Grateful

Thank You!

Now that the Mini Limmud 2015 educational conference on Judaism has ended, I would like to thank with all my heart all the supporters, speakers, partners and colleagues for their priceless help and good advice in preparing the conference.

A huge “thank you” goes out to:

The European Jewish Fund
The Goodwill Fund
The Lithuanian Jewish Community

Faina Kukliansky, Maša Grodnikienė, Simas Levinas, Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon, Feliksas Puzemskis, Gercas Žakas, Josif Burštein, Junona Berznitski, Irina and Arkadijus Goldinