Bagel shop

Interview with LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky

Interview with LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky

“As the chairwoman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, I see my greatest assignment as not letting others forget we are Jews, and not letting Jews forget they are Jews,” LJC chairwoman and attorney Faina Kukliansky said in an interview Arkadijus Vinokuras conducted in Lithuanian for the Jewish discussion club #ŽydiškiPašnekesiai he founded and leads.

In the interview they discussed Community activities, money, protection of wooden and other synagogues, relations with ethnic Lithuanians, Holocaust and Righteous Gentile commemoration policies and the lack thereof, care for senior citizens including Holocaust survivors, cemetery maintenance, relations between the regional Jewish communities in Lithuania, a new kosher food outlet in Vilnius, anti-Semitism in the EU and Lithuania as well as the Lithuanian bureaucracy, the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum’s new Litvak identity museum and the future. The full interview in Lithuanian can be found below. Duration: 54:20.

Challa Workshop

Challa Workshop

You’re invited to come to another challa-making workshop. This time we’ll make buns in the form of the star of David, and the workshop is dedicated to paying honor to the courageous soldiers defending our historical homeland, Israel, and to all the people of Israel caught up in the storm of war.

Time: 6:30 P.M., Friday, November 17
Place: Bagel Shop Café, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

Registration is required by writing zanas@sc.lzb.lt or calling +370 678 81514.

Am Yisrael khai.

Quiz Series: Israeli Victories

Quiz Series: Israeli Victories

This Sunday’s semi-regular quiz will be dedicated to hope. For the second week Israel is at war with the Hamas terrorist organization. Although many expect victory for Israel, many also expect it to be long in coming. This illustrates well the millennia-long history of the Jews which has been victorious but also very painful.

We invite everyone to come take part in the quiz, but also to spend some time together and talk. As usual, actor, writer and journalist Arkadijus Vinokuras will be master of ceremonies. The event will be streamed on facebook.

Time: 2:00 P.M., Sunday, October 22
Location: Bagel Shop Café

Schedule of Commemorative Events for the 80th Anniversary of the Anti-Nazi Resistance and Liquidation of the Vilnius Ghetto

Schedule of Commemorative Events for the 80th Anniversary of the Anti-Nazi Resistance and Liquidation of the Vilnius Ghetto

European Days of Jewish Culture

Time: Starts at 10:00 A.M. on September 3, 2023
Location: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius; Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street no. 39, Cvi Park (Petras Cvirka Square across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community).

Exhibit “Ghetto Children Tell Their Story to Contemporary Children”
Time: September 4 to September 30, 2023
Location: Adomas Mickevičius Public Library, Trakų street no. 10, Vilnius.

Special Concert to Remember Victims of the Holocaust
Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė, patroness
Time: September 6, 2023
Location: Lėlė Theater, Arklių street no. 5, Vilnius.
by invitation only

European Days of Jewish Culture in Prienai

European Days of Jewish Culture in Prienai

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and Bagel Shop Café were invited to participate at the European Days of Jewish Culture in Prienai, Lithuania, on the eve of Rosh Hashana, where around 40% of the population was Jewish before the Holocaust. The local organizers of the event there demonstrated a keen interest in the Jewish past of their town and in what was until now exotic Jewish cuisine.

The event kicked off at the synagogue, one of two and the only one left standing, in the early afternoon with a planting of crocus bulbs outside the synagogue. Participants walked from there to the Vėlyvė café which used to house a famous restaurant belonging to the Milstein family. Litvak snacks, challa bread and humous were served with fresh bagels. Local genealogist Janina Paplauskaitė-Leonavičienė then told the story of the synagogue and the restaurant which belonged to the Milstein family.

European Day of Jewish Culture Events in Vilnius

European Day of Jewish Culture Events in Vilnius

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

Rugelakh Now Available at Bagel Shop Café

Rugelakh Now Available at Bagel Shop Café

As the Lithuanian Jewish Community counts down the days to the New Year 5784, the Bagel Shop Café has come up with some new menu items. One of them is rugelakh, the amazing pastry traditionally served during Shavuot and Rosh Hashanah. The name comes from the Yiddish root “rugel” meaning little twist or tie.

Shalom, Akmenė Event Returns

Shalom, Akmenė Event Returns

The third annual iteration of the Shalom, Akmenė event in the European Days of Jewish Culture series was held at the Akmenė Palace of Culture over the weekend, educating locals on Jewish culture, life and heritage.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Bagel Shop Café brought baskets of fresh bagels and Litvak snacks to the event. The Jewish market as well. Participants talked about Jewish cuisine and especially bagels, and shared the history and best recipes for this world-renowned food item.

The theme for the upcoming 2023 European Days of Jewish Culture is memory. The European Days of Jewish Culture will conclude this year on September 3 with an event in Vilnius.

Some snapshots from the most recent Shalom, Akmenė event can be found here.

Sabbath for the Whole Family with Rabbi Nathan Alfred

Sabbath for the Whole Family with Rabbi Nathan Alfred

The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to a Sabbath conducted by Rabbi Nathan Alfred and cantor Alan Brava at 7:00 P.M. this Friday, June 2, with kiddush at the Bagel Shop Café and prayer service at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. People 16 and under get in for free. To register, send an email to viljamas@lzb.lt or call +37067250699.

