This year we are recommending you spend Passover at home with family. We have prepared kits with everything needed for the traditional kosher seder which can be ordered by internet. Orders must be received before April 5.
The order form in Russian and Lithuanian is available here:
https://www.torah4lithuania.com/seder-to-go
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky has posted a video address to members. She said the following:
“Good day. I am addressing members of our Jewish community. Unfortunately, I can’t speak with you in person. Under these conditions I must speak with the aid of technology, but I would say the exact same thing if we were speaking in person.
“A certain time has come which is not pleasant and not favorable to anyone. Somehow we must live through this period with the hope that this period overall will end sometime. I believe that very much, and I hope it will end very soon.
The Security and Crisis Center of the European Jewish Community and heads of security and representatives of Jewish communities in Ireland, Span, Italy and Belgium held a video conference March 30 on the ZOOM platform* to discuss best practices during the current virus epidemic. Milo Hasbani, president of the Milan Jewish community, reported 8 members had died. Topics included welfare checks on members, delivering Passover foods and maintaining Jewish life via internet under quarantine conditions. Participants also discussed a possible rise in anti-Semitic activities during Passover and during the viral epidemic. EJC representatives called for more such video conferences in the coming weeks.
* Please note the ZOOM platform, created by Chinese national Eric Yuan, is notoriously unsafe, insecure and has even been called malware by responsible observers. The U.S. military recently banned the Chinese-controlled TikTok app among its ranks. For more, see: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/02/zoom-technology-security-coronavirus-video-conferencing
Israel will ban meetings of more than 2 people and will place addition restrictions on workplaces. Speaking to the country, the prime minister said security forces will carry out state-of-emergency directives to stop the spread of the corona virus. Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on Israelis not to hold family gatherings during the Passover holiday.
The Prime Minister’s Office also reported Monday Netanyahu and his advisors will remain in quarantine after a Government staff member tested positive for the new virus.
Although public life has ground to a halt following the introduction of health quarantine measures in Lithuania, the Lithuanian Jewish Community continues to care for the elderly, to provide services and will send Social Center workers on home visits to prepare food and shop for groceries and medicine. The Community building in Vilnius is closed to visitors for now, the Choral Synagogue remains closed for at least two weeks and all scheduled events have been canceled.
All questions related to home care by the Social Center should be directed to Snieguolė Zalepūgienė by telephone at 8 672 65615.
For permission to conduct burials, call LJC secretary Liuba Šerienė by telephone at 8 685 06900. Please have document copies ready, including death certificates, birth certificates for the deceased and documents proving blood relations with the deceased. You should also have digital copies of these same documents prepared. Questions on documents and drafting formal written requests for burial should be directed to Liuba.
For the time being newspapers will not be distributed to Social Center clients. The plan is to distribute matzo next week.
Stay tuned to this page for further announcements and information.
Dear Community members,
The Social Programs Department of the Lithuanian Jewish Community has traditionally distributed matzo free of charge to our clients throughout Lithuania, usually coming to about 1,200 one-kilogram boxes of matzo. Our seniors are in the main risk group for corona virus infect, including about 300 are Holocaust survivors. The LJC has made deliveries of matzo to all the regional communities. These organizations are deciding on the method for distribution in their regions. We are doing all we can to insure this important symbol of Passover reach every seder table even in the most remote parts of Lithuania.
In Vilnius we have accepted the challenge of delivering a box of matzo to every Social Center client. That’s more than 900 boxes.
You might be able to help. If you’ve been in self-quarantine for 14 days with no symptoms, if you haven’t come in contact with large groups of people and haven’t recently travelled abroad, and want to help deliver matzo to seniors, fill out the volunteer form at https://forms.gle/ByKBXckyRZFhVzbCA
For more information contact Sofja by telephone at 8 672 57 540 or write sofja@lzb.lt
Dear Community members,
The Lithuanian Jewish Community wants to insure safe methods for acquiring matzo this year and suggests members order by internet for home delivery.
The cost is 6 euros for a one-kilogram box of matzo bread wafers and 4 euros for a 454-gram bag of matzo flour.
Delivery is being set up in Vilnius and orders will be accepted until April 2.
