Announcements

LJC Holding Human Rights Roundtable

LJC Holding Human Rights Roundtable

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is hosting a round-table discussion on human rights and specifically the rights of Jews in Lithuania at 6:00 P.M. on October 20 at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The discussion will be broadcast via internet as well.

As a member of the Lithuanian Coalition of Human Rights Organizations, the LJC has contributed this year to a “shadow report” to the United Nations initiated and presented by the Law and Justice and the Educational and Scientific and Human Rights Committees of the Lithuanian parliament, intended to improve the human rights situation for ethnic minorities in Lithuania, including Jews.

Those recommendations are available in Lithuanian here.

Participants will include LJC chairwoman and attorney Faina Kukliansky, Sholem Aleichem principal Ruth Reches, human rights expert Jūratė Juškaitė, diplomat Marius Janukonis, equal opportunities ombudsman Birutė Sabatauskaitė, MP and chairwoman of the parliament’s Commission on Battles for Freedom and State Historical Memory Paulė Kuzmickienė, MP and Lithuanian Supreme Court judge Stasys Šedbaras, General Prosecutor’s Office prosecutor Justas Laucius, former Constitutional Court judge and dean of the International and EU Law Faculty at Mykolas Romeris Justinas Žilinskas and others.

More information about registering and attending virtually available on facebook here.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 6:19 P.M. on Friday, October 1, and concludes at 7:28 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Afternoon for Children

Afternoon for Children

You’re invited to come to the Lithuanian Jewish Community this Saturday, October 9, at 3:00 P.M. to have some fun and talk over coffee [meeting at the Bagel Shop Café, access through the main entrance of the Community, proof of vaccination for those over 16 required].

We will view a film made by and starring children, and the children will have the opportunity to collect their ceramics works. We will also talk about our further plans and goals.

Please register before coming here.

We’ll be looking forward to seeing everyone.

Respectfully,

Avital Libman, coordinator
Children’s and Youth Programs

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at avital@lzb.lt or by telephone at +37064515730.

Hour of Music to Mark 80th Anniversary of the Holocaust

Hour of Music to Mark 80th Anniversary of the Holocaust

Judita Leitaitė, teacher at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater, will perform a concert with her singing students Aija Jermoloviča, Jūratė Minelgaitė, Greta Rimšaitė, Gabija Žvinklytė, Natalija Dmuchovska, Skirmantė Vaičiūtė, Giedrius Gečys and Joris Gudelevičius at 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday, October 12, on the third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius.

The hour of music is dedicated to commemorating the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Admission free, proof of vaccination required.

Concert to Commemorate Grosse Aktion in Kaunas Ghetto

Concert to Commemorate Grosse Aktion in Kaunas Ghetto

At 7:00 P.M. on Friday, October 8, the Kaunas Jewish Community and the organization Prabudimo orkestras will hold a concert at the Kaunas Cultural Center to mark the 80th anniversary of the so-called grosse aktion in the Kaunas ghetto. The cultural center is located at Vytauto street no. 79 in Kaunas.

This will a repeat performance of the Symphony from the Jerusalem of the North by Jievaras Jasinskis. Entry is free to the public but registration is required.

More information here.

Register here.

Vilnius University to Hold Public Lecture by German Historian Christoph Dieckmann

Vilnius University to Hold Public Lecture by German Historian Christoph Dieckmann

Vilnius University and the Lost Shtetl Museum are launching jointly a series of lectures and discussions called “Open Conversations on History” which will raise topical questions of historical truth, memory wars and society’s ability to resist the pressure to serve one or another ideology.

We invited Christoph Dieckmann, a prominent historian and author of books on German occupation policy and the Holocaust in Lithuania, to the first discussion at 6:00 P.M. on October 1. He will give a lecture called “Looking back on our past. Lithuanians, Germans, and Jews.”

Dieckmann will share his insights on the relationship between history and memory, talk about personal searches trying to find the best way to study the Holocaust in Lithuania and the method used to help incorporate the different perspectives of Holocaust participants.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 6:54 P.M. on Friday, September 24, and concludes at 8:05 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Litvaks Who Came Back from the Concentration Camps

The Vilnius Photography Gallery located at Stiklių street no. 4 will open an exhibit by Kęstutis Grigaliūnas at 6:00 P.M. on September 22 called “Lithuanian Jews Who Came Back from the Nazi Concentration Camps.” The exhibit features 335 people who came back, with photographs and short biographies. It will also showcase the book “Lietuvos žydai grįžę iš nacių konclagerių” [Lithuanian Jews Who Came Back from the Nazi Concentration Camps] which contains 2,700 short bios and 335 portraits.

“The visualization of cases in this project becomes a space in which the violence of the Soviet state is examined and whose exhibiting under new spatial, media and institutional conditions allows for the execution of historical justice, and allows the eye and mind of the spectator to enter into intensive interaction with the past seen this way for the first time,” exhibit curator Natalija Arlauskaitė explained.

Kaunas Jewish Community and Ninth Fort Mark Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide

The Kaunas Jewish Community and the Ninth Fort Museum in Kaunas invite the public to attend a commemoration of Holocaust victims at 11:00 A.M. on Thursday, September 23, at the large statue to remember the victims of Naziism.

