Lithuanian Jewish Community

A Conversation with Basir

basir

The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum will host a discussion in Lithuanian at 3:00 P.M. on May 18, 2016, called “A Conversation with Basir. Refugees: Avoid, Understand, Accept?”

Participants are to include Afghan translator for Lithuanian soldiers in Afghanistan Abdul Basir Yousof, UN High Commission on Refugees rep in Lithuania Renata Kuleš, military historian Dr. Gintautas Surgailis and Vilnius University Oriental Studies Department Islamic theology and culture historian Maritana Larbi.

Vilna Gaon Museum director Markas Zingeris will moderate.

2016-05-13

Condolences

With deepest regret we announce Yakov Epshtayn, a member of the LJC Social Club, has passed away. Born June 1, 1925, he left us on May 12, 2016. Our deepest condolences to his loved ones.

2016-05-13

LJC Lecture Series

The lectures are held Sundays at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

12:00 noon May 15

Marking the 100th anniversary of the death of Sholem Aleichem (March 2, 1859-May 13, 1916)

Fiddler on the Roof, part one

12:00 noon May 22

Fiddler on the Roof, part two

2016-05-13

Rabbi Moshe Shapiro Visits Lithuanian Jewish Community

The well-known Rabbi Moshe Shapiro, a follower of the Gaonic scholarly and Litvak tradition, has paid the Lithuanian Jewish Community a visit, where he met with chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, religious community leader Simas Levinas and Rabbi Samson Isaakson.

2016-05-12

Murder of French Jews at Ninth Fort in Kaunas Remembered

Monument to Holocaust victims, Ninth Fort, Kaunas, Lithuania

A commemoration of the French Jews murdered at the Ninth Fort in Kaunas, Lithuania, took place May 10 at the Ninth Fort Museum. On May 15, 1944, convoy 73 from the Drancy concentration camp in Paris carried off 878 Jews to the Baltic states. Most were taken off the train and shot at the Ninth Fort in Kaunas. Others were transported to a camp in Pravieniškės near Kaunas and then to camps in Estonia. Members of the Association of Families and Friends of the Deportees of Convoy 73 have been coming to Lithuania semi-annually to honor the memory of their murdered loved ones.

Members of the Kaunas Jewish Community attend these commemorations at the Ninth Fort in Kaunas. Close relations between the association and the community have been on-going for more than 10 years now, with informal meetings outside of the official functions as well. Family members who lost loved ones in the transports from France to Lithuania have also forged ties with staff at the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum who have sought to furnish more information on the fates of specific train cars. The Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum has a separate exhibit dedicated specifically to the French prisoners murdered there, including French graffiti still extant on cell walls. In addition, the Nazis sent transports of Jews from Austria and Germany to be murdered at the Ninth Fort.

2016-05-12

Illustrated Hebrew-Lithuanian Wordbook for Beginners Presented at LJC

The publication of Ruth Reches’s “Iliustruotas hebrajų-lietuvių kalbų žodynėlis pradedantiesiems” [“Illustrated Hebrew-Lithuanian Wordbook for Beginners”] is an important event for Jews and Lithuanians who want to learn Hebrew and who had to rely in the past on textbooks in Russian and English. The arrival of the book was eagerly awaited by the students of the Vilnius Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium and their parents. The announcement of the book’s official launch instantly drew thousands of interested people on facebook from all over Lithuania. The author presented her book at the Community May 9.

Ruth Reches was graduated from Bar Ilan University in Israel in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree sociology, psychology and criminology. In 2001 she completed a master’s degree at Vilnius University in clinical psychology. In 2007 she received a teaching credential from Vilnius Pedagogical University. Currently she is doing doctoral work at Mykolas Romeris University, where she has been teaching psychology to students pursuing a variety of disciplines since 2001. She worked as a psychologist at the medical center of the Lithuanian Interior Ministry from 2006 to 2011. Since 1997 she has also taught Hebrew at the Sholem Aleichem Gymnasium in Vilnius and served as school psychologist. She teaches psychology as an elective to upper-level (sophomore to senior class) students there.

The “Illustrated Hebrew-Lithuanian Wordbook for Beginners” is for teaching Hebrew to children whose native language is Lithuanian. The learning aid will help pupils understand better and acquire new material, while parents can use the book to follow the progress of their children. The book is useful for adults beginning Hebrew as well.

