Lithuanian Jewish Community

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 5:36 P.M. on Friday, February 13, and concludes at 6:33 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 5:18 P.M. and completed before sunset at 5:36 P.M. Friday is World Radio Day and Saturday is International Book Giving Day and Valentine’s Day. Monday, February 16, is a state holiday in Lithuania, Restoration of the State Day, originally celebrated in the interwar Republic of Lithuania marking the declaration of Lithuanian independence on February 16, 1918. Monday is also Washington’s Birthday in the United States, commonly known as Presidents’ Day and originally intended to combine the celebration of the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

2026-02-122026-02-13

Natalja Cheifec’s Raising Children according to the Torah, Part 5

Natalja Cheifec continues her lecture series with the fifth instalment on raising children according to the principles of the Torah.

To receive zoom credentials and participate, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, February 12
Place: internet

2026-02-11

Visitor from DC Looking for Roots in Panevėžys

Harold Closter who lives in Washington, D.C., and his son Yulik Gurvich visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community looking or information on Closter’s great-grandfather Zvi Hirsh Avraham and Closter’s mother Milke Ginzberg, both of whom lived in Panevėžys before the First World War. The Panevėžys Jewish Community’s archive had matches for both surnames but further information such as street addresses couldn’t be determined, because Kloster didn’t have their dates of birth, marriages or death.

Kloster is a folklorist and historian. He said it was important to him and his son to see where their ancestors lived.

Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman recommended they apply to the Lithuanian State Archive which conserves material documenting Jews living in Lithuania since the 17th century. Kofman and Kloster made plans to stay in contact.

2026-02-10

Sixteenth Liova Taicas Tournament Held in Šiauliai

The 16th Liova Taicas sports tournament was held in Šiauliai Sunday. Participating were four soccer teams, two basketball teams, 5 volleyball, 6 chess and 6 ping-pong teams. Israeli embassy staff formed one of the basketball teams competing. As in earlier iterations of the games, the Ukmergė Jewish Community participated, having become an integral part of the annual tournament.

2026-02-102026-02-10

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 5:07 P.M. on Friday, February 6, and concludes at 6:06 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 4:49 P.M. and completed before sunset at 5:07 P.M.

2026-02-05

Background to the Epstein File

by Geoff Vasil

Not all Litvaks belong to the positive side of the ledger. Some start out shady and make good. Some fall into semi-disgrace, such as Boris Johnson. Others calmly observe their fellow Litvaks and rarely make judgments one way or the other.

Jeffrey Epstein claimed Litvak roots saying his grandparents came from Lithuania. That can mean a lot of things, from Russian to Belarussian to Ukrainian to Polish antecedents. The recently released tranche of Epstein files also show he had some connections with the modern Republic of Lithuania. One couple he supported received significant funds from him, and even more in his last will and testament. There is also documentation he recruited girls from Lithuania for his criminal activities.

The problem with the Epstein scandal is that there are so many aspects and players, one can see whatever one wants in the evidence. The human trafficking is just the tip of the iceberg. What lies below that is the real reason for the cover-up.

2026-02-052026-02-06

Vilkomir Chemistry Olympics Awards Renamed after Aaron Klug

The Ukmergė (Vilkomir) regional administration hosted the awards ceremony for winners of the chemistry contest which takes place at local high schools annually. This year the awards ceremony at the Antanas Smetona Gymnasium was renamed the Aaron Klug awards.

Aaron Klug was born in Želva, Lithuania, in 1926. Klug was taken by his parents from Lithuania to South Africa when he was three years old. He entered the University of the Witwatersrand at Johannesburg intending to study medicine, but he was graduated with a science degree. He then began a doctoral program in crystallography at the University of Cape Town but left with a master’s degree upon receiving a fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he completed his doctorate in 1953. He won the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1982 for his investigation of the three-dimensional structure of viruses and other particles which are combinations of nucleic acids and proteins, and for the development of crystallographic electron microscopy.. This year marks 100 since he was born. He died in 2018.

2026-02-042026-02-04

Raising Children according to the Torah, Part 4

Natalja Cheifec continues her internet lecture series with a fourth installment on raising children according to the Torah. To receive zoom credentials and participate, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, February 5
Place: internet

2026-02-04

Condolences

Josifas Useris has died. He was born in 1937. He was a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends.

2026-02-04

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust in Panevėžys

The Panevėžys Jewish Community, deputy mayor Deividas Labanavičius, continuing-education students and visitors from Kupiškis as well as local residents marked the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust on January 27.

“The Holocaust reminds us to the depths to which hate, apathy and ignoring human dignity can lead. As we remember the victims, we take responsibility for preserving human respect, for strengthening tolerance and for passing on historical memory to the future generations. This is a duty, leading to a mature and responsible society,” deputy mayor Deividas Labanavičius said.

Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman spoke about the incredible mass murder of almost all Lithuanian Jews and noted more than 600,000 Jews had fought against Nazi Germany, many of them falling on the battle field or returning home disabled. “We also remember those who at risk to themselves and the lives of their families rescued Jews from certain death,” he said.

