The renovated synagogue in Žiežmariai will become a new cultural center. The first synagogue in appeared sometime between 1690 and 1696. In the 19th century there three synagogues. Not surprising, since the majority of the population were Jewish. This synagogue which has survived and has now been renovated stands in the southern part of town between Vilniaus and Žalgirio streets, with the Strėva river flowing from southeastward from there.
Read more
Lithuanian Jewish Community Now Member of AEJP
Lithuanian Jewish Community Now Member of AEJP

Read more
The Lithuanian Post Office has issued a stamp commemorating 300 years since the birth of the Vilna Gaon
The Lithuanian Post Office has issued a stamp commemorating 300 years since the birth of the Vilna Gaon
with a face value of 0.81 euros, enough to mail letters abroad.
Read more
Lithuania Marks 300th Anniversary of Birth of Vilna Gaon, 2020 Named Year of the Gaon and Litvak History.
Read more
Jewish Scouts Hike to Synagogue in Žiežmariai
Jewish Scouts Hike to Synagogue in Žiežmariai
The LJC invited Jewish scouts to a winter hike on February 17
Read more
Most important events at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in 2018
Most important events at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in 2018
115th Anniversary of the Vilner Choral Shul/Choral Synagogue
115th Anniversary of the Vilner Choral Shul/Choral Synagogue
The Choral Synagogue was open in Vilnius in 1903. Its architect was Dovid Rozenhaus. It is the only synagogue still in operation after World War II in Vilnius, which had over 100 synagogues before the war. The synagogue is a center for studying the Torah after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70.
Read more
Revival of Jewish Scouting in Lithuania: The first new Litvak scouting camping trip with children from Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Molėtai took place August 24 to 26.
Read more
Jewish newspapers and advertisements from Vilnius in the period between the two world wars. Jews and other minorities were given equal rights in the reconstituted Lithuanian state. Yiddish thrived with many newspapers and books published in the language.
Read more
Register for the Conference on Lithuanian Jewish Heritage at Lithuanian Parliament on September 25
Register for the Conference on Lithuanian Jewish Heritage at Lithuanian Parliament on September 25
   
Read more
Samuel Bak an honorary citizen of Vilnius
Samuel Bak an honorary citizen of Vilnius
The Vilnius City Council has named renowned Litvak artist, Holocaust survivor and original resident of Vilnius Samuel Bak an honorary citizen of the city, without any irony on their part.
Read more
Lithuanian Jewish Community Position on Reconstruction of the Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports and Its Use as a Conference Center
Lithuanian Jewish Community Position on Reconstruction of the Vilnius Palace of Concerts and Sports and Its Use as a Conference Center
Read more
Chiune Sugihara
Chiune Sugihara
Chiune Sugihara is a hero of all humanity, not just Japan and Lithuania .
Read more
Rothschild Foundation Conference
Rothschild Foundation Conference
The Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe held a conference to discuss Jewish cemetery heritage protection issues in Vilnius from October 25 to 28.
Read more
Good Will Foundation
Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 7:12 P.M. on Friday, September 17 and concludes at 8:22 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Genocide Day in Navarėnai, Lithuania

The Navarėnai Cultural Center, Navarėnai aldermanship, Navarėnai primary school and Navarėnai library located in the small town in the Telšiai district of northwest Lithuania invite the public to attend events marking the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide on September 23 this year. The commemoration begins at 1:00 P.M. at the Navarėnai Cultural Center, whence participants will travel to the Jewish mass murder site in the Šiliškė forest. The program includes the unveiling of a monument and speeches by guests with music dedicated to the memory of the dead performed by Valda Valužienė of the Viešvėnai Cultural Center.

Synagogue in Žiežmariai Opens Doors

Synagogue in Žiežmariai Opens Doors

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Kaišiadorys city municipality invite the public to visit the restored synagogue in Žiežmariai, Lithuania, September 17.

As part of the European Days of Jewish Culture, the LJC is sponsoring the event in Žiežmariai to discuss the public utilization of Litvak heritage sites and the relationship between the local community and this synagogue specifically.

