Announcements

Premiere of Film about Aleksandras Štromas

Premiere of Film about Aleksandras Štromas

The Vilnius Jewish Public Library will premiere a film about Aleksandras Štromas called Laisvės Horizontai at 5:30 P.M. on Monday, June 21. The filmmakers Ona Bivenienė, Ilja Bereznickas and Saulius Sondeckis will be present. Seating is limited and prior registration is required. Send an email to info@vilnius-jewish-public-library.com or call (8-5) 219 77 48 before 5:00 P.M. to register. The library is located at Gedinimo prospect no. 24 in Vilnius, through the alley to the parking lot and find the first door on the right.

Amehaye Summer Camp Coming Soon

Amehaye Summer Camp Coming Soon

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is pleased to announce the our annual Amehaye summer camp for 2021:

June 28-July 2 Children aged 7-10 (day camp), register here;
July 5-July 9 Ages 10 to 13 (including overnight), register here;
August 2-August 6 Ages 14 to 17 (overnight), register here;
July 18-July 23 Jewish scouts (overnight).

.

For more information send an email to amehaye2021@lzb.lt or call +370 601 46656.

Monument to Vilnius Jews

Monument to Vilnius Jews

by Victoria Sideraitė-Alon

The old Jewish cemetery in the Šnipiškės (Shnipishok) neighborhood in Vilnius wasn’t destroyed in a single day. Back at the turn of the 19th to 20th century, the remains of 700 Vilnius Jews buried there were exhumed and reburied in a different part of the same cemetery during construction in the surrounding area.

Later during the Soviet era during the mid-20th century when work went on to extend what is now Šeimyniškių street, encroaching again on the old Jewish cemetery, these 700 burials were again exhumed and sent to a different grave. They were rediscovered in 2003 during construction of apartment houses next to Vilnius’s King Mindaugas Bridge. At the time, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairman Simonas Alperavičius resolved to have these 700 reinterred at the still-operational Jewish cemetery on Sudervės road in Vilnius. The reburial ceremony was attended by LJC officials and rabbis. The new grave there was marked with four posts.

Read more
Times for Sabbath

Times for Sabbath

This Sabbath on June 4, 2012, begins in Vilnius and Vilnius district with the lighting of the candles at 9:27 P.M. and concludes at 11:13 P.M. on June 5.

From Lazdijai to Hollywood: The Achron Phenomenon

From Lazdijai to Hollywood: The Achron Phenomenon

“From Lazdijai to Hollywood: The Joseph Achron Phenomenon” is a lecture celebrating Joseph Achron’s 135th birthday.

Joseph Achron (or Akhron, 1886-1943), the violin prodigy and composer born in Lazdijai, Lithuania, charmed audiences in Warsaw, Grodno, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Kiev and other cities around Europe, and went on to play Carnegie Hall. Having achieved fame in New York and Los Angeles, he remains little known in Lithuania. A close friend of Jascha Heifetz and Arnold Schönberg, he was humble on stage. He composed his greatest hit, Hebrew Melody, in barely an half hour.

How did his religious family support the young virtuoso’s musical career? What did Tsar Nikolai’s mother present as a gift to Achron? What did Achron contribute to the creation of professional Jewish music? Find out the answers and other interesting matters in Kamilė Rupeikaitė’s lecture “From Lazdijai to Hollywood: The Joseph Achron Phenomenon” at 3:00 P.M. on May 25.

Read more
Virtual Sabbath Discussions Continue

Virtual Sabbath Discussions Continue

We invite you to a virtual Sabbath discussion at 7:00 P.M. on May 15 of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot or Shavuos, moderated by Vijamas Žitkauskas. We will discuss the significance and traditions of the Feast of Weeks as it is known in English. The discussion will be held in Russian and prior registration is required. Registration form here.

Jerusalem Day Celebration in Vilnius This Weekend

Jerusalem Day Celebration in Vilnius This Weekend

Jerusalem Day, Yom Yerushalaim, will be celebrated on May 9 and 10 this year in Israel. Vilnius, the Jerusalem of Lithuania, is also celebrating the day. The Israeli embassy in conjunction with the Lithuanian Theater, Music and Cinema Museum is staging an exhibit of contemporary international photography featuring the holy city called “Jerusalem as a City of Culture.” From May 6 to 9 beginning at 9:00 P.M. each evening the exhibit will be projected on the wall of the Salomėja Nėris Gymnaisum on Vilniaus street in the Vilnius Old Town. The exhibit features works by artists from around the world featuring the city of Jerusalem, its charm and spirit.

This project by Israeli artist Adi Yekutieli is part of the My Jerusalem project and will be demonstrated in cities around the world this year. It includes photography by Lithuania’s Giedrė Mikalauskaitė called “Spiritual Light of Jerusalem.”

Ceremony to Commemorate Victims of World War II

Ceremony to Commemorate Victims of World War II

A small, closed ceremony will be held at noon on May 7 to commemorate the victims of World War II at the Sudervės road Jewish cemetery in Vilnius. LJC chairwoman Fainia Kukliansky, LJC representatives and foreign diplomats are scheduled to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at monuments commemorating ghetto victims and lost children. Because of wide-spread fears of viral contamination the ceremony won’t be open to the public and no further official commemoration ceremony to mark Victory Day will be held in Vilnius this year.

Sabbath with the IDF

Sabbath with the IDF

Viljamas Žitkauskas and the Lithuanian Jewish Community invite you to attend a virtual Sabbath discussion called “The Road from Underground Fighters and Self-Defense Units to the Israeli Defense Forces” in Lithuanian starting at 7:00 P.M. on May 1 as Israel staggers from the Lag ba’Omer tragedy. Registration is required, click here.

