jewish Community chairman Simas Levinas also participated.
Remembering the Holocaust in Nemenčinė
A ceremony was held in Nemenčinė (Nementchin, Niemenczyn) just north of Vilnius Friday at the site of the former synagogue to remember the approximately 500 Jews from that once-thriving shtetl murdered in the Holocaust.
Those attending the ceremony included Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Israeli ambassador Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein, Tammy Nguyen representing the US embassy, Lithuanian MP Rita Tamašunienė and Vilnius regional administration mayor Robertas Duchnevičius, among others. Students from the Sholem Aleichem school in Vilnius staged brief presentations. The participants proceeded on to the mass murder site several kilometers away where Choral Synagogue cantor Shmuel Yaatom prayed for the victims.
Natalja Cheifec Lecture Series Continues
Natalja Cheifec’s #ŠALOM club invites you to a zoom meeting at 5:30 P.M. on September 26 featuring an intriguing account of Jewish life and traditions. Receive zoom credentials by registering and don’t forget to include your questions of interest on the registration form.
Register here: https://forms.gle/BTA6PZpaHLmKfM969
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 7:04 P.M. on Friday, September 20, and concludes at 8:13 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Australian Internet Legislation Aimed at Fighting Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, Not Anti-Semitism
by Geoff Vasil
The Jerusalem Post reported last week the Australian Government under the Labor Party prime minister Anthony Albanese had sent legislation to parliament “to combat hate crimes and doxxing, with severe penalties for offenders. The move comes in response to a rise in anti-Semitic incidents.”
A casual look at Australian news and politics over the past year shows clearly the legislative package isn’t aimed at fighting anti-Semitism but is intended to add legal teeth to the Albanese Government’s attempts to control both facebook and twitter content.
On October 9, Australian time, before the IDF had even completely quelled Hamas’s invasion into “mainland” Israel, pro-Hamas activists stormed the Sydney Opera House chanting “gas the Jews.” A single Israel supporter was stopped there by police before he could unfurl his Israeli flag and was detained by New South Wales police for the crime of supporting Israel. A later investigation by NSW police claimed the bloodthirsty mob had actually chanted “Where’s the Jews?” despite fairly clear audio to the contrary. As if “Where’s the Jews?” were some sort of attempt at Borat-like Judaeophobic humor rather than yet another, not much different call to genocide.
Pathetic State of Jewish Cemetery in Panevėžys
The state of the old Jewish cemetery in the New Town section of Panevėžys requires emergency action, according to Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman.
The cemetery is thought to have been established for the burial of the first Jewish and Karaïte settlers in the northern Lithuanian city and surrounding areas.
The Panevėžys regional administration adopted a resolution for maintaining the old Jewish graveyard back in 2019 but hasn’t followed through on the ground. Time, disregard and the weather have since taken a greater toll, which prompted Kofman to seek additional redress from the Panevėžys regional administration.
“The main section of the old Jewish cemetery in the New Town neighborhood has been abandoned and allowed to fall into ruin, with fallen trees knocking over headstones, overgrown grass and shrubbery, felled trees and branches left unremoved. We would be grateful if administration staff could come, formulate a maintenance plan and finally care for this unique historic city location,” Kofman said.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 7:22 P.M. on Friday, September 13, and concludes at 8:31 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Twelve Thousand Pivonija Holocaust Victims Remembered
People gathered at noon on the first Sunday in September for the annual commemoration of the approximately 12,000 Jews murdered in the Pivonija Forest outside Ukmergė (Vilkomir) this year as in years past. Ukmergė Jewish Community chairman Artūras Taicas began the ceremony with an address and Kaunas Jewish Community member Iseris Šreibergas said kaddish. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kuklianksy, members and heads of regional LJC affiliates, local politicians, local school children and ambassadors to Lithuania including Israel’s Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein attended the ceremony.
Dance Symphony from the Jeursalem of the North
A music and dance play based on Jievaras Jasinskis’s “Symphony from the Jerusalem of the North” is returning to the stage for two performances.
Time: 6:00 P.M., September 19
Place: Alytus Town Theater, Alytus, Lithuania
Time: 6:00 P.M., September 24
Place: Saulė Concert Hall, Šiauliai, Lithuania