The entire Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes Fayerlakh director Laurisa Vyšniauskienė a very happy birthday. May your days be filled with health, appreciation of your important work, talented people and many happy moments. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Borisas Furmanskis passed away Sunday, August 27. He was born in 1955. Our deepest condolences to his widow, daughter and all his friends and relatives.
The Sabbath begins at 8:08 P.M. on Friday, August 25, and concludes at 9:25 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
People aged 18 to 40 are invited to attend a seminar for participants from the Baltic states and the Ukraine from September 14 to 17. There is also the possibility for children aged 6 to 12 to attend as well.
The seminar will include a Jewish New Year/Rosh Hashana celebration and participants will learn about European social programs and spend evenings with the Erasmus+ program group.
The seminar will be held at the seaside Minhauzena Unda Hotel.
Register here: https://forms.gle/h5K55tfGKziBPpca8
A stone stele marking the site of the synagogue which once served the Jewish community in Balbirishok (Balbieriškis) was unveiled in the small Lithuanian town last week.
Attending the unveiling ceremony were Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas, US embassy chief of mission William Kendrick, Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein, educational program coordinator of the International Commission for Assessing the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania Ingrida Vilkienė, representatives of the Prienai regional administration and the Balbieriškis aldermanship and a large contingent of local residents and students from the Balbieriškis primary school’s Tolerance Center.
LJC chairwoman Kukliansky welcomed the audience and said she was impressed and pleased the truly significant role played by Litvaks in the history of the town was being remembered and appreciated.
Isaak Markus has passed away. He was born in 1938 and was a long-time member of the Community and a Saul Kagan Social Welfare Center client. Our deepest condolences to his widow Basia, son Leonid, daughter Rimona and his many friends and family members.
September 3rd is coming. The first Sunday in autumn, the day the Lithuanian Jewish Community will again celebrate the European Day of Jewish Culture, a day the Community has celebrated for a decade now. As in previous years, all events across Europe to celebrate the day are modeled on a general theme. This year it’s memory. This topic is like a bridge leading to the Jewish cultural legacy which remains to a great extent unknown by the wider population. #Atmintis or Memory doesn’t end on the first Sunday in September, of course, and in September and October the Lithuanian Jewish Community will hold and coordinate events throughout Lithuania.
Below you’ll find the events program for September 3, all of which are free and open to everyone.
Register here: https://bit.ly/459c4nZ
#EŽKD2023 #EDJC2023 #Atmintis #AEPJ #LietuvosŽydų(litvakų)Bendruomenė #CviParkas #BeigeliųKrautuvėlė Kultūros Paveldo Departamentas Tautinių mažumų departamentas prie Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybės #mūsųbendruomenės #OurCommunities
The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club president Semionas Finkelšteinas a very happy birthday. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
A very happy 95th birthday to Samuilas Reckinas, a member of our Abi Men Zet Zich seniors’ club. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Tamara Jagėlienė passed away on August 16. She was born in 1955 and was a member of the Kaunas Jewish Community. We extend our deepest condolences to her son and other family members.
The Sabbath begins at 8:27 P.M. on Friday, August 18, and concludes at 9:44 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
This Sunday’s quiz will test your knowledge of Litvak artists, their influence on art history, what stands out in their work and why Litvak artists are important on the world stage. Prizes are to include falafels, wine and other goodies. It all takes place starting at 5:00 P.M. on Sunday, August 20, at the Israeli street food kiosk in Petras Cvirka Square across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. Everyone is welcome.
by Grant Gochin
Fearing stigmatization and persecution, Lithuanian rescuers of Jews awarded the “Righteous among the Nations” designation, often hid it from their neighbors and family members for decades. Today, the Lithuanian Government honors these Rescuers on a national level (as they should have from the very beginning). Unfortunately, the Lithuanian honors are not sincere and are just another performance. Jewish people who were saved are reduced to vehicles for Lithuanian virtue signaling.
“Righteous Among Nations” Lithuanians comprised only 0.04% of the Lithuanian population. These genuine heroes are now used by the State as an alibi for anyone who is Lithuanian, i.e. the 0.04% are presented to the public as the stereotypical norm, while the 99.96% of Lithuanians who were not “Righteous Among Nations”, are negated or their deeds rewritten. This is clear Holocaust distortion.
Krikštaponis
The case of Juozas Krikštaponis is far more illustrative of Lithuania then, and now. Krikštaponis was a vicious, genocidal murderer. But, he “only” murdered Jews. So, for Lithuania this is not any impediment to national honors. Lithuania honors so many murderers of Jews, that it appears this could be a standard for national hero status.
Rosh Hashana is coming up on September 15 and 16 and we hope you decide to usher in the new year 5784 with us. Stay tuned for more information about events and celebrations.
Adasa Skliutauskaitė has died. She was born in Kaunas on May 5, 1931. Skliutauskaitė, a Litvak, was an accomplished illustrator of children’s books and magazines. She also painted and made lithographs. Our deepest condolences to her children, relatives, friends and those who knew her through her work.
Julija Patašnik continues her outdoor Israeli dance workshops with the next meeting from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. on Friday, August 18, at the Israeli street food kiosk in Petras Cvirka Square in the park across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. Everyone is welcome regardless of age or dancing ability.
Deputy chief of mission Erez Golan and cultural attaché Virginija Bunevičiūtė from the Israeli embassy visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community. They asked Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman about community activities and he gave them a tour of Jewish heritage in the Lithuanian steeped in Jewish historical, cultural and religious lore. Golan was keen to learn more about educational programs in local primary and high schools. The Israeli delegation also visited a famous local theater, met with municipal representatives and that same evening presented the Israeli Film in Your Town project, an Israeli cinema retrospective, at the Garsas movie theater. The first screening was Blaumilch Canal, a 1969 Israeli comedy written and directed by Ephraim Kishon depicting the madness of bureaucracy through a municipality’s reaction to the actions of a lunatic.
“We Jews like to laugh at ourselves on film as well as in life,” Golan told moviegoers.
Lithuanian film critic Auksė Kancerevičiūtė also spoke to the audience about Israeli film.
The Garsas movie theater will hold two more showings in the series: on August 24 they will screen Turn Left at the End of the World (2004) and on August 31 Abulele (2015). All shows are free and with Lithuanian subtitling, a gift from the Israeli embassy to the city of Panevėžys.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes Samuel Bak a very happy milestone birthday. We think you are one of the most remarkable painters of the 20th century. You cut right to the heart of human nature in your work, infusing even the most tragic historical events with meaning and recalling for the world the lost world of Jewish Vilna. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
The #ŽydiškiPašnekesiai Jewish discussion club is to discuss the influence Litvak painters have had and do have on Western art styles. It’s not a one-way street, of course: Litvak artists were also influenced by primitivism, Renaissance realism, impressionism, surrealism, pop-art and so on. So of course one hour won’t suffice. We’ll have to go minimalist this time around. Panel speakers include Shmuel Tatz from New York, a serious art collector, and Raimondas Savickas, a serious artist, along with a number of other experts, thinkers and artists.
Location: Israel street food kiosk in Petras Cvirka Square, Vilnius.
Time: 5:00 P.M., Wednesday, August 16
The Sabbath begins at 8:42 P.M. on Friday, August 11, and concludes at 10:03 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
