Jewish Community Remembered in Kalvarija

Jewish Community Remembered in Kalvarija

In the period between the two world wars, the Jewish population was the majority population in Kalvarija, Lithuania. The architecture of the old town, a unique synagogue complex (with a winter and summer synagogue and the Talmud school) and the only surviving Jew, Moishe Segalis–all of this stands as a testimony to that time. For four Saturdays in a row now, as spring blossoms forth, there have been readings from Icchokas Meras’s novel “Lygiosios trunka akimirką” held near the synagogues in Kalvarija and in their courtyards. Lithuanian Jewish Community executive director Renaldas Vaisbrodas attended the final reading on May 24.

Students and soloists from the Sonantem choir in Kalvarija read from the work about the life of the Vilnius ghetto and about life which can be decided by the movement of a single piece on the game board.

A youth initiative invited the local community to an informal meeting with the relatives of those who once lived in Kalvarija, with our ancestors and neighbors.

Latvian President-Elect Has Jewish Roots

Latvian President-Elect Has Jewish Roots

President-elect of Lativa Egils Levits, 63, has Jewish roots. His father Jonass was Jewish but his mother was not, he said in an interview last month for the Delfi news channel. He and his parents were allowed to move away from the USSR to West Germany in 1972. His father Jonass was a Jewish engineer and his mother Ingeborga Levita (née Barga, nom-de-plume Aija Zemzare) a Latvian poetess. Egils earned degrees in political science and law before returning to Latvia in 1990 to help draft the Latvian declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. In 1993 he was elected to the Latvian parliament and went on to serve as Latvia’s justice minister and ambassador to Switzerland, Austria and Hungary. Levits was appointed Latvia’s representative at the European Court of Human Rights in 1995 and is currently the Latvian representative at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. He was elected president of Latvia by the parliament on May 29.

Speaking on Latvia’s Radio 1, Levits said he spends all his free time in Latvia with his family. “I like to walk around and meet ordinary people. I will get to know Latvia that way more profoundly and more personally than many of the politicians resident in Riga.”

Many Levits in Riga and Latvia hail from Panevėžys and Pabradė in Lithuania. Egils Levits, who likely has distant Litvak roots, has said Latvia should follow Lithuania’s example in supporting Jewish culture and history issues.

Lithuanian Jewish Community Annual Reporting and Elections Conference

Lithuanian Jewish Community Annual Reporting and Elections Conference

The Lithuanian Jewish Community held its annual reporting and election conference May 28.

The conference is the highest governing body of the LJC. Delegates from the member organizations considered the conclusions from an independent audit and approved the financial report for the 2018 financial year. They also approved of the activities in the 2018 reporting period and discussed plans for 2019 and 2020, including conceptual directions for celebrating the upcoming Year of the Vilna Gaon and Jewish History.

Photographs by Milda Rūkaitė

Israeli Ambassador to Lithuania Awarded Lithuanian Military Medal

Israeli Ambassador to Lithuania Awarded Lithuanian Military Medal

Commander of the Lithuanian military lieutenant general Jonas Vytautas Žukas awarded a Lithuanian military honor to Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon. The high honor was given on the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Lithuanian military in recognition of the Israeli diplomat’s efforts to strengthen cooperation between Israel and Lithuania in the military sphere.

Merkel: German Synagogues, Jewish Schools Require Police Protection

Merkel: German Synagogues, Jewish Schools Require Police Protection

German chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday her country should remain vigilant regarding growing nationalist tendencies in Europe because of Germany’s Nazi past. “It’s clear we have to view these [nationalist movements] in a specific context, the context of our past,” she said in an interview with Christiane Amanpour on CNN. “That means we must be more vigilant than others.” Merkel condemned growing anti-Semitism in Germany and remarked: “unfortunately we have always had a certain amount of anti-Semites.”

Full description of interview in Lithuanian here.

Thank You

The Kaunas Jewish Community thanks Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky for a fun and wonderfully-organized Lag B’Omer celebration.

Lag B’Omer Celebration in Vilnius Region a Big Success

Lag B’Omer Celebration in Vilnius Region a Big Success

This holiday occurs on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar. Families usually celebrate with picnics and sometimes archery practice is held for the children. Lag B’Omer is a festive holiday with bonfires, barbecues and fun activities. It also marks the beginning of the wedding season for many.

