Announcements

Russian-Language Play Natan Comes to Vilnius

Russian-Language Play Natan Comes to Vilnius

he Vaidila Theater will host a performance in Russian by Anatoli Beli and Mikhail Mikhail Borzykin based on the novel “Natan” by Artur Solomonov. Borzykin is the lead singer of the band Televizor from Leningrad formed back in 1984.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is offering two free tickets to two lucky winners. Just go to the LJC facebook profile and leave a post with your name and the name of your choice to accompany you. Winners will be announce April 28 on facebook.

The cost of a ticket starts at €25.00 and can be purchased here. Call +37064586866 for more information.

Time: 7:00 P.M., Thursday, May 1
Place: Vaidila Theater, Jakšto street no. 9, Vilnius

Israeli Trio to Perform in Vilnius

Israeli Trio to Perform in Vilnius

The Faran Ensemble from Israel will perform as part of the Skambantys Pasauliai [Worlds of Song] festival. Faran make music from the ancient Near East but in a style all their own.

Tickets cost between €23.60 and €59.00 and are available here.

Time: 7:00 P.M., Monday, April 28
Place: St. Catherine’s Church, Vilniaus street no. 30, Vilnius

Yom haShoah in Ponar

Yom haShoah in Ponar

April 24 is Yom haShoah, the day to remember vicitms of the Holocaust.

In 1953 prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion and president of Israel Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, signed into law Yom haShoah as an observance day. The original plan was to hold this observance day on the 14th of Nisan, which was the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. This didn’t work, because that day preceded Passover. It was then decided to move the date to the 27th of Nisan, but not strictly. When it would fall on the Sabbath, Yom haShoah is moved a day back or forward.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and others will mark the day at the Ponar Memorial Complex just outside Vilnius. A coach will leave from central Vilnius to bring people to and back from Ponar, but prior registration is required by sending an email to info@lzb.lt. Contact the LJC for exact departure time and location.

Time: 12:00 noon, Thursday, April 24
Place: Ponar Memorial Complex, Agrastų street no. 15A, Vilnius

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 8:28 P.M. on Friday, April 18, and concludes at 9:30 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 8:10 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:28 P.M. Passover ends Sunday at sunset. Sunday is also Easter on the Catholic, Western Christian, Russian Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox and Coptic Church calendars. Most government offices and some grocery stores will be closed Monday.

Happy Passover

Happy Passover

Dear Community members, friends, supporters and dear reader,

Greetings to all Jews on the great holiday Passover. This holiday crows the liberation of the Jews from the oppression of the Egyptian pharaoh and our becoming one people and a free people.

Passover isn’t a time of noisy gatherings. It is a traditional family holiday when the home is cleansed of leavening agents, children seek out the hidden pieces of matzo, when the whole family sits down at the seder table and reads the Haggadah.

We are so very happy that this year the majority of Litvak families are celebrating Passover in line with all traditions and rules, celebrating at home with their families. Our staff and homecare workers are also visiting our members who live alone that they might also feel cared for and share in the holiday spirit of warmth and joy.

I wish everyone a happy family Passover. Let’s always remain free and let’s always be happy.

Happy Passover! Hag Pesach sameach!

Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community

Temporary Closure of Choral Synagogue

Temporary Closure of Choral Synagogue

The Vilnius Jewish religious community extends its greetings to all on one of the most significant Jewish holidays—Passover—and informs that, due to Mr. Krinsky’s (who is neither the rabbi of the Vilnius Choral synagogue nor of the Vilnius Jewish Religious Community) refusal to sign a liability agreement for an event he intended to organize, the Vilnius Jewish Religious Community as the sole owner and administrator of the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius has made the decision to temporarily close the synagogue.

On February 7, 2025, while celebrating his wife Dina Krinsky’s birthday, Mr. Krinsky gathered a group of guests at the Choral Synagogue. Some of the guests became ill after the banquet and several were hospitalized with salmonella.

