Announcements – Lithuanian Jewish Community

#MesPrisimename Campaign to Mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day

The annual commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day takes place on January 27, the day Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated, and this year will mark the 76th time the United Nations’ commemorative day has been marked.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community wants to use this day to teach young people about the Holocaust and to hold virtual meetings between young people and survivors.

The LJC invites you to join the #WeRemember campaign on social media, which is called #MesPrisimename in Lithuanian. You can make a sign or inscription with either variant and photograph yourself with it, then post it with these hashtags, and send it projects@lzb.lt before January 25.

2021-01-19

The Rebel from Žagarė Who Dared Criticize Stalin

Facts worth knowing about the Litvak poet Osip Mandelshtam

by Rūta Ribinskaitė, LJC member, for 15min.lt

As we mark the 130th anniversary of Osip Mandelshtam, the Lithuanian Jewish Community is inviting the public to take a new look at one of the most renowned poets of the Silver Age of Russian poetry. We present to readers long-forgotten and little-known facts about the phenomenal poet Osip Mandelshtam.

Mandelshtam’s family on both his mother’s and father’s side came from Lithuania. The Mandelshtam family’s roots are in northern Lithuania in the town of Žagarė. There are assertions the family settled in the town in the early 19th century.

The poet’s mother Flora Mandelshtam née Verbolvskaya was a musician and his father Hatzkel-Emil Mandelshtam belong to the first guild of merchants and was a leather tanner. The young married couple lived in Warsaw where the future poet was born on January 15, 1891, and then moved to live in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1896 and 1897.

Full text in Lithuanian here.

2021-01-152021-01-18

Hebrew Classes

Hebrew classes resume at the Lithuanian Jewish Community January 17 and will take place on Sundays. Classes for beginners start at 11:15 A.M., 1:00 P.M. for advanced students and 2:45 P.M. for intermediate learners.

To register, send an email to ruthreches@gmail.com

2021-01-142021-01-18

LJC Celebrates Life and Work of Osip Mandelshtam on 130th Birthday

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is inviting the public to learn more about one of the best poets of Russia’s Silver Age, Osip Mandelshtam.

Join the virtual day of poetry at 2:00 P.M. on January 15 on facebook by going to https://fb.me/e/1cV0KYzFo

Speakers and critics will present new insights and little known facts in Mandelshtam’s biography and poetry. The actors Viačeslavas Lukjanovas and Larisa Kalpokaitė will read excerpts in Russian and Viktorija Verikaitė will read Lithuanian translations of Mandelshtam’s poetry.

2021-01-142021-01-15

Join the Civic Initiative to Celebrate the Restoration of Freedom

The International Commission for Assessing the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania and Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda are inviting educational and state institutions, departments and agencies and all people of good will to remember the victorious struggle to win back freedom from the aggressors in January of 1991 and to join the civic initiative “Memory Lives Because It Testifies.”

Everyone is invited to remember and mark the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Freedom. At 8:00 A.M. on January 13, 2021, we will place lit candles together in our windows for 10 minutes to remember, unite and celebrate our victory.

In January, 1991, Lithuanian citizens, motivated by the aspiration to freedom and unity, achieved an historic victory. The nation withstood the aggression of the Soviet occupiers and local collaborators and the attempt to effect a coup d’etat through military force, and defended the independence of the restored state.

2021-01-11

Drawing Contest to Mark January 13 Holiday

Dear leaders, members and friends of the Lithuanian Jewish Community,

As January 13th, Lithuania’s Day of the Defenders of Freedom, approaches we intend to mark the 30th anniversary of the blood events at the Vilnius Television Tower when Soviet troops killed unarmed civilian protestors.

On January 13, 1991, Soviet tanks and troops attempted to take over the television tower, the Radio and Television Committee headquarters and other sites in the capital of the breakaway Soviet republic.

The LJC invites children and young people to use the day to learn about this history and to don in solidarity with Lithuanians the forget-me-not flower symbol. Please draw your own forget-me-not and send in a high resolution photograph of the drawing or of you holding the drawing in your hand.

2021-01-112021-01-15

Paideia, the European Institute for Jewish Studies’ Open Recruitment Process

Dear Friends,

I hope you are well.

We’re looking for brighter days in the feature and with this hope we’re opening the recruitment process for the Paideia One-Year Jewish Studies Program 2021-2022.

The program is dedicated to future educators, activists and leaders wanting to broaden their knowledge of Jewish culture and history and to establish a net of connection with over 700 of our graduates.

2021-01-052021-01-05

Hanukkah Lighting Ceremony Live

The Lithuanian Jewish Community announces the start of Hanukkah, the festival of lights.

Watch live from 5:00 P.M. (UTC+2) December 10.

Hanukkah begins December 10 and ends December 18 this year.

The holiday begins in Lithuania with the lighting of the first Hanukkah light at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius at 4:00 P.M. At 5:00 a light show begins at the LJC building in Vilnius.

