Sweet Purim Greetings from Lithuanian Jewish Community Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky
Happy Purim! Hag Purim sameakh!
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
Faina Kukliansky’s hamantashen recipe:
For the dough you’ll need:
125 ml milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
500 ml flour
100 g butter
1 egg yolk
Purim Celebration for Children
The Lithuanian Jewish Community will hold a Purim carnival with purimshpilen and a performance by Fayerlakh for children at 12 noon on March 20. To register and for more information, contact Margarita by calling 37061800577 or by sending her an email at margarita.kozevatova@gmail.com
Purim Greetings from Professor Bumelis
Professor Vladas Algirdas Bumelis has sent Purim greetings to the Lithuanian Jewish Community, with the wish the holiday will allow us to look courageously and resolutely to the future.
Purim Lecture
Purim is almost here, the happiest spring holiday, but its true meaning is the Jewish struggle for physical survival, just as topical now as ever. Natalja Cheifec invites you to her internet lecture on the meaning and traditions of Purim. It will take place beginning at 5:30 P.M. on Thursday, March 17, in the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s zoom room. Register here.
EJC Launches Aid Deliveries for Refugees Fleeing Ukraine
March 10, 2022–As part of its ongoing efforts to assist refugees fleeing Ukraine, the EJC has initiated deliveries of trucks to the Hungarian and Slovak border with Ukraine.
With the help of Jewish communities in bordering countries, especially the Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia (ÚZŽNO) and the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (MAZSIHISZ), relief trucks containing basic necessities including food, medicine, sanitary products and other items are being sent out to provide immediate aid to refugees fleeing Ukraine.
EJC executive vice-president and CEO Raya Kalenova together with EJC vice-president Dr. Ariel Muzicant and ÚZŽNO president Richard Duda supervised the first dispatch of trucks leaving Bratislava to the Slovak- and Hungarian-Ukrainian borders. Deliveries will be replenished on a constant basis and expanded to further locations according to needs on the ground.
“Our goal is to assist as many refugees as possible during this urgent humanitarian situation, and to provide them with a measure of relief and safety,” Kalenova said.
On War, Women and Sunflowers
The Pakruojis synagogue will host this event at 3:00 P.M. on Friday, March 18. Neringa Latvytė will give a presentation called “We Were All Heroines: Experiences of Jewish Women in World War II.” An exhibit of photographs by Sošana Zaksaitė (1906-1959) featuring snapshots from the lost Jewish world will open at the synagogue and be presented by Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community chairman Sania Karbelis. Later in the afternoon Alina Shakhova from Kharkov in the Ukraine will perform a song. Everyone is invited to attend. The street address and telephone number for the Pakruojis synagogue is located to the right of this page.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 5:56 P.M. on Friday, March 11, and concludes at 7:10 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Kabbalat Shabat
A Kabbalat Shabat ceremony will be held to usher in the Sabbath under the tenets of Progressive Judaism at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius at 6:30 P.M. on March 11. To register, write Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt.
Concerning Matzo Ordered from Ukraine
The Lithuanian Jewish Community has always maintained special ties with the Ukrainian Jewish community. In December last year we ordered matzo from the Ukrainian Jewish community which was supposed to be baked and certified kosher under the authority of chief Ukrainian rabbi Dov Yaakov Bleich and then packed and shipped in our original-style package.
We have received a query from Ukrainian Jewish community leaders in recent days asking whether they could return 9,000 euros already paid for this. While we appreciate their honesty and conscientiousness, our reply was that this constitutes a portion of our aid to the Ukrainian Jewish community and this money should be used for the needs of members of the Ukrainian Jewish community.
We reminded the Ukrainian Jewish community every Lithuanian Jewish family stands ready to help all Ukrainian Jews who need help.
