Announcements

Weekly Quiz

Weekly Quiz

The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to a new series of quizzes on Sundays on Jewish history. Writer Arkadijus Vinokuras will moderate the quiz at the Bagel Shop Café on Sundays with a new topic every week. Come and show off your knowledge, or just come to learn something new. The first quiz will be held at 2:00 P.M. this Sunday, February 12, at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The topic will be Jewish music, with musc professor Leonidas Melnikas offering his expert opinion as judge. Register by sending an email to katrina@lzb.lt.

Discussion Club: Was Jewish Life Wonderful under Smetona?

Discussion Club: Was Jewish Life Wonderful under Smetona?

The #ŽydiškųPašnekesiai discussion club will address the topic “Was Jewish Life Great during the Smetona Era” at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius at 5:00 P.M. on February 8. The discussion will be live-streamed on the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s facebook page.

In the broader public discussion of whether to erect a statue to the interwar Lithuanian president and dictator Antanas Smetona, proponents have begun saying he defended Lithuania’s Jewish population and was even known as “King of the Jews.” Opponents of the monument counter there were no stops placed on anti-Semitism in Lithuania in the period between the two world wars, meaning the entire span of Lithuanian independence, and Jews were banned from public service and elsewhere.

What do today’s Jews and Lithuania’s current crop of historians think about these issues? Attend or tune in to find out.

Moderator and club founder Arkadijus Vinokuras will put the question to Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman, Lithuanian Jewish Community; Žygimantas Menčenkovas, member of the Leftist Alliance, philosopher, teacher and activist and via internet Linas Venclauskas, historian and author of a recent book on Lithuanian anti-Semitism prior to 1940.

Remembering Saulius and Silvija Sondeckiai

Remembering Saulius and Silvija Sondeckiai

A concert and discussion will be held at the Stasys Vainiūnas House at Goštauto street no. 2-41 at 5:30 P.M. on Wednesday, February 8, in memory of the remarkable Lithuanian musical couple Saulius and Silvija Sondeckiai. Professor Leonidas Melnikas is to speak and students from the Saulius Sondeckis Art Gymnasium in Šiauliai will perform. The event is free and open to the public.

February 3 marked seven years since the death of renowned Lithuanian musician, conductor and professor Saulius Sondeckis. In the run up to that sad anniversary, his widow, cello player and professor Silvija Sondeckienė, passed away on January 21.

Holocaust Remembrance Day in Palanga

Holocaust Remembrance Day in Palanga

Residents of Palanga are invited to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day this Friday, January 27, with a candle-lighting ceremony at the Old Cemetery in Palanga at 11:00 A.M. followed by the unveiling of a new plaque commemorating the town’s synagogues destroyed during World War II at Vytauto street no. 98 at 11:30 A.M.

Israeli Duet to Perform Again

Israeli Duet to Perform Again

The family duet of Vera Vaidman on violin and Vera Emanuel Krasovsky on piano will perform works by Beethoven and Schubert at the Organum Concert Hall in Vilnius at 7:00 P.M. on Friday, February 3. Tickets are available here and if you enter the code LZB you’ll get a 10% discount. Krasovsky was born in Vilnius and attended Vilnius University among other institutions of higher learning. The couple live in Tel Aviv currently

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

To mark the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust instituted by the United Nations in 2005, the Lithuanian Jewish Community will host a presentation of Vytautas Magnus University teacher Linas Venclauskas’s monograph about Lithuanian anti-Semitism and of Vytautas Toleikis’s book about the portrayal of Jews in Lithuanian literature.

The two presentations in Lithuanian begin at 6:00 P.M. on Thursday, January 26 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. Note the United Nations’ International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. more commonly called International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is officially on Friday, January 27, to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex by the Soviet Red Army in 1945.

South African Jewish Report Invites You  to Private Internet Screening of J’Accuse!

South African Jewish Report Invites You to Private Internet Screening of J’Accuse!

J’ACCUSE! Lithuanian complicity in the Holocaust and its coverup

Date: 8:00 P.M. South African Standard Time (UTC +2, same time zone as Lithuania), Thursday, January 19, 2023

Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_t4pEdH4LR3ano0wwyzfEnA

What would you do if you discovered that your grandfather, a national hero in Lithuania, was also a genocidal killer of Jews? Would you keep quiet or expose the truth?