Lithuanian Jewish TV Program Features Faina Kukliansky’s Herring Appetizer Recipe

Lithuanian Jewish TV Program Features Faina Kukliansky’s Herring Appetizer Recipe

The Jewish program Menora on Lithuanian state television has included a segment on the popular Jewish appetizer made with minced herring. This particular herring appetizer is truly Litvak in nature. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman put on a kitchen apron and shared her family recipe for making the snack with the Lithuanian television audience. The segment is included in the April 30 broadcast available in Lithuanian here.

Mimouna Shabbat

Mimouna Shabbat

You’re invited to the first Sabbath celebration following Passover at 6:30 P.M. on Friday, April 14, with the ceremony upstairs at the Lithuanian Jewish Community and kiddush at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The cost is 12 euros per adult and free to those aged 16 and under. Register with Viljamas by sending a message to viljamas@lzb.lt.

Sunday Quiz: Why Is This Night Like No Other?

Sunday Quiz: Why Is This Night Like No Other?

Next Sunday’s quiz at the Bagel Shop Café is called “What Is Passover?” As usual, accomplished circus clown and investigative journalist Arkadijus Vinokuras will lead the fun, and shut-ins will be able to at least watch on the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s facebook page. It all happens at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, April 2. Be there or be late to the table.

Sunday Quiz on Jewish Theater

Sunday Quiz on Jewish Theater

The quizzes go on, this coming Sunday around the topic of Jewish theater. Come and show off your knowledge, or learn something new. Presented by writer, philosopher, mime and circus performer Arkadijus Vinokuras, the quiz will take place at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 at 2:00 P.M. on Sunday, March 19. Register by sending an e-mail to Katrina at katrina@lzb.lt.

LJC Chairwoman Delivers Purim Treats to Ukrainian Child Refugees

LJC Chairwoman Delivers Purim Treats to Ukrainian Child Refugees

For the second year now the Lithuanian Jewish Community has reached out to child war refugees from the Ukraine on Purim, in additional to aiding Jewish families who have fled the war zone there. This year LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky visited a Ukrainian school in Vilnius with several trays of hamentashen pastry. The school has about 800 students currently. Kukliansky shared the story of Purim with children and young people there, spoke about the traditions associated with Purim and spent time with the unusually welcoming staff who transformed a ruined building into an educational institution by hand over the course of a few months.

“We understand well that material aid is needed during time of war… Even so, we can’t just cry about everything, so we are trying to spread some joy as well. Purim is, after all, the happiest Jewish holiday of the year. I am glad we have shared at least a little bit of that with the children from the Ukraine,” Kukliansky said.

Purim Wouldn’t Be the Same without Hamentashen

Purim Wouldn’t Be the Same without Hamentashen

Purim starts tonight at sundown when the 14th day of the month of Adar begins on the Jewish calendar. One of the constituent features of Purim is the traditional pastry known as hamentashen. Although everyone has their own special recipe, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky makes her family’s version with poppy-seed filling, the traditional Litvak treat. The recipe dates beck to the period between the two world wars.

“This recipe was probably used earlier and recalls the time when the aroma of the pastry filled the Vilnius Old Town and many other cities and towns where Jews lived in Lithuania. Although you can purchase this version now, it’s always more fun to make it yourself,” she commented.

Happy Purim! Hag Purim sameakh!

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Faina Kukliansky’s hamantashen recipe:

Discussion Club Topic: The Three Abrahamic Religions

Discussion Club Topic: The Three Abrahamic Religions

The next meeting of the discussion club #ŽydiškiPašnekesiai will be held at 5:00 P.M. on March 8 at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The topic will be “The Three Major Religions’ Attitude towards One Another, towards Responsibility, Love, Morality, Punishment and Politics.”

Moderator Arkadijus Vinokuras says there is a lack of interfaith dialogue in Lithuania. The benefits of interfaith discussion on society is obvious because of existing superstitions people hold regarding other religions and a general lack of knowledge.

Discussion panel participants are to include Simas Levinas, Lithuanian Mufti Aleksandras Beganskas, author and Catholic priest Mozė Mitkevičius and Arkadijus Vinokuras.

Purim Celebration with the Fayerlakh Ensemble at the Bagel Shop

Purim Celebration with the Fayerlakh Ensemble at the Bagel Shop

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Fayerlakh ensemble invite you to a Purim celebration.

The celebration will include the traditional Purimshpil carnaval, costume contest, live music and other diversions.

Attendees are expected to dress up for the occasion. Tickets are €30 for adults and €20 for children 13 and under.

Tickets and more information available by calling +370 687 79309.

When: 4:00 P.M., Sunday, March 5
Where: Bagel Shop Café, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

First Quiz Held

First Quiz Held

The Bagel Shop Café hosted the first quiz in what is to become a regular event. Last Sunday’s topic was Jewish Music. Participants didn’t just squeeze their brains, they also sang, trying to recall the tops songs from various historical eras. It’s safe to say most of the participants learned some new facts along the way. The moderator, writer Arkadijus Vinokuras, was accompanied by son Saulius, with help formulating questions from Sholem Aleichem music teacher Ūla Marija Barbora Zemeckytė. While the initial plan was to hold the quizzes every Sunday, the plan now is hold one per month on a Sunday, so stay tuned for the next round. You can check here or consult the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s facebook page.