The commemorative program will last an hour and a half, to be followed by coffee in the museum’s administration building.

Program:

10:30 A.M. Registration
11:00 A.M. Commemoration begins, followed by an artistic reading of recollections by children who lived in ghettos, read by students from the Jonas Jablonskis Gymnasium, followed by a presentation of the “Ecce Homo: To Those Who Remain” project by the Ninth Fort Museum and the Kaunas 2022 organization including meeting the artists.

Sukkot Begins

Sukkot Begins

Sukkot or Sukkos beings at 7:04 P.M. in Vilnius on Monday, September 21, 2021.

The Festival of Sukkot–literally meaning booths, tents, tabernacles–is celebrated for seven days in Israel and eight days in the Diaspora, starting on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. It is one of the three festivals during which Jewish men were required to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the times of the Holy Temple.

Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community Marks Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide with Several Events

Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community Marks Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide with Several Events

The Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community is marking the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide, September 23, with several events this year.

At 4:00 P.M. on September 22 an exhibit will open in the exhibit hall of the Cultural Center of the Šiauliai Regional Administration located at Ventos street no. 11A in Kuršėnai, Lithuania, an exhibit of photographs by Rolandas Parafinavičius called House Spirits and by photographer S. Zakasaitė who operated in the period between the two world wars, with the combined exhibit called “Jews Then and Now.” Righteous Gentiles Pranas Grigalaitis and Ona Bielskienė will also be honored during the opening ceremony. The exhibit will run till November 5. The Cultural Center is open from 10:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. on week days and during scheduled events.

Additional related exhibits include an exhibit of calendars called “The Jews of Lithuania: An Indivisible Part of Our Society” running from September 6 to October 1 in the exhibition space at the Kuršėnai manor estate in Kuršėnai, Lithuania; the “Don’t Turn Your Back on the Past” exhibit of publications running from September 20 to September 30 at the Augustinas Gricius Library in Gruzdžiai and “Memory Comes of Age through the Past…” running from September 20 till October 22 at the library in Meškuičiai.

Holocaust Commemoration at Ponar

Holocaust Commemoration at Ponar

The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites the public to a Holocaust commemoration at the Ponar Memorial Complex located at Agrastų street no. 15A with a ceremony and speeches at 1:00 P.M. on September 23. Please register by sending an email to office@lzb.lt or by calling (8 5) 2613 003.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 7:12 P.M. on Friday, September 17 and concludes at 8:22 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Genocide Day in Navarėnai, Lithuania

The Navarėnai Cultural Center, Navarėnai aldermanship, Navarėnai primary school and Navarėnai library located in the small town in the Telšiai district of northwest Lithuania invite the public to attend events marking the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide on September 23 this year. The commemoration begins at 1:00 P.M. at the Navarėnai Cultural Center, whence participants will travel to the Jewish mass murder site in the Šiliškė forest. The program includes the unveiling of a monument and speeches by guests with music dedicated to the memory of the dead performed by Valda Valužienė of the Viešvėnai Cultural Center.

Synagogue in Žiežmariai Opens Doors

Synagogue in Žiežmariai Opens Doors

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Kaišiadorys city municipality invite the public to visit the restored synagogue in Žiežmariai, Lithuania, September 17.

As part of the European Days of Jewish Culture, the LJC is sponsoring the event in Žiežmariai to discuss the public utilization of Litvak heritage sites and the relationship between the local community and this synagogue specifically.

The event will be moderated by Martynas Užpelkis, the LJC’s heritage specialist.

Participants will include LJC chairwoman Faina, Kukliansky, Kaišiadorys mayor Vytenis Tomkus, Lithuanian heritage expert and historian Diana Varnaitė, Kaišiadorys Museum director Olijardas Lukoševičius and others.

The event begins at the synagogue at 2:00 P.M. on September 17.

President’s Office to Hold Concert Commemorating 80th Anniversary of Holocaust in Lithuania

President’s Office to Hold Concert Commemorating 80th Anniversary of Holocaust in Lithuania

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is pleased to announce a concert by St. Christopher chamber orchestra from Vilnius and other classical, jazz and folk performers to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust in Lithuania.

Program:

Premiere of Symphony from the Jerusalem of the North by composer Jievaras Jasinskis
Special guest: Israeli multi-instrumentalist Yaron Cherniak

The concert begins at 7:00 P.M. on Thursday, September 23, in the courtyard of the President’s Office at Daukanto street no. 3 in Vilnius (gate opens at 6:00 P.M.).

Prior registration before September 20 and proof of vaccination(s) at the gate required. Register here.

Invitation to Remember and Honor the Large Jewish Community of Švenčionys Murdered in the Holocaust

Invitation to Remember and Honor the Large Jewish Community of Švenčionys Murdered in the Holocaust

It has become a tradition now to meet on the first Sunday in October at the Menorah in the park in Švenčionys to remember and honor the large Jewish community of Švenčionys who had their own culture and traditions, and to remember their tragic fate.

I am please to invite everyone to attend the Holocaust commemoration at the Menorah statue in the Švenčionys city park marking the boundary of the Švenčionys ghetto. The commemoration starts at 11:00 A.M. on October 3, 2021.

Program: