A series of several concerts with world-famous performers, composers and material from the works of Grigoriy Kanovitch will be held to celebrate Kanovitch’s 90th birthday. Kanovitch is the author of a number of classics in Jewish literature and is a recipient of the Lithuanian National Art and Culture Prize. Lithuanian Jewish Community members will receive a 40% discount on the ticket price.
For more information, see here.
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda greeted Lithuanian and European Jewish communities, the people of Israel and everyone around the globe celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Watch the video here.
Rosh Hashanah 5780 at the Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street no. 39, Vilnius:
Sunday, September 29
6:00 P.M. Minkha/Maariv, prayers, Kiddush/pastry table
Monday, September 30
9:30 A.M. Shakharit (morning prayer)
12:00 noon Blowing of the shofar horn. Special souvenir for participants and new 5780 Jewish calendar
12:30 P.M. Musaf (prayer)
5:00 P.M. Tashlikh (prayer at the river, Bokšto street no. 19, Vilnius)
6:00 P.M. Rosh Hashanah celebration: blowing of shofarhorn, presentation of new Jewish calendar, treats, special Rosh Hashanah souvenir
7:51 P.M. Maariv prayer
Tuesday, October 1
9:30 A.M. Shakharit
12:00 noon Blowing of shofar
6:30 P.M. Blowing of shofar horn (at Bokšto street no. 19 with entrance from Kazimiero street no. 12)
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The most iconic image of the Rosh Hashanah or Jewish New Year celebration is the blowing of the shofar horn. It is a ram’s horn and it is difficult to blow it correctly. The shofar reminds believers of the coming Day of Judgment. Jews gather at synagogue and read prayers for two days during the holiday.
An important Rosh Hashanah tradition is to take clothing to a body of water and shake the pockets out, symbolically ridding oneself of remaining sin. A special prayer is read for this. The ritual is called tashlikh (Hebrew “cast off”).
The main holiday treat on Rosh Hashanah is the pomegranate. This is replaced by apples and honey in Lithuania where the fruit doesn’t grow to maturity. The honey is intended to make the coming year sweet. In fact the salutation “sweet year” is a requisite part of the well-wishing involved in the holiday.
Often guests are served fish and it must have a head, because Rosh Hashanah literally translates as “head of the year.” A round loaf of challa bread is baked for the dinner table symbolizing the cyclicity of the year. On Rosh Hashanah G_d decides a person’s destiny for the coming year, in this case 5780. There is a Rosh Hashanah greeting, “khatima tova,” which is a wish for success you will be written into the Book of Life.
The tenth day of Rosh Hashanah is Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. The Torah tells us not to do anything on that except reflect on our actions over the preceding year. It is the time when a final decision will be made regarding the destiny of the individual over the coming year. Jews wish one another “gmar khatima tova,” good luck with the final inscription.
The Vilnius Jewish Religious Community, the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Goodwill Foundation greet you with “shana tova u’metuka,” or “sweet new year,” and hope to see you at synagogue!
Simas Levinas, chairman
Vilnius Jewish Religious Community
Attention all eleventh and twelfth graders: there will be additional English lessons for 11th and 12th graders beginning in October. The goal is to help students prepare for exams, both the state exam and IELTS, and to increase general English facility in areas such as grammar, speaking and reading.
The major gaps in knowledge are usually found in the field of grammar and we will spend most of the class time on English grammar, including theory, practice and activities. Children and young people will get to know English grammar structures and will have the chance to use them.
The maximum class size per group is limited to 12 students. There will be two lessons every week. The teacher is Viačeslav Mlynkovskij, an English teacher at the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius. Classes will be held at the Lithuanian Jewish Community located at Pylimo street no. 4 with easy access by foot and mass transit.
Schedule:
Monday, 6:30 P.M.
Wednesday, 6:30 P.M.
The cost is 48 euros per month (comprising 8 lessons). Individual lessons cost 7 euros apiece. To register call 8 652 05992 or write mlynkovskij@gmail.com
Israeli ambassador Yossi Levy, LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and designer and architect Victoria Sideraitë-Alon hold up the new Jewish calendar for 5780.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community has published a new Jewish calendar for 5780 as we prepare for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This year’s calendar features Lithuanian synagogues past and present.
The year 5780/2020 contains some anniversaries of global significance to Jews, including the 300th birthday of the Vilna Gaon and the 580th anniversary of the building of the Great Synagogue in Vilnius.
LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky calls for everyone to come together for a noble cause, to work together to protect the small surviving inheritance of Litvak culture for our grandchildren and the future.
Activities include:
English lessons from 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. with Viačeslav Mlynkovskij, a teacher at the Sholem Aleichem school, in the Ilan Club room.
Hebrew lessons from 11:15 A.M. to 12 noon in the conference hall on the second floor.
Traditions from 12 noon to 12:45 P.M. in the conference hall on the second floor.
For more information and to register, contact teacher Ruth Reches, ruthreches@gmail.com
A reading of the names of Holocaust victims will take place at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius between 10:00 and 11:00 A.M. on September 23.
