Religion

Bagel Shop Café to Teach Cooking Secrets to Children

Bagel Shop Café to Teach Cooking Secrets to Children

Dear reader,

You might make it a point to have bagels for breakfast, to bake challa on Fridays and to drive out all colds with chicken broth on those cold winter nights, but do you really know how to make these foods? We’re inviting children aged 7 to 12 to come learn old Jewish recipes from balabosta Rivka and to spend Sunday afternoons in the kitchen of the Bagel Shop Café at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. All events are free.

Register here.

For more information, write projects@lzb.lt

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Launch of Book about Rescuers

Launch of Book about Rescuers

The Lithuanian Jewish Community will host the launch of the Lithuanian book “Dešimties stebuklų liudytojai” [Witnesses to 10 Miracles] by Rimantas Stankevičius at 6:00 P.M. on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, at the Community located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius.

The book’s title comes from a quote by Litvak Holocaust survivor Sameul Bak, who said at least ten miracles had to occur for him to have survived. It tells the story of rescuers at the Benedictine Monastery in Vilnius, Juozapas Stakauskas, Vladas Žemaitis and Marija Mikulska, who hid twelve Jews from September of 1943 to July of 1944.

The book launch will feature a panel of speakers including Ginas Dabašinskas, Libertas Klimka, Indrė Valantinaitė, Benediktas Stakauskas and author Rimantas Stankevičius. The discussion will take place in Lithuanian.

LJC Holding Human Rights Roundtable

LJC Holding Human Rights Roundtable

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is hosting a round-table discussion on human rights and specifically the rights of Jews in Lithuania at 6:00 P.M. on October 20 at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The discussion will be broadcast via internet as well.

As a member of the Lithuanian Coalition of Human Rights Organizations, the LJC has contributed this year to a “shadow report” to the United Nations initiated and presented by the Law and Justice and the Educational and Scientific and Human Rights Committees of the Lithuanian parliament, intended to improve the human rights situation for ethnic minorities in Lithuania, including Jews.

Those recommendations are available in Lithuanian here.

Participants will include LJC chairwoman and attorney Faina Kukliansky, Sholem Aleichem principal Ruth Reches, human rights expert Jūratė Juškaitė, diplomat Marius Janukonis, equal opportunities ombudsman Birutė Sabatauskaitė, MP and chairwoman of the parliament’s Commission on Battles for Freedom and State Historical Memory Paulė Kuzmickienė, MP and Lithuanian Supreme Court judge Stasys Šedbaras, General Prosecutor’s Office prosecutor Justas Laucius, former Constitutional Court judge and dean of the International and EU Law Faculty at Mykolas Romeris Justinas Žilinskas and others.

More information about registering and attending virtually available on facebook here.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 6:19 P.M. on Friday, October 1, and concludes at 7:28 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

EJC Condemns Belgian Constitutional Court Decision Upholding Ban on Kosher Butchering

EJC Condemns Belgian Constitutional Court Decision Upholding Ban on Kosher Butchering

Brussels, October 1, 2021–The European Jewish Congress expresses its profound regret at the decision of Belgium’s Constitutional Court to uphold a ban on the Jewish method of slaughter of animals for meat, known as shechita.

The Court upheld two decrees adopted in 2017 which banned shechita in the Flemish and Walloon regions of Belgium in 2017, ruling that these did not violate religious freedoms according to the Belgian constitution.

This follows a 2020 decision by the European Court of Justice that ruled that Belgium was allowed to impose stricter rules on the slaughter of animals than those prescribed by the EU.

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LJC Chairwoman Visits Toronto

LJC Chairwoman Visits Toronto

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky attended an event by the Lithuanian embassy to Canada and the Canadian-Lithuanian community held Saturday at the Anapilis Hall set up by Canadian-Lithuanians generations ago in Toronto.

Kukliansky welcomed attendees at the event which was intended to issue Lithuanian state awards and letters of thanks from the ambassador to members of the Toronto Lithuanian community for support rendered to the Lithuanian state. It included a presentation of virtual Canadian Lithuanian Museum and archive exhibits and a musical performance by Litvak opera soloist Rafailas Karpis accompanied by. D. Mažintas. After the event participants visited the St. John’s Church cemetery adjacent to the venue and laid a wreath for those who fought for Lithuanian independence. Attendees also visit the Canadian Lithuanian Museum there.

Faina Kukliansky visited the Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto Sunday, which included “A Letter from the Past: Yiddish Songs” performed by Karpis and Mažintas. Lithuanian ambassador to Canada Skusevičius and Kukliansky presented the 300th anniversary coin commemorating the Vilna Gaon issued by the bank of Lithuania to synagogue leaders and the Lithuania Order of the Life-Saver’s Cross to the family members of Righteous Gentile V. Baltušis

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Lithuania’s Department of Ethnic Minorities Presents Annual Award to LCJ Chairwoman

Lithuania’s Department of Ethnic Minorities Presents Annual Award to LCJ Chairwoman

Congratulations to Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky on receiving a gold medal prize from Lithuania’s Department of Ethnic Minorities at a ceremony held at the Vilnius Old Town Hall on Monday, September 27. She received the prize in recognition of her work in the year 2020.

