Announcements

Campaign for Justice for Holocaust Survivors

Today, the World Jewish Restitution Organization is launching a grass-roots campaign to unite Jewish Holocaust survivors and younger generations in the ongoing effort for restitution of property stolen from Holocaust victims.

Please support this Call to Action and this international call for justice by signing this petition:
http://wjro.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c6386fad48760c74d93ecc4fb&id=7f2893a939&e=700ea8e007

In the Call to Action, Jehuda Evron, an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor and a longtime advocate for survivors and their families, asks younger generations to join the struggle for justice for survivors and their families and to ensure that their efforts continue after the last survivor has perished.

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Attend the March of the Living

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The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to attend the annual March of the Living procession from the Ponar railroad station to the Ponar Holocaust Memorial and the commemorative ceremony following this on Holocaust Day (Yom ha Shoah) on Thursday, May 5.

The march will begin at 12:30 P.M. from the parking lot next to the railroad tracks in Ponar. A bus will take those wishing to attend but this year you will have to register beforehand (see more below). The bus will wait at the base of Kalinausko street in Vilnius near the Lithuanian Jewish Community, next to the Frank Zappa statue and the Central Clinic. Be ready to board by 11:15 A.M. because the bus will depart at 11:30 A.M. sharp.

The Embassy of Israel in Lithuania, the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum and the Lithuanian Jewish Community also invite you to attend events following the March of the Living at the Government House of the Republic of Lithuania including a ceremony to honor Lithuanian Righteous Gentiles at 3:30 P.M. the same day. Government House is located at Gedimino prospect No. 11, Vilnius. Please come early for this event, arriving by 2:30 P.M., with personal identification.

To register for the bus, the Government event or both, please send your intention to attend with your full name to info@lzb.lt or call (8 5) 2613 003 by April 29.

New Space Created for LJC Youth

The Lithuanian Jewish Student Union is pleased to announce the beta phase of the project Moadon Helimudim. We have officially opened the doors to the new educational space where young people can meet daily. It includes computers, internet, wifi connection, and coffee and tea!

Please come in and make use of the new space at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius.

Contact person: Ziv Atlas
For more information write lujsinfo@gmail.com with Moadon Halimudim in the subject line.
The space is open from 5:00 P.M. onward.

Invitation to Literary Lecture “Hate is a Failure of Imagination”

The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum invites you to the literary lecture Hate is a Failure of Imagination.

It will take place on May 5, 2016, at 5:30 P.M.,

at the Tolerance Center, Naugarduko street no. 10/2, Vilnius.

Narrator Gregorij von Leïtis is a winner of the New York Theater Club Prize, founding artistic director of Elysium and president of the Lahr von Leïtis Academy & Archive.

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Interwar Jewish Composers

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a concert dedicated to the memory of
Jan Zwartendijk
Dutch diplomat and Righteous Gentile

5:00 P.M., Friday, April 29
at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

Program:

Rosy Wertheim (1888 – 1949)
6 Morceaux de Piano

Erwin Schulhoff (1894 – 1942)
Suite dansante en Jazz (1931)

Gideon Klein (1919 – 1945)
Sonata for Piano (1943)

Alexander Tansman (1897 – 1886)
Sonatine Transatlantique (1930)

Szymon Laks (1901 – 1983)
Blues

Anatolijus Šenderovas (1945 – )
Sonatina (1973)

Leo Smit (1900 – 1943)
Deux Hommages

Dick Kattenburg (1919 – 1944)
Tempo di blues (1940)
Two Waltzes

George Gershwin (1898 – 1937)
3 Preludes for Piano (1926)

Olameinu Mishpakha Camp for Young Families 2016

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Dear parents,

You are invited to register for the Olameinu Mishpakha Baltic Camp for Young Families 2016 to be held June 21 to 26 in Dubingiai, Lithuania. The camp is intended for Jewish families with children 12 and under.

There will be a packed program of activities for the parents as well as the children, including discussion of current events, interesting lessons and lectures, unforgettable evenings and recreation for the entire family surrounded by friends.

Registration forms are available here.

Please register quickly because the number of places is extremely limited.

Schedule for Hebrew Classes

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Next Tuesday, April 26, Hebrew classes will not be held.

They will resume and take place at the usual time on May 10 and May 19.

The final class in the current course taught by Yehuda Vagneris will be held May 26.

American Virtuosi Concert in Vilnius

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Don’t miss your chance to experience the American Virtuosi and Jerusalem of Lithuania performing live at the Vilnius Choral Synagogue Thursday, April 21 at 5:00 P.M.! The address is Pylimo street no. 39 and the concert is free and open to the public.

Some photos of their visit at the Lithuanian Jewish Community are available here.

Pope Visit to Israel Photo Exhibit Goes to Kaunas


An exhibition of photographs documenting Pope Francis’s visit to Israel in 2014 will be placed on display for public viewing in Kaunas at the Old Town Hall there on Wednesday, April 20. The exhibit contains 20 photographs illustrating Pope Francis’s visit and meetings in Israel. An opening ceremony for the exhibit is planned for 4:00 P.M. on April 20 to be attended by Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas, Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon, Kaunas archbishop Lionginas Virbalas and Kaunas mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis.

Francis’s visit in 2014 came 50 years after Pope Paul VI’s historic visit.

The mobile exhibit was the result of an initiative by the Israeli embassy in Lithuania and has been show around the country in large and small towns. The Kaunas showing is scheduled to end in mid-May.

Lesson about Passover with Rabbi Samson Isaacson

The Student Union of the LJC invites you to attend a lecture by Rabbi Samson Isaacson about Passover this Sunday at 4:45 P.M. at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius.

