Elija-Leiba Fainberg passed away January 17. He was born in 1930. The Lithuanian Jewish Community extends our deepest condolences to his son Markas and all his loved ones.
We are saddened to report the recent death of Marijaša Graužinienė. She was a member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and a client of the LJC’s Saul Kagan Welfare Center. Our deepest condolences to her daughters Tatjana and Rima.
Photo: Simonas Gimelšteinas at premiere on left.
Congratulations to young composer and Lithuanian Jewish Community member Simonas Gimelšteinas who did the musical score for the Lithuanian documentary film “Irklais per Atlantą” [Rowing across the Atlantic] which premiered last week.
Simonas Gimelšteinas also created the sound track for the award-winning Lithuanian short film “Blausos” [Through the Gloom] back in 2022.
Iran launched missile and drone strikes on targets in three countries–Iraq, Syria and Pakistan–over a period of 24 hours. The attacks signify a boldness on the part of Tehran to take out what it perceives as threats even on its allies’ soil, sparking worries of more conflict in the region. Speaking to CNBC at Davos Tuesday night, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the strikes were “in line with combating terrorism and legitimate self-defense.”
Pakistan recalled their ambassador to Tehran Wednesday and said the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan who is currently in Tehran won’t be allowed back.
Iran claimed they targeted a terrorist group in Balochistan in southern Pakistan who were responsible for shooting Iranian police officers near the border. Pakistan said two children were killed in the missile strike and many others were wounded.
In Iraq, Iran claimed it targeted a “CIA listening post” in the Kurdish regional capital Erbil. Iraq called it an unprovoked act of naked aggression.
Full story here.
On Sunday bells rang out around the world and in Lithuania to remember the hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 in Israel.
The date marked 100 days since that attack and 100 days of horror, darkness and unknowing for the hostages still being held.
We thank Evangelical Lutheran bishop Mindaugas Sabutis for his support in joining the campaign and ringing church bells to bring them home.
#BringThemHomeNow
British PM Sunak called South Africa’s case “completely unjustified and wrong” and Canadian PM Trudeau indicated he doesn’t back it after the US branded it meritless
Canada does not accept the premise of South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague which accuses Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said Friday.
Israel rejected as false the accusations that its state organs have genocidal intent against the Palestinians in Gaza during the current conflict with Hamas, which was sparked by the terror group’s devastating shock attack three months ago. Trudeau stressed Canada was a strong backer of the UN’s top court, where the hearings are being held, but added: “Our wholehearted support of the ICJ and its processes does not mean that we support the premise of the case brought forward by South Africa.” Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly reiterated Trudeau’s comments.
British prime minister Rishi Sunak also believed South Africa’s case was “completely unjustified and wrong,” according to a spokesperson quoted by BBC news Friday.
The Sabbath begins at 4:00 P.M. on Friday, January 12, and concludes at 5:22 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
The Palanga Jewish Community is marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day a day early on January 26 by unveiling a plaque commemorating professor Lazaris Gutmanas (1875-1957) on his family home. Gutmanas was a professor at Kaunas University’s Nerve and Mental Disease Faculty and one of a number of remarkable members of the Jewish academic intelligentsia. Everyone is invited to attend the unveiling ceremony.
Time: 11:00 A.M., January 26
Place: S. Daukanto street no. 25, Palanga
The Klaipėda Jewish Community invites members and the public to turn out this Sunday as part of the global initiative “One Million Bells” to mark 100 days since Hamas’s attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, and to remember the hostages still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and appeal for their release.
The meeting starts at 4:00 P.M. on Sunday, January 14, at Turgaus aikštės no. 24 in Klaipėda.
A Republic of South Africa High Court barrister has presented opening arguments at the United Nationas International Court of Justice in the Hague against what it claims is Israeli genocide being committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
South African High Court attorney Adila Hassim who has also served as a judge in the past told the hearing in the Hague Thursday Israel was in violation of at least four articles of the 1948 Convention for the Prevention of the Commission of the Crime of Genocide. She said it wasn’t incumbent upon the ICJ to pass an immediate verdict on the accusation and that preventative measures including an immediate cease-fire were needed.
Hassim was one member of a South African legation of eight, all of whom also gave presentations. Israel also sent at least one judge to the hearing. Israel is signatory to the Genocide Convention which grew out of the Nuremberg trials to address the new international crime of genocide as the world attempted to come to terms with the Holocaust.
The Kaunas Jewish Community invites you to an evening commemorating literary critic and writer Israel (Isidore) Elyashev.
Bal-Makhshoves as he was also known, “man of thoughts,” used that nom-de-plume in his Jewish writing at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The commemoration will be held in the former Jewish cafeteria near Elyashev’s home where he died 100 years ago on January 13, 1924. Speakers will touch upon his friendship with the painter Marc Chagall, Jewish life in Kaunas, Elyashev’s home street now known as Daukšos gatvė but formerly called Yatkever or Butcher’s street with five synagogues located along it, about the return of “evacuated” Jewish exiles in 1921 and about the shared and separate Lithuanian and Jewish cultural legacy in Lithuania’s interwar provisional capital Kaunas.
Speakers will also detail his family, including his sister Ester Veisbart who was an art critic, teacher and Lithuania’s first female doctor of philosophy who died in the Kaunas ghetto; the rest of his family who were killed in the Kaunas and Vilnius ghettos and Soviet labor camps and the members of his family to made it to Palestine and lived.
Air France will resume flights to Israel from January 24, an airline spokesperson says, the latest foreign carrier to end its suspension during Israel’s war with Hamas.