We have a special telephone help hotline,+370 665 064 60, and may also be reached at ukraina@lzb.lt
What You Always Wanted to Know about Jewish Traditions*
*But Were Afraid to Ask
The #NataljosCheifecKlubas invites lecture attendees to the #KlubasŠalom on zoom from 5:30 to 7:00 P.M. on March 10 to answer their questions submitted prior to the conference. Register here.
Historical Prayer Service
Rabbi Nathan Alfred will deliver lectures via internet before an historic and historical Saturday prayer service and Torah reading at 10:00 A.M. on March 19 to mark the 100th anniversary of the bat mitzvah when Judith Kaplan read the Torah portion on March 18, 1922. To register contact Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt or call+37067250699.
Purim Celebrations
Purim is coming up and as usual the Lithuanian Jewish Community is sponsoring multiple celebrations for all age-groups, including but not limited to the following three:
Purim celebration for seniors from the LJC Social Department starting at 1:00 P.M. on March 17. Register by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or call +37067881514;
Family Purim celebration at 6:30 P.M. on March 18 at the Bagel Shop Café with Rabbi Nathan Alfred, including reading the Book of Esther, Sabbath ceremony and food. Cost is 15 euros. Register by contacting Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt or +3067250699;
Purim carnival for children at 12 noon on March 20 with a traditional Purim shpil with the Fayerlakh musical ensemble and our favorite madrichs. Purim foods including Hamen tashn and special guests. Children expected to wear costumes. Register by contacting Margarita at margarita.kozevatova@gmail.com or +37061800577. The event is free.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 5:28 P.M. on Friday, February 25, and concludes at 6:43 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Kabbalat Shabat
The next Kabbalat Shabat ceremony will be via internet on the zoom platform at 6:30 on Friday, February 25. To register contact viljamas@lzb.lt.
Snapshots of Last Friday’s Kabbalat Shabat
Progressive Rabbi Nathan Alfred from Israel led a Kabbalat Shabat ceremony with about 50 members of the Lithuanian Jewish Community including our seniors and families with children. In the afternoon prior he attended the LJC Seniors Club Abi Men Zet Zich and sang the hymns to usher in the Sabbath. One of our oldest members, Libė Britaniskina, lit the Sabbath candles and the meeting concluded with songs in Hebrew and Yiddish. He led the prayer service and delivered the weekly Torah portion.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 5:14 P.M. on Friday, February 18, and concludes at 6:30 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Lithuanian State Radio to Air Documentary on Young Jews Who Left for Israel in 1991
LRT Radio-Documentary: An Unknown Story from 1991
On the last two Sundays in February Lithuanian State Radio listeners will have the opportunity to hear an extraordinary two-part radio documentary called “Roots: The Story of One Journey.” This story involves a group of about 27 children who left Lithuania in 1991 to study in Israel.
“We immediately listened up when we heard from historian Violeta Davoliūtė about children who travelled abroad at those times without their parents,” writer Rimantas Kmita recalled. He and the journalists Vaida Pilibaitytė and Vita Ličytė produced the documentary. “Right away we were unable to understand who and how. Why didn’t their parents travel with them? How did these high school students live there by themselves? Back in those times when there were no mobile telephones or internet [in Lithuania]? Why did they send them there at all? What did they do there, where did they live, how did they adapt, what sort of lives did they have? Our imaginations immediately began painting all sorts of different stories and dramas.”
The radio documentary made in cooperation with the Goethe institute in Vilnius tells the stories of five adolescents from the period: Judita, Laurina, Nira, Rašella and Rananas. It includes recollections by the organizers of the trips, Daumantas Todesas and Ilja Bereznickas. Ilja Bereznickas escorted a group of students to Israel at the time.
Seasonal Jewish Dishes for Spring
Kabbalat Shabat with Rabbi Nathan Alfred
The Choral Synagogue in Vilnius will host a Kabbalat Shabat ceremony with Rabbi Nathan Alfred from Israel at 6:30 on February 18, followed by a Sabbath meal. To register contact Viljamas by telephone at 867250699 or write viljamas@lzb.lt