Bagel shop – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Lithuanian Jewish Community Informational Overview Memorandum

Historical Context

Before the Second World War, Lithuania was for centuries an important center of Jewish life and the cradle of the distinctive Litvak tradition, marked by its own culture of Jewish learning, religious thought and communal life. From June of 1941 the Nazi occupiers and their collaborators murdered some 90% to 95% of Lithuania’s Jews, one of the highest mortality rates among all Jewish communities in Europe. After Lithuania restored its independence in 1990, the surviving Jewish community (today numbering a few thousand members) renewed its public religious and cultural life. Its activities are organized through the Lithuanian Jewish Community (LJC), an umbrella organization that brings together the country’s various Jewish organizations. At present the LJC unites 30 member organizations.

The LJC is a member of the European Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Congress.

Jewish Life

Today the Jewish community is active and through its institutions, programs and services offers activities for people of all generations.

The Choral Synagogue in Vilnius is one of only two synagogues currently functioning in Lithuania and one of the main centers of the country’s Jewish religious life. Morning and evening services are held there every day, throughout the year and on holidays. They are attended by community members as well as guests from Israel and other countries. A permanent cantor leads the daily and festive services. The community is working to strengthen the involvement of rabbis in its activities: rabbis visit regularly, and it is currently looking for a rabbi who would work more closely with younger community members.

2026-11-092026-11-10

Delegation of Rabbis Visit Lithuania

They say that every cloud has a silver lining. An antisemitic incident that took place in Vilnius last summer, when an aggressive individual spat at three visiting rabbis from Israel who had done nothing to provoke him, unexpectedly became the starting point for a new relationship and cooperation.

This unpleasant incident brought the international Orthodox Jewish organisation Dirshu and the Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community closer together, after the Community came to the assistance of the rabbis who had been attacked.

Recently, a delegation of 90 rabbis from Dirshu visited Vilnius.

2026-10-212026-11-09

Sukkot Celebration in the Courtyard

The Lithuanian Jewish Community celebrated Sukkot Thursday in the courtyard shared with the Litvak Identity Museum of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum in Vilnius. Cantor Shmuel Yaatom from the Choral Synagogue performed the prayers. A great big thank-you to all who came and made the event a success.

2026-10-05

Sukkot Celebration at the LJC

There will be a joyful gathering for Sukkot in the courtyard of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Litvak Identity Museum of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum on Thursday at 5:00 P.M. Cantor Shmuel Yaatom is master of ceremonies. Registration is required by clicking here.

Come enjoy, sing and sample the hot food and drink in the sukka. All are invited. Entrance is free. Organized by the Art of Shabbat, Moishe House Vilnius, Cvi Parku“and the Pylimo 4 Café.

Time: 5:00 P.M., Thursday, October 1
Place: Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

2026-10-012026-10-01

Family Event Waiting for Hanukkah

Hanukkah us more than just lighting the eight candles on the menorah, it’s a time to have a good time with family and friends, a time for children to play and adults to talk. With that in mind we invite you to the Waiting for Hanukkah celebration this Saturday, December 6 starting at 2:00 P.M. at the renovated Bagel Shop café now known as Pylimo 4 located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. We’ll make doughnuts, spin the dreidl, play other games and sing and dance. Registration required by sending a request to levickajasimona@gmail.com.

2025-12-04

Waiting for Hanukkah

In the run-up to Hanukkah, the Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to an evening of live music and tables laden with holiday foods. The Shalom Band and other Jewish musicians will perform. The location is the Pylimo 4 café formerly known as the Bagel Shop café located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. It all happens early Saturday evening on December 13.

2025-12-01

Sabbath Celebration with Vegetarian Dishes Inspired by Lewando

The team of the fotmer Bagel Shop Café, now called Pylimo 4 (the street address) is pleased to announce a Sabbath celebration featuring vegetarian dishes inspired by Fania Lewando from Vilnius, the author of a vegetarian cookbook published in Yiddish in 1938.

It happens this Friday, November 14. The menu pays tribute to Lewando’s cuisine which reflects Litvak traditions. Participants are asked to donate €22 per diner, but smaller donations are also very acceptable. The point is to celebrate the Sabbath together. To suggest dishes, for more information amd to register, send an email to gut.shabbos.vilnius@gmail.com.