2016-05-12

Ten Years of Cooperation

It’s been 10 years now since the Panevėžys Jewish Community and the Rožynas Pre-Gymnasium first began carrying out joint projects to encourage tolerance, education and friendship between the peoples who call Panevėžys home. This time the project was about Holocaust commemoration in the Panevėžys region. It’s called “A Bridge between Past and Present.” The project is financed by the Goodwill Fund. Around 200 students from the upper classes participated and learned about the history of the Holocaust. The Panevėžys Jewish Community shared information with Rožynas Pre-Gymnasium pupils and administrators, history teacher Genutė Žilytė and pre-gymnasium principal Aida Adiklienė and provided the information the Panevėžys Jewish Community possesses about the Holocaust in the city and region of Panevėžys.

2016-05-12

Commemorating Sister Marija Rusteikaitė in Panevėžys

A project to commemorate sister Marija Rusteikaitė was discussed with mother superior and general director Jūratė Marcinkevičiūtė and sister S. Klara–Hana Bivil of the God’s Love Monastery at the Panevėžys Jewish Community. The project to commemorate Rusteikaitė in Panevėžys and to teach city residents about her remarkable story in the rescue of 15 Jewish children during the Holocaust was prepared by the Panevėžys Jewish Community and presented to the city’s Architecture and Urban Planning Department.

The goal of the project is to commemorate Righteous Gentile Marija Rusteikaitė (1892-1949), the founder of the God’s Love congregation, by naming a new street after her and posting a memorial sign at the start of the street briefly describing her noble deeds.

Marija Rusteikaitė was an intellectual person, a social activist, a medic, a teacher and a nun who was very important to the city and area of Panevėžys. She grew up in the family of estate owners Stanislovas and Jadvyga, a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters. Marija was the third child. Her mother Jadvyga was dedicated to charity work, her children and homemaking. Both parents were extremely loving towards their children and guided their education, belief in God and moral development. The people of Vaiguva who knew her say her charisma was something akin to that of Mother Teresa in Calcutta. She spent her nights sitting up with sick patients, quietly praying.

2016-05-122017-10-26

Plans to Amend Lithuanian Citizenship Law for Litvaks

As the Lithuanian Migration Department and the courts issue rejections on applications for Lithuanian citizenship by Litvaks, parliamentarians are preparing to amend the Lithuanian law on citizenship, even though, they say, the current law provides for granting citizenship to the aforementioned people.

The Lithuanian parliament’s European Affairs Committee met Wednesday and decided to form a working group to prepare the amendment to the law.

Conservative opposition leader Andrius Kubilius proposed expanding the existing definition in the law on who should be considered a person who left Lithuania before March 11, 1990.

2016-05-12

Israeli Embassy Marks Israeli Independence Day with Save the Children Centers

Vilnius (May 11, 2016)–On the 68th anniversary of the Independence of the State of Israel (this year it is on May 12) the Embassy of Israel in Lithuania will mark the day in a different way: together with Save the Children day centers in a number of towns of Lithuania. The funds assigned for the traditional National Day reception will be used to present the children and the centers with a variety of equipment, furniture, games and other supplies that are required for the daily operations of these centers.

“We are honored to join forces with Save the Children organization and to contribute our modest support to improve the children’s surroundings and environment, which we hope they will successfully use not only for doing their homework, but also for having more fun together, which is no less important” Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon said.

On May 12 and 13 Embassy of Israel teams will visit Save the Children day centers in Alytus and the Alytus district and in the Utena, Pasvalis, Druskininkai, Širvintos and Kaišiadorys municipalities, to meet altogether about 300 children. The wish list is quite varied and includes furniture, computers, kitchenware and cutlery, home appliances, stationary supplies, art supplies, television sets and many more. In addition, every child will be presented with a blue and white schoolbag with a light reflector.

2016-05-11

A Difficult Trip

by Linas Vildžiūnas

Rūta Vanagaitė’s [book] “Mūsiškiai” [“Our Own”] differs from other books about the Holocaust in Lithuania in that it was conceived and written as a best seller. As an appeal by the popular author who has a good understanding of public relations to the contemporary Lithuanian public, posing to them the most painful and urgent–although deeply repressed in the subconscious–problem of historical responsibility. The author doesn’t try to make it impersonal (and it would probably be impossible to do so anyway, because the issue involves personal attitudes and personal responsibility), and even sharpens the edges, using a macabre black humor, and also has a certain aplomb and a sense of heralding progress. The latter can be annoying, but the author has sufficient basis to do so. All of this could be perceived as an additional measure to create an effect in aiming for the top ten (or straight for the jugular), and her aim is true because it reached its mark.