The event will be moderated by Martynas Užpelkis, the LJC’s heritage specialist.

Participants will include LJC chairwoman Faina, Kukliansky, Kaišiadorys mayor Vytenis Tomkus, Lithuanian heritage expert and historian Diana Varnaitė, Kaišiadorys Museum director Olijardas Lukoševičius and others.

The event begins at the synagogue at 2:00 P.M. on September 17.

Read more
President’s Office to Hold Concert Commemorating 80th Anniversary of Holocaust in Lithuania

President’s Office to Hold Concert Commemorating 80th Anniversary of Holocaust in Lithuania

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is pleased to announce a concert by St. Christopher chamber orchestra from Vilnius and other classical, jazz and folk performers to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust in Lithuania.

Program:

Premiere of Symphony from the Jerusalem of the North by composer Jievaras Jasinskis
Special guest: Israeli multi-instrumentalist Yaron Cherniak

The concert begins at 7:00 P.M. on Thursday, September 23, in the courtyard of the President’s Office at Daukanto street no. 3 in Vilnius (gate opens at 6:00 P.M.).

Prior registration before September 20 and proof of vaccination(s) at the gate required. Register here.

Condolences

We are sad to report the death of Rabbi Krinsky’s sister. The rabbi sat shiva Tuesday evening.

Invitation to Remember and Honor the Large Jewish Community of Švenčionys Murdered in the Holocaust

Invitation to Remember and Honor the Large Jewish Community of Švenčionys Murdered in the Holocaust

It has become a tradition now to meet on the first Sunday in October at the Menorah in the park in Švenčionys to remember and honor the large Jewish community of Švenčionys who had their own culture and traditions, and to remember their tragic fate.

I am please to invite everyone to attend the Holocaust commemoration at the Menorah statue in the Švenčionys city park marking the boundary of the Švenčionys ghetto. The commemoration starts at 11:00 A.M. on October 3, 2021.

Program:

Read more
Yom Kippur at the Choral Synagogue

Yom Kippur at the Choral Synagogue

Yom Kippur is the most important holiday in Judaism, the Day of Atonement. It begins on the evening of Wednesday. The Choral Synagogue in Vilnius will provide full prayer services for the holiday. The synagogue is located at Pylimo street no. 39 in Vilnius.

Program:

September 15:

6:00 P.M. Dinner before fast
7:00 P.M. Kol nidre
7:17 P.M. Beginning of fast

September 16:

10:00 A.M. Shacharit morning prayer
12 noon Izkor
6:15 P.M. Mincha prayer
7:15 P.M. Niila prayer
8:27 P.M. End of fast/feast

Courage of Rescuers Lesson to Us All

Courage of Rescuers Lesson to Us All

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda held the annual ceremony at the President’s Office September 14 to award rescuers of Jews from the Holocaust and their descendants the Lithuanian Order of the Life-Saver’s Cross.

“Every September as we mark the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide, we pay respect to memory of Lithuania’s Jewish citizens murdered during World War II. We also honor the rescuers of Jews, those people who dared oppose the occupational regime without regard to the mortal danger this posed to them and their families,” he said at the ceremony.

The Lithuanian president recalled the historical context in which these rescuers operated, with anti-Semitism dripping from the pages of the press, the mass murder of Jews underway. Despite this, they dared hide the condemned Jews and resist the occupational regime.

Read more
Pope Francis Expresses Shame over Slovakian Holocaust Victims

Pope Francis Expresses Shame over Slovakian Holocaust Victims

Photo: The Pope’s visit to Slovakia and meeting with members of the Jewish community was called historic.

“Here, in this place, the name of God was dishonored,” Pope Francis said at a Holocaust memorial in Bratislava. During World War II Slovakia was governed by a Nazi puppet regime headed by Catholic priest Jozef Tiso.

Pope Francis paid tribute on Monday to the thousands of Slovak Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.

The comments came during the pontiff’s official visit to Slovakia against the backdrop of accusations around the Catholic Church’s role in Holocaust atrocities in Slovakia.

What did the pope say?

