The Sabbath begins at 6:18 P.M. on Friday, October 16, and concludes at 7:10 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit and prayers recited at 6:00 P.M. and completed before sunset at 6:18 P.M.
Natalja Cheifec on the Power of Speech and Silence
Natalja Cheifec continues her internet lecture and discussion series with a presentation of Jewish views on gossip and cursing, based on Chafetz Chaim’s book The Will to Live. What are the consequences of foul language? What is slander and gossip? How can staying silent lead to a longer life, and when is it absolutely forbidden to keep silent? Tune in and find out. To receive zoom credentials, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, October 15
Place: internet
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 6:35 P.M. on Friday, October 9, and concludes at 7:26 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit and prayers recited at 6:17 P.M. and completed before sunset at 6:35 P.M. Monday, October 12, is Columbus Day.
Apology
The Lithuanian Jewish Community inadvertently named a suspect erroneously in a report several weeks ago about vandalism against a Jewish partisan memorial in Kaunas. The information was not properly verified. Our deepest and sincerest apologies to the person named in this report, which has since been removed.
The Dog Keeper
The Lithuanian Jewish Community is pleased to invite members to a musical play called The Dog Keeper performed by its Israeli authors.
A musical performance based on Stefan Zweig’s novella The Eyes of the Eternal Brother performed on 29 acoustic ethnic and electronic instruments, in Russian.
The performance is based on a philosophical and dramatic story about a man searching for truth, redemption and his own path. Zweig’s novella is famous for its depth and intense internal dramaturgy, but the stage version goes further: new plot twists are added, expanding the meaning of the story, where words and music act as equals.
The form of the performance is unique. One performer plays several characters at the same time, while simultaneously creating the musical space of the action. The performance features 29 instruments, from the ancient and exotic to the modern. Mongolian morin khuur, African kalimba, Tibetan singing bowls, khang and rav, large tambourine, ethnic flutes and metallophones, each instrument becomes the voice of a separate state, character and destiny.
Dubi and Ilan Clubs Kick Off Season with Play
The Dubi and Ilan Clubs for children at the Lithuanian Jewish Community are kicking off their re-opening this season with a special interactive play called The Fairy and the Clown. Blim the fairy is the saddest fairy in the world, she can’t seem to make her magic tricks work. Then a real magician appears.
Registration required by writing zanas@sc.lzb.lt.
Time: 2:00 P.M., Saturday, October 10
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
October 7 Commemoration
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and writer Arkadijus Vinokuras invite you to a commemoration of the third anniversary of October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killed over 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.
Time: 12:00 noon, October 7
Place: Arch-Cathedral Square, Vilnius
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 6:53 P.M. on Friday, October 2, and concludes at 7:43 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit and prayers recited at 6:35 P.M. and completed before sunset at 6:53 P.M. Sukkot also begins at sunset on Friday. Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah begins Friday, October 2, at sunset and concludes at sundown on Sunday, October 4. October is World Menopause Month, created by the International Menopause Society in 2014 to raise awareness and publicize resources available. October 1 is also World Sake Day.
Sukkot Celebration at the LJC
There will be a joyful gathering for Sukkot in the courtyard of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Litvak Identity Museum of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum on Thursday at 5:00 P.M. Cantor Shmuel Yaatom is master of ceremonies. Registration is required by clicking here.
Come enjoy, sing and sample the hot food and drink in the sukka. All are invited. Entrance is free. Organized by the Art of Shabbat, Moishe House Vilnius, Cvi Parku“and the Pylimo 4 Café.
Time: 5:00 P.M., Thursday, October 1
Place: Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius
Chronicler of Fire: An Evening with Sergey Grankin
Sergey Grankin is the well-known war correspondent for Israel’s Channel 9. He’s spent decades at the center of Israel’s most important military conflicts. His reporting from the front is more than just a news chronicle, it’s a living and moving document of the times. He talks about war and peace in a simple manner, openly and without the filter of television, in line with his main mission: to be there, in the midst of pain and horror, to see everything with his own eyes and to tell the truth, never losing faith in humanity.
Now he’s coming to speak at the LJC, to speak to a small audience in a cozy and intimate atmosphere. Places are limited and tickets start from €35. The VIP ticket option is more expensive and entitles holders to a personal meeting and conversation with Grankin after the public event ends. To purchase tickets, click here. Grankin’s main presentation will be in Russian.
Time: 7:00 P.M., Friday, October 9
Place: LJC, Vilnius
Celebration for Community Members
Dear members,
During our on-going celebration of the High Holy Days, we invite you to come celebrate with us. The Lithuanian Jewish Community has planned a fun evening called From Rosh Hashanah to Simchat Torah in order to spend time with you. The Jewish song and dance ensemble Fayerlakh will provide song and dance and the audience is invited to join in.
Places are limited and registration is required by 12 noon on October 2 by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt.