Camp Counselor Training

Camp Counselor Training

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is offering training at our 2021 Madrich School for young people with Jewish roots who want to take part and become qualified camp counselors and supervisors for LJC camping and children’s events.

The curriculum includes:

* Knowledge of Judaism
* Educational activities
* Training on setting up camps
* Training for working with children
* Conflict resolution
* Many new topics

The training is intended for young people aged 15 and up.

Registration required by May 17, 2021. For more information, call +370 6788 1514. To register, click here.

Documentary about Eglė Ridikaitė and Jewish Culture

Documentary about Eglė Ridikaitė and Jewish Culture

LRT.lt

The Lithuanian Culture Institute and the Contemporary Arts Center in Vilnius are preparing to show a video documentary called “Jewish Vilnius in the Work of Artist Eglė Ridikaitė,” the Lithuanian Culture Institute announced in a press release.

The story directed by Mikas Žukauskas looks at the work of Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize recipient Eglė Ridikaitė and at her artistic method of confronting difficult topics. Her cycle of paintings “We Are Guests” pictures fragments of the Great Synagogue in Vilnius uncovered by archaeologists and her sense of space within the razed synagogue. This is one of the rare cases where Lithuanian contemporary art addresses Jewish historical memory and heritage. Her works have drawn international attention.

The premiere of the short on April 28 will include a discussion titled “In Jewish Vilnius and Elsewhere: Contemporary Art and Historical Memory.” Participants will include professor of architecture Amnon Bar Or and the artist Dora Zlek Levy from Israel, Vilnius Museum director Rasa Antanavičiūtė and art history professor Adakhiar Zevi from Israel. Architecture historian Ūla Tornau, cultural attaché to the United Kingdom, will moderate.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Bagel Shop Café Repoens April 29

Bagel Shop Café Repoens April 29

The Bagel Shop Café will repoen at 11:30 A.M. on April 29 for coffee and lunch as a sidewalk café. We have a new coffee blend served as espresso and drip and a new menu. so come check it out.

Small Children, Small Troubles

Small Children, Small Troubles

Kleiner kinder — klein zorgn, groise kinder — groise zorgn.

This Jewish saying means small children pose worries and bigger children bigger problems.

Natalja Cheifec invites you to her third lecture on the subject, “Raising Children in the Traditional Jewish Family,” in Lithuanian.

The lecture will teach you about innate features children have and how to encourage them, and why Jewish children end up learning their entire lives. The issue of whether children should pay attention to the opinions of others and which way to choose–to act like everyone else, or to go one’s own way–will be addressed.

Together with Natalja you will learn how to turn an enemy into a friend, how to teach children to behave morally and the effects loneliness and a bad environment have on children.

The lecture is free and will be held on the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Zoom page from 5:30 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. on April 22.

The lesson will be repeated in Russian a week from now, on April 29.

To register, go to http://bit.ly/3arwHRn

#NataljosPaskaitos

Baristas Sought at Bagel Shop Café

Baristas Sought at Bagel Shop Café

The Bagel Shop Café is looking for an experienced and an assistant barista. Candidates must be able to be legally employed in Lithuania and should be prepared to deal with customers in Lithuanian and Russian. Please send your CV to aiste@lzb.lt or call +370 611 52760.

Vilnius Bridges Lit with Israeli Colors for Israeli Independence Day

Vilnius Bridges Lit with Israeli Colors for Israeli Independence Day

The Lithuanian Jewish Community in cooperation with the Vilnius city municipality will light up three bridges in the Lithuanian capital on the evening of April 14 to celebrate the 73rd Israeli independence day.

From Wednesday evening to sundown on Thursday blue and white lights will illuminate the White, Green and King Mindaugas Bridges. These colors were chosen for the flag of the state of Israel by Dovid Volfson who was born in the small town of Darbėnai in Lithuania in the mid-19th century.

“Around the world Vilnius is known as the Jerusalem of the North because of the important Jewish cultural and historical figures who were born, grew up and studied here. A number of them actively contributed to the creation of fortification of the independent state of Israel, forging extremely strong and deep ties between Vilnius and Israel and its people,” LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said.

Read more
Try-Outs for New Choir

Try-Outs for New Choir

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius will hold try-outs for a new choir being planned. Everyone who likes to sing is invited to come and share their talents. The choir once it’s formed will perform during Jewish holidays, at Community events and in other venues. Choir master and experienced conductor Avraham G. Tal-Or will be in charge of all musical arrangements and will coordinate choral activities. He will conduct activities in English.

To register, fill out the form here.

Symbolic Commemoration of Holocaust Victims at Ponar

Symbolic Commemoration of Holocaust Victims at Ponar


Press Release
April 7, 2021
Vilnius

Symbolic Commemoration of Holocaust Victims at Ponar

A symbolic ceremony to honor victims of the Holocaust will take place at 12 noon on April 8, Yom haShoa, the Israeli Day of Remembrance of Holocaust Victims and Heroes, at the Ponar Memorial Complex outside Vilnius. Adhering to all safety requirements, members of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, diplomats and surviving Vilnius ghetto prisoners will place stones and flowers at monuments and the mass graves and the cantor will perform kaddish, a prayer for the dead.

“The March of the Living traditionally took place on this occasion, repeating the final march of those condemned to death from the railroad station to the Ponar Memorial Complex, but due to the pandemic situation, this year this won’t be a mass commemoration. Only a few of us are gathering, carrying out the responsibility to preserve and pass on to future generations the memory of the Holocaust. This year is the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania, after all. With us today is an eye-witness to those horrific events, Kaunas ghetto inmate Dovydas Leibzonas,” Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said.

Read more