Condolences

With sadness and regret we report the death of Sonia Kozlova on May 26. She was born in 1941.

Creative Activity

Creative Activity

The Ilan and Dubi Clubs of the Lithuanian Jewish Community are holding a creative activity at the Artistic Village traditional arts and crafts center in the Bebrusai village in the Molėtai region from 10:45 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. on Sunday, May 26. Registration is open till May 24. Transportation from the Community to the village and back will be provided. Call Sofja at +370 601 46656 or send an email to sofja@lzb.lt

Vilnius: Jerusalem of the North, Jerusalem of Lithuania

Vilnius: Jerusalem of the North, Jerusalem of Lithuania

15min.lt

A New, Free Tourist Route: Why Vilnius Was Called the Jerusalem of the North

With those who fled coming back and traditional Jewish holidays again becoming part of city life, Jewish culture is experiencing a renaissance in Vilnius. Now there will be another opportunity to discover why Vilnius was called the Jerusalem of the North. A free new tourist route called “Discover Jewish Heritage in Vilnius” will help tell the stories of the Jews who lived and worked in Vilnius, according to a press release from the Vilnius municipal tourism and business growth agency Go Vilnius, which has compiled this guidebook as a way to learn about the world-famous Litvaks whose humble origins were in Vilnius, to discover what traces of them remain and to learn about the history of the Jewish community of Vilnius, including the best of times and the most tragic of times.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Small but Significant Features of Jewish History in Vilnius

Small but Significant Features of Jewish History in Vilnius


bernardinai.lt

Before World War II a large Jewish community lived in Vilnius whose cultural, religious and social traces are only recalled today in statues and commemorative plaques. It’s a rare resident of the city who knows why Vilnius was called the Jerusalem of Lithuania, who knows what an active community life bustled on the narrow streets of the Old Town and how the tragic events of World War II changed forever the face of the Lithuanian capital.

For many years Vilnius was a Jewish spiritual and academic center. Besides some faded inscriptions in Hebrew characters on buildings which were part of the Vilnius ghetto, there are more surviving traces of the history of this people. Before World War II Jews accounted for more than a third of all city residents.

Today we invite you to discover with us some small details of this history, small but important to our city.

Full text in Lithuanian here.

Victory Day Celebration Snapshots from Kaunas

Victory Day Celebration Snapshots from Kaunas

The Kaunas Jewish Community enthusiastically celebrated Victory Day marking the victory against Nazi Germany, continuing a long-time tradition. This year no World War II veterans attended, but their widows and children, who heard their stories firsthand of the battles and horrors, did.

Many of those attending were personally freed by the Allies and their victory marked the end of their inhumane suffering and degradation. For them, this day is both one to commemorate the dead, but also an opportunity to celebrate life and its joys. Vocalist Aleksandras Rave performed his own songs and Michail Javič on saxophone enlivened the ceremony which was funded by the Goodwill Foundation.

Happy 65th Wedding Anniversary to Nelli and Ilja Goldbergai

Happy 65th Wedding Anniversary to Nelli and Ilja Goldbergai

Dear Nelli and Ilja Goldbergai,

The Lithuanian Jewish Community congratulates you on this wonderful and special occasion, your 65th wedding anniversary. You started a wonderful strong family and set an example for everyone. We wish you health, happiness and tranquility. May the love of family lend you happiness and strength.

Nelli and Ilja were married May 26, 1954. Their son Jevgenijus was born in Vilnius. Now they have three grandchildren. Nelli worked at the Sparta factory, first as a seamstress, then after completing courses at a light industry technical college she became an engineer there. She likes to sew. Ilja worked as senior mechanic at the Vilnius tobacco factory, later becoming the director there, following which he became senior engineer and a milk processing facility. He likes to fix things, wood-carving, chess and crossword puzzles. The aging couple now find it difficult to get outside and walk around, and spend most of their time in their apartment in Vilnius.

Mazl tov!