The exhibit “Polish Ambassador to Japan Tadeusz Romer and Jewish Refugees in the Far East” will open with an event in the Jascha Heifetz Hall on the third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community at 6:00 P.M. on September 19.
This mobile exhibit from the Polish Institute was first shown last March at the Sugihara House museum in Kaunas. The authors of the exhibit Dr. Olga Barbasiewicz and Barbara Abraham are to take part in this opening. The exhibit will run till October 19.
It’s never too late to learn a new language or renew and enrich your knowledge. Come learn Hebrew with Dr. Ruth Reches beginning October 6.
Sunday:
9:45 A.M. Advanced group
1:00 P.M. group with some knowledge
2:45 P.M. Beginners
Class will be held in the conference hall on the 2nd floor at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius. Registration required. Register by sending an email to ruthreches@gmail.com
Everyone is welcome.
The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum invites the public to the opening of a showing of photography by Bartosz Frątczak called “(Non-)Existence” at the Tolerance Center at 5:00 P.M. on September 19. The opening ceremony is dedicated to marking the Day of Remembrance of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide.
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky is visiting Chicago in the United States. She, Lithuanian minister of culture Dr. Mindaugas Kvietkauskas and Tomas Venclova are to participate in a University of Illinois at Chicago seminar “Narratives of Pluralism in Lithuania’s Past and Present” on Tuesday. For more information, see https://www.facebook.com/events/368273490525689/
The Vincas Kudirka Public Library in Kaunas invites the public to a series of tours in a project called Jewish Heritage in Kaunas. The tours will be conducted on September 6, 8 and 10 and will cover modern architecture, the Old Town, Slobodka and major achievements by Litvaks. Registration required. Call (37) 22 23 57 or send an email to renginiai@kaunas.mvb.lt
The guided tour on September 10 begins at 6:00 P.M. and will be led by local guide Asia Gutermanaitė.
You’re invited to take part in the March of the Living procession in Ponar at 1:00 P.M. on September 23, 2019. The march begins at the Ponar railroad station and concludes at the main memorial in the Ponar Memorial Complex, where a commemoration ceremony to remember the genocide of the Jews of Lithuania will begin at 1:15.
A bus will offer transport from the LJC to the memorial complex leaving at 12 noon. Registration begins September 16. To register, call 8 5 261 3003.
A lesson on how to bake traditional challa bread will be held at 3:00 P.M. on September 15 at the Šeduva Crafts and Culture Center located at Vilniaus street no. 1 in Šeduva. Chefs from the Bagel Shop Café will share the secrets of traditional Litvak holiday customs and cuisine.
The Vilnius Jewish Religious Community is proud to present an exhibition of documents and photographs by Michailas and Natalija Duškesas opening at 6:00 P.M. on September 10.
The Aušra Museum in Šiauliai will mark European Day of Jewish Culture on September 8, 2019. At 1:00 P.M. a game will be held on the grounds of the Frankel factory. At 2:00 P.M. the museum will open the exhibit “The Frankel Factory: A Symbol of Šiauliai Industry and Modernization” and screen a series of documentary films about Jews of Šiauliai called “Dingusio pasaulio pėdsakais. Žydiškieji Šiauliai” [Traces of a Lost World: Jewish Šiauliai] directed by Jūratė Sobutienė at the Chaim Frankel villa.
The game will requires teams of from 2 to 4 people with telephones or tablets with internet access. To register your team call 8 41 524 392 or send an e-mail to istorija@ausrosmuziejus.lt
More information:
www.ausrosmuziejus.lt
https://www.facebook.com/events/698501067290781
Augustė Labenskytė, acting director,
History Department, Aušra Museum
The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club will hold a fun run starting from Vingis Park in Vilnius at 11:00 A.M., September 8, 2019. Runners who are members of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and friends of the Community are invited to compete. Runners may chose to run 1.5 or 3 kilometers. The 1.5=kilometer run starts at 11:30 and the 3-k at 12:15 P.M. The fee is 3 euros for students and retirees, 5 euros for everyone else. Payment may be made prior to SEB Bank or in cash at the starting line. Bank code: LT69 7040 0600 0090 8716. Registration by internet is open to midnight, September 5, here:
https://dbsportas.lt/lt/varz/2019148
Registered runners will receive a unique number to wear.
Artiom Perepelica is the coordinator and can be reached by telephone at+370 60 448 036 or by sending an emila to artiom.perp@gmail.com
The Vilnius, Jerusalem of Lithuania Jewish Community invites the public to attend a meeting with Dita Zupavičienė-Šperlingienė, a living legend, a survivor of the Kaunas ghetto, the Stutthof concentration camp and other concentration camps and of the final death march. The meeting will include a presentation of unique footage from Kaunas in 1929, filmed by Dita’s uncle Honon who came for a short visit before going on to Riga and Lvov, which also feature in the film. Members of Dita’s family look at us through time and Dita will tell their stories and how the film itself made it through the war and came to her.
The meeting will take place at 6:00 P.M. on September 4 at the Vilnius Jewish Public Library.
An exhibit of works produced by participants in the plein air outdoor painting workshop opens at 6:00 P.M. on September 6 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius. Everyone is welcome to attend.