You’re invited to attend a presentation of V. Žeimantas’s new book “Lietuvos sporto klubas Makabi 1916-2016” [Lithuanian Sports Club Maccabi 1916-2016] by Maccabi Sports Club president Semionas Finkelšteinas at 5:00 P.M. on Monday, February 29, at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius.
You’re invited to attend a presentation of issue number 4 of Brasta, an almanac of Jewish history and culture, at the Vilnius Jewish Library at Gedimino prospect no. 24, Vilnius, at 4:00 P.M. on Friday, February 19. This issue is in English and Lithuania and is arranged on the theme of the origins of Jewish humanitarian medicine and Vilnius doctors.
“This issue of Brasta is not just about showcasing famous or not-so-famous names from the world of medicine, but to make explicit the foundational principles of Jewish medicine and the loyalty of doctors to a centuries-old tradition. The publication attempts to bring into focus the core of Jewish medicine and its foundations enriching the practice and science of healing world-wide, to publicize the traditions Lithuania’s doctors held dear and which are still alive today,” editor-in-chief Dalia Epšteinaitė said.
Attending the event: MEP Petras Auštrevičius; chemist, biotechnologist, businessman and scholar professor Vladas A. Bumelis; historian Arūnas Bubnys; editor-in-chief, author and translator Dalia Epšteinaitė; and project director and director of the Vilnius Jewish Library Žilvinas Beliauskas.
Brasta is a publication published by the Vilnius Jewish Library’s Charity and Welfare Foundation. It describes itself as an almanac of Jewish culture and history which publishes popular, literary and theoretical pieces. The annual publication presents readers interesting positions and insights by Lithuanian and foreign authors, studies and ongoing research on Jewish cultural phenomena and insight and analysis of same.
Bernardinai.lt
You are invited to the opening of the exhibit “YIVO in Vilnius: The Legend Begins” at the Lithuanian National Museum at Arsenalo street no. 1 in Vilnius at 4:00 P.M., February 18. Exhibit curators: Dr. Lara Lempertienė and Dr. Giedrė Jankevičiūtė.
The exhibit was created to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the creation of YIVO in Vilnius. It includes previously unseen material from Lithuanian state collections on the history and work of YIVO. It demonstrates how YIVO’s work gave stimulus to the intellectual life of the Jews of Vilnius and the wider Central and Eastern European arena. It also presents the city and urban community as a source of inspiration and as the historical and cultural hearth and sustenance for the institute’s work. The exhibit was first shown at the Galicia Jewish museum in Cracow from September 30 to November 8, 2015. The exhibit to open in Vilnius contains additional material.
The Destinies series invites you to come meet Dr. Kristina Sabaliauskaitė at a presentation/seminar called
Jewish Motifs in the Art of Kristina Sabaliauskaitė
This will be the 24th seminar in our series and will be moderated by teacher and essayist Vytautas Toleikis.
Time: 6:00 P.M. on Wednesday, February 17
Place: Jascha Heifetz Hall, third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius
Series organizer and MC: Lithuanian Jewish Community deputy chairwoman Maša Grodnikienė
Dear friends and colleagues,
The World Jewish Congress has made enormous leaps with its social media profiles since I joined the WJC three years ago, becoming an important and ever-present fixture on the digital platforms viewed and used by people of all ages, all over the world.
Thanks to our growing and expanding presence on widely used platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+, the WJC is maintaining its relevance in far reaches of the world for Jews and non-Jews alike: we are considered an important and well-respected source of news about Jewish communities and their activities everywhere; people turn to us for in-depth analyses and commentaries on a range of issues including anti-Semitism, Holocaust remembrance, Israel advocacy, Jewish traditions and Judaism in general.
The World Jewish Congress’ Facebook pages–available in four languages–are among the most popular of all Jewish organizations and have more posts and engagements with users than any other Jewish organization.
Call for proposals: Call for proposals on projects in the area of integration
Deadline for submission of applications: February 29, 2016 (12:00 noon CET)
>>More information on the call
The Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius, Lithuania is a non-profit organization expanding its activities and seeks partners under the call for proposals aimed at funding transnational projects to foster integration of third country nationals in the member-states of the European Union.
We would like to share our experience in the field of integration initiatives for female migrants and active cooperation with various actors on the national level.
Our best practices under this call meet the priority described below:
Priority 1: to foster the integration of migrant women.
Outcome 1.1: to share knowledge and experiences of actions to support migrant women, in particular beneficiaries of
The New Year for Trees (Tu B’Shvat) has arrived. Now is the best time to plant fruit trees in Israel!
