The Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community wishes you a happy, meaningful, joyful and healthy New Year in 5784!
Wooden Synagogue in Alanta Renovated
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Lithuanian Jews Oppose Any Commemoration of Kazys Škirpa
Rosh Hashana Greetings from the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community
European Days of Jewish Culture in Prienai
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and Bagel Shop Café were invited to participate at the European Days of Jewish Culture in Prienai, Lithuania, on the eve of Rosh Hashana, where around 40% of the population was Jewish before the Holocaust. The local organizers of the event there demonstrated a keen interest in the Jewish past of their town and in what was until now exotic Jewish cuisine.
The event kicked off at the synagogue, one of two and the only one left standing, in the early afternoon with a planting of crocus bulbs outside the synagogue. Participants walked from there to the Vėlyvė café which used to house a famous restaurant belonging to the Milstein family. Litvak snacks, challa bread and humous were served with fresh bagels. Local genealogist Janina Paplauskaitė-Leonavičienė then told the story of the synagogue and the restaurant which belonged to the Milstein family.
Eightieth Anniversary of Liquidation and Uprising of Vilnius Ghetto: Ponar Escape Tunnel
This event is a tour featuring the escape tunnel dug by prisoners held underground at the Ponar mass murder site whose gruesome job was to exhume, burn and crush into dust the 70,000-150,000 corpses of Jews murdered there by Lithuanians and Nazis over the course of three years. After their task was completed, the enslaved members of the so-called burners team–Jews and Soviet POWs–would also be murdered and disposed of there. Some members of the team escaped on April 15, 1944, through the tunnel they excavated more than 30 meters long using spoons and sticks. The tour begins at 12:00 noon on September 16 at the Ponar Memorial Complex outside Vilnius.
#VilniusGhetto80
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 7:18 P.M. on Friday, September 15, and concludes at 8:28 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Rosh Hashana Fast Approaching
The Jewish New Year 5784, Rosh Hashana, is coming up quickly this Friday, September 15 on the Gregorian calendar, at sundown at 7:18 P.M. According to Jewish tradition, the first man Adam was created on the first day of the Jewish month of Tishrei, and, according to tradition, he was exiled from the Garden of Eden on the same day for disobeying God. Since then God has held court on humans every year on this day. The Creator makes decisions on this day about who is included in the Book of Life and who is not, and how the coming year will bring success for every person, so religious Jews spend the day praying for God’s favor and mercy.
The Vilnius Jewish Religious Community and the Lithuanian Jewish Community invite you to celebrate Rosh Hashana at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius with us.
Program:
Friday, September 15
7:00 P.M. Rosh Hashana at the Choral Synagogue
Saturday, September 16
10:00 A.M. Shacharit
7:00 P.M. Mincha
8:30 P.M. Evening prayer service
Sunday, September 17
10:00 A.M. Shacharit
7:00 P.M. Mincha.
Invitation to Kabalat Shabat
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and Bnei Maskilim followers of Progresive Judaism invite you to a Kabalat Shabat ceremony and celebration of the eve of the Jewish New Year, 5784.
This warm, comfortable and moving gathering is a great entree to Rosh Hashana.
We will meet at 8:00 P.M. on Friday, September 15, in the hall on third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius.
Let’s Celebrate Rosh Hashana Together
The Lithuanian Jewish Community greets you on the occasion of the upcoming Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, 5784, and invites you and your entire family to come celebrate with us starting at 4:00 P.M. on Saturday, September 16, at the newly renovated Hotel Conti located at Raugyklos no. 7 in Vilnius.
The program includes greetings, a performance by the Fayerlakh Jewish song and dance ensemble, holiday meal (you can choose a meat or fish dish during registration, another concert called Zingen Mir a Lidele in Yiddish with the sololists Rita Alterman, Mariya Dushkina, Michailas Jablonsky and Leonardas Zenkevičius, plus much more.
Tickets are 25 euros for adults and 10 euros for children aged 13 and under. To register or receive more information, send an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or call (+370) 678 81514 between 10:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. on weekdays.
European Days of Jewish Culture in Palanga
On Thursday last week the Palanga Jewish Community invited the public and visitors to Lithuania’s main seaside resort town to a tour of Jewish sites there and a discussion of memory. The streets of the quaint town hold many stories and the old town synagogue there was a popular place for couples to get married, with brides and grooms arriving from all over Europe.
The walking tour demonstrated material heritage, and afterwards participants were treated to the Litvak culinary heritage in the form of the dish floimen tzimmes.
Pictures tell the full story.
Marija Krupoves: Vilna Ghetto Songs Became My Destiny
by Olga Ugriumova, LRT.lt, September 6, 2023
What is the Puppet Theater in the Lithuanian capital today was the Vilnius ghetto theater during the Holocaust. It is hosting a concert to mark the 80th anniversary of the destruction of the ghetto. The concert is preceded by the opening of an exhibit dedicated to the memory of Leiba and Khael Rosenthal in the courtyard, which was the courtyard of the Vilnius ghetto Judenrat or Jewish council during Nazi rule.
The concert includes songs sung by Marija Krupoves, Arkadijus Gotesmanas doing percussion, Boris Kizner on violin, Artūras Anusauskas on piano and other well-known musicians. Krupoves ,besides earning renown for her musical performances, is also an academic who explores the folklore of many peoples and her song repertoire includes texts in Yiddish, Polish, Lithuanian, Belarussian, Ukrainian, Roma, Tartar and Karaïte, among other languages and dialects.
