Vilnius’s St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra has concerts scheduled for September 16 at St. Kortyna’s Church in Vilnius, September 17 at the renovated synagogue in Žiežmariai and September 18 at the Red Synagogue in Joniškis to showcase the music of Litvak…
Jewish Scouts Camping
The Jewish scouting troupe is camping beside a lake in the Trakai region, enjoying the sun, the great outdoors, friendship and scouting activities. Scout leader Renaldas Vaisbrodas reported: “The Jewish scouts have invited me for a new adventure. Somehow naturally…
If a Genocide Happens in the Forest and No One Hears It…
That’s the question the news service of the LNK television channel in Lithuania faced Friday when they were investigating the case of a mysterious Holocaust site which vanished somewhere along the Kaunas-Vilnius highway during reconstruction. The mass murder site in…
Litvak Heritage in Lithuania: Where to Find the Most Interesting Stories and Sites
by Raimonda Mikalčiūtė-Urbonė, 15min.lt The year 2020 has been named the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History, so this year is a good opportunity to discover the interesting and unique Jewish heritage sites we have right here in…
Hike for Scouts
The Jewish Scouts of Lithuania invite children, teenagers and parents on a hike from the synagogue in Žasliai to the synagogue in Žiežmariai. If your child is 14 or older he/she may participate independently, but all younger hikers need to…
Commission for Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad Chairman Visits Lithuania
United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad chairman Paul Packer has visited the Lithuanian Jewish Community during his trip to Lithuania from November 6 to 8 to discuss Jewish heritage issues in Lithuania and participated in a…
Thank You to Out-Going Cultural Heritage Department Director Diana Varnaitė
The Lithuanian Jewish Community sincerely thanks Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Department director Diana Varnaitė for all the work she’s done to preserve Jewish heritage in Lithuania. The Community is also wondering who could replace her professionalism, intellect and sense of heritage…
Jews in Lithuania Experiencing Crisis in Values
by Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman, Lithuanian Jewish Community Jews as with any people are not homogenous. The history of Jews in Lithuania stretches back almost 700 years and during that time all sorts of things happened, rises and declines, and the…
New LJC Calendar for 5778 Features Lithuanian Synagogues
The new calendar for the Jewish year 5778 published by the Lithuanian Jewish Community features graphic representations of the synagogues of Lithuania in the drawings by Gerardas Bagdonavičius. Bagdonavičius (1901-1986) was an artist working in drawing and painting, an illustrator,…
Inter-Institutional Cooperation for the Preservation of Lithuanian Jewish Heritage
A paper delivered by Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky at the conference “Diaspora and Heritage: The Shtetl” held to mark the European Day of Jewish Culture and the Lithuanian Day of Remembrance of Jewish Victims of Genocide at the…
Thank You
A week has passed during which Lithuanian remembered her shtetlakh. The fourteenth celebration of the annual European Day of Jewish Culture has taken place in Lithuania, this year with the theme “Diaspora and Heritage: The Shtetlakh.” Lithuanian towns which used…
An Ugly Monument and the Ugly Truth
by Geoff Vasil I entered Kaišiadorys in a pounding rain to see the Soviet monument the local residents want removed. Visibility was perhaps 10 feet as I passed what seemed to be farmsteads and fields. Up ahead the road bisected…
Historical Attention to Historic Lithuanian Jewish Buildings
by Martynas Užpelkis, LJC heritage protection specialist An historical event! In recent days, almost a coincidence of sorts but more likely the result of dedicated and constant preparation, three historical Jewish community buildings in Vilnius have been repaired and restored…
Separate Program for Jewish Heritage Proposed
Diana Varnaitė. Photo courtesy Lithuanian Parliament BNS–Director of Lithuania’s Cultural Heritage Department Diana Varnaitė is proposing separate financing for preservation of Jewish heritage. Lithuanian parliamentary speaker Viktoras Pranckietis approves the idea. “We would think it would be appropriate to increase…
A Tale of Two Synagogues in Vilnius: Both Survived the Meat Grinder of History
… If you call the Choral Synagogue the fortunate daughter, then another surviving synagogue near the bus station and train station could be called the poor stepdaughter in terms of appearance and visitors. The building located at Gelių street no.…
Award
Lieutenant Artūras Jasinskas, commander of the Lithuanian military’s volunteer defense forces, awarded Nicholas Benjamin Israel, head of Baltic regional military information operations support team of US special operations in Europe, for his exceptional personal contribution to expanding and strengthening cooperation…
Wooden Synagogues: Lithuania’s Unique Ethnic Architectural Legacy
The relicts of the Jewish cultural landscape created over more than 600 years in cities, towns and villages throughout Lithuania can be placed in four categories: mass murder sites; cemeteries; synagogues and other heritage buildings; monuments and other commemorative markers.…
Wooden Synagogues as Tourist Attractions
The Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Department under the Ministry of Culture has posted a PDF file on their website about wooden synagogues in Lithuania and their potential as tourist attractions called “Road of Wooden Synagogues”: The Road of Wooden Synagogues The…
A Disappearing Legacy: The Architecture of Wooden Synagogues
The Jewish Culture and Information Center’s Shofar Gallery (Mėsinių g. 3a/5, Vilnius) will host an exhibition of three-dimensional architectural models called “A Disappearing Legacy: The Architecture of Wooden Synagogues” opening at 6:00 P.M. on Friday, December 18, 2015. The cultural…
Alanta Wooden Synagogue Saved from Collapse
Building technical supervisor and engineer Giedris Butanavičius of the SDG company reported in July this year the synagogue in Alanta was in a state of imminent collapse. A main support beam had rotten through allowing the ceiling beams to sag,…