The annual art fair Craft Vilnius for 2015 has the theme “objects with a story.” Not just the items themselves, but also the artists will tell their stories about the creation of the artwork. This year the guest-list includes artists from Georgia, Spain, Ukraine, Latvia and Estonia, and also the Israeli Tanya Chernov, who lived and worked in Moscow for a period of time. She studied design and jewelry smithing at the Stroganov Academy in Moscow. Now she lives and works in Tel Aviv in Israel. The artist creates jewelry using natural materials, silver and gold, and draws inspiration from nature’s forms and symbols.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania is hosting the 15th National Prayer Breakfast with the theme “Do Religions Cause Conflicts and Wars?” on November 27 in Vilnius.

“All the great world religions teach us to work for peace, to love our neighbors, to respect human rights and to respect the dignity of the individual. These values unite all the peoples and people of the world. We cannot now stand by and watch attempts by terrorists to veil their crimes in religious convictions and set people of different faiths at odds,” Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius said.

Rabbi Levi Matusof of Paris and imam Tareq Oubrou of Bordeaux were scheduled to speak at the event, among others.

Bernardinai.lt

Full story here.

Prompted by security fears in Europe, Eisenkot made the unpublicized visit earlier in the week where he met with both Belgium and American security officials.

Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff lieutenant general Gadi Eisenkot appears at a hearing of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (photo: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff lieutenant general Gadi Eisenkot went to Brussels earlier this week to meet Belgian security officials less than one month after the Paris terror attacks, the Jerusalem Post’s Hebrew-language sister publication Ma’ariv reported Friday.

The purpose of the trip was to help establish new security arrangements between Belgium and Israel in light of new fears in Europe.

Israel advocacy group StandWithUs executive director says the group’s goal is to ‘humanize’ the Israeli image.

NEW YORK—In the midst of escalating tensions and stabbing attacks, thousands of pro-Israel internet users have taken up the fight to tell Israel’s side of the story in the social media.

Last week the organization StandWithUs, which has close to 800,000 followers on facebook and describes itself as a grassroots education movement dedicated to informing the public about Israel, achieved a combined post reach of 100 million on its page.

Germany received intelligence regarding an imminent terror attack against a packed soccer stadium from Israeli intel services less than two weeks ago, the German magazine Der Stern reported Wednesday.

Israeli intelligence provided information which lead German authorities to cancel a friendly soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands at Hannover Stadium on November 17.

Synagogues in Belgian capital closed on Shabbat for the first time since World War Two, Rabbi Avraham Gigi tells Israel’s radio 103 FM.

Belgian soldiers and a police officer control the documents of a woman in a shopping street in central Brussels, November 21, 2015. (photo credit: REUTERS)

In the shadow of the Paris terror attacks that killed 130 people and as Belgian police sweep the country for terror suspects, the Chief Rabbi of Brussels said Monday that there is no future for Jews in Europe.

Rabbi Avraham Gigi spoke to Israeli radio station 103 FM about the atmosphere of fear in the Belgian capital that has been in a state of near martial law for the past three days.

“There is a sense of fear in the streets, the Belgians understand that they too are targets of terror. Jews now pray in their homes and some of them are planning on emigrating,” Gigi said.

http://www.urm.lt/default/lt/naujienos/lietuvos-ambasadoje-tokijuje-pagerbtas-legendinis-japonijos-diplomatas

http://www.lzb.lt/?s=Sugihara

“If you save one life, you save a whole world,” so was the event called held at the Lithuanian embassy in Tokyo to honor Japan’s consul in Lithuania Chiune Sugihara, who issued “visas for life” to Jews fleeing the Holocaust 75 years ago.

“Time cannot erase from our memory the suffering of millions of people, the tragedy of the Holocaust. It is thanks to Chiune Sugihara, recognized as a Righteous Gentile, that our future generations will be able to understand that even under the worst circumstances one person, an individual, can achieve so much,” Lithuanian ambassador to Japan Egidijus Meilūnas said at the event.

The Lithuanian ambassador also quoted the words Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius spoke during Diplomat Day: “This year we dedicate a lot of attention to the memory of Chiune Sugihara who worked in Lithuania. His basic modus operandi was to help people. This should be the most important symbol of the profession of diplomat, and because of that we may and do take pride in our profession.”