2025-11-11

Fresh Challa Every Friday

While the café is undergoing reconstruction and will change its name to its address, Pylimo 4, when it reopens, the kitchen is still operating and many have enjoyed its special Sabbath menu. Now the café is offering challa to order for pickup on Fridays. The regular price is 7 euros per loaf, and if you want to donate to the operation, then 10 euros. Your donation will insure an earlier opening of the venue. Orders should be placed by 8:00 P.M. on Thursday each week. Payment and pickups can be done at the café from 4:00 P.M. till 7:00 P.M. on Fridays. To place your order, send an email to gut.shabbos.vilnius@gmail.com. A gut shabes!

2025-10-01

European Day of Jewish Culture in Vilnius

The 21st annual European Day of Jewish Culture held on the first Sunday in September had the theme People of the Book this year. The Lithuanian Jewish Community celebrated in Vilnius with learning as well as song, dance and food during a day-long program that went well into the late evening.

The main venues were the Choral Synagogue with basic Yiddish and Hebrew lessons and a tour, and the Cvi Park Israeli street food kiosk and performance space at Petras Cvirka Park across the street from the LJC. Tours, sampling of food, Jewish Vilna toursm concerts by Fayerlakh and klezmer groups, entertainment by writer, thinker and self-professed professonial clown Arkadijus Vinokuras and a concert by the Kiryat Ono youth quartet were just some of the activities that day.

Photographs follow.

2025-09-152025-09-15

Come Celebrate European Day of Jewish Culture with the LJC

Sunday is the annual European Day of Jewish Culture. This year the theme is People of the Book. The Lithuanian Jewish Community has a full day of events planned starting in the morning. Some events require prior registration, see below. Unless otherwise noted, events will take place at the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4. The outdoor Cvi Park space is across the street from there. The Choral Synagogue is located about 300 meters away on Pylimo street as you go towards the train and bus station.

Program:

10:30 A.M. Beginner’s Hebrew lesson with Ruth Reches at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius. Register here.

2025-09-032025-09-05

Lithuanian Jewish Community Appeals to Prosecutor General over Hate Crimes

Unpunished vandals continue to target spaces belonging to the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Last week, for the second time, perpetrators smashed the window of the Community’s Bagel Shop. Security camera footage clearly shows this was not an accident but a deliberate act aimed at one of the most frequently visited spaces of the :LJC. Sadly Lithuanian police seem incapable of recognizing crimes which exhibit the signs of anti-Semitism; instead they prioritize incidents solely based on material damage. While a few dozen or even a few hundred euros might not seem like a large sum, violence motivated by ethnic hatred is a hate crime punishable by imprisonment.

We emphasize this is not the first clearly anti-Semitic incident. Our Israeli flag was stolen and desecrated; glass near the children’s club in the Community building was smashed; the Vilnius Choral Synagogue was vandalized; the Šiauliai Jewish Community has been attacked multiple times and our Bagel Shop has repeatedly become a target for anti-Semites. Regrettably, in none of these cases did the Lithuanian police or prosecutors take meaningful action to identify and punish the perpetrators. This sends a dangerous message to malicious actors: they may spread hatred and endanger members of the community without consequence.

2025-07-172025-07-18

Hanukkah Kabalat Shabat

The Progressive Judaism association Bnei Maskilim invites you to attend the lighting of the third Hanukkah light while greeting the Sabbath with psalms and blessings, followed by holiday foods and kiddush. The ceremony will take place on third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community followed by kiddush and treats at the Bagel Shop Café at street level.

The cost is 20 euros for adults and 10 euros for children from 3 years of age. Registration is required by sending an email to viljamas@lzb.lt.

Time: 4:00 P.M., Friday, December 27
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Bagel Shop Café, Vilnius

2024-12-18

Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights

Everyone is invited to come view a 3-D light show, accompanied by traditional Hanukkah treats and warm tea.

Time: 6:30 P.M., Monday, December 30
Place: Outside the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

2024-12-16

Awaiting Hanukkah

In the run-up to Hanukkah, the Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to an evening of music called Awaiting Hanukkah with performances by the jazz group Stardust Trio and violin duo Double Cores with Boris Kirzner and Michail Bolshun.

The cost is 20 euros and prior registration is required via email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt, For more information call (+370) 678 81514.

