The Sabbath begins at 8:37 P.M. on Friday, August 21, and concludes at 9:35 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 8:19 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:37 P.M.
Lithuanian Capital to Host Third International Jewish Music and Culture Festival Vilnius Shalom Festival
From September 13 to October 7 2026 the Lithuanian capital will host the third international Jewish music and culture festival, Vilnius Shalom Festival, one of the most significant events dedicated to Jewish music and culture in the Baltic region.
The festival’s nearly month-long programme will feature classical music, klezmer and jazz concerts, educational events, as well as the Shofar March – a unique symbolic procession of unity, peace and remembrance with no equivalent elsewhere in the region. Dedicated to the beginning of the Hebrew New Year, Rosh Hashanah, the Shofar March will bring together hundreds of participants from Lithuania and abroad for the third consecutive year.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 8:53 P.M. on Friday, August 14, and concludes at 9:54 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 8:35 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:53 P.M. Wednesday, August 19, is Chinese Valentine’s Day or Qixi in China and Taiwan, on the 7th night of the 7th month on the Chinese lunar calendar.
Photographer Shimon Bajer Celebrated in Kaunas
A plaque commemorating Jewish photographer Shimon Bajer (aka Bayer) will be unveiled in Kaunas at 4:00 P.M. on Thursday, August 13, at his former residence at Laisvės alley no. 97 (formerly no. 58). The Kaunas Jewish Community invites the public to come remember this important Kaunas photographer from the interwar period. Bajer and his wife Raja were murdered in the Kaunas ghetto in 1942.
Nobel Prize Winner Aaron Klug to be Remembered in Vilkomir
The Ukmergė Regional History Museum invites the public to the town of Želva in the Ukmergė (Vilkomir) region at 11:00 A.M. on August 11 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Aaron Klug, who won the Nobel prize for chemistry. Želva is the Klug family hearth. At the age of two Aaron Klug and the rest of his family immigrated to the Union of South Africa. While he later said he remembered almost nothing about Lithuania, he often expressed pride in his Litvak roots and did related family stories from Želva. His grandfather on his father’s side was a cattle merchant. In 1982 Klug was awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry for his work on biological macro-molecular structures. Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1988.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:08 P.M. on Friday, August 7, and concludes at 10:12 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 8:50 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:08 P.M.
Jewish Heritage Walking Tour in Palanga
The Palanga Jewish Community is pleased to announce a guided tour of the traces of Jewish life in Palanga. The tour starts at 4:00 P.M. on Friday, August 7, at the main entrance to Birutė Park, by the gates, Vytauto street no. 19. The walking tour will proceed from there through the city and end up at the city square and the plaque commemorating the former synagogues there. The tour is free and open to the public, but registration is necessary. Please indicate the number of people in your party while registering by sending an email to palangoszb@gmail.com or by calling+370 682 55164.
Natalja Cheifec’s Internet Discussion Club Meets Thursday
Natalja Cheiifec’s internet discussion club continues Thursday. Participants are invited to submit questions beforehand while registering. To register, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, August 6
Place: internet
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:22 P.M. on Friday, July 31, and concludes at 10:30 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:04 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:22.
Voices of the Departed
The Klaipėda Jewish Community will hold a ceremony at the old Jewish cemetery there to name the names of 1,225 people buried there and to unveil a monument to the lost Jewish community and lost Jewish graves. Ruth Leiserowitz will speak about the history of Jewish cemeteries in Klaipėda, formerly known as Memel. The Jewish actors troupe Shatil will perform as well.
Time: 4:00 P.M., July 30
Place: Old Jewish cemetery, Sinagogų street no. 13, Klaipėda
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:34 P.M. on Friday, July 24, and concludes at 10:47 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:16 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:34 P.M. Tisha b’Av ends at sundown on Thursday, July 23.
Ukmergė Jewish Community Planning Holocaust Commemoration for Early September
The Ukmergė Jewish Community is planning a series of events on Sunday, September 6, to remember the victims of the Holocaust in Pivonija Forest. A ceremony will be held in the forest at one or more the mass graves, followed by the opening of an exhibit on Righteous Gentiles and a presentation of a new web site about the Jews of Ukmergė (Vilkomir).
