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.
Yom Kippur starts Sunday evening. It is considered the most important holiday on the Jewish calendar. The Choral Synagogue at Pylimo street no. 39 in Vilnius will host Yom Kippur services. G’mar khatima tova, May your name be inscribed in the Book of Life.
Schedule:
September 20
5:45 P.M. Mincha
6:00-6:45 P.M. Feast before fast
6:45-7:05 P.M. Candle lighting and beginning of fast
7:00 P.M. Kol nidre
September 21
10:00 A.M. Shacharit
12:15 P.M. Yizkor
6:00 P.M. Mincha
7:00 P.M. Ne’ila prayers, shofar and closing prayers
8:14 P.M. End of fast, break-fast meal
The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to mark the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide with us, remembering the more than 200,000 victims of the Holocaust in Lithuania, at the mass murder site in Ponar just outside Vilnius.
The LJC is providing transportation for those wishing to make the short trip. Please register by 12 noon on September 22 by sending an email to info@lzb.lt containing your full name and the purpose of the email. The bus will leave from the LJC at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius at 11:45 A.M. sharp on September 23. If you arrive late you’ll miss the bus.
Time: 12:30 P.M., Wednesday, September 23
Place: Ponar Memorial Complex, Memorialo street no. 15 aka Agrastų street no. 15, Vilnius
The Šiauliai District Jewish Community invites you to a ceremony to mark the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide at the site of the former first ghetto gates at 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, September 23. There will then be a procession to the second ghetto gates.
Time: 11:00 A.M., Wednesday, September 23
Place: Memorial marking gates of first ghetto at the intersection of Traku and Ezero streets, Righteous Gentile Square, Šiauliai
The Droga Dō chamber concert series is dedicated to the memory of the escape route Polish and Lithuanian Jews took to Japan during the Holocaust, and to Japanese ambassador and Righteous Gentile Chiune Sugihara who made it possible, saving thousands of Jews. Dō (Dou, Doo) means “way” in Japanese, as does droga in Polish.
Droga Dō will be performed at the Kaunas State Philharmonic on September 19 with works by Toru Takemitsu, Dai Fujikura, Kishio Kirao, Mieczysław Weinberg, Władysław Szpilman, Aleksander Tansman, Aleksandr Veprik, Joseph Achron and others. For more information, click here. For information in Lithuanian and to purchase tickets, click here.
Time: 5:00 P.M., Saturday, September 19
Place: Kaunas State Philharmonic, E. Ožeškienės no. 12, Kaunas
Last weekend the Jewish song and dance ensemble Fayerlakh delighted the audience at the Kaunas Gardens 2026 festival in Kaunas with the collective’s unique program of Jewish music and movement. They’re scheduled to perform again next Sunday, September 20, in Vilnius at Kudirka Square outside Government House in central Vilnius as part of the Ethnic Fair held annually along Gediminas prospect. The concert starts at 2:00 P.M. Sunday and is free and open to the public.
Natalja Cheifec continues her internet lecture series and discussion club with a lecture on Yom Kippur this Thursday evening.
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement, one of the most important Jewish holidays, celebrated on the tenth day of Tishrei following ten days of repentance after Rosh Hashanah. It is a day of fasting, prayer and reflection on the year past and the year to come, seeking forgiveness for oneself and others. On this day the Book of Life is opened where entries began on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, on our fates for the next year.
To receive zoom credentials and participate, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, September 17
Place: internet
A serious incident has occurred at the Vilnius Choral Synagogue involving Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky and a synagogue security guard on the morning of September 14.
During the Jewish High Holy Days the synagogue is open for prayer and religious services only and does not receive tourists. A notice to this effect is posted at the synagogue entrance, and clear instructions have been given to security personnel on duty there.
The difficult decision to restrict access to the synagogue during the Jewish High Holy Days was made because of serious security concerns. The Community received a security alert from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) concerning a person active in online neo-Nazi groups who made explicit threats to burn down a synagogue and kill Jews and indicated he had access to a firearm. The alert dated August 28, 2026 also noted references to Lithuania, including references to Vilnius. The information was provided to the Community as a potential threat.