This controversial documentary exposes Lithuania’s policy of Holocaust denial and its celebration of the perpetrators of the genocide of its Jewish citizens.

This is a unique opportunity to view the documentary in full and meet the filmmakers and heroes of this ground-breaking story.

Please note that this is a private screening by invitation only. The recording of this internationally award-winning documentary will NOT be available on YouTube after the event.

Call to Teachers, Youth Workers: Two-Day Introduction to Roma, Jewish Communities

Call to Teachers, Youth Workers: Two-Day Introduction to Roma, Jewish Communities

The two days of activities are intended to teach the traditions and customs of the Roma and Jewish communities in Lithuania and to counter stereotypes and fight anti-Semitism and Romophobia at home and abroad in various contexts. This is the first time educators from Lithuania are being invited to meeting with representatives and lecturers from both communities. We believe these teachings will be helpful for teachers working with young people as well as for cultural workers in the towns and cities where Jewish heritage is undergoing restoration. Those who work with young people and representatives from NGOs are invited to attend. The two-day workshop begins in January at the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius with the participation of experts from the Lithuanian Human Rights Center and the Padėk Pritapti organization, and of course the Lithuanian Jewish Community as well. We invite you to share this invitation with your colleagues. For more information, click https://bit.ly/3PXEoTz. To register, click https://bit.ly/3jDbJa5. A program in Lithuanian is available here.

For more information, contact Dovilė Rūkaitė at projects@lzb.lt.

Remembering Irena Veisaitė

Remembering Irena Veisaitė

The Old Vilnius Town Hall and the Lithuanian Literature and Folklore Institute invite you to an evening to remember the life and work of Irena Veisaitė. The event marks Irena’s 95th birthday and will also serve to launch the book “Our Irena: Memories Irena Veisaitė” edited and compiled by Reda Pabarčienė. The book will be available for purchase at the presentation. The venue is the Old Vilnius Town Hall, 6:00 P.M., January 9, 2023. It is free and open to the public. The event will be conducted in Lithuanian.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 3:36 P.M. on Friday, December 23, and concludes at 5:01 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 3:34 P.M. on Friday, December 16, and concludes at 4:58 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Community Hanukkah Events

Community Hanukkah Events

In addition to all the other events already announced, the Lithuanian Jewish Community is offering a walking tour of Jewish Vilna with guide Viljamas Žitkauskas and an Israeli dance marathon with Rikudim.

The tour begins at 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, December 17, meeting at the bell tower at the Arch-Cathedral in Vilnius. Program: Tour, avdala ceremony, dinner at the Bagel Shop Café, performance by the children’s section of the Fayerlakh Jewish song and dance ensemble. Registration required. Send an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or call +37067881514 on weekdays between 10:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M.

The Rikudim Israeli dance marathon will be held in the Jascha Heifetz Hall at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius from 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. on Sunday, December 18. To register send an email to Julija at Juliradv@gmail.com.

Clubs Celebrate Hanukkah

Clubs Celebrate Hanukkah

The various clubs at the Lithuanian Jewish Community are planning Hanukkah celebrations of their own.

The Yiddish-language Mameloshen Club is holding a Yiddish Hanukkah for members on December 18, call *37067881514 to register and for more information.

Knaifaim Club for adolescents aged 13 to 17 plans to hold a Hanukkah celebration at a special location at 8:00 P.M. on Friday, December 16. Contact Mark at margaris146@gmail.com or Elanas at Elan.Chackelevic@gmail.com.

Ilan Club for children aged 7 to 12 will hold a Hanukkah celebration at 12:00 noon on December !8. Contact Mark at margaris146@gmail.com or Elanas at Elan.Chackelevic@gmail.com.

Dubi Club for chilren from 4 to 6 will also hold a Hanukkah celebration at 12:00 noon on December !8. Register by contacting Margarita at +37061800577.

Dubi Mishpoha Club for children from 0 to 3 will hold a Hanukkah celebration at 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, December 21. Register by contacting Aleksandra at +37067250599.

Hanukkah 5783/2022

Hanukkah 5783/2022

Hanukkah begins Sunday evening, December 18, 2022, and continues through Monday, December 26, 2022. Hanukkah is the eight-day Jewish wintertime “festival of lights” celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting, special prayers and fried foods. The first candle will be lit on Sunday evening on the menorah candelabrum, also known as the hanukiya, in Jewish homes around the world. To learn more about this holiday, click here.