Lithuanian Jewish Community

LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky with Passover Greetings and a Message about Anti-Semitism

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Recently US State Department special envoy for Holocaust affairs Nicholas Dean visited the Lithuanian Jewish Community. This was not just a coincidence. The rise of Holocaust denial in Lithuania was the reason for his visit. Jews from Lithuania and their offspring living in Israel and South Africa have been receiving negative answers regarding their applications for Lithuanian citizenship for some time.

As the questions mount over why one set of people have received Lithuanian passports while others haven’t, despite similar circumstances, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, the Interior Affairs Ministry, Migration Department officials and members of parliament have begun to investigate. While the law on citizenship says one thing, officials are saying other things, and one wonders why it is left to each individual bureaucrat to interpret history. Yet another revision of history is being carried out in Lithuania, which is an essential element in denials of the Holocaust. The vitality of anti-Semitism in Lithuania is shown by the way citizenship is restored, attempting to foist upon Jews who fled persecution that they left Lithuania for other reasons, not for political reasons, not for opposing the occupational regime, not because of persecution by that regime. Another example of the upturn in anti-Semitism is provided by Laisvas Laikraštis, a newspaper which prints openly anti-Semitic articles without commentary. The Community has lodged a complaint against the newspaper with the prosecutor, but no action has been taken.

2016-04-22

Deputy Speaker Sends Passover Greetings

Former Lithuanian prime minister and current deputy speaker of parliament Gediminas Kirkilas has sent Passover greetings to chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Kirkilas is also the chairman of the Lithuanian parliament’s European Affairs Committee.

“Please accept my sincere greetings to the Lithuanian Jewish Community and to you personally as the significant holiday of Passover draws near. Recently I visited Israel where I had the opportunity again to remember the miracle of the Jewish People’s liberation from slavery in Egypt,” the former Lithuanian prime minister wrote.

“On this occasion I wish success in your and your honored community’s further work, the wonderful fulfillment of your plans for the future and harmonious living as we face the challenges of the present. Let concord not lack in your families, nor human happiness in your hearts,” Kirkilas concluded in his Passover greetings.

2016-04-22

Prayer Schedule for Choral Synagogue in Vilnius

Morning prayer
Saturday and Sunday: 9:00 A.M.
Workdays: 8:30 A.M.

Evening prayer
Workdays: 7:30 P.M.

2016-04-22

Kol Europe 16: First International Conference on Online Anti-Semitism

Jerusalem, April 19, 2016

The first-ever International Conference on Online Anti-Semitism took place in Jerusalem on April 19, 2016. The event was co-organised by the National Union of Israeli Students ISCA program and the International Network against Cyberhate and was hosted by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It brought together experts from multiple countries including Israeli legislators and the European Commission coordinator on combating anti-Semitism, Ms. Katharina von Schnurbein. CEJI director Robin Sclafani spoke on the panel “Towards Solutions: Coalition Building, Education, Counterspeech.”

Full story here.

2016-04-21

The Israel Lithuania Technology Hub (ILTH) 5th Newsletter

Newsletter No. 5 – April 2016

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the fifth issue of the Israel Lithuania Technology Hub Newsletter, in which we endeavor to keep you informed of the Hub’s activities, events, updates and further relevant information. The first quarter of 2016 has been fairly busy for the Hub Team, as is detailed below, with several exciting activities planned during the year. We are proud to advise that we have established new partnerships and would like to welcome aboard, Kaunas Free Economic Zone and Inova Baltics, whilst Teva Baltics remains our principal partner. We are appreciative and grateful to our sponsors!

For any suggestions, proposals or comments please contact us.

We, the Hub Team, wish you and your families a happy Passover.

Ronen Gruber
CEO, The Israel Lithuania Technology Hub
ronen@ilth.org
Tel:972-54-4578620

Full newsletter here.

2016-04-21

Panevėžys Jewish Community Receives Guests

The Panevėžys Jewish Community received honored guests April 20, the family of Dr. Charles Borowsky from the USA.

Members of the Panevėžys city council, deputy mayor Petras Luomanas and Alfonsas Petrauskas received the guests over tea. Borowsky spoke about his family, the beginnings of his musical career, his travels around the world and all the famous people, politicians and scholars he’s met who are in one way or another connected with the world of music. Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman said at the meeting the Community works closely with the municipality and carry out joint projects and activities.

Deputy mayor Luomanas praised the Jewish Community for its activities. He also spoke about his family’s connection with music: his wife is a music teacher and has a small orchestra. His wife’s sister is a music teacher in Vilnius and his relatives perform in an Israeli orchestra.