Join the First Massive Planting of Fruit Trees in 2 Years!
Since last year was Shmita, the Sabbatical Year, Israeli farmers did not plant, in fulfillment of the biblical command to allow the Land to rest in the seventh year.
STARTING RIGHT NOW, OVER 20 KINDS OF FRUIT TREES WILL BE PLANTED.
Apples, Apricots, Almonds, Dates, Figs, Pears, Plums, Pomegranates and so much more!
In the Bible, God promises to bless those who properly observe the laws of planting in Israel:
“I will ordain My blessing for you…” (Leviticus 25:21)
Full promotion here.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the elite chess and checkers club Rositsan and Maccabi
invite you
to a chess tournament to celebrate
February 16,
Lithuanian Independence Day.
The tournament is to take place at 11:00 A.M. on February 14 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius.
Tournament director: FIDE master Boris Rositsan
For more information and to register, contact: info@metbor.lt, telephone +3706 5543556
The Bagel Shop, a new kosher food café, opens its doors February 4. The café will prepare kosher food and different traditional sweets according to the rules of Judaism. The Bagel Shop’s main draw will be freshly-baked bagels and bagel sandwiches. Adhering to the strictest rules, the bagels will be made under the supervision of a rabbi versed in kosher food rules.
Bagels are a traditional European Jewish food product often referred to as a “baronka” in Lithuania in the past, and when cooked may be cut in half and made into a sandwich. The book Joy of Yiddish furnishes one version of the origin of the bagel, according to which the recipe for bagels was created in Cracow at the beginning of the 17th century, and that bagels were given then as gifts to women giving birth. The bagel was supposed to symbolize the “wheel of life” because of its roundness. The bagel’s popularity quickly grew and spread to other countries where Jews speaking Yiddish lived, and was quickly adopted in America, where today about five million bagels are baked daily!
The World Jewish Congress are searching for two new interns to work with them at their Geneva office from February, 2016. Both internships last a minimum of 3 months.
– Internship in “Assisting the JDCorps Coordinator Europe, FSU Region, Israel and Africa”:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B42kDlSEIu6FZXZKVUJNcE5uczJiZnVyUlMyVW1xUDBaXzRj/view?usp=sharing
– Internship in “Assisting the UN Representative and JDCorps Policy Analyst”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B42kDlSEIu6Fdkp5UUEtbDF3YWpXbkN6ME9kd1RqQ1F3VWZj/view?usp=sharing
Join hundreds of people from across the country who will be attending the ZF and Christian Friends of Israel Annual Lobby Day for Israel 2016. Held on February 24th, the Lobby Day gives Israel advocates the opportunity to meet with their MP and share their support for the Jewish state. During this time of heightened violence, it’s more important than ever to let our elected representatives know they have constituents who support Israel.
For further information, please see:
https://madmimi.com/p/08d037
We invite you to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day at 3:00 P.M. on January 27 at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius at Pylimo street no. 39.
There will be readings of the names of Holocaust victims, brief testimonies of survivors and a prayer for the dead.
January 27 was the date in 1945 when Auschwitz was liberated. On November 1, 2005, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution making January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The resolution condemned Holocaust denial and discrimination and violence based on religion and ethnicity.
To mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum is hosting three days of seminars on the Holocaust featuring a panel of speakers from Lithuania and Western Europe. Speakers are to include Philippe Boukara and Georges Bensoussan from Mémorial de la Shoah, the French co-sponsor of the event with the International Commission for the Assessment of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania from Lithuania.
The seminars are called “The Holocaust, Collaboration and Mass Murder in Lithuania” and will run from January 20 to January 22.
On November 1, 2005, the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization adopted a resolution to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. Remembering the Holocaust is inseparable from studying the causes of this tragedy which rocked civilization to its core and inseparable from teaching and inculcating tolerance and human respect. Lithuania is a member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and an active participant in international programs to fight anti-Semitism.
The mass murder of Jews began even before the Nazis occupied Lithuania in 1941. Over a few months the majority of the Lithuanian Jewish community were murdered. Survivors were sent as slave labor to the ghettos set up in the cities and towns. The Nazis “liquidated” most of the ghettos after a few short months while the remaining ghettos in Vilnius, Kaunas and Šiauliai operated for another two to three years. The Vilnius ghetto was liquidated on September 23, 1943. Most of the inhabitants were shot to death at Ponar while others were transferred to concentration camps. The Panevėžys ghetto was liquidated on August 15, 1941. Thirteen and a half thousand Jews were shot. More than 200,000 Jews were murdered in Lithuania during World War II, accounting for approximately 95 percent of the Lithuanian Jewish community. There are more than 200 mass murder sites in Lithuania and about the same number of old Jewish cemeteries.
