The Sabbath begins at 9:55 P.M. on Friday, June 12, and concludes at 11:27 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:37 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:55 P.M. Sunday, June 14, is Flag Day in the United States and Freedom Day in Malawi.
The Kaunas Jewish Community is inviting the public to mark the 85th anniversary of the Lietūkis Garage massacre on Monday, June 29. The ceremony will take place at the commemoration to victims at Miško street no. 3 in Kaunas at 4:00 P.M., followed by a concert in the Great Hall at Vytautas Magnus University, Gimnazijos street no. 7, Kaunas, at 6:00 P.M.
by Geoff Vasil
The first task in the American and Israeli war against Iran is to open the Strait of Hormuz. This isn’t an impossible military task. It simply entails a cold, hard slog up the coast, reducing by attrition Iranian radar, speedboat, drone and missile sites.
For Donald Trump to lose the military engagement in Iran would be an American tragedy. Never mind he forgot to sell the war to the American public and Congress. Maybe he thought a 4-day war’s results would speak for themselves. I might be misremembering, but George Herbert Walker Bush spent about 6 months selling his First Gulf War and about 4 months actually fighting it, to a semblance of victory. My flawed memory doesn’t recall any war at all America engaged in which didn’t include a prequel to war, a long build-up and more importantly an argument or explanation of why it was in America’s national interest. The secret bombing of Cambodia and Laos might be an exception, but “Ho Chi Minh Road” was kind of self-explanatory in the end. Did fourth American president Madison make the case against Canadian terrorism and British imperialism in the War of 1812? I don’t know, I wasn’t born yet, but I kind of think he did make that case to the American people in that weirdest of all American wars. America’s third president Thomas Jefferson definitely did make the case in the two Barbary Pirate Wars before that..
Donald Trump as the most significant American president since George Washington can’t afford to lose. Of course he never wanted to be a “wartime president” and he probably isn’t cut by nature or nurture to be a great military leader. Maybe there was some hubris involved in the technically good military kidnapping of the Venezuelan president a month before; if we can do that, we can do anything.
Natalja Cheifec continues her lecture series and discussion club Thursday at 6:00 P.M. with a presentation on King Solomon, both on his monarchy considered a time of peace and plenty, and on his renowned wisdom. To receive zoom credentials and participate, click here.
Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas in cooperation with the US Holocaust Museum, the Sugijara House Museum in Kaunas and the Ninth Fort Museum in Kaunas is holding a conference called “Jewish Life in the Baltic Countries, 1917-1945: from June 9 to June 11. The conference marks the 85th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in the Baltic states with presentations on Jewish life including art, music, literature, education, languages, religion, government, land and nature, emigration, resistance, the rescue of Jews and commemoration. The Kapela Kotra trio will perform Litvak music and documentary films by Saulius Beržinis will be screened.
The conference will be held in the Senate Hall at Vytautas Magnus at Donelaičio street no. 28 in Kaunas. The program begins at 9:00 A.M. on Tuesday, June 9. It begins at 11:00 A.M. on June 10 and at 9:30 A.M. on June 11.
by Geoff Vasil
Last night the Israeli-American relationship was cast into doubt when Trump told the press he was about to call Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “tell” him not to respond to Iranian missile attacks on Israel.
Trump has gone back and forth for weeks now claiming he’s close to “a deal” with some group of Iranians on a peace plan. It’s fairly obvious the gangsters in the Islamic Republic have been goading and cajoling him on into some sort of idea of a peace plan, but that’s what Iran is best at, endless negotiations on a set of untenable principles.
It should be obvious to everyone watching that the best way to end the impasse with Iran is through military victory. They’re claiming some sort of sovereignty over the choke-point on world commerce, the Strait of Hormuz. They want Israel to stop bombing Hezbollah. They want war reparations from America. There are no common points for negotiation, but Trump keeps pretending there are. Even regarding nuclear enrichment.
The Sabbath begins at 9:49 P.M. on Friday, June 5, and concludes at 11:18 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:31 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:49 P.M. Saturday, June 6, is D-Day in the United States. Sunday is Father’s Day in Lithuania and Curaçao.
A delegation of three guests from Israel visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community last week. Mordechai (Moudi) Ben Shach’s father and grandparents had lived in Panevėžys and ran the former Kommerts Hotel there. His grandfather Yaacov Chachvich from the Tuch family came to Panevėžys in 1890 from the town of Gedera in what is now Israel.
The rabbi accompanying the other two visitors was looking at the Community’s photography exhibit and was surprised to see a photograph of his great-grandfather, also a rabbi. He said it was a great honor to visit Panevėžys, one of the most important Jewish religious and cultural centers in the world.
Moudi Ben Shach said the foundation for the life of the community is not just various activities and projects, and that meeting and talking to people, keeping in contact and working together for the good of the community are just as important if not more so.
Congratulations to Community member and Lithuanian Makabi athlette Rafael Gimelstein who won three medals at the 52nd Lithuanian Table Tennis Veterans Championship last week. Gimelstein took bronze in the men’s 45-49-year-old group, silver in doubles with Vidas Stašauskas and silver in mixed-doubles play with Jurgita Jucytė. Well done!