We will conduct our own kind of exodus from a room decorated with Egyptian motids immediately following (ExitRoom.lt).

A good time is guaranteed.

Registration required. Send your full name to LUJSINFO@gmail.com

or see:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1065169300210620/

The Student Union is also holding a “youth seder” at 8:45 P.M. on April 23 at the kosher Rishon restaurant. Entrance is 5 euros.

Event program:

Havdalah ceremony with Rabbi Samson Isaacson;
delicious dinner with the tradition four cups of wine;
hunt for/theft of the afikoman;
reading of the haggadah and much more!

Space is limited so please register by April 20.

http://apklausa.lt/f/pesach-sederis-xkebhyc/answers/new.fullpage

For more information contact:
lujsinfo@gmail.com
869227326

Meet the American Virtuosi

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The Destinies series of talks will host an evening with the American Virtuosi musical ensemble moderated by professor Leonidas Melnikas. The event will be moderated in Russian and entry is free to the public. The event will be held at 6:00 P.M. on Tuesday, April 19 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius.

Passover Seder

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The Lithuanian Jewish Community will hold a Passover seder on April 22, 2016. It will be held at the Conti Hotel in Vilnius (Raugyklos street No. 7) and will start at 9:00 P.M. Rabbi Samson Isaacson will lead the event.

Tickets are now sold out.

For more information, contact:

telephone 867881514, email zanas@sc.lzb.lt

Children’s Chess Competition

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11:00 A.M., April 9

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Rositsan and Maccabi Chess and Checkers Club
invite you to a children’s chess competition.

The match is dedicated to the memory of Vladas Mikėnas

Children up to age 10 will participate. The competition will take place at Kaštonų street No. 2, Vilnius (at the Children’s Chess School)

Tournament director: FIDE master Boris Rositsan, senior referee/judge: Ričardas Fichmanas

To register or for more information, contact: info@metbor.lt or telephone +3706 5543556

Amercian Virtuosi to Play Panevėžys

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The Panevėžys Musical Theater
Nepriklausomybės [Independence] square No. 8
5:30 P.M., April 20, 2016

Concert

Music: The Best Bridge between All Nations

The American Virtuosi ensemble:

Emmanuel Borowsky on violin, Frances Borowsky on cello, Elizabeth Borowsky on piano, Charles Borowsky on harmonica and voice.

Jerusalem of Lithuania ensemble musicians to perform at the concert:

Boris Traub on violin, Henrikas Marcinkus on alto violin and Valentinas Kaplūnas on cello.

Program:

Day One: Faustas Latėnas – Borisas Traubas. “Jerusalem of Lithuania,” musical score for Grigorijus Kanovičius’s drama “Nusišypsok mums, Viešpatie!” [“Smile upon us, O Lord!”]. Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911) – Five pieces (an adaptation by Boris Traub). Luigi Boccerini, quintet, “Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid” [“Night Music of the Streets of Madrid”].

Day Two: Max Bruch, Scottish Fantasy, op. 46, parts 2 and 3. Francis Poulenc, Sonata for cello, FP 143, parts 2 and 3. “Music from around the World” medley by the American Virtuosi.

Lithuanian concerts by the American Virtuosi supported by:

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Matzo to be Given to Members

Dear members of the Vilnius Jewish Community,

Greetings on the upcoming holiday of Passover!

We are distributing matzo to VJC members again this year free of charge. Please pick up your matzo package from 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. on workdays from April 4 to April 11 at room no. 201 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

Each member is to receive one 1 kilogram package. You must provide identification or a VJC member’s card to receive the package.

Members of the Social Club are receiving matzo separately from 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. in the computer room on the first floor from April 4 to 15.

This is also a good time for those who need to pay their membership dues to do so, from 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. in room 209, or by transferring funds to the Vilnius Jewish Community, institutional code 291199610, bank account LT137044060000908075, bank code 70440. Please indicate for whom the membership fees are being paid.

LJC and Rositsan and Maccabi Elite Checkers and Chess Club Chess Championship

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The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Rositsan and Maccabi Elite Checkers and Chess Club invite you to a chess championship open to the public at 11:00 A.M. on April 3.

At 11:00 A.M. on April 10 there will be a chess tournament dedicated to the memory of chess master Donatas Lapienis.

Both events are to take place at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo No. 4, Vilnius.

Boris Rositsan, FIDE master, will direct both competitions.

For more information and to register, contact:

info@metbor.lt
telephone +3706 5543556

Lox on Bagels: An Answer to Eggs Benedict?

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A Bit about Bagels

The history of the bagel is surrounded by myth and legend but seems to begin in the 12th century. One version has it that a Church ban on commercial Jewish bakeries was responsible for its appearance. In 1264 Polish grand duke Bolesław the Pious issued his Statute of Kalisz or Charter for Jews of Grand Poland which allowed Jews to freely by, sell and touch bread in common with Christians. In response a group of Polish bishops forbade Christians from buying any food at all from Jews, as it were anathema. As Moses ben Israel Isserles put it in the 16th century” “it is preferable to live on dry bread and in peace in Poland” than to remain in better conditions in lands more dangerous for Jews. At some point Jews were allowed to work with bread which was boiled, and they created the bagel to comply with his ruling, according to this version. In 1610 the first mention appears of the word “bagel” in Yiddish in the written sources, in regulations issued by the Jewish council of Kraków, which stated that bagels were to be given as a gift to women in childbirth.

Whatever the case, the bagel was popular among Jews in Eastern Europe, and came with them to America in the 19th and 20th centuries.

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