Contrary to the requirements of the laws of Lithuania and the internal regulations of the Choral Synagogue, Mr. Krinsky did not report this incident in the prescribed manner and as a result, this information remained unknown to the institutions responsible for sanitation and hygiene.

The Vilnius Jewish Religious Community refuses to take any responsibility for Mr. Krinsky’s actions and therefore demanded that all events organized by his community in the Choral synagogue take place only upon the signing of a liability agreement. This agreement, in addition to Halachic laws, would include commitments to comply with hygiene, fire safety and occupational safety standards. Unfortunately, Mr. Krinsky refused to sign the liability agreement.

Read more
Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 8:16 P.M. on Friday, April 11, and concludes at 9:15 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 7:57 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:16 P.M. Passover begins at sunset on Saturday..

Lithuanian National Library Presents New Book of Grigoriy Kanovitch’s Interviews and Speeches

Lithuanian National Library Presents New Book of Grigoriy Kanovitch’s Interviews and Speeches

The Martynas Mažvydas Lithuanian National Library in Vilnius will host the launch of a new collection of talks and interviews by the late Litvak novelist Griogiry Kanovitch at 6:00 P.M. on Wednesday, April 16.

The book is called “Tiesa gydo. Vieši žodžiai ir interviu, 1988–1993–2022” [Truth Heals: Public Speeches and Interviews, 1988-1993-2022] and was edited by Virginijus Gasiliūnas.

Virginijus Gasiliūnas, Kanovitch’s son and writer Sergejus,and literature researcher Rima Kasperionytė will engage in a panel discussion moderated by Dainius Vaitiekūnas. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky is to deliver an introductory speech.

The event is expected to last two hours and is free and open to everyone.

How Yiddish Writer Chaim Grade’s Last Novel Was Rescued and Wrestled into Print

How Yiddish Writer Chaim Grade’s Last Novel Was Rescued and Wrestled into Print

Photo: Chaim Grade’s Sons and Daughters was originally serialized in the 1960s and ’70s in New York-based Yiddish newspapers (from YIVO and Alfred. A. Knopf via JTA).

The editors discuss how a previously-lost decades-old manuscript was found and pieced together. It’s being called “probably the last great Yiddish novel”

by Andrew Silow-Carroll, April 7, 2025

JTA–Sixty years after he first began serializing it in the Yiddish press and 42 years after publisher Alfred A. Knopf acquired the book, Sons and Daughters–the last novel by the late, great Yiddish novelist Chaim Grade–lands in bookstores this week. To call it long-awaited is an understatement.

How the novel came to be published in English translation is a story of family intrigue, literary detective work and dogged creativity on the part of its translator and editors.

The result, a sprawling 600-plus-page book about a rabbi in 1930s Lithuania and the different paths taken by his children, is “quite probably the last great Yiddish novel,” the critic Adam Kirsch writes in the introduction. Dwight Garner in a New York Times review calls it “a melancholy book that also happens to be hopelessly, miraculously, unremittingly funny.”

Full story here.

Natalja Cheifec on Passover

Natalja Cheifec on Passover

Natalja Cheifec will provide a special lecture on Passover traditions Wednesday via internet. She’ll discuss Egyptian slavery, liberation, Moses, unleavened bread and meaning of being passed over and chosen in the context of the Jewish people.

To receive zoom credentials, click here.

Time: 5:30 P.M., Wednesday, April 9
Place: internet

Passover Seder

Passover Seder

Dear reader,

The Bnei Maskilim progressive Jewish community invites you to Passover seder. Rabbinical students Emma Aaronson, Dani Pattiz and Viljamas Žitkauskas will lead ceremonies. Join us and celebrate the spirit of freedom and fellowship.

On this evening like no other we will remember the story of Exodus, read the Haggadah, sing the traditional prayers together and sample the holiday foods according to Passover tradition.

Registration is required. Confirm your participation by sending an email to viljamas@lzb.lt.

Time: 7:00 P.M., April 12
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 8:06 P.M. on Friday, April 4, and concludes at 8:59 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 7:43 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:06 P.M. Tuesday is also International Romani Day.