Many others received similar prizes, including the mayor of the regional administration of Jurbarkas and the Zundelovičius family for the memorial to the Synagogues’ Square in Jurbarkas erected in 2019. The regional administration of the Telšiai district and its mayor were also recognized for the conservation of the Telz yeshiva building and its adaptation for public use in 2020.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 6:54 P.M. on Friday, September 24, and concludes at 8:05 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

LCJ Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky’s Speech at Ponar

LCJ Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky’s Speech at Ponar

Honored guests,

I stand before you in order to deliver a speech, but this place and this sad occasion calls for concentrating and remaining silent. The reflection, respect and humble silence which meets every thinking and feeling person in this place cannot be confused with the silence of apathy, ignorance and fear. All of us have kept silent too long. Too long. We have kept quiet about what happened, where it happened and why. It was kept quiet for most of those eight decades we count since the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Out of fear? Ignorance? Apathy?

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Sukkot Begins

Sukkot Begins

Sukkot or Sukkos beings at 7:04 P.M. in Vilnius on Monday, September 21, 2021.

The Festival of Sukkot–literally meaning booths, tents, tabernacles–is celebrated for seven days in Israel and eight days in the Diaspora, starting on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. It is one of the three festivals during which Jewish men were required to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the times of the Holy Temple.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 7:12 P.M. on Friday, September 17 and concludes at 8:22 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Synagogue in Žiežmariai Opens Doors

Synagogue in Žiežmariai Opens Doors

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Kaišiadorys city municipality invite the public to visit the restored synagogue in Žiežmariai, Lithuania, September 17.

As part of the European Days of Jewish Culture, the LJC is sponsoring the event in Žiežmariai to discuss the public utilization of Litvak heritage sites and the relationship between the local community and this synagogue specifically.

The event will be moderated by Martynas Užpelkis, the LJC’s heritage specialist.

Participants will include LJC chairwoman Faina, Kukliansky, Kaišiadorys mayor Vytenis Tomkus, Lithuanian heritage expert and historian Diana Varnaitė, Kaišiadorys Museum director Olijardas Lukoševičius and others.

The event begins at the synagogue at 2:00 P.M. on September 17.

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Condolences

We are sad to report the death of Rabbi Krinsky’s sister. The rabbi sat shiva Tuesday evening.

Yom Kippur at the Choral Synagogue

Yom Kippur at the Choral Synagogue

Yom Kippur is the most important holiday in Judaism, the Day of Atonement. It begins on the evening of Wednesday. The Choral Synagogue in Vilnius will provide full prayer services for the holiday. The synagogue is located at Pylimo street no. 39 in Vilnius.

Program:

September 15:

6:00 P.M. Dinner before fast
7:00 P.M. Kol nidre
7:17 P.M. Beginning of fast

September 16:

10:00 A.M. Shacharit morning prayer
12 noon Izkor
6:15 P.M. Mincha prayer
7:15 P.M. Niila prayer
8:27 P.M. End of fast/feast

Pope Francis Expresses Shame over Slovakian Holocaust Victims

Pope Francis Expresses Shame over Slovakian Holocaust Victims

Photo: The Pope’s visit to Slovakia and meeting with members of the Jewish community was called historic.

“Here, in this place, the name of God was dishonored,” Pope Francis said at a Holocaust memorial in Bratislava. During World War II Slovakia was governed by a Nazi puppet regime headed by Catholic priest Jozef Tiso.

Pope Francis paid tribute on Monday to the thousands of Slovak Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.

The comments came during the pontiff’s official visit to Slovakia against the backdrop of accusations around the Catholic Church’s role in Holocaust atrocities in Slovakia.

What did the pope say?

Speaking at a former Jewish neighborhood in the capital Bratislava, Pope Francis sharply criticized “the frenzy of hatred” in World War II and continuing anti-Semitism.

Full story here.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 7:30 P.M. on Friday, September 10, and concludes at 8:41 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Alytus Marks 80th Anniversary of Onset of Holocaust

Alytus Marks 80th Anniversary of Onset of Holocaust

Wednesday the city of Alytus south of Vilnius marked the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust with a procession before noon from the Old Town to a mass murder site in the Vidzgirdas Forest.

A commemoration ceremony was held at the memorial at the Holocaust site.

Jewish community members from Kaunas and Vilnius, Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, MPs, local government officials, foreign ambassadors, students from schools in the area and local residents participated.

Following the ceremony the renovated synagogue building on Kauno street was opened as the new home of the Alytus Audio-Visual Arts Center with a concert by Rakija Klezmer Orkestar.

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Grave Robbers Hit Old Jewish Cemetery in Kaunas

Grave Robbers Hit Old Jewish Cemetery in Kaunas

September 9, 2021

Unknown criminals desecrated the old Jewish cemetery on the Radvilėnai highway in Kaunas, exhuming at least three graves in what might have been an attempt steal valuables from the dead.

The Kaunas municipal agency charged with maintaining cemeteries noticed the disturbed graves Thursday morning while clearing tree branches at the site.

The three graves well all adjacent to one another in the southern section of the cemetery near the fence. Maintenance personnel found several pits which seemed to be dug towards the upper body section of the corpses. The pits were about a half meter deep and were partially filled in.

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