The Jewish community in Lithuania formed near the end of the 14th century. They were a thriving ethnic community in Lithuanian towns and cities by the beginning of the 20th century. In the period between the last half of the 19th and early 20th century, Jews accounted for between a quarter and a half of the population in many cities and towns. They were citizens of Lithuania with their own individual daily cares, worries and joys. Compared to other ethnic communities, the Jewish community was one of the largest in Lithuania.
You’re invited to the presentation of the book “Houses That Talk: Sketches of Vokiečių Street in the Nineteenth Century” by Dr, Aelita Ambrulevičiūtė at 6:00 P.M., January 22, at the Jewish Culture and Information Street at Mėsinių street no. 3 in Vilnius.
The book provides a picture of the commercial life of the street in the 19th century. It details in English and Lithuania the history of 32 former buildings on the street, their owners and the commercial enterprises which operated in them. There is a presentation of stores and store owners and goods, banks and other businesses. The book is full of photographs from the late 19th and early 20th century.
The author and Sigita Pūkienė, director of the publishing house Aukso žuvys, are scheduled to attend the event.
Location: Great Hall, Vytautas Magnus University, Gimnazijos street No. 7
Time: 3:00 P.M., January 17, 2016
The Kaunas Jewish Community and the Sugihara Foundation “Diplomats for Life” have the pleasure of requesting your attendance at a concert. The concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladas Varčikas will feature his students, including:
professor Petras Kunca (violin),Vilija Vitkutė Pranskienė (violin), Kristijonas Venslovas (violin), Daiva Valentaitė (alto), Andrius Pleškūnas (alto), Benas Ulevičius (vocals, guitar),
EJT celebrates two months of work and achievements
This autumn we successfully launched the European Jewish Times–an independent online platform which provides fresh and interesting stories to European Jewry. We wanted to thank you for the amazing cooperation during these months! EJT constantly receives your press releases, updates and feedback which help us to evolve and create the best possible content for you at all times. Currently Jewish communities are facing several new challenges, however, and we should all stand together in confronting them.
Recently European Jewish communities have watched with worry an unprecedented rise in anti-Semitic public discourse as well as actual physical threats to communities. Since global media avoid real coverage of this issue, we decided to launch The JWatch Project, a new platform aimed at giving a voice to fellow Jews who are under attack.
As part of the JWatch Project, our channels are open for your live reports of anti-Semitic incidents from anywhere in Europe which we will report immediately for the benefit of our many followers and readers in an effort to expose the scope of this troubling phenomenon and to put a stop to it.
In addition, we are preparing for a turning point in Jewish leadership at the end of January when the European Jewish Congress (EJC) will re-elect its president. We look forward to the upcoming events and will report them to you live. We hope for a change following this event.
Dear friends and colleagues,
The Embassy of Israel invites you to a fun martial arts event on Sunday, January 17, including training by masters of krav maga and karate.
“Learn from the Masters!” is a public event open to everyone without regard to physical condition, age or profession.
You will have the opportunity to meet the masters of krav maga and karate in Lithuania, who will present the philosophies of these martial arts and provide practical group training.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Rositsan and Maccabi Elite Chess and Checkers Club invite you to a chess tournament dedicated to the memory of Dr. Mykolas Sakalinskas at 11:00 A.M. on Sunday, January 24, 2016 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius
Tournament director: FIDE master Boris Rositsan
For further information and to register, contact:
email: info@metbor.lt
telephone: +370 655 43556
The Goodwill Fund and the Lithuanian Jewish Community are pleased to invite you to the opening of an exhibit of photographs by Irena Giedraitienė called “Echoes of Memory.” The exhibit and accompanying photo album contain portraits from Lithuanian and foreign ghettos and concentration camps and the photo album contains a retrospective of Giedraitienė’s works.
The exhibit and opening are dedicated to honoring and commemorating members of the Union of Former Ghetto and Concentration Camp Victims. The opening ceremony is to include speakers retelling their stories of dramatic survival.
“I wanted to record those who survived the ghettos and concentration camps as quickly as possible while we are still alive. I hope this exhibit and album will honor the survivors, and serve as a symbolic commemoration,” Giedraitienė said.