European Jewish Congress Shocked and Appalled by Attacks in Brussels Calling
Them “Shots at the Heart of Europe”

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) has expressed shock and revulsion at the attacks which took place in Brussels this morning. Two explosions rocked the departure lounge at Brussels Airport and another blast went off in the Brussel Maelbeek metro station, very close to European Union institutions.

“This is yet another shocking, appalling and deadly attack on innocent Europeans by terrorists,” Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the EJC, said. “These attacks on an airport, train system and outside European Union institutions are shots at the heart of Europe. Our prayers and thoughts are with the Belgian people at these difficult times.”

“These are attacks against all that we stand for. All Europeans regardless of background must stand together and expel this terror and intolerance from our midst.”

The blasts come four days after Belgian police arrested a key suspect in the November, 2015 attacks in Paris.

“We can no longer ignore the fact that radical Islamists are at war with Europe and all Europeans and we call on our governments and law enforcement agencies to act accordingly,” Dr. Kantor said. “We have been exposed for too long and now we must strike back at the terrorist infrastructure including those who support it economically, and those who inspire and provide it legitimacy.”

Tuesday, March 22, 2016.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community express our deepest condolences to the people of Turkey following the March 13 attack on central Ankara. Terrorism is a threat the Lithuanian Jewish Community understands well and remains a great challenge to 21st century society. We condemn the perpetrators of this vicious kind of crime who hold hostage the lives and safety of many civilians.

A man has gone who dreamt of Grand Lithuania. Grand not in size, but in thought, imagination and creativity. A man has gone who himself worked for such a Lithuania for decades. Professor Saulius Sondeckis is gone.

The period between the encouraging words of Herbert von Karajan to the young musicians Saulius Sondeckis conducted to the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra which put Lithuania on the world map included the entire epoch of Lithuania’s cultural renaissance. Many of the foreign maestros who came to Lithuania sought out professor Sondeckis because he was sort of a symbol of the talent of our country. A void has appeared in the national culture now without the professor, although it is being filled by hundreds of Saulius Sondeciskis’s students.

And a man has left us for whom everything mattered in Lithuania. Raised by his father and standing firmly upon Lithuanian Social Democratic roots, he invited us all not to look away from the individual, and he was deeply concerned with the continuation of social democratic thinking in Lithuania.

In saying goodbye to the Maestro, I express my sincere condolences to his family, his students and his friends, and to the entire cultural community of Lithuania. Our work for Lithuania and culture will be the implementation of his dreams.

Algirdas Butkevičius
Prime minister of Lithuania
Chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party

Saulius Sondeckis, conductor, orchestra leader and professor, died February 3 at the age of 88.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community expresses condolences to his surviving family, his wife Silvija and three sons Saulius, Paulius and Vytautas, as well as all the other members of his family.

Sondeckis was a great friend of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. During his last visit in May of 2015 the hall was full to overflowing during a screening of a film about him by his son Saulius. At that time the maestro thanked his parents for inspiring him to embark upon his musical career, saying stories about their good works circulated by word of mouth: the charity work of his mother, a teacher, helping poor students, and the rescue of Jews by his father, Jackus, the burgermeister of Šiauliai. Jackus Sondeckis was recognized as a Righteous Gentile by Yad Vashem. Lithuanian music experts recognize Saulius Sondeckis as a Lithuanian artist of the highest order. Just a year ago he was performing fully on stage despite his age. Over 50 years of work professor Sondeckis conducted more than 3,000 concerts in almost every European country, in the USA, Japan, Cuba, South Korea, Canada and Taiwan.

With sadness we report the death of Lithuanian Jewish Community member Faina Duškina (July 28,1946–January 18, 2016) on January 18.

The LJC express our deepest regrets to her daughters for the loss of their mother.

Joel Elkes, whose father was Dr. Elkhanan Elkes, the reluctant chairman of the Kaunas ghetto Ältestenrat, or council of elders, died at the age of 101 on October 30 in Sarasota, Florida. Joel Elkes made major contributions to modern psychiatry. His wife Sally Lucke Elkes reported the cause of death was kidney failure.

Dr. Joel Elkes helped shape
treatment for schizophrenia.
Photo: New York Times

On December 1, 2015, Rima Vaisman, a member of our community and a member of the Social Center, passed away. She was born on February 9, 1925. Our deepest condolences to her friends and family.

We are saddened to learn of the death of Boris Mishkin on November 6 of this year. He was born on November 14, 1929. Our deepest sympathies go to his family and friends.

PARIS (JTA)—Some 200 people gathered under heavy guard at a Paris synagogue to remember the victims of the terrorist attacks in the French capital on Friday night.

Led by chief rabbi of France Haim Korsia, leaders of French Jewry and Israel’s ambassador to France were among those who assembled at the Synagogue de la Victoire Sunday evening.

“Our people, who have been tested more than others, know the healing power of solidarity and unity in the face of the pain of families torn apart, broken couples and orphaned children,” Michel Gugenheim, chief rabbi of Paris, said about the132 fatalities and more than 350 wounded in multiple coordinated attacks.

Embassy of Israel
Vilnius

The Embassy of the State of Israel is very saddened to hear about the passing of Abram Lešč. We would like to express our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Abram Lešč.

Yehuda Gidron
Deputy Chief of Mission

In profoundest sorrow and with our deepest condolences to his survivors, we regret to announce that Abramas Leščius passed away on November 12. The Lithuanian Jewish Community as a whole feels the painful loss of this sincere, honest and intelligent man who served as gabbai of the Vilnius Choral Synagogue minyan for many years.

He was born on April 18, 1932. He will be buried according to Jewish tradition. The burial ceremony is to take place at 11:00 A.M. on November 13 at the Vilnius Jewish Cemetery, located at Sudervės road No. 28. A bus will transport those who want to bid him farewell from the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street No. 4 at 10:30 A.M.

Abramas Leščius agreed to share passages from his life on the lzb.lt webpage just six months ago.