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.
Cvi Park Opening
On May 1 the outdoor Israeli street food kiosk Cvi (Tzvi) Park will reopen for the warmer seasons serving fresh and healthy food to customers. Located at Petras Cvirka Square (now missing its statue to the Soviet-era Lithuanian writer Petras Cvirka and with no new official name) across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius, the outdoor café will offer humous, falafel, excellent coffee, wine and other foods and refreshments. They also plan this year to set up ping-pong tables and chess boards, and provide for other leisure-time sporting activities. Along with the usual program of concerts, DJs, dance, meetings, holidays, lessons and quizzes. Check it out starting May 1.
Matzo Available
Fresh Passover matzo bread has arrived. A one-kilogram box of matzo bread costs 10 euros, the 450-gram box 5 euros and matzo flour 5 euros as well. Purchase can be made at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius between 10 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. on weekdays.
Shabbat Hagadol
The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites everyone to Shabbat haGadol, the Great Sabbath, the last Sabbath before Passover, an evening full of tradition which will serve as preparation for the Passover celebration.
Over the course of the evening, under the tutelage of Viljamas Žitkauskas, we will go over the main parts of the seder, learn about keara, the Passover seder plate, read the Haggadah and enjoy the Sabbath meal in pleasant company.
Registration required by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt. The cost is 5 euros per person with children 3 and under free.
Time: 7:00 P.M., Friday, April 19
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
Fourth Nechama Lifshitz Song Contest
The fourth Nechama Lifshitz Song Contest is to be held from October 27 to 30 in Vilnius with vocalists between the ages of 10 and 35 competing. As in past contests, there will be two categories for competition: classical music for singers aged 10 to 20 and popular music for ages 10 to 35.
Applications may be made till July 1. For more information and to register, see here: https://www.competition.lt/registracija/
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 7:59 P.M. on Friday, April 12, and concludes at 9:17 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Culinary Evening
You’re invited to attend an evening of discussion, demonstration and sampling of the recipes of interwar vegetarian restaurant owner and cook Fania Lewando. Lewando operated a restaurant in Vilnius with a cult following in the period between the two world wars. Artists and the city elite frequented her establishment. Chef Alessia di Donato originally from Rome will provide samples of dishes made according to the recipes Lewando left us in her cook book. Cultural anthropologist Magdalena Maślak from Poland will also tell stories about Lewando.
Registration is required by sending an email to info@lzb.lt. Everyone is invited to attend.
Time: 5:00 P.M., Thursday, April 11
Place: Bagel Shop Café, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius
Makabi Shooting Comp
The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club will hold a pistol shooting competition at the GSKA shooting range in Vilnius this Sunday.
Each competitor gets fifteen rounds with the first five shots as trial shots. The shooter’s score will consist of two scores: trial shots and those which are supposed to count. Although there isn’t any strict allotment of time for each participant, in order to use our time at the shooting range wisely we’ll ask each shooter to spend not more than 3 and a half minutes on the trial shoots and 10 minutes on official shots.
Registration is required by April 12 by sending an email to info.maccabilt@gmail.com. The cost per participant is 23 euros, of which the participant pays 11 euros with Makabi subsidizing the remaining 12 euros.
Time: 10:00 A.M. to 1:30 P.M., Sunday, April 14
Place: GSKA shooting range, Mindaugo street no. 43, Vilnius. Entrance from Punsko street.
Women’s Club to Meet Friday
Women are invited to the Women’s Club meeting this Friday where we’ll prepare for Passover which is coming soon. We’ll talk about traditions from over the millennia and from more recent times and we’ll learn how to make Litvak matzo kneydlakh and a huge matzo cake.
Time: 6:30 P.M., Friday, April 12
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
Registration required. Send an email to zanas@lzb.lt or call (+370) 678 81514.
We hope to see you there.
International Romani Day
March 8 is International Romani Day. According to wikipedia:
“The International Romani Day (April 8) is a day to celebrate Romani culture and raise awareness of the issues facing Romani people. The day was officially declared in 1990 in Serock, Poland, the site of the fourth World Romani Congress of the International Romani Union (IRU), in honour of the first major international meeting of Romani representatives, 7–12 April 1971 in Chelsfield near London.”