To order you need to have internet banking. Open your banking page and transfer money to the LJC bank account LT097044060000907953 for the number of boxes and bags you want. You must indicate on the money transfer form your name, surname, exact delivery address, a contact telephone number, an e-mail address and exactly which items you want in what amount.
Here’s an example of what to include:
John Smith, Obuolių g. 1-11, Vilnius, 8 123 45678, john@john.com, 3 packages of matzo, two packages of flour
A coordinator will contact you with delivery details for orders made and paid before April 2 and delivery is to take place by April 7. No cash will be accepted upon delivery. The LJC isn’t responsible if supplies run out, quarantine measures become stricter or purchasers fail to provide the information required.
For more information call 8 672 16 982 or write an e-mail to pesach2020@lzb.lt
Dear members,
We are living through a time of quarantine and every day we hear how the number of infected is growing, and we hear calls not to leave the house and to preserve our health. Despite the warnings, we are finding out not all LJC members understand the rules must be followed.
Our dear members, I beg you, do not go to the store if you don’t have to. Don’t leave the house, especially if you are elderly and in the main risk group. The LJC’s Social Center is taking care of you daily, our home-care workers are visiting clients and bringing food to homes. Masks have been ordered and all clients will be supplied with them. Passover is coming and matzo will be provided traditionally as a gift to all seniors. Some have already received theirs, others will receive matzo before seder. Please, protect yourself and your family, and be healthy.
by Roberta Tracevičiūtė for 15min.lt
The Vilnius city municipality reports agreement has been reached wit the Lithuanian Jewish Community on how best to commemorate the site of the former Great Synagogue in Vilnius’s historical Jewish quarter.
The plan according to the city is to set up a memorial square or park with an open-air exhibition and no permanent construction of any kind. According to the city, the undeveloped other side of Jewish Street will host a playground and athletics field [which it does now--LZB].
Discussion on how to commemorate the site has gone on for years. Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius said earlier the synagogue site will be commemorated in 2023 when Vilnius celebrates its 700th birthday.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community has set up a safe way to get matzo for Passover via the Bagel Shop Café. Payment will be by bank card exclusively. The cost for a 1-kilogram box is 5 euros, and for a 454-gram bag of matzo flour the price is 3 euros. Pick-ups can be made between the hours of 10:30 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. from March 25 to April 4, presumably excluding the Sabbath. Please call 8 685 06 900 for more information.
All LJC Social Center clients are at risk for the viral epidemic not just because of age but also because of illness. The media have reported the mortality rate for the ill and elderly continues to grow.
Doctor Ela Gurina is a member of the LJC Social Center Commission and the chairwoman of the committee for advising Holocaust survivors. She wants to remind walk-in care staff of the Social Center how to act during the epidemic.
What work are LJC Social Center employees engaged in currently?
Employees have to take care of their clients as well as possible. To isolate them from the environment so they don’t enter public spaces. They can only walk around in places where there aren’t other people and not to engage in conversation with people they encounter. When they get home they must wash their hands for at least two minutes with soap and water, and use a special disinfectant which destroys viruses. The Community is supplying the necessary disinfectant.
A shipment of matzo has reached the Lithuanian Jewish Community. This year as the country labors under health quarantine we will be delivering matzo to members in a safe manner, which we will announce soon. Stay tuned for more information.
Waiting for Passover to begin…
The Choral Synagogue in Vilnius will be closed for at least two weeks as of now. Follow this page for more information in the coming days. Vilnius Religious Jewish Community chairman Shmuel (Simas) Levinas reported a majority of minyan members, many of whom are elderly and thus fall into the main risk category for catching the corona virus, agreed it was best to halt temporarily religious activities at the synagogue, in line with recommendations issued by the Lithuanian Government. The synagogue will remain closed for the rest of March, the chairman reported.
Dear Community members,
Following the announcement of a state of emergency in Lithuania, the daily operations of the Lithuanian Jewish Community has changed as well. We must postpone all planned events and restrict admission of visitors, and some employees are now working from home.
We thank you for your understanding and patience. We are always ready to help you and to answer any questions, and we hope you will take into consideration this unusual situation and that we will overcome these difficult challenges together.