Air France will operate three weekly flights from Paris to Tel Aviv using Airbus A350 aircraft.
Foreign carriers halted flights to Israel at the outset of the war that began on October 7. Lufthansa, Swiss Air and Austrian Airlines resumed flights to Israel this week.
Full story here.
The Fayerlakh Jewish song and dance ensemble led by Larisa Vyšniauskienė held a benefit concert to raise funds for the Israeli victims of Hamas and decided to send 1729 euros they raised to the survivors of the Cohen family, Sandra and her two sons Liam and Dylan. A further 298 euros was donated into a special bank account set up for the surviving family members.
Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel director Arie Ben-Ari Grodzensky reported fifty members of that organization had raised a further 5650 euros for the Cohens and said he hoped the money would at least help the family in some way to overcome the consequences of the attack by Hamas on October 7.
Thank you to all who donated and those who haven’t heard the story yet can read about it at the link below and make a donation if they so desire:
http://www.lzb.lt/en/2023/12/07/lets-make-a-hanukkah-miracle-happen/
The Sabbath begins at 3:50 P.M. on Friday, January 5, and concludes at 5:13 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
To: Government of the Republic of Lithuania
Gedimino pr. 11, LT-01103, Vilnius
e-mail.: LRVkanceliarija@lrv.lt
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania
J.Tumo-Vaižganto g. 2, LT-01108, Vilnius
e-mail.: urm@urm.lt
IN REGARD TO LITHUANIA’S ASSISTANCE, SUPPORT AND COOPERATION ON ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR MATTER
2024-01-02
Vilnius
The Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community (LJC) is keen to bring to Lithuania’s attention three critical issues that require urgent attention and cooperation on significant matters related to the Israel-Hamas war. The Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community believes that Lithuania, a democratic state, should announce a unified stance on the Israel-Hamas war and stand on the right side of history.
Firstly, it is important to bring to your attention that South Africa has accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinian people. This is a serious and baseless allegation that requires condemnation. LJC kindly requests your support in opposing this accusation and is urging the government to condemn such unfounded claims. Israel is planning to send a representative to the International Court of Justice at The Hague to challenge this motion, and we believe that collective international condemnation is crucial in this matter.
Secondly, as the world approaches the 100th day since the horrific terror attack by Hamas happened against Israel on October 7, 2024, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) is initiating a day of protest to raise awareness for the 129 hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza in inhumane conditions. Several countries are considering symbolic actions such as illuminating government buildings in yellow with the hashtag #bringthemhomenow. LJC urges the Lithuanian government to participate in this global effort and ensure that our state’s actions are visible and heard.
Lastly, LJC is deeply concerned about the behavior of the International Red Cross, which appears to neglect the Jewish hostages. While they voice concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, they remain silent on the hostages’ conditions that are still being held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. LJC requests Lithuania’s support in protesting against this discrepancy and urging the International Red Cross to engage actively in ensuring the well-being of the hostages.
The Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community understands the importance of these matters and appreciates the Lithuanian Government’s attention to them. We are certain that the right support for Israel, which is fighting barbaric terror organizations in Gaza, would significantly contribute to addressing these urgent concerns.
Respectfully,
Faina Kukliansky
Chair of the Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community
We regret to report yet another death January 4, that of Svetlana Pugačiova. She was born in 1945 and was a member of the Community in long standing and a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center. Our deepest condolences to her husband Valerijus, son Stanislavas and daughter Eliza.
Markas Lifšicas passed away January 24. He was born in 1975 and was a long-standing member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and more recently a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center. Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and the entire Lithuanian Jewish Community extend our condolences to his father Jakovas and sister Liza.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–Harvard College president Claudine Gay resigned Tuesday amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy.
Gay is the second Ivy League president to resign in the past month following congressional testimony. Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania, resigned December 9.
Gay, Harvard’s first black president, announced her departure just months into her tenure in a letter to the Harvard community, thus becoming the shortest presidency in the history of Harvard College.
Following the congressional hearing, Gay’s academic career came under intense scrutiny by critics who unearthed numerous and extensive instances of plagiarism in her 1997 doctoral dissertation. The Harvard Corporation, Harvard’s governing board, initially rallied behind Gay, saying a review of her scholarly work turned up “a few instances of inadequate citation” but no evidence of research misconduct. Critics posted long passages of verbatim copy/pastes of unattributed works from other authors from Gay’s academic papers and alleged dissertation.
Gay’s public troubles began when she gave testimony in the House of Representatives about Harvard’s bullying, harassment and code-of-conduct rules. Asked whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard’s rules by representative Elise Stefanik, a Republic from New York state, Gay equivocated and claimed it was a free speech issue which depending on the context–if it became conduct instead of speech–could be a violation of the rules. The public was quick to respond with an internet meme of a book purportedly authored by Gay called “Mein Context,” a reference to Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” Gay has not been a champion of free speech on campus in the past, approving bans of conservative speakers.
Full story here.
With deep sadness we report the death of Svetlana Plenkivskaja on January 1. She was born in 1943 and was a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center and a member of the Union of Former Concentration Camp and Ghetto Prisoners.. Our sincere condolences to her sister, son and many friends and relatives. Rest in peace, Svetlana.
Our Community faced many challenges over the last year, but we also increased our focus and sense of community. As we usher out the last year and ring in the new, we pray for the hostages who haven’t come home and our brothers and sisters still undergoing bombardment in Israel. With great love and fondness we remember all of those whom we have lost and thank them sincerely for being together with us. This is the greatest gift we can give one other. A happy and peaceful 2024.