Markas Petuchauskas on the Presentation of His Book in Germany

Markas Petuchauskas on the Presentation of His Book in Germany

I’d like to expand on the information about the book presentations in Germany by talking about the topics which were discussed at the Leipzig International Book Fair and the presentation held at the Lithuanian embassy where, besides Grigorij H. von Leitis, Lithuanian honorary consul professor Wolfgang von Stetten and Michael Lahr, the executive director of the Lahr von Leitis Academy and Archive, also took part.

I talked about the presentations of the Vilnius ghetto theater which have lodged themselves so colorfully in my memory, about the people who started that theater, the remarkable artists of the Jerusalem of Lithuania. Their figures loom large among the ranks of the great Litvaks of the world: Chaim Soutine, Jacques Lipchitz, Neemija Arbit Blatas, Ben Shahn, Emmanuel Levinas, Jascha Heifetz, Romain Gary and others.

Much space in the book is devoted to the branch of the Petuchovski (Petuchowski, Petuchauskai) family who in the second half of the 19th century moved to Germany and attained world-renown as active rabbis and philosophers of the Litvak persuasion.

The first of those to speak about the Vilnius ghetto theater, I demonstrated how that cramped stage was able to contain a vast cultural continent, a unique theater now widely recognized as such. Thanks to the theater, the ghetto became a symbol of spiritual resistance to the Nazis. The ideas of patience, tolerance and unity came to the fore in the spiritual resistance of the Vilnius ghetto. These ideas called out with the entire experience of the European Holocaust, urging unity against Naziism, giving form to the goal of nations recognizing the principles of Western democracy to come and join together.

Markas Petuchauskas
Author of Der Preis der Eintracht [German translation of The Price of Concord]
May 21, 2019

Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club Annual Reporting Conference

Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club Annual Reporting Conference

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky greeted the participants at the annual Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club reporting conference at the LJC on May 19.

The agenda included an annual report on governing bodies and presentation of the action plan for 2019. Lithuanian Makabi president Semionas Finkelšteinas in his speech recalled Lithuanian Makabi was the first Jewish organization in contemporary Lithuania, formed even before Lithuanian independence, on January 8, 1989. He delivered a report on Makabi activities for 2018, thanked those in attendance and said the organization was looking forward to the European Maccabiah Games to be held in Budapest this year, with 10 highly qualified competitors from Lithuania seeking medals there.

Lithuanian Makabi vice president Daumantas Levas Todesas, who has served in that post since the organization was formed in 1989, resigned, and president Finkelšteinas thanked him for many years of hard and successful work for the benefit of Lithuanian Makabi.

Lag B’Omer Celebration

Lag B’Omer Celebration

A celebration of the Jewish holiday of unity Lag B’Omer will be held in Galgiai in the Vilnius region at 6:00 P.M. on May 23. The event includes music, a barbecue, activities for kids, a trampoline, face painting and archery.

Those who register before 12 noon on May 23 will be provided transportation. Please call 8 68508550 or write rabbi@jewishlita.com to register or for directions.

The bus will leave from the back of the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius, the side facing Plačioji street.

Markas Petuchauskas’s Book Price of Concord Presented in Berlin

Markas Petuchauskas’s Book Price of Concord Presented in Berlin

The Lithuanian embassy in Germany on May 15 hosted a presentation of Markas Petuchauskas’s memoires The Price of Concord now translated into German as Der Preis der Eintracht, published by the LIT Verlag publishing house in Germany. Mark Roduner translated the book which was originally published in English. The director Grigory von Leit, with Litvak roots, read excerpts from the book. A discussion with the author followed. The vent was organized by the embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to Germany in cooperation with the Lietis Academy and Archive and the Lithuanian Culture Institute.

This isn’t the first time the German translation of Litvak drama critic Markas Petuchauskas was presented in Germany. Back in March there were two presentations of the book at the Leipzig International Book Fair.

The Price of Concord is a compendium of more than five decades of conversation with a number of theater figures, artists and musicians in which keen observations and sudden realizations and correspondence with different well-known personalities turn into a seamless book, one of whose sections contains complex moments of a fairly diverse life. Petuchauskas goes beyond discussion of episodes remembered from childhood and loss of family members leading to the pain experienced during occupation, and recalls the goodness, understanding and help of so many people encountered in the course of life.