Please note:
• ALL Community events have been canceled, both at the Community building and elsewhere;
• we strongly request that visits to the Community building at Pylimo street no. 4 only be made if there is a serious need to do so;
• if you want to meet a specific LJC employee, please agree on the meeting with that person by telephone beforehand;
• for permission for burials, please call secretary Liuba Šerienė at +37068506900.
IMPORTANT: prepare copies beforehand of death certificates and documents showing family ties, and digital documents are preferred.
Continue to follow the LJC web page where we will announce all changes in the operations of the LJC administration and LJC Social Center.
Purim is the happiest Jewish holiday. It’s unfortunate the fun is so brief and gives way to everyday reality which isn’t always as happy. Nonetheless I wish everyone as many good, happy days as possible.
Let’s live like Queen Esther, the symbol of the beauty, intelligence and cleverness of Jewish women who gave us victory against our hapless enemies who wanted to destroy the Jewish community and who so shamefully failed in that.
It’s not in vain we read the Book of Esther believing women are in no way weaker than men!
The web page of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania now features in Lithuanian and English texts about the Vilna Gaon, famous Litvaks and visual materials for celebrating 2020 as the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History.
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Most Prominent Jewish Personalities in Lithuania
Lithuania has been home to many Jews, who were born in this country, lived and created here leaving an indelible mark in the scholarly and cultural heritage of Lithuania as well as of the world.
Writers
Icchokas Meras (1934-2014). The author of books on the Holocaust (Geltonas lopas (The Yellow Patch), Ant ko laikosi pasaulis (What the World Rests on), Lygiosios trunka akimirką (A Stalemate), and a film script writer for well-known Lithuanian films Kai aš mažas buvau (When I Was a Child), Birželis, vasaros pradžia (June, the Beginning of Summer) and Maža išpažintis (Small Confession).
Chaim Grade (1910-1982). Vilna-born writer, a member of Yung Vilne (Young Vilnius), a group of avant-garde writers and artists. Chaim Grade is considered to be one of the leading Yiddish writers in post-Holocaust period. Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
A paradox of Jewish fragility and heroism.
by Meir Soloveichik
Mr. Soloveichik is the rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel and director of Yeshiva University’s Straus Center.
A perplexing paradox lies at the heart of Purim, the holiday celebrated this week by Jews around the world. No day is more associated with Jewish joy; yet, rightly understood, the scriptural source of our celebration, the biblical book of Esther, proclaims a terrifying teaching.
Let us briefly review the plot.
Continue reading here.
2:00 P.M., March 8, 2020
The Panevėžys Jewish Community will mark International Women’s Day and celebrate Purim at Community headquarters.
The happy holiday of spring and carnival, Purim, represents Jews being rescued from death.
We look forward to your holiday cheer and carnival costumes. There will be a table of treats and women will receive flowers and children will receive small gifts.
Please report your intention to attend by calling 861120882 or 869846653.
An American-style Purim party (American food) with the reading of the Book of Esther and a program for children including mini-golf will be held at the Vilnius Grand Resort Hotel formerly known as the Villon Hotel at 6:00 P.M. on Monday, March 9. There will be a bar for adults. Gifts will be given to everyone and of course there will be an impressive show for all. The cost is 10 euros in advance or 15 at the door. Students, adolescents and seniors get in for 5 euros. Children under 12 attend free. Tickets are available at the Choral Synagogue, Chabad House or by sending payment by bank transfer to “Jewish religious community Chabad” via the account no. LT3570440600013701339 (SEB Bankas). A bus will depart from the synagogue at 5:00 P.M. To register or to find out more, write rabbi@jewishlita.com or call 868508550.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community, the Sababa Jewish youth club and the song and dance group Fayerlakh invite children to the “Party of Ahasuerus” Purim carnival. The program includes Purim plays, a costume parade, traditional foods and shalahmones, or Purim baskets. Queen Esther requests children come dressed in costume or at least wearing a mask. Registration is required before March 6 by calling Sofja at 8 601 46656 or sending an email to sofja@lzb.lt The event will begin at 3:00 P.M. on March 8 on the third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius.