Announcements

Book Drive for Tu b’Shvat

Book Drive for Tu b’Shvat

The administration and library of the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius is holding their annual book drive to celebrate Tu b’Shvat. In a letter to parents and the community, school administrators wrote:

Dear reader,

Tu b’Shvat is drawing near, the New Year of trees. The Gymnasium is continuing our tradition and is asking the community to mark this holiday by donating books to the school library. In this way we pay respect to the trees which have been made into books, passing on from generation to generation to us the knowledge, wisdom, beauty and dreams of the whole world. Let us be as trees: firmly connected by our roots to the past and continuing to draw strength from that past, always growing slowly but resolutely, ceaselessly growing towards heaven.

We are a Jewish school, Jews are the People of the Book, and we must strive to have a rich library! Therefore we call upon students, parents and teachers to take part in this campaign and to donate books to the library.

The campaign is scheduled to run from January 16 to February 2.

What we need and further information:

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

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

The Panevėžys Jewish Community invites you to remember the victims of the Holocaust at a special event to mark International Holocaust Day, January 27. The event in Panevėžys is being held the day before on January 26 starting with a public gathering at ~1:00 P.M. in front of the Sad Jewish Mother monument on Memory Square in the northern Lithuanian city.

Program:

1:00 P.M. opening ceremony and wreath-laying ceremony at Sad Jewish Mother monument, presentations including from Panevėžys city mayor Rytis Račkausas, Panevėžys regional administration mayor Antanas Pocius, students and honored guests.

2:00 P.M. back at Panevėžys Jewish Community headquarters, a conference with Panevėžys Jewish Community members and partners and screenings of Holocaust films.

Please signal your intent to attend by calling+370 61120882 or +370 61017608 or by emailing genakofman@yahoo.com.

Tu b’Shvat Celebration

Tu b’Shvat Celebration

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and Bnei Maskilim invite you to come celebrate the greenest of Jewish holidays, Tu b’Shvat, on Wednesday, January 24, starting at 6:30 P.M. at the LJC in Vilnius, located at Pylimo street no. 4. The cost is 5 euros per person. Registration is required by sending an email to viljamas@lzb.lt or by calling (+370) 67250699. Everyone is welcome.

Tu b’Shvat

Tu b’Shvat

This Thursday, January 25, is the Jewish holiday of Tu b’Shvat, the 15th day of the month of Shvat, the New Year for trees also known as Israeli Arbor Day. It is traditional to eat of the shvat ha’minim (seven species endemic to the Land of Israel): wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Hag sameakh!

NGO Monitor Webinar: Examining Human Rights Stances on Israel

NGO Monitor Webinar: Examining Human Rights Stances on Israel

We are please to invite you to join a webinar co-hosted by NGO Monitor and the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement featuring a distinguished panel of experts. They will discuss the bias, silence and distortions of the international human rights community regarding the atrocities committed by Hamas. During this online briefing, we will explore the misconceptions surrounding Israel’s defensive actions, while addressing the gross human rights violations perpetrated by Hamas and their impact on innocent lives. The discussion moderated by NGO Monitor’s Olga Deutsch will include insights and
fresh perspectives from:

* Emily Schrader, journalist/writer/CEO of Social Lite Creative
* Pnina Sharvit Baruch, senior researcher on law and national security
* Danielle Haas, former senior editor at Human Rights Watch
* Dr. Saralyn Mark, women’s health and gender equity specialist and author

Mark your calendar, set a reminder, and get ready for an eye-opening discussion!

January 23, 2024, at 9:00 A.M. CT / 10:00 A.M. ET / 4:00 P.M. CT / 5:00 P.M. IST

Click here to register: https://events.combatantisemitism.org/humanrights

In addition to registering above, we encourage you to invite others who may be interested in joining.

Full text here.

Vilna Gaon Museum Opens New Litvak Culture and Identity Museum

Vilna Gaon Museum Opens New Litvak Culture and Identity Museum

Photo by I. Gelūnas

The Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum reopens its branch in the former Tarbut Gymnasium at Pylimo street no. 4a Thursday, January 18, following reconstruction and the installation of a new Litvak Culture and Identity exhibit.

The space used to house the museum’s History Department and Gallery of Righteous Gentiles, and has been undergoing renovation for several years. The third floor will now house a permanent exhibit on the life and work of Rafael Chwoles, the Litvak artist. Other exhibits feature Litvaks who found fame and achievement around the world in various fields of endeavor. The space includes four storeys accessible by stairs.

The Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum includes consists of several sub-museums and spaces including the Tolerance Center, the Holocaust Museum, an information space at the Ponar Memorial Complex outside Vilnius and soon an exhibit inside the former Jewish ghetto library in the Vilnius Old Town.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Plaque Commemorating Lazaris Gutmanas to be Unveiled in Palanga

Plaque Commemorating Lazaris Gutmanas to be Unveiled in Palanga

The Palanga Jewish Community is marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day a day early on January 26 by unveiling a plaque commemorating professor Lazaris Gutmanas (1875-1957) on his family home. Gutmanas was a professor at Kaunas University’s Nerve and Mental Disease Faculty and one of a number of remarkable members of the Jewish academic intelligentsia. Everyone is invited to attend the unveiling ceremony.

Time: 11:00 A.M., January 26
Place: S. Daukanto street no. 25, Palanga

Klaipėda Jewish Community to Hold Meeting in Support of Israel

Klaipėda Jewish Community to Hold Meeting in Support of Israel

The Klaipėda Jewish Community invites members and the public to turn out this Sunday as part of the global initiative “One Million Bells” to mark 100 days since Hamas’s attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, and to remember the hostages still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and appeal for their release.

The meeting starts at 4:00 P.M. on Sunday, January 14, at Turgaus aikštės no. 24 in Klaipėda.

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Evening to Commemorate Israel Elyashev in Kaunas

Evening to Commemorate Israel Elyashev in Kaunas

The Kaunas Jewish Community invites you to an evening commemorating literary critic and writer Israel (Isidore) Elyashev.

Bal-Makhshoves as he was also known, “man of thoughts,” used that nom-de-plume in his Jewish writing at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The commemoration will be held in the former Jewish cafeteria near Elyashev’s home where he died 100 years ago on January 13, 1924. Speakers will touch upon his friendship with the painter Marc Chagall, Jewish life in Kaunas, Elyashev’s home street now known as Daukšos gatvė but formerly called Yatkever or Butcher’s street with five synagogues located along it, about the return of “evacuated” Jewish exiles in 1921 and about the shared and separate Lithuanian and Jewish cultural legacy in Lithuania’s interwar provisional capital Kaunas.

Speakers will also detail his family, including his sister Ester Veisbart who was an art critic, teacher and Lithuania’s first female doctor of philosophy who died in the Kaunas ghetto; the rest of his family who were killed in the Kaunas and Vilnius ghettos and Soviet labor camps and the members of his family to made it to Palestine and lived.

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Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 3:50 P.M. on Friday, January 5, and concludes at 5:13 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Regarding Lithuania’s Assistance, Support and Cooperation on Israel-Hamas War Matters

Regarding Lithuania’s Assistance, Support and Cooperation on Israel-Hamas War Matters

To: Government of the Republic of Lithuania
Gedimino pr. 11, LT-01103, Vilnius
e-mail.: LRVkanceliarija@lrv.lt

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania
J.Tumo-Vaižganto g. 2, LT-01108, Vilnius
e-mail.: urm@urm.lt

IN REGARD TO LITHUANIA’S ASSISTANCE, SUPPORT AND COOPERATION ON ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR MATTER

2024-01-02
Vilnius

The Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community (LJC) is keen to bring to Lithuania’s attention three critical issues that require urgent attention and cooperation on significant matters related to the Israel-Hamas war. The Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community believes that Lithuania, a democratic state, should announce a unified stance on the Israel-Hamas war and stand on the right side of history.

Firstly, it is important to bring to your attention that South Africa has accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinian people. This is a serious and baseless allegation that requires condemnation. LJC kindly requests your support in opposing this accusation and is urging the government to condemn such unfounded claims. Israel is planning to send a representative to the International Court of Justice at The Hague to challenge this motion, and we believe that collective international condemnation is crucial in this matter.

Secondly, as the world approaches the 100th day since the horrific terror attack by Hamas happened against Israel on October 7, 2024, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) is initiating a day of protest to raise awareness for the 129 hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza in inhumane conditions. Several countries are considering symbolic actions such as illuminating government buildings in yellow with the hashtag #bringthemhomenow. LJC urges the Lithuanian government to participate in this global effort and ensure that our state’s actions are visible and heard.

Lastly, LJC is deeply concerned about the behavior of the International Red Cross, which appears to neglect the Jewish hostages. While they voice concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, they remain silent on the hostages’ conditions that are still being held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. LJC requests Lithuania’s support in protesting against this discrepancy and urging the International Red Cross to engage actively in ensuring the well-being of the hostages.

The Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community understands the importance of these matters and appreciates the Lithuanian Government’s attention to them. We are certain that the right support for Israel, which is fighting barbaric terror organizations in Gaza, would significantly contribute to addressing these urgent concerns.

Respectfully,

Faina Kukliansky
Chair of the Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 3:41 P.M. on Friday, December 29, and concludes at 5:05 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

Art Exhibit in Inspired by Abraham Sutzkever

Art Exhibit in Inspired by Abraham Sutzkever

The Shofar Gallery of the Jewish Culture Information Center in Vilnius is hosting an exhibit of works by art and book restorer and artist Modestas Saukaitis inspired by Abraham Sutzkever’s poetry. Saukaitis’s works on exhibit are verre églomisé, an ancient technique which uses white gold painted on glass to produce an extraordinary effect.

The exhibit runs till December 23 and is open to the public during the gallery’s working hours, from noon to 6:00 P.M. on weekdays and from noon till 4:00 P.M. on Saturday. The gallery is located at Mėsinių street no. 3A in the Vilnius Old Town.

For more information, see here.

Tomas Venclova Wins Lithuanian Writers Union Prize

Tomas Venclova Wins Lithuanian Writers Union Prize

The Lithuanian Writers Union announced they were awarding their bi-annual prize to writer and thinker Tomas Venclova for his latest book of poetry entitled “Už Onos ir Bernardinų” [Behind/Beyond the Church of St. Anne and the Church of the Bernardines (aka Franciscans)]. The book was published by the Apostrofa publishing house and contains 31 poems Venclova wrote over the past seven years.

The Lithuanian Writers Union awards their prize to one author every two years in recognition of high literary value. They will present the prize to Venclova on January 6 at Union headquarters in Vilnius.

Play for Kids

Play for Kids

The Amehaye children’s day camp invites children of members to the closing ceremony for the winter day camps, a performance of Charles Perrault’s version of the “Puss ‘n Boots” fairy-tale.

Actors from Mroj-Hall theater will perform the tale. It takes place at 12 noon on Sunday, December 17. Registration is required and please register by December 16 by sending an email to viljamas@lzb.lt.