2026-02-03

Remembering Holocaust Victims in Šiauliai

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust was marked in Šiauliai January 27. People gathered at the location of the ghetto gates at the intersection of Ežero and Trakų streets. Members of the Šiauliai Jewish Community, local officials and local residents attended. Candles were lit at the monument marking the former ghetto gates. The attendees then moved on to Righteous Gentile Square.

2026-02-03

Remembering the Holocaust in Ariogala

Lithuanian Tolerance Center representatives held a national art conference called “The History of the Lithuanian Jewish Community Lost and Discovered” for the 11th time in Ariogala, Lithuania, on January 27, the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust declared by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization in 2005. January 27 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Vocalists from the Ariogala high school performed. Israeli embassy hargé d’affaires Shimon Pesach, Raseiniai regional municipality mayor Arvydas Nekrošius, Department of Ethnic Minorities director Dainius Babilas and Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas were among those attending.

Photos from the International Commission to Asses the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania.

2026-02-032026-02-03

Palanga Jewish Cemeteries: Inscriptions, Records, Territories

Information from Mindaugas Surblys, Palanga Jewish Community

When fire ran rampant in Palanga in 1830, old burial pinkhas were destroyed, dating back to 1487. Beginning in 1831 burial records were kept for the new Jewish cemetery at the edge of town. For a time two Jewish cemeteries operated in tandem in Palanga, the old one since 1487 till 1892, located inside Birutė Park. The new cemetery was instituted near Naglys Hill.

There are ten remaining headstones (matsevot) of different sizes made from granite and cement with inscriptions in Hebrew letters. Three headstones are broken in their upper sections. One is splintered with fragments lying on the ground. Many of the surviving monuments are difficult to read.

Several inscriptions are legible and correspond to the burial records of the Palanga Jewish community. The inscriptions match the information in the pinkhas, for example, “Here lies our dear and honored father who was famous for his charity work and high moral character, Natan Frank, son of Hirsh (Tzvi), deceased on Rosh Hashanah, 1935” (partial translation).

2026-02-022026-02-02

UN Holocaust Day at the Šiauliai District Jewish Community

The Šiauliai District Jewish Community marked the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust on January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, with an evening of tea celebrating Vulf Visotiski, a tea expert whose family began dealing in tea in Žagarė back in 1849.

The Šiauliai District Jewish Community invited experts and cultural anthropologists from Žagarė and around Lithuania as well as the general public and served Visotski tea imported from Israel. The fifth generation of the family is still blending tea in Israel now. High school student singers from the area and from Klaipėda provided the highlight of the evening. Speakers also provided historical insights into the Volpert family and the history and current state of Žagarė.

2026-02-02

Tu b’Shvat

Today is the Jewish holiday of Tu b’Shvat, the 15th day of the month of Shvat, the New Year for trees also known as Israeli Arbor Day. It is traditional to eat of the shvat ha’minim (seven species endemic to the Land of Israel): wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Hag sameakh!

2026-02-02

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 4:53 P.M. on Friday, January 30, and concludes at 5:53 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 4:35 P.M. and completed before sunset at 4:53 P.M. Monday is Tu b’Shvat, Jewish Arbor Day. Monday is also Candlemas for Christians and Groundhog Day in the US and Canada.

2026-01-292026-01-29

Driver Rams Car into Chabad HQ in New York City

Photo: Chabad Lubavitch headquarters in Brooklyn on January 28. Photo by Louis Keene

by Louis Keene and Jacob Kornbluh, Forward, January 29, 2026

The incident occurred on a day of celebration in the Chabad community. No one was hurt.

CROWN HEIGHTS–A driver crashed a car into an entrance of the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Brooklyn Wednesday night, damaging the building on a night thousands were gathered there to celebrate.

Video circulating online and verified by eyewitnesses shows a vehicle repeatedly driving into the building’s doors at 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood, the main synagogue of the Chabad movement and one of the most recognized Jewish institutions in the world. One witness said the driver had yelled at bystanders to move out of the way before he drove down a ramp leading to the doors.

2026-01-29

Palanga Jewish Community Marks UN Holocaust Day

Members of the Palanga Jewish Community, representatives of the municipality and local high school students marked the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust Tuesday by visiting a marker commemorating victims at a cemetery there.

“The Holocaust isn’t a past tragedy, it’s a warning of what happens when apathy becomes the norm and hate becomes acceptable. Our duty is not just to remember the victims, but also to protect the truth, which is uncomfortable to some. Remembering isn’t a ceremony, it’s a daily choice,” Palanga Jewish Community chairman Vilius Gutmanas remarked on the occasion.

The seaside resort town has several Holocaust memorial sites with commemorative markers and plaques. The local cemetery has a stele marking where 106 Jews and 5 Lithuanians murdered in 1941 were reburied. Jewish sites including the Great and Lesser Synagogues and a site connected with Dr. Lazar Gutman are also marked now, as are two pre-Holocaust Jewish cemeteries.

2026-01-292026-01-29

Natalja Cheifec on Raising Children according to the Torah, Part 3

Natalja Cheifec continues her internet lecture and discussion on child-rearing according to the Torah this Thursday at 6:00 P.M.

To participate, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, January 29
Place: internet

2026-01-272026-01-27

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Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania

On the War in Israel and the Situation in Lithuania