This is a book for everyone interested in the history of Vilnius and Jewish Vilna and the many personalities the city gave to the world, those who built the city and fostered its culture. The book by Genrich Agronovski is ideally suited for use as a personal guidebook on an individual tour of the city, with little-known information about almost every part of the urban landscape and those who lived here. Many years of research by the author have gone into making this unique guide to the lost city of Vilna. It makes no pretense of being academic, and is accessible to everyone and written in an easy-to-read style. 

The growing demand in recent times for more information about the Jewish history of Lithuania and specifically the rich Jewish heritage of Vilnius is satisfied by Agranovski's work in the Russian language, and points to the need for translation into English and Lithuanian. 

The book is on sale at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street No. 4, Vilnius. The cost is 48 litas, or 13.90 euros.

Netanyahu will eventually agree to a softened version of his controversial legislation, a former aide says. ‘But the damage is done’

rime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s so-called “Nationality bill,” which would cement in law the country’s status as a “Jewish state,” is far from a done deal. It has yet to even pass a first of three readings in the Knesset, and it is likely that the current version will undergo many changes before it enters the law books, if it does so at all.

And yet, the government already finds itself at the receiving end of considerable domestic and international flak over it.

Within Israel, critics of the bill include Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, President Reuven Rivlin, Culture Minister Limor Livnat, former defense minister Moshe Arens, former justice minister Dan Meridor (the last four of whom are all Likud veterans), Jewish and Arab opposition parties, some coalition members, and many other Israelis, emphatically including conservative-minded ones.

More at timesofisrael.com

 

Press Release

NEW YORK/JERUSALEM – Leaders of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) on Tuesdayexpressed shock and outrage at yet another terrorist attack against Jews in Jerusalem. At least four people, including a rabbi, were killed and more than a dozen others wounded when two Arab terrorists burst into the synagogue during morning prayers and attacked worshipers with a gun, a meat cleaver and an ax. The two perpetrators were killed by police officers arriving at the scene. It was the deadliest terror attack in Jerusalem in many years.

WJC President Ronald Lauder said: “Our hearts go out to the victims of this heinous crime and to their families.” Lauder said the bloodbath in the Kehilat Bnei Torah Synagogue in Har Nof was “obviously the result of an orchestrated campaign by Palestinian groups whose sole aim is to incite to hatred and violence against Jews.”

He welcomed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ condemnation of the attack but said that in order to be credible Abbas had to stop the “vicious incitement against Israelis that is happening on his watch.”

“Instead of opposing the extremists in his own ranks, Mr. Abbas has been placating them. If he wants to retain any credibility he must show strong, unequivocal leadership now. Failure to do so would have catastrophic consequences and would probably put a stop to the peace process for many years to come. The next weeks will show if he is a credible Palestinian leader,” Lauder said.

The WJC president called it an outrage that houses of prayer were now being deliberately targeted by Palestinian terrorists. “Houses of worship anywhere in the world must be sacrosanct. Whoever attacks peaceful worshipers in a synagogue, a mosque or a church is nothing but a despicable criminal.”
About the World Jewish Congress

The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is the international organization representing Jewish communities in 100 countries to governments, parliaments and international organizations.

Media contact

Brussels: Michael Thaidigsmann
Director, Media relations, World Jewish Congress
Tel: +32 2 552 09 24
Cell: +32 495 510 917
Email: mthaidigsmann@wjcmail.org

www.worldjewishcongress.org

 

More at delfi

The Joint Distribution Committee, or Joint, renewed aid to the regional Jewish communities and Jews in trouble in Lithuania and the other Baltic states following independence.

This year, to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish American charity, the Panevėžys (Ponevezh) Jewish Community undertook a project which culminated in a public event on November 6, 2014. The goal of the project was to showcase the Joint’s charitable work in Panevėžys and Lithuania.

The event began on the sunny morning of November 6 at the city’s G. Petkevičaitė-Bitė Public Library. A large audience of esteemed guests took part in the conference staged by the Panevėžys Jewish Community. Community chair Gennadu Kofman opened the conference with a speech about the Joint’s unique and historical activities during and after World War II.

Apr, 29 2014 — (All Things Considered) —
There was a time in Eastern Europe when the landscape was dotted with wooden synagogues, some dating to the 1600s. Inside, the walls and ceilings were covered with intricate painted designs. Almost all of these structures were destroyed during the Holocaust, and with them, a folk art. But in Burlington, Vt., a synagogue mural has been uncovered where it lay hidden for a quarter century.

Aaron Goldberg grew up in Burlington. His family was among the Jewish immigrants, most of them from Lithuania, who settled in a section of the city known as Little Jerusalem in the late 1800s. Goldberg first saw the mural in the 1970s when he was in middle school and accompanied his mother to a carpet store.

More at northcountry