Rabbi Nathan Alfred from Israel led the shaharit prayer service at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius on Saturday, March 19. Female members of the congregation read passages from the Torah in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Judith Kaplan’s bat mitzvah.
Natalja Cheifec will hold a lecture this week called “Justice and the Courts according to the Torah,” talking about criteria for selecting judges, the definition of theft in Judaism, crime and punishment, the death penalty, compensation for harm inflicted, the laws of warfare and other topics. To register, click here.
LRYTAS.LT
The cousins Lesya Oroshko, 36, and Alyona Chugai, 46, are two people among millions who fled the Ukraine after Russia invaded. Their story recounted in the Washington Post is unusual.
The two cousins landed in Israel last week and were met there by Sharon Bass, 46, whose Jewish grandmother was rescued and taken in by Lesya’s grandmother during the Holocaust. Bass said she was honored to take in the cousins and so pay back for their family’s endless goodness shown almost 80 years ago. She said she was overtaken by a sense of history repeating itself.
Full story in Lithuanian here.
The Sabbath begins at 6:10 P.M. on Friday, March 18, and concludes at 7:24 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community held an event to introduce refugees from Ukraine about the Jewish holiday Purim.
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky met with families who arrived a week ago from Ukraine and taught them the traditions of Purim, including Hamantashen, the pastry usually shared during this holiday.
“The story of Hamantashen pastry brings hope. And if you can kindle hope in people, you enrich yourself as well, and you can look at life in a different way. Jews know what it means to be a refugee. No one wanted to take us in, and we lived through horrific times. We cannot allow the children of today to have such sad eyes. We must extend a helping hand and inspire hope in them and their parents,” Faina Kukliansky said.
Happy Purim! Hag Purim sameakh!
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
Faina Kukliansky’s hamantashen recipe:
For the dough you’ll need:
125 ml milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
500 ml flour
100 g butter
1 egg yolk
The Lithuanian Jewish Community will hold a Purim carnival with purimshpilen and a performance by Fayerlakh for children at 12 noon on March 20. To register and for more information, contact Margarita by calling 37061800577 or by sending her an email at margarita.kozevatova@gmail.com
Professor Vladas Algirdas Bumelis has sent Purim greetings to the Lithuanian Jewish Community, with the wish the holiday will allow us to look courageously and resolutely to the future.
The Lithuanian classical chess championship for 8-year-olds and younger took place in Vilnius March 4 to 6 and included 30 boys and 8 girls. Six-year-old Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community member Karina Šer won 7 matches out seven and became the Lithuanian girls champion. Two weeks ago Karina competed in the ten-year-old girls championship and took third place, while her brother Daniel Šer won the same number of points as the other two top-placers and took third place in the 14-year-old boys group. Congratulations!
Purim is almost here, the happiest spring holiday, but its true meaning is the Jewish struggle for physical survival, just as topical now as ever. Natalja Cheifec invites you to her internet lecture on the meaning and traditions of Purim. It will take place beginning at 5:30 P.M. on Thursday, March 17, in the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s zoom room. Register here.
March 10, 2022–As part of its ongoing efforts to assist refugees fleeing Ukraine, the EJC has initiated deliveries of trucks to the Hungarian and Slovak border with Ukraine.
With the help of Jewish communities in bordering countries, especially the Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia (ÚZŽNO) and the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (MAZSIHISZ), relief trucks containing basic necessities including food, medicine, sanitary products and other items are being sent out to provide immediate aid to refugees fleeing Ukraine.
EJC executive vice-president and CEO Raya Kalenova together with EJC vice-president Dr. Ariel Muzicant and ÚZŽNO president Richard Duda supervised the first dispatch of trucks leaving Bratislava to the Slovak- and Hungarian-Ukrainian borders. Deliveries will be replenished on a constant basis and expanded to further locations according to needs on the ground.
“Our goal is to assist as many refugees as possible during this urgent humanitarian situation, and to provide them with a measure of relief and safety,” Kalenova said.
The Pakruojis synagogue will host this event at 3:00 P.M. on Friday, March 18. Neringa Latvytė will give a presentation called “We Were All Heroines: Experiences of Jewish Women in World War II.” An exhibit of photographs by Sošana Zaksaitė (1906-1959) featuring snapshots from the lost Jewish world will open at the synagogue and be presented by Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community chairman Sania Karbelis. Later in the afternoon Alina Shakhova from Kharkov in the Ukraine will perform a song. Everyone is invited to attend. The street address and telephone number for the Pakruojis synagogue is located to the right of this page.
Social Department client Slava Alterman has died. He was born in 1949. Our deepest condolences to his wife Golda, daughters Rita and Tatyana and his grandchildren.
Aleksandr Ovchinikov passed away March 10. He was born in 1963. He had no family left and was a client of the LJC Social Department.
The Sabbath begins at 5:56 P.M. on Friday, March 11, and concludes at 7:10 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
A Kabbalat Shabat ceremony will be held to usher in the Sabbath under the tenets of Progressive Judaism at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius at 6:30 P.M. on March 11. To register, write Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt.
The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club invites everyone interested to an indoor rock-climbing exercise at noon on March 13. The event will take place at Kalvarijų street no. 143 in Vilnius. You need to dress in clothing which won’t restrict your movement, and we’ll provide the rest of the equipment. More information is available at vertical.lt and to register write an email to dubrovinas@yahoo.com or call 8 687 83 005. Students will be admitted free of charge, adults pay 4 euros.
Daniel Dubrovin, director,
Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club
Long-time Lithuanian Jewish Community member, doctor, pediatrist and cardiologist Šulamis Borveinienė passed away March 1 at the age of 88. Our deepest condolences to her husband Gercas and her many family members and relatives.
Lithuanian Jewish Community member Raja Kerbelienė, wife of Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community chairman Sania Kerbelis, has died. She was born in 1935. Our deepest condolences to her widowed husband, grandchildren Dovydas and Simonas and all her many relatives and friends.