Marija says the songs of the Vilnius ghetto became her destiny.
Historical Drama in Klaipėda
Klaipėda residents were treated to fictional historical plays in situ and Rosh Hashana treats as part of European Days of Jewish Culture events in the Lithuanian port city September 10. A series of skits were performed in the Old Town by the Šatil theater troupe depicting Jewish experience, daily life, triumphs and misfortunes in the interwar period. This was followed by a presentation of Jewish folklore at the Puppet Theater in Klaipėda, formerly known as Memel under East Prussian rule.
Lithuania Needs a Separate De-Nazification Law
by Arkadijus Vinokuras, LRT.lt, September 5, 2023
With great pomp the de-Sovietization law has been released into public circulation. Correction: the law bans the propagation of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes and ideology in any form. The law allows for the removal of symbols of both authoritarian ideological from public spaces.
Nonetheless, the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania [hereinafter Genocide Center] and the worshipers of Nazi collaborators arrayed around that institution are standing shoulder to shoulder when it comes to the removal of symbols from the period of the Nazi occupation. When Genocide Center historian Alfredas Rukšėnas cynically called for respecting the feelings of those who honor the murderer Juozas Krikštaponis, the question arose of whether Lithuania isn’t being guided by a broken moral compass.
The worship of Nazi collaborators is a method by which Lithuania’s radical right-wingers push their pro-fascist and authoritarian ideas on society and put a stop to historical truth. At the same time, attempting to hide their obvious affiliation with the Nazis, they beat their chests crying out they are against anti-Semitism, respect victims of the Holocaust, condemn Nazis and fascists, but still they worship these “heroes” who called for a fascist revolution in Lithuania. Who called for getting rid of the Jews and murdering them.
Full text in Lithuanian here.
European Days of Jewish Culture in Ukmergė
The Lithuanian Jewish Community was gratified to see so many young people attend European Days of Jewish Culture events held in Ukmergė (Vilkomir) last Tuesday. A large number of local residents and a delegation of 62 students from Israel attended events including a reading of the names of Holocaust victims from the area.
The Lithuanian town where about half of all households spoke Yiddish until World War II had multiple working synagogues, a Jewish hospital, Jewish schools and other Jewish institutions. Ukmergė Jewish Community chairman Artūras Taicas introduced local Holocaust survivor Elena Jakiševa, said to be the only Jew from Vilkomir to survive the Holocaust, to participants who were keen to hear everything she had to say. Chairman Taicas said it was important for the current generation of young people to learn from living witnesses without distortion and suppression.
Commemorating Holocaust Victims in Švenčionys
This year the Švenčionys Regional Jewish Community will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the largest mass murder operation in the Švenčionys district on October 1. Švenčionys Regional Jewish Community chairman Moshe Shapiro invites everyone to attend.
Program:
11:00 A.M. Remembrance ceremony at the Menorah statue in the Švenčionys city central park;
12:00 noon Opening of new exhibit at the Nalšia Museum;
1:00 P.M. Remembrance ceremony at the mass murder site in Platumai village in the Švenčionėliai rural district.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 7:36 P.M. on Friday, September 8, and concludes at 8:47 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Last Israeli Dance Workshop for Now
Julija Patašnik is planning to hold her final Israeli dance lesson of the summer season at the Israeli street food kiosk in Petras Cvirka Square this Friday with beginners at 5:00 P.M. and more advanced dancers at 6:00 P.M. The food kiosk is closing for fall this Sunday evening. Stay tuned for more classes and workshops with Julija at other locations.
Jewish Humor Quiz
Arkadijus Vinokuras, who counts among his professions that of clown as well as author and journalist, will present a quiz on Jewish humor at the outdoor Israeli street food kiosk in Petras Cvirka Square located across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius at 5:00 P.M. on Sunday, September 10.
The quiz will be live-streamed here: https://www.facebook.com/zydubendruomene/live_videos/
Commemorating Victims of the Holocaust in Panevėžys
The Panevėžys Jewish Community will hold a series of ceremonies on Friday, September 22, to remember the victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Participants will gather at the Sad Jewish Mother monument on Memory Square in Panevėžys located at Vasario 16-osios street next to the Vyturis pre-gymnasium.
Program:
2:00 P.M. Opening ceremony, wreath- and stone-laying at the monument, addresses;
2:40 P.M. Travel to the mass murder site in Kurganava Forest where approximately 8,000 Ponevezh Jews were murdered;
3:30 P.M. Travel to Žalioji Forest where approximately 5,000 Ponevezh Jews were murdered;
5:00 P.M. Conference and screening of Holocaust films from Yad Vashem at the Panevėžys Jewish Community located at Ramygalos street no. 18 followed by coffee and tea.
Everyone is invited to attend any and all of these events.
Panevėžys Jewish Community Invites You to Celebrate Rosh Hashana
The Panevėžys Jewish Community is proposing a picnic in the Community’s courtyard as part of celebrations of the Jewish New Year, 5784, located at Ramygalos street no. 18 in Panevėžys. The plan is to meet at 4:00 P.M. on Sunday, September 17, at the Panevėžys Jewish Community. If the weather is good the picnic will take place outside with holiday treats, food, gifts for children and Jewish calendars for members. If the weather isn’t good events will move inside. The event is free and open to the general public.