Speaking at a former Jewish neighborhood in the capital Bratislava, Pope Francis sharply criticized “the frenzy of hatred” in World War II and continuing anti-Semitism.

Full story here.

Lithuanian Makabi Invites Students, Parents, Friends to Fun Run

Lithuanian Makabi Invites Students, Parents, Friends to Fun Run

The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club has been holding so-called fun runs for several years now and the non-competitive jogging events have caught on around the world as well. This year Makabi is holding a charity fun run with entrance fees going to support Makabi activities. The real point, however, is to get together, play together, listen to some music and exert our bodies. This is more important than it might sound in keeping the small Lithuanian Jewish Community together.

Time and place: the run will start at 11:00 A.M. on September 19 at Vingio park in Vilnius, with the starting place next to the stage there.

Participants

All runners from the Lithuanian Jewish Community and people who support the Makabi organization are invited to participate. Each runner may choose whether to run the 1.5 or 3 km course. To participate, you only need to fill out the registration form. Every person participates of their own free will, without any compulsion, and accepts full responsibility for any risk associated with the run (including different health problems). You may register for the fun run in your name only.

Registration

Read more
Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 7:30 P.M. on Friday, September 10, and concludes at 8:41 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Concerts Celebrate Litvak and Israeli Composers

Concerts Celebrate Litvak and Israeli Composers

Vilnius’s St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra has concerts scheduled for September 16 at St. Kortyna’s Church in Vilnius, September 17 at the renovated synagogue in Žiežmariai and September 18 at the Red Synagogue in Joniškis to showcase the music of Litvak and modern Israeli composers and their ties with Lithuania.

More information in Lithuanian available here.

Šiauliai Jewish Community to Commemorate Holocaust Victims at Vilkiaušis Forest

Šiauliai Jewish Community to Commemorate Holocaust Victims at Vilkiaušis Forest

The Šiauliai Jewish Community has announced a program of Holocaust commemoration events scheduled for Sunday, September 12, beginning with a procession from the parking lot next to the Vilkiaušis Forest.

Program:

11:00 A.M. Meet at the parking lot next to Vilkiaušis Forest. Procession to the Jewish genocide site in the Vilkiaušis Forest. Ceremony to honor the victims.

12:30 P.M. Leave for Žagarė. Commemoration on market square.

2:00 P.M. Procession to Naryškinas Park.

4:00 P.M. Ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Jewish genocide in Lithuania.

4:20 P.M. Leave for Jewish cemetery in Žagarė.

5:00 P.M. Rafailas Karpis and Darius Mažintas’s artistic program “Kaddish for the Dead” at Jaunimo street no. 1 in Žagarė.

Alytus Marks 80th Anniversary of Onset of Holocaust

Alytus Marks 80th Anniversary of Onset of Holocaust

Wednesday the city of Alytus south of Vilnius marked the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust with a procession before noon from the Old Town to a mass murder site in the Vidzgirdas Forest.

A commemoration ceremony was held at the memorial at the Holocaust site.

Jewish community members from Kaunas and Vilnius, Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, MPs, local government officials, foreign ambassadors, students from schools in the area and local residents participated.

Following the ceremony the renovated synagogue building on Kauno street was opened as the new home of the Alytus Audio-Visual Arts Center with a concert by Rakija Klezmer Orkestar.

Read more
Concert to Commemorate Holocaust Victims and Vilnius Ghetto Liquidation

Concert to Commemorate Holocaust Victims and Vilnius Ghetto Liquidation

I am very glad that Litvak Leopold Godowsky’s sonnets 1 and 2 will reach the wider world. I would like to inform you my concert on September 23 at the Gaveau in Paris will be dedicated to Holocaust victims and to the date September 23, 1943, the date of the liquidation of the Vilnius ghetto. Please find the program attached.

Sincerely yours,
Mūza Rubackytė

Read more
Happy Birthday to Anita Fridberg

Happy Birthday to Anita Fridberg

Long-time Community volunteer and former Kaunas ghetto inmate Anita Fridberg celebrated a milestone birthday September 10. We wish her a very happy birthday, health, success and endless happiness. Mazl tov. Bis 120!