Tentative program:
12:00 noon Commemoration of victims in Pivonija Forest
1:00 P.M. Righteous Gentiles exhibit opening at Tolerance Center, Ukmergė
1:30 P.M. Presentation of web site on Jews of Vilkomir, Tolerance Center, Ukmergė
Natalja Cheifec on Tisha b’Av
Natalja Cheifec continues here internet lecture series and discussion club with a presentation of Tisha b’Av, which starts at sundown Wednesday. Log on and find out why this is the saddest holiday in Judaism, what this date on the Jewish calendar commemorates, why this fast day is different from others and the various stories and traditions associated with Tisha b’Av. Natalja will also discuss what fast days mean in general in Judaism., Everyone interested in Jewish culture, customs and religion is invited. To receive zoom credentials, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Wednesday, July 22
Place: internet
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:44 P.M. on Friday, July 17, and concludes at 11:02 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:26 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:44 P.M. Tisha b’Av starts at sundown Wednesday, July 22.
Israeli Team Returns to Shulhoyf Site
Jonathan Seligman and other archaeologists from the Israeli Antiquities Authority have arrived back for summer and are working the Shulhoyf or Great Synagogue site in central Vilnius.
Seligman said they have uncovered already new finds this summer and plan to work down from the bimah to the ground floor in the main hall. The bimah stood about 1 meter high according to Seligman, and the upper surface is completely exposed now.
People interested in taking a guided group tour of the site are able to book a time on July 27, 29 or 30 by calling +370 650 91521 or writing info@gvf.lt. The minimum group size is five people and the cost is 20 euros per person, with an anticipated duration of 45 minutes. The tours are being organized by the Goodwill Foundation. More information available here.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:52 P.M. on Friday, July 10, and concludes at 11:32 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:34 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:52 P.M. Tuesday, July 14, is Bastille Day. July 15 is St. Vladimir Day in the Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
Tour of Choral Synagogue in Vilnius Thursday
Jewish educator Natalja Cheifec will lead a tour of the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius this Thursday, July 9, at 6:00 P.M. She’ll tell the story of the only traditional synagogue still operating in Vilnius and explain its architectural secrets, symbolism and storied traditions. Cantor Shmuel Ya’atov will also be on hand to offer his extensive knowledge of the edifice and to talk about his work there as cantor. The tour will be followed by an informal discussion with questions and answers. Natalja asks participants to make a 5 euro donation to the synagogue. To register, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, July 9
Place: Pylimo street no. 39, Vilnius, around the corner from the Conti Hotel and the egg statue, across the street from the Leonard Cohen statue
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:57 P.M. on Friday, July 3, and concludes at 11:25 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:39 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:57 P.M. Thursday, July 2, is the fast day of Shivah Asar b’Tamuz, commemorating the breach of Jerusalem’s city walls in AD 68, AD 69 or AD 70 (3828, 3829 or 3830), according to different sources, just three weeks before the destruction of the Second Temple, and also commemorates four or five other tragedies associated with this date on the Jewish calendar. Saturday, July 4 is Independence Day in the United States, with Monday included as a day off work in many parts of the country. Monday, July 6, is Coronation of King Mindaugas Day in Lithuania, a state holiday.
Holocaust Testimonies in Palanga
The Palanga Jewish Community and the Jonas Šliūpas Museum invite you to attend Lithuanian-American historian and journalist Ina Navazelskis;s presentation “Voices from the Blood-Lands” which includes eye-witness testimonies of the Holocaust and World War II. Ina worked at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., for 25 years, soliciting oral testimonies from over three hundred witnesses and Holocaust survivors. She focused on Eastern Europe and especially the Baltic republics in her work, even writing a book about the period between 1990 when Lithuania declared independence from the Soviet Union and the attempted coup in Moscow in the fall of 1991. The presentation includes testimonies from Poles, Jews, Lithuanians, Germans and others. The presentation is free and open to the public, but the organizers ask that you register beforehand by calling +370 612 86114 or by sending an email to j.sliupo.muziejus@lnm.lt. Palanga Jewish Community chairman Vilius Gutmanas will also speak at the event. A discussion is planned after the main presentation.
Time: 5:00 P.M., Wednesday, July 15
Place: Jonas Šliūpas Museum, Vytauto street. no 23a, Palanga
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 10:00 P.M. on Friday, June 26, and concludes at 11:31 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:42 P.M. and completed before sunset at 10:00 P.M. Monday, June 29, is the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in the Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican Churches this year. July 1 is Canada Day.