Time: 7:00 P.M., Friday, December 20
Place: Bagel Shop Café, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

2024-12-09

Sabbath Project/World Challa-Making Day is Here

Today Jews around the world will celebrate the Sabbath together under the auspices of the Global Sabbath Project, which includes World Challa-Making Day. The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites everyone to come and make challa bread together beginning at 3:00 P.M. today, Friday, November 15. Besides making bread, we will also learn about the Sabbath, enjoy some live music and share Jewish cooking traditions. The best loaf will be chosen as the winner.

Time: 3:00 P.M., Friday, November 15
Place: Bagel Shop Café, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

Rabbi Warren Goldstein sends special Sabbath Project greetings to LJC:

2024-11-152024-11-15

Simchat Torah Event at the Bagel Shop Café

The weekly portions of Torah readings ends and begins again. To mark the end of the cycle and the beginning of the new, you’re invited to a Simchat Torah celebration with the musical duet of Borisas Kizneris and Michailas Bolshunas, and a performance by Michailas Javichius on saxophone, at the Bagel Shop Café.

The cost is 15 euros. Registration required. Send an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or call (+370) 678 81514 before noon Thursday.

Time: 7:00 P.M., Friday, October 25
Place: Bagel Shop Café

2024-10-16

Women’s Club Meeting Friday

Dear reader,

The Women’s Club will be expecting you again this Friday, and this meeting will be especially fun and delicious as we make quiches and pastries.

This time of year is special, the High Holy Days, and we cannot avoid the holiday spirit. THis Friday we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot, when we sit down at the table together with our families and also treat those who come by. So, dear homemakers, we will learn to make the Israeli dish pashtida, sometimes called a kugel, which resembles a quiche, and layered apple pastries.

A good time is guaranteed.

Please register before noon on Thursday by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or by calling (+370) 678 81514. Space is limited.

Time: 6:30 P.M., Friday, October 18
Place: Bagel Shop Café, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

2024-10-15

European Day of Jewish Culture 2024

This year’s topic is family.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is celebrating the European Day of Jewish Culture this Sunday, September 1, with a full day’s program of events, lessons, workshops, discussions and exhibits. All events are free and open to the public, but registration is required for most of the events below.

Here’s the program:

11:00 A.M.-12:30 P.M. First Hebrew lesson for the whole family with Ruth Reches at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius. Ruth will soon be forming new classes for studying Hebrew. Register here: https://bit.ly/4g5jZbW

2024-08-29

More Attacks on Lithuanian Jewish Community

Last week two more attacks were made against the Lithuanian Jewish Community. A man in a mask with the help of an accomplice brazenly stole the Israeli flag flying above the entrance of the building in Vilnius, then took the flag to a nearby park and cut it up with a knife. He also apparently threatened a person there with the same knife, but didn’t wound that person. The next day someone broke a window at the Bagel Shop Café operated by the LJC in the same building as LJC headquarters.

Both incidents were recorded on security video which has been turned over to police.

The LJC expects law enforcement will take swift action to punish the criminals in light of the rising danger posed to Jews in the Lithuanian capital.

“What’s most discouraging isn’t the crimes themselves, but people’s apathy. In the video recording you can clearly see pedestrians passing by who stopped to look back at the crazed masked man but didn’t bother to call the police. There is more than one living eye-witness in our community who has personally experienced what tragic consequences can ensue from remaining passive while crimes are committed,” LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky commented.

2024-06-112025-07-03

Evening Dedicated to the Legendary Fania Lewando

Fania Lewando was a legend of interwar Vilnius, an exceptional personality, an innovator, an excellent cook and an entrepreneur, inspiring thousands of fans even after her death.. An event organized by the Polish Institute and the Lithuanian Jewish Community and held last week was dedicated to her.

A detailed account based on years of research by Magdalena Maślak, a cultural historian and the curator of the Pauline Museum of Jewish History in Poland, painted a vivid portrait of the unusually strong personality of Fania Lewando, and Alessia di Donato, a chef from Rome, an expert in Ashkenazi and Sephardic cuisine, prepared risotto with white wine according to one of Lewando’s recipes and revealed all the intricacies of her vegetarian cuisine.

“I am often asked why I became interested in Fania Lewando’s recipes. In fact, I admire not only her dishes, but also her personality. She was an extraordinary woman, brave, active, full of ideas ahead of her time,” says the Italian, who has been living and working in Poland for ten years.

2024-04-15

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