The Sabbath begins at 8:26 P.M. on Friday, April 26, and concludes at 9:49 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Friday also marks the anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station accident in 1986 and is observed in many of the affected countries. On December 8, 2016, the United Nations General Assembly also proclaimed April 26 International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day.
by Efraim Zuroff
In recent years, we often encounter various attempts by people adversely affected by historical tragedies, or intent on campaigning for ostensibly “humanitarian” causes, to claim that their issue is equivalent to the Holocaust, or is in fact a case of genocide.
Whether it is those like PETA, who are campaigning for animal rights, who invoke Treblinka, one of the worst Nazi death camps, to pursue their goals, or those campaigning against abortions, who compare the plight of the aborted unborn children to that of the victims of the Shoa.
The same is true regarding the use of the term genocide, which in recent years has been applied in cases which do not fulfill the criteria of the original definition of that crime. What has happened in the past few decades, is that accusations of genocide have emerged as a political tool to be used against enemies to attain geographic and/or financial gains by claiming lost territory and/or reparations for damages incurred.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and Bnei Maskilim invite you to come and usher out Passover week together with a Mimouna celebration, led by Rabbi Nathan Alfred. Besides leading the ceremonies, Rabbi Alfred will also deliver a lecture on Jewish love in English.
The cost is 10 euros per person, children ten and under are free. For more information and to register, send an email to viljamas@lzb.lt or call (+370) 672 50699.
Time: 7:00 P.M., Tuesday, April 30.
Place: Nykštukas Restaurant, Verkių street no. 27, Vilnius
The Ilan Club for children ages 7 to 12 is open again every Saturday, passing on Litvak traditions, offering a place for meeting like-minded friends and loads of fun activities. The club will now be open starting at 12:00 noon on Saturdays at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. Contact Žana Skudovičienė for more information at zanas@sc.lzb.lt.
The Knafaim Club is open again for young people aged 13 to 17. Games and learning about Judaism and the world is part of the program, followed by a Sabbath celebration, and it happens every Friday at 6:00 P.M. at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. Žana Skudovičienė is happy to answer any questions, write her at zanas@sc.lzb.lt.
A plaque commemorating Herman Perelstein was unveiled in Kaunas Wednesday. He was the celebrated founder of the Ąžuoliukas boys’ choir and would’ve celebrated his 100th birthday last year. Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas, the makers of the plaque and a representative from the city of Kaunas spoke at the unveiling ceremony.
The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club reports on recent changes to its executive board. We welcome Olga Bliumenzion as the new president of Lithuanian Makabi. A long-time member of the club, she took over the post at the last general meeting at the end of February, when founder and long-time president Semionas Finkelsteinas announced his intention to vacate. The club’s executive board unanimously voted in favor of Bliumenzion’s presidency.
Outspoken Jewish professor barred from Columbia campus while administration turns blind eye to even bigger tent city springing up
New York, New York–A Columbia University professor who has been a vocal critic of the administration’s response to the ongoing anti-Israel student protests was barred from campus Monday after he tried to lead a pro-Jewish rally at the Ivy League college.
Israel-born Shai Davidai, an assistant professor at Columbia Business School and an outspoken supporter of the Jewish state, was told that his ID had been “deactivated,” even as a massive new tent city sprang up on the Morningside Heights campus with some 200 protesters–all of whom would have had to use their Columbia IDs to get in.
Davidai said he was locked out because he asked university staff at a meeting whether Hamas was a terrorist group or not. After deactivating his entrance card, security offered to escort the Jewish man to Columbia’s mathematics department, claiming they couldn’t insure his safety anywhere else on campus.
Story and pictures here.
Leader of the Liberal Party Peter Dutton sends Passover greetings to the Jewish community:
On behalf of the Coalition, my warmest wishes to Australia’s resilient Jewish community as you celebrate Passover.
A festival that acknowledges the importance of faith, fortitude and freedom, Passover is of profound significance for Jewish people around the world.
This year, the events of October 7–and the unprecedented level of anti-Semitism that has ensued–have cast a shadow over Passover celebrations.
The world must never forget what happened last year on that day of depravity. The monsters of Hamas acted with glee as they tormented their victims. They brutally murdered 1,200 people in what was the greatest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Holocaust. And they vowed to repeat their savagery many times over until Israel is annihilated.
Dear reader,
Passover is one of the most important and most beautiful weeks on the Jewish calendar when we celebrate liberation from slavery and our becoming a free and proud people.
Every year we sit at the Passover table, eat the traditional foods, drink sweet wine, take joy in life and read the Haggadah and passages from the Song of Songs. The main thing is being together with family and that no one, whether rich or poor, be left unfed, if there is a way to invite him to our table. This is how it always has been, year after year and century after century.
Over the eight days of the holiday, we symbolically refrain from eating leavened food and we take joy in our freedom and in our historical homeland, Israel, which no one will ever be able to take away from us, not with rockets nor with drones.
We wish everyone freedom and dignity just as we wish these for the Jewish state, and we pray for the hostages still held in captivity.
Hag sameakh. Am Yisrael khai!
Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, was wearing a kippah skull cap when he was stopped from crossing the road.
The head of a charity combating anti-Semitism said the Metropolitan Police are enforcing “no-go zones for Jews” after footage showed him being threatened with arrest close to a pro-Palestine march.
Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, was wearing a kippah skull cap when he was stopped from crossing the road near the demonstration in the Aldwych area of London on Saturday afternoon.
The video clip which was posted on social media showed Falter being told by police that he was “quite openly Jewish” and causing a “breach of peace.”
Falter said he had been walking in the capital after attending synagogue and was not there to counter-protest.
The footage showed one police officer saying: “You are quite openly Jewish, this is a pro-Palestinian march, I’m not accusing you of anything but I’m worried about the reaction to your presence.”
The entire embassy of Lithuania in Israel sends greetings to Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and the entire Community on the occasion of Passover.
Audrius Brūzga, ambassador
The Kaunas Jewish Community invites you to a ceremony to unveil a plaque commemorating Herman Perelstein this Wednesday.
Last year we celebrated the 100th birthday of the amazingly talented teacher and professor Herman Perelstein. His Ąžuoliukas boys and young men’s choir became and is a Lithuanian cultural phenomenon.
The plaque commemorating this Lithuanian musical legend was made by Gediminas Pašvenskas and will be located on the building where Perelstein lived, which now houses the Museum of the Amsterdam School, at Vytauto prospect no. 58 in Kaunas. The unveiling ceremony will include a performance by the Varpelis boys’ choir. Everyone is welcome.
Time: 12:00 noon, Wednesday, April 24
Place: Vytauto prospect no. 58, Kaunas
We are sad to report the untimely death of Gediminas Kirkilas. Born in 1952, he was a politician, a social democrat, served as prime minister and was a true friend of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. At the heart of the government and in opposition he was instrumental in Lithuania’s efforts to address the enduring injustice of the Holocaust and in compensation payments for lost, destroyed and nationalized Jewish communal and religious property. Our deepest condolences to his many friends and family members.
The Sabbath begins at 8:13 P.M. on Friday, April 19, and concludes at 9:33 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Passover begins at sundown at 8:18 P.M. on Monday, April 22.