The video above will feature a live streamcast. For more information see our facebook page as well at https://www.facebook.com/zydubendruomene

2020-12-10

Lighting the First Light of Hanukkah

Press release
December 4, 2020
Vilnius

The Jewish Community Announces the Beginning of Hanukkah

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is preparing to celebrate one of the most important holidays of the year, Hanukkah, which will begin this year on Thursday, December 10, and will end December 18. The beginning of the holiday is set for 4:00 P.M. when the first Hanukkah light is lit at the Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street no. 39, then at 5:00 P.M. the first light will be lit at the Lithuanian Jewish Community building in Vilnius. Hanukkah, which was mainly traditionally a family holiday, is celebrated at home by lighting a candle daily on the traditional nine-branched hanukiya candelabrum, more commonly known as the menorah..

Hanukkah is known as the Festival of Lights and the Jewish community as we light the candles sends out light and community to all the ethnic minority communities in Lithuania and to Jewish communities around the world. Light and music will accompany the ceremonial lighting of the first candle, with a laser-generated light show on the LJC building at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius, hopefully adding a new perspective on the building which housed the Tarbut Jewish gymnasium before the Holocaust. Because of virus fears, the lighting ceremony can also be observed via our website www.lzb.lt and on our facebook profile.

2020-12-092020-12-17

Year of Vilna Gaon Final Event to Discuss Future Direction

The Lithuanian Jewish Community in partnership with the Lithuanian History Institute and others invites you to a series of virtual discussions called “Litvak History: Directions for Today” beginning December 9. This is the final event to mark Lithuania’s Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History and is open to all who are interested in Jewish culture and history in Lithuania.

Litvak History: Directions for Today
A virtual academic discussion
Live streamcast with synchronous translation to English

The discussion begins at 9:45 A.M. and will run till 4:00 P.M., UTC+2, December 9, 2020. Participants will be able to pose their own questions live.

Event page: https://renginiai.puslapiai.lt/diskusiju-ciklas-lietuvos-zydu-istorija/

Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/704750490450977

Event program: https://bit.ly/3mGsr5g

For more information contact Marija Navickaitė Kajotienė, tel.: +370 628 71246, marija.navickaite12@gmail.com

2020-12-092020-12-15

Discussion “Lithuanian Jewish History: Modern Directions”

You are welcome to join, watch and listen to the online academic discussion “Lithuanian Jewish History: Modern Directions.”

The Lithuanian Jewish Community with the Lithuanian History Institute and other partners have organizes a series of discussions to commemorate 2020 as the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Lithuanian Jewish History. Due to the COVID-19, the World Jewish Congress in Lithuania was postponed and other events related to the Year of Vilna Gaon were not held. So this online series of discussions are the final touch to commemorate the Year of Vilna Gaon by gathering members of the global Jewish community and everyone interested in Jewish history and culture to share their thoughts virtually.

Time: 9:45 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. (UTC+2)

THe nline discussion with simultaneous translation to English will be broadcast on the event’s website: >>HERE

Audience members may join the discussion by writing questions in the chat.

2020-12-042020-12-05

International Day for Tolerance Event Darna on Facebook

The International Day for Tolerance will be marked around the world on Monday, November 16. The Lithuanian Jewish Community has prepared a virtual celebration called Darna which will run from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M. that day, including well-known performers Jurgis Didžiulis, Erca Jennings, Afrodelic and Paulius Kibauskas. It will also include yoga and meditation activities, a discussion on the topic of tolerance and other activities.

The first Darna festival for celebrating the International Day for Tolerance invites the public to celebrate tolerance, harmony and concord, and to do so through the creation of art and community. The LJC had planned to hold the celebration as a real event, but decided to make it virtual because of concerns about the corona virus and to make an entire day’s worth of events available to those homebound.

Event organizer Rafael Gimelstein said: “We are trying to encourage the celebration of human ties and a harmonious and tolerant life through this event. We wanted to bring together all people who think the same way and to commemorate these values through creative work. To show we have very diverse and talented people who are united by a shared idea, and that tolerance is a very topical idea to them.”

2020-11-132020-12-10

Bake Challa at Home and Join Millions in the #ShabesatHome Project

The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to join millions of other Jews around the world and join the #ShabesatHome initiative. The Lithuanian side of the initiative known as #Šabasnamuose will include the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium and the Vilnius, Kaunas, Panevėžys, Šiauliai, Ukmergė and Švenčionys communities are invited as well to join up by internet right now, Friday, November 6. Vilnius Jewish Religious Community chairman Simas Levinas, LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and her granddaughter Esther will also be on hand.

Social media announcements: #ManoŽydiškaKelionė #ŽydųKultūrosMetai #ShabesatHome #ŽyduKultūrosDiena #Šabasnamuose #KeepingItTogether #GeroŠabato

For more information, contact Dovilė Rūkaitė at projects@lzb.lt (before the sun goes down).

2020-11-062020-11-06

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