2016-04-21

Oldest Jewish Community in South Africa Looks Back over 175 Years

The oldest Jewish congregation in South Africa, Cape Town’s Gardens Shul, celebrated its 175th anniversary recently. The community was established in 1841. The initial service was held in the house of Benjamin Norden and under the leadership of Joel Rabbinowitz the first synagogue in South Africa, the Gardens Shul, was erected in 1862. Philip Krawitz, a recipient of the prestigious Yakir award from Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal in Jerusalem and called “the unofficial mayor of the Jewish community in Cape Town,” in other words, the Cape Town Jewish Community chairman, spoke at the birthday celebrations.

Address by Philip Krawitz
Gardens Synagogue 175th Anniversary Celebration
March 31, 2016

The Role of Jewish Business in South Africa: “A Light unto Nations”

Cast your mind back a few years… You leave your Sea Point Apartment designed by Dennis Fabian and built by the Berman Brothers. You hop into your Toyota bought from the Sanks. You pop into Pick ‘n Pay (founded by Raymond Ackerman) for some groceries. You’re off to Artscape to watch a matinee starring Aviva Pelham in La Traviata. Thereafter you’re off to the Spur (don’t tell the Rabbi!) created by Allen Ambor. (By the way, they now serve kosher burgers.) Tomorrow you’ll visit the V&A where you’ll find an outfit for your granddaughter from Jonni Katz’s Earthchild. Perhaps you’ll even get a chance to get a new down jacket from Cape Union Mart, sneakers from Barry Selby’s “The Athletes Foot” or a suit from Arie Fabian’s Fabiani. And if you’re feeling peckish, you grab a cappuccino from Ian Halfon’s Balducci. Charge it all to Kantor & Koseff’s Investec Card. Fortunately your Liberty Life Pension cheque (thanks to Donny Gordon) will more than cover your expenses. Indeed you could be forgiven for believing that the whole world is Jewish!

2016-04-212017-03-07

Lithuanian Palestinian Activist Gabrielė Tervidytė Arrested in Israel

Tervidytė third from right.

Lithuanian activist Gabrielė Tervidytė has been arrested in the Israeli capital Tel Aviv. 15min.lt published her “Diary from the West Bank” about life in the Palestinian territories and her work with children living in refugee camps. The Lithuanian woman was charged with endangering Israel’s national security and is to be deported.

The arrest was made Wednesday at Ben-Gurion International Airport.

The Lithuanian woman had travelled to Israel to stay with friends living there and was detained during a routine check by officials. After questioning she was deemed to pose a threat to the national security of the state of Israel.

“Nobody has made those charges more specific. As I understand it, this is the concept of vigilance, which is applied to everyone in similar circumstances,” Tervidytė’s mother Gabrielė said Thursday.

2016-04-21

Litvak Won’t Give Grandchildren Pancake Recipe

As kosher cafés open around Vilnius and it’s possible to eat kosher food and bagels, Lithuanians are rediscovering Jewish culture with an emphasis on cuisine. That pleases the chairwoman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, attorney Faina Kukliansky, 61.

Jewish cuisine has always been popular in Lithuania. And it’s no wonder, since many Jews have lived in our country from ancient times, the Lifestyle Section of the Lietuvos rytas newspaper writes.

Some dishes which everyone thinks are traditional Lithuania are actually borrowings from Jews.

One such is potato pancakes, called latkes in Jewish cuisine. Kugel is also of Jewish origin.

Many are shocked to discover that even zeppelins, of which we are so proud, are also somewhat connected with Jews. They travelled to our country about 100 to 150 years ago from northern Germany together with Jews.

Read the entire article in Lithuanian here.
img class=”alignnone wp-image-9629″ src=”http://www.lzb.lt/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/lr.png” alt=”lr” width=”83″ height=”26″ />

2016-04-21

Lithuanian Request to Germany: Return or Help Us Find Property Nazis Stole from Jews

Almost 75 years have passed since Hitler began Operation Barbarossa. These were long and exhausting years for Lithuania and the world. But now, when the consciousness of the peoples has cleared, there are ever greater efforts to repair the losses and persecutions experienced under the Nazis.

…Emanuelis Zingeris says he’s resolved to achieve the discovery and return of Jewish property looted by the Nazis to heirs and communities. The politician says he has already grabbed the end of the thread which should lead to a location for discovering that property.

2016-04-21

American Virtuosi Concert in Vilnius

Don’t miss your chance to experience the American Virtuosi and Jerusalem of Lithuania performing live at the Vilnius Choral Synagogue Thursday, April 21 at 5:00 P.M.! The address is Pylimo street no. 39 and the concert is free and open to the public.

Some photos of their visit at the Lithuanian Jewish Community are available here.

2016-04-21

Bridges Connecting People

Lithuanian newspaper Kauno diena reports that Wednesday a photo exhibition illustrating Pope Francis’s visit to Israel opened at the Old Town Hall in Kaunas. The exhibit has travelled around Lithuania for a year now and attracts keen interest, although Pope Francis’s visit to Israel was 2 years ago now, the newspaper reports.