It is believed the Romani arrived from Poland in the Lithuanian Grand Duchy, including present-day Belarus, in the late 15th or early 16th century. They are officially recognized as one of Lithuania’s historical ethnic minorities. They were also targeted for extermination as an undesirable ethnic group by the Nazis.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 7:46 P.M. on Friday, April 5, and concludes at 9:02 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Raimondas Savickas Retrospective
The Savickas Picture Gallery at J. Tumo-Vaižganto street no. 5 in Vilnius will host an exhibit of Savickas’s works and will present a catalog of works called “Raimondas Savickas: A Metaphysical Interpretation of Reality” at 6:00 P.M. this Friday, April 5. This is a great opportunity to hear the artist speak and what other professionals and friends of the artist think about his work.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 6:32 P.M. on Friday, March 29, and concludes at 7:47 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Daylight saving time begins at 2:00 A.M. Sunday morning, so set your clock ahead one hour to 3:00 A.M. Sunday is Easter with many businesses closed, and Monday is part of the official holiday in Lithuania with government agencies closed and some businesses and grocery stores open.
Quiz
The “Kas? Kur? Kada?” [Who? What? Where?] quiz continues next Friday at 7:00 P.M., led by Irina Slutsker. The cost is 5 euros per participant with electronic transfer of funds made to Lithuanian Jewish Community at account no. LT 06 7044 0600 0575 7425 for the purpose of PROTMŪŠIS. Registration is required by Wednesday, April 3, by calling (+370) 678 81514 or writing zanas@sc.lzb.lt. The quiz will be conducted in Lithuanian.
Time: 7:00 P.M., April 5
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
Tenth Yortsayt for Simon Alperovitch
This week will mark the tenth anniversary of the death of long-serving chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community Simon Alperovitch. Come pay your respects, share your memories and take a look at the documentary film “Aš kažkaip laimingas žmogus” [Somehow I’m a Happy Man] made by Junona Berznicki and Gintarė Zakarauskaitė.
Time: 1:00 P.M., Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Place: Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
For more information, contact Žana at (+370) 678 81514 or zanas@sc.lzb.lt.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 6:19 P.M. on Friday, March 22, and concludes at 7:33 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Purim begins at sundown on Saturday and Sunday is the Christian holiday Palm Sunday marking the beginning of the week leading up to Easter.
Purim Celebrations for Young and Old Sunday
The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to come and celebrate Purim this Sunday with event programs for young and old.
The Dubi Club for children aged 3 to 7 will stage a great program with skits, games, songs and other fun activities.
At the same time Bnei Maskilim invites you to a reading of the Book of Esther, tzedakah and mishloach manot, and the traditional potluck feast.
Everyone is welcome.
Time: 12:00 noon, Sunday, March 24
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
Don’t forget your masks and costumes!
Please note: registration is required for the Bnei Maskilim event. Please send an email to viljamas@lzb.lt.
Discussion: Why Are Lithuanians Ashamed of Righteous Gentiles?
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the #ŽydiškiPašnekesiai discussion club will hold a discussion on the unusual topic “Why are Lithuanians ashamed of their Righteous Gentiles?” at 5:00 P.M. on Thursday, March 21.
This is a question which Lithuanian politicians, public figures, media and the Church have been avoiding for 33 years now. While the LJC has been calling for years for monuments to commemorate rescuers of Jews at appropriate locations in Vilnius, there has been little or no support for this from outside the Community. Will this ever change?
The discussion will touch upon another topic as well: what went into forming the morality of those who chose to rescue Jews from the Holocaust? After all, most Lithuanians remained passive observers.
Participants include historian Egidijus Aleksandravičius, historian and former minister of culture Darius Kuolys and LJC chairwman Faina Kukliansky. Arkadijus Vinokuras will moderate.
Time: 5:00 P.M., Thursday, March 21
Place: Bagel Shop Café, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius
The discussion will be streamed live via facebook: https://shorturl.at/cnzS3
Purim in Panevėžys
Dear members of the Panevėžys Jewish Community,
Greetings on the up-coming holiday of Purim. We kindly invite you to come celebrate it together with us at the Panevėžys Jewish Community starting at 2:00 P.M. on March 24. Please indicate your intention to attend (because we need to know how much of what kinds of food to purchase) by sending an email or by calling.
Chairman: +370 61120882, genakofman@yahoo.com
Administrator: +370 61017608
Hebrew Language for Advanced Students
Our announcements about Hebrew language lessons always attract a lot of attention. The study groups formed in early December have acquired basic knowledge and resulted in many friendships as well. There are those, however, who already have the basics of Hebrew and want to advance more quickly. With that in mind, we’re organizing a Hebrew discussion club which will allow more advanced students to learn much more and which should be a lot of fun as well.
Time: 8:45 A.M., Sundays
Place: Kraševskio street no. 5, Vilnius
Registration is required: ruthreches@gmail.com
P.S. Remember, language learning not only enriches and expands your horizons, it also prevents Alzheimer’s.