The Šiauliai District Jewish Community is pleased to present a neighborhood evening of entertainment called “The Story of One Building from Memory and Live.” The story circles around the building at the address Višinskio street no. 24, told by historian and guide Alfonsas Zaleskis. Next door over you’ll have the chance to take in a new exhibit at the From Šiauliai Studio. Šiauliai State Drama Theater actor Juozas Bindokas is to recite poetry and students from the Sondeckis Art Academy will perform music. Reporter Jūratė Sobutienė will talk about interesting books over tea and coffee.
Time: 5:30 P.M., Tuesday, June 9
Place: Jewish House, Višinskio street no. 24, Šiauliai
Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium is offering a day camp for children aged 8 to 12 starting next Monday. Activities include creative workshops, sports, educational field trips, origami lessons and jewelry-making, films and a discotheque and a challa-making workshop. The day camp will run from June 8 to 12 from 8:00 A.M. till 6:00 P.M. at the Sholem Aleichem school located at Kraševskio street no. 5 in Vilnius. For more information, contact Vilma Bieliūnienė by telephone at +370 659 41244 or write vilma.bieliuniene@ort.lt.
Educator and lecturer Natalja Cheifec will lead another guided tour of the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius Thursday. The synagogue is generally closed to tourists at this time. During the tour, Cheifec, will talk about the architecture, traditions and symbolism of Vilnius’s only working traditional synagogue. The tour starts at 6:00 P.M. on Thursday, June 4, at the Choral Synagogue located at Pylimo street no. 38 in Vilnius. Participants are asked to donate 5 euros to the synagogue during the event. To register, click here.
The Sabbath begins at 9:40 P.M. on Friday, May 29, and concludes at 11:06 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:22 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:40 P.M. Sunday is Orthodox Pentecost.
Fayerlakh is to perform at the Ninth Ethnic Communities Festival with other ethnic performers in Trakai south of Vilnius on Saturday.
Time: ~3:30 P.M.-6:30 P.M., Saturday, May 30
Place: Trakai castle, Karaimų street no. 1, Trakai, Lithuania
The town of Seredžius (Srednike back in the Russian Empire) where Al Jolson was born into a Litvak family on May 26, 1886, is celebrating the 140th anniversary of his birth on May 29, 2026, with performances by musicians from the Kaunas Jewish Community and the unveiling of a commemorative bench honoring the Hollywood star. Born Asa Yoelson, he starred in Hollywood’s first “talkie,” meaning a motion picture with synchronized soundtrack, the Jazz Singer (1927, USA). The event starts at 4:00 P.M. on Friday, May 29, outside the former synagogue in Seredžius in the Kaunas district.
Students from the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius took a field trip to the Lost Shtetl Museum in Šeduva, then visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community last week.
Chairman Gennady Kofman and other Community members received the young people and their teachers and showed them what the Community does, spoke about local history and gave them a tour of the photography exhibition there.
The Lithuanian Culture Ministry awarded its order of merit to psychologist and school principal Ruth Reches and Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas on Friday, Lithuania’s Cultural Minorities Day.
Gercas was recognized for his work in preserving Jewish identity, commemorating famous Litvaks, care for Holocaust victims and rescuers and Holocaust commemoration.
Lithuanian Ethnic Minorities Department director Dainius Babilas presented Reches the silver order of merit, third degree, for her consistent work in minority education, teaching Jewish culture and history and her work to have the Yiddish language included on Lithuania’s list of immaterial cultural treasures.
Reches is actually a Hebrew teacher as well as psychologist and principal. She earned a PhD in psychology several years ago and her publications and academic work include topics such as attachment disorders, trans-generational Holocaust trauma and developmental psychology. She has served as the principal of the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius, the capital city’s only Jewish primary and secondary school, for over a decade. She is the daughter of Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky.
The European Parliament has awarded former Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus their order of merit for his work bringing Lithuania into the European Union and fostering peace, democracy and European values.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community expresses its profound concern regarding the decision adopted by the parliament or Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania following its initial approval of draft resolution No. XVP-1423 which effectively revives plans first proposed more than a decade ago to convert the former Vilnius Sports Palace into a venue for congresses, conferences and cultural events (Government Resolution No. 597 of June 9, 2015).
These plans had previously provoked strong opposition from international Jewish organizations, including Jewish religious authorities. According to Jewish religious law, a cemetery is sacred and inviolable ground; not only are entertainment events and concerts prohibited there, but even disturbing the soil is forbidden. It was precisely for this reason that a special working group was established, bringing together representatives of state institutions, the Lithuanian Jewish Community and international organizations.
After lengthy and complex discussions, a compromise solution was reached, one that balanced respect for the dead, preservation of historical memory and the public interest. This agreement was confirmed by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania in July of 2024 (No. S-2174 of July 17, 2024).
The Sabbath begins at 9:30 P.M. on Friday, May 22, and concludes at 10:50 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:12 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:30 P.M. Shavuot begins at sundown on Thursday, May 21. Sabbath restrictions apply for the second day of Shavuot celebrated outside Israel. Sunday is Christian Pentecost. Monday is Memorial Day in the United States.