Matzo Available

Matzo Available

Matzo is available at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius during working hours in packages of 450 grams and 1 kilogram.

Natalja Cheifec Lecture Series: Pearls of Wisdom from the Vilna Gaon

Natalja Cheifec Lecture Series: Pearls of Wisdom from the Vilna Gaon

Natalja Cheifec will present a new lecture Thursday featuring Sefer Even Shlema, a collection of commentaries by the Vilna Gaon.

Lecture to include:

-negative features (midot) and how to correct them;
-the ability to be satisfied with little;
-trust in the Almighty and how to serve Him;
-the war against innate sin;
-fear and love of the Most High and following His law;
-raising and teaching children;
-vain speech;
-prayer;
-reward and punishment;
-hell, paradise and final judgment.

To receive zoom credentials to participate via internet, click here.

Time: 5:30 P.M., Thursday, April 3
Place: internet

Lithuanian Makabi Getting Ready for 2025 World Maccabiah Games

Lithuanian Makabi Getting Ready for 2025 World Maccabiah Games

The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club is currently preparing for the 2025 Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Last week Lithuanian Makabi participated at the Maccabi Congress in Tel Aviv and were officially registered as participants.

Now Lithuanian Makabi is getting athletes ready. There are still plenty of spaces to fill and if you’d like to participate, register here.

For a complete list of included sports, click here

.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 6:48 P.M. on Friday, March 28, and concludes at 7:44 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit and prayers begun at 6:30 P.M., and completed before sunset at 6:48 P.M.

Igor Epstein Klezmer Concert and Lecture

Igor Epstein Klezmer Concert and Lecture

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is pleased to announce a concert by Igor Itzik Epstein from Köln and his lecture on klezmer music called “Klezmer Music from Its Origins to Today.”

Epstein’s Klezmer Tov was founded by Igor (Itzik) Epstein in Cologne about 15 years ago. Igor’s musical journey did not begin, however, in Germany. Born in Vilnius, Igor grew up in Rostov-on-Don in a Jewish musical family. It was there that he received his music education, first as a classical violinist and later as a jazz bass performer, graduating from the Rostov State Conservatory.

The development of Igor’s unique style is the result of a lifetime of musical influence. Playing music and growing up in a talented musical family meant that he was always surrounded by different forms of music. Therefore, upon moving to Europe, he became known as a performer who seems to appeal to his listeners on multiple levels simultaneously by fusing together elements of folk, jazz and classical music with sparkling Jewish humor.

Epstein’s Klezmer Tov is a traditional acoustic band which communicates with the audience through their own native musical language called Klezmer. Although the number of musicians in the group can vary from duo to sextet (violin, clarinet, guitar, bass, accordion/piano and percussion) the genuine colorful emotions and the authenticity of its expressive melodies remain unchanged.

Epstein will speak and perfrom April 1 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. Registration is required by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt. For more information, call (+370) 678 81514.

Time: 6:30 P.M., April 1
Place: LJC, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

Read more
Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 6:34 P.M. on Friday, March 21, and concludes at 7:30 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 6:16 P.M. and completed before sunset at 6:34 P.M. Nowruz, Persian New Year, falls on the vernal equinox in 2025, Thursday, March 20, and is celebrated on multiple dates in multiple countries for several days following.

Natalja Cheifec Lecture on Vilna Gaon

Natalja Cheifec Lecture on Vilna Gaon

Natalja Cheifec’s continuing internet lecture and discussion club will address Thursday at 5:30 P.M. the topic of the Vilna Gaon. Who was he, where did he live, what were his teachings and why does he remain a central figure today?

To receive zoom credentials, click here.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 6:21 P.M. on Friday, March 14, and concludes at 7:06 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 6:03 P.M. and completed before sunset at 6:21 P.M. Purim starts at sunset on Thursday, March 13. Friday is also the International Day of Mathematics and Monday is St. Patrick’s Day.