“The exhibit talks about building bridges, which is what the Pope calls joining together people of separate religions and separate cultures. The Pope invites us to build these bridges, to meet one another, to talk, to get to know each other. That which connects leads to that which is good,” the newspaper quoted Kaunas archbishop Lionginas Virbalas.

The word “pontiff” comes from the Latin pontifex, “builder of bridges,” and was used to designate the high priest, pontifex maximus, in pagan Rome. Pope Benedict XVI introduced it as his twitter handle, @Pontifex, which remains the papal twitter address following his retirement.

For the full story about the exhibition in Kaunas in Lithuanian, see here.

2016-04-21

Kaunas Jewish Community Members Getting Ready for Passover

More photos here.

2016-04-19

Traces of the Jews of Alsėdžiai

Rūta Jurkaitienė, senior librarian, Alsėdžiai Town Library, Plungė region, 2016

Let’s get to know Alsėdžiai, one of the oldest towns in Lithuania with a deep historical legacy

PDF in Lithuanian:

Traces of the Jews of Alsėdžiai

2016-04-19

Presentation of “Zakhor! Imaginations of the Former Jewish Vilne in Modern Lithuanian Art” Catalog

A ceremony to mark the launch of the catalog of the mobile exhibit “Zakhor! Imaginations of the Former Jewish Vilne in Modern Lithuanian Art” was held at the Lithuanian Jewish Community was held last Thursday. Snapshots from the event are available here.

2016-04-19

Katerina and Benediktas Bagdanavičius: Last Hope of the Jews of Darbėnai

Bagdonavciai
by Romualdas Beniušis

I recently discovered the case-file of the deportation of the Bagdanavičius family in the archives. It is a unique document from the Soviet period testifying to the will and sacrifice of the family during the Nazi occupation of 1941 to 1944 in rescuing completely innocent people of the small town of Darbėnai from genocide, and to the bitter lot of the deportees later.

Who were they, Katerina and Benediktas Bagdanavičius, the quiet heroes of the village of Būtingė who without regard to danger to them and their family reached out a helping hand to people condemned to death simply for having been born Jews?

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2016-04-19

Pope Visit to Israel Photo Exhibit Goes to Kaunas

An exhibition of photographs documenting Pope Francis’s visit to Israel in 2014 will be placed on display for public viewing in Kaunas at the Old Town Hall there on Wednesday, April 20. The exhibit contains 20 photographs illustrating Pope Francis’s visit and meetings in Israel. An opening ceremony for the exhibit is planned for 4:00 P.M. on April 20 to be attended by Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas, Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon, Kaunas archbishop Lionginas Virbalas and Kaunas mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis.

Francis’s visit in 2014 came 50 years after Pope Paul VI’s historic visit.

The mobile exhibit was the result of an initiative by the Israeli embassy in Lithuania and has been show around the country in large and small towns. The Kaunas showing is scheduled to end in mid-May.

2016-04-19

Kaunas Jewish Community Celebrates 125th Anniversary of Birth of Daniel Dolski

The Kaunas Jewish Community is celebrating the 125th anniversary of the birth of Daniel Dolski in Vilnius. Dolski was a pioneer of the Lithuanian stage. Highly educated and extremely charming, he debuted on the Russian stage, moved to Western Europe after the October Revolution and settled in Kaunas in late 1929, becoming a pioneer on the popular Lithuanian musical stage. He was one of the first to perform popular songs in the Lithuanian language, having learned it over the course of a half year upon his return.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2016-04-19

Israeli Ambassador Hails Lithuanian Makabi and Maccabiah Games Medal Winners

Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon and the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club held a reception April 14 to celebrate victories by Lithuanian Makabi athletes at the World Maccabiah Games held in Israel and the European Maccabi Games.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky attended along with Lithuanian Olympic Committee leaders and Sholem Aleichem Gymnasium principal Miša Jakobas, members of the board of the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club, 25 Maccabiah medal winners, reporters and others.

The Israeli ambassador greeted the assembly and a film was shown about the first Maccabiada in Israel in 1932 and the last European Maccabi Games in 2015.

Chairwoman Kukliansky in her speech noted the major role the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club has played in Lithuanian Jewish life and the contributions made by long-time Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club president Semionas Finkelšteinas.

2016-04-19

Condolences

The Lithuanian Jewish Community notes with deepest sadness the death of Judelis Ronderis, an active member of the Kaunas Jewish Community, a World War II veteran, an enthusiastic supporter of Jewish culture and the man who began the search for Lithuanian citizens who rescued Jews from the Holocaust, who concerned himself with their welfare and with their commemoration. Our deepest condolences to his daughter Lėja, his family, his grandchildren, his long-time caregiver Stefanija Ancevičienė and to the many who knew and loved him.

2016-04-18