Time: 5:00 P.M., Sunday, October 4
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
Natalja Cheifec on Sukkot
Natalja Cheifec continues her internet discussion club and lecture series with a presentation about Sukkot, one of the most important Jewish holidays.
Sukkot, aka the Feast of Tabernacles, is one of the happiest and best holidays for family meals, visiting friends, talking, sharing things from your life and taking joy in life. Learn about the origins and traditions of this holiday. Learn why Jews dwell in the sukka booth for a week and what it signifies, and what the four species mean.
To register and participate, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, October 1
Place: internet
Holocaust Commemoration in Švenčionys
The Švenčionys Jewish Community invites the public to remember the victims of the Holocaust and to mark the anniversary of the liquidation of the Švenčionys ghetto on October 4. Community and friends will gather at 11:00 A.M. on Sunday, October 4 at the Menorah statue in the Švenčionys city park. At noon there will be a commemoration at the mass grave in Platumai village in the Švenčionėliai aldermanship.
Voice of Departed Exhibit Closes November 30 in Klaipėda
The Klaipėda Jewish Community invites the general public to tour the exhibit Voices of the Departed before the exhibit ends November 30. The exhibit highlights the old Jewish cemetery in the Lithuanian port city, and the cemetery hosts the exhibit. It’s located at Žiedų alley no. 3, Klaipėda. Tours are available in Lithuanian, German and English. For more information, call 0 650 21335.
New Yiddish Language Classes Offered
Historian and translator Saulė Valiūnaitė is offering a Yiddish language course for adult beginners. The language of instruction is Lithuanian. The course consists of 15 classes and costs €150 per person. The class begins at 6:00 P.M. Thursday, October 1, and will run weekly on Thursdays. They’ll be held at the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium, Kraševskio street no. 5, Vilnius. For more information or to register, write saule.valiunaite@gmail.com.
According to the Lithuanian History Institute, Valiūnaitė defended her dissertation called “Yiddishist Women and Their Contribution to the Formation and Preservation of Secular Jewishness in Interwar Vilnius” at Vilnius University in 2025. Since 2025 she is a researcher at the Department of 19th Century History of the Lithuanian History Institute. Her main areas of research interests are history of Vilner Jews in the 19th and 20th centuries, Jewish gender studies and the political and cultural history of Yiddishism, according to the Lithuanian History Institute.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 7:20 P.M. on Friday, September 25, and concludes at 8:01 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit and prayers recited by or before 6:52 P.M. and completed before sunset at 7:20 P.M. Sukkot also begins at sunset on Friday. Simchat Torah begins Friday, October 2, at sunset and concludes at sundown on Sunday, October 4.
Sukkot on Friday
Sukkot begins Friday, September 25 at 6:52 P.M. The festival of Sukkot–literally meaning booths, tents, tabernacles–is celebrated for seven days in Israel and eight days in the Diaspora, starting on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. It leads on to Simchat Torah celebrated for two days outside Israel, this year starting at sundown on October 2. Sukkot is one of the three festivals during which Jewish men were required to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the times of the Holy Temple. The Choral Synagogue in Vilnius has set up a sukka for members of the Community.
Floor of Great Synagogue Inspires Art Exhibition
We know the Great Synagogue in Vilnius was mainly subterranean, because of Christian restrictions limiting the height of houses of prayer of other confessions. Until now, we only had period illustrations of the interior, lost when the shul damaged by Nazi bombardment was demolished by the Soviets in the 1950s. For about a decade now archaeologists from the Israeli Antiquities Authority in cooperation with Lithuanian archaeologists from the Department of Cultural Heritage have been excavating the Shulhoyf, and last year, directed by Jon Seligman of the Israel Antiquities Authority (there from 205) and Justinas Račas and Zenonas Baubonis of the Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Salvage Group (at the dig since 2018), they reached the floor of the main hall and uncovered most of the meter-high bimah, the central point in the main hall.
Their discoveries have inspired an exhibit of artworks by Lithuanian Eglė Ridikaitė called Depositions at the St. George the Martyr Church, K. Sirvydo street no. 4, in Vilnius, which opened May 14 and runs till October 3. Admission is from 5 to 10 euros and is payable by card only.
“Eglė Ridikaitė’s exhibition, through an unexpected artistic gesture, weaves together sites of faith, painful historical experiences, and a sense of present vulnerability. With striking clarity, serenity, and simplicity, Depositions unfolds as a silent yet conceptually dense narrative about the city. It invites us to experience, simultaneously, the layered histories of prewar Jewish and Christian Vilnius, while tracing processes of survival and extinction, life and its erasure in memory.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 7:28 P.M. on Friday, September 18, and concludes at 8:19 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit and prayers recited by or before 7:10 P.M. and completed before sunset at 7:28 P.M. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sundown on Sunday. This Wednesday, September 23, is the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide, a commemorative day on the Lithuanian calendar.