2016-05-11

Condolences

With sadness we announce the death of Valentina Tureckaja of Vilnius, born June 3, 1954. She passed away on the 11th of May. She was a member of the LJC Social Center. Our deepest condolences to her loved ones for our shared loss.

2016-05-11

Condolences

Cilija Rubinštein of Vilnius, a member of the LJC Social Center, has died. The entire Community expresses our deepest sadness and regrets over her loss.

2016-05-11

Condolences

Petras Zakroiskis, a member of the Kaunas Jewish Community and the Social Center, has passed away. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends. He was born December 1, 1925, and left this world on May 10, 2016.

2016-05-11

Panevėžys Jewish Community Marks Victory Day

The Panevėžys Jewish Community marked Victory Day on May 8 and 9. On May 8 members laid wreaths at a monument to Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Candles were lit and honor was paid to the dead, both in the city and in Europe at large, to those who were murdered during World War II at mass murder sites in Panevėžys and more than 200 other mass murder sites around Lithuania. Almost no Jewish eyewitnesses survived in Panevėžys.

2016-05-11

Israel at 68

by David Harris
May 9, 2016

Israel celebrates its 68th Day of Independence this week. Let me put my cards on the table. I’m not dispassionate when it comes to Israel. Quite the contrary.

The establishment of the state in 1948; the fulfillment of its envisioned role as home and haven for Jews from around the world; its wholehearted embrace of democracy and the rule of law; and its impressive scientific, cultural, and economic achievements are accomplishments beyond my wildest imagination.

For centuries, Jews around the world prayed for a return to Zion. We are the lucky ones who have seen those prayers answered. I am grateful to witness this most extraordinary period in Jewish history and Jewish sovereignty–in the words of Israel’s national anthem, “to be a free
people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.”

2016-05-11

Vilnius Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium Tops Ratings Again

The Lithuanian magazine Reitingai [Ratings] has published data from the 2014-2015 period. Around 410 Lithuanian schools were rated, both those who select their own students and those which don’t. There are just 9 gymnasia in Lithuania who do have an entrance selection process so they were rated separately. Ratings took into account final exam scores, the number of students going on to enter Lithuanian universities and higher education abroad, scores from tests of separate subjects and student grades.

Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium is among those gymnasia which don’t have a selection process and has placed as the number 3 school throughout Lithuania, and number 1 in Vilnius. It is in the top ten list of the schools in Lithuania, only following behind the Lyceum, Kaunas Technological University, Žirmūnai and the Jesuit Gymnasium. Among the gymnasia in Vilnius in all categories, Sholem Aleichem is fifth behind the Lyceum, the Jesuit, the Biržiška and the Žirmūnai Gymnasium.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community congratulates school director Miša Jakobas, the teachers and all the students with their great achievement!

2016-05-11

Families of French Jews Murdered in Lithuania Pay Respects in Kaunas

KAUNAS, Lithuania, May 10, BNS–Families of Jews who were brought to Lithuania from France in the years of the Holocaust honored the memory of the victims at the Kaunas Ninth Fort in Lithuania Tuesday.

Over 800 strong and capable Jews were brought to Lithuania from France in May of 1944. They were told they would have to work but some were murdered in Kaunas and the rest were taken to Estonia.

Families of the victims usually come to Lithuania once every two years.

2016-05-11

Lithuanian Exhibit on Jewish Vilna Opens in Cape Town

The South African Jewish Museum at 88 Hatfield Street in Cape Town launched a travelling exhibit from Lithuania May 4 called “Zakhor. Remember. Topography of Images of Jewish Vilna.”

The exhibit is dedicated to remembering the history of Jewish Vilna in art and Vilnius/Vilna as a major center of Eastern European Judaism and Jewish culture. The multicultural city referred to sometimes as the Jerusalem of the North had its own myths and realities. Famous Jewish scientists, scholars, philosophers, rabbis, intellectuals, publishers and artists lived and worked there.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2016-05-10

Kaunas Jewish Community Honors World War II Veterans

The Kaunas Jewish Community includes two World War II veterans among its members, Liubov Jablonovič and Petras Zakroiskis. Age and infirmity doesn’t allow them to leave the house and they were unable to attend the celebration luncheon the Kaunas Jewish Community hosted for its members, including widows, children and grandchildren of veterans. A moment of silence was held to honor the memory of the dead.

Participants shared stories about experiences by their family members during and after the war. The stories included painful as well as funny incidents. Kaunas Jewish Community member Leonidas Levinas warmed the audience’s hearts with songs from the war era by Vladimir Vysotsky. The audience joined in and sang along.

2016-05-10