We understand Rabbi Krinsky attempted to bring a group of visitors onto synagogue premises despite clearly stated and clearly posted security restrictions. Chabad Lubavitch is an independent organization operating in Lithuania. It is separate from the Lithuanian Jewish Community (LJC) and is not a member organization of the LJC. Rabbi Krinsky is the director of Chabad Lubavitch in Lithuania while also conducting services at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius.
When Rabbi Krinsky attempted to bring a group of visitors through the outer security gate, a confrontation ensued, which became physical. Rabbi Krinsky, one of the visitors and a security guard all reported being physically assaulted.
The LJC deeply regrets this incident. Access restrictions must be enforced appropriately and professionally to ensure the safety of the synagogue and worshipers.
The LJC is cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities and we will undertake our own review of the incident, including a full review of CCTV footage, statements from those involved or just present and other evidence, to understand what happened and to prevent such things from happening in the future. We will review our security protocols as well in consultation with the European Jewish Congress.
The LJC is committed to the safety and security of the Jewish community for allowing Jews in Lithuania to express and practice their Judaism as they desire and see fit.
The Sabbath begins at 7:46 P.M. on Friday, September 11, and concludes at 8:38 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath and Rosh Hashanah candles should be lit and prayers recited by or before 7:28 P.M. and completed before sunset at 7:46 P.M. Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Friday; Sabbath rules apply.
September 11
7:00 P.M. Minchah and Maariv
September 12
10:00 A.M. Shacharit
12:00 noon Musaf
6:45 P.M. Mincha
September 13
10:00 A.M. Shacharit
12:00 noon Shofar horn
12:30 P.M. Musaf
6:45 P.M. Mincha and Maariv
Shana tova u’metuku!
The Kaunas Jewish Community is celebrating this year’s theme for the European Day of Jewish Culture, love, with a free concert. A new installment in the Dance Me Back to the Future called Erev Shel Shoshanim, Evening of Roses, is a two-voice musical dialogue featuring Hebrew love songs and operatic arias.
Katya Kov is the organizer with support from Pasaka and the Create Culture Group in cooperation with Cvi Parkas. Supporters include the Goodwill Foundation and the city of Vilnius.
“The title Dance Me Back to the Future combines Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me to the End of Time and Robert Zemeckis’s film Back to the Future,” she explained. “Together, they open a path between the past and the present, following Lithuanian and Litvak history and stories, recollections and cultural ties which travel from generation to generation and find new voices today,” she said.
The concert is free and open to the public.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Tuesday, September 8
Place: Mikas and Kira Petrauskas House, K. Petrausko street no. 31, Kaunas
The Sabbath begins at 8:03 P.M. on Friday, September 4, and concludes at 8:57 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 7:45 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:03 P.M. This Friday, September 4, is Labor Day in the United States. Wednesday, September 9, is Day of the Victims of the Holocaust and of Racial Violence in Slovakia. This holiday first established by the Slovak Parliament in 2000 commemorates the day in 1941 when the Slovak government issued a decree on the legal status of Jews in the country, known as the Jewish Codex, which led to the deportation of Jews from the country, resulting in the murder of approximately 70,000 Slovak Jews. The commemorative day was created to ensure this event remains fresh in the minds of all Slovaks so that this tragedy is never repeated.
The European Day of Jewish Culture enters its 22nd year this Sunday, September 6, with this year’s theme love. In Judaism love is more than romantic emotions, it’s the connection between cultures and communities, linking the past with the present and people with generations.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to celebrate the European Day of Culture with us with a special program of events.
Program:
11:00 A.M. Ruth Reches will deliver an introductory Hebrew lesson at the LJC. Registration required before 5:00 P.M. Friday by clicking here.
The Sabbath begins at 8:21 P.M. on Friday, August 28, and concludes at 9:16 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 8:03 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:21 P.M. Tuesday, September 1, is the first day of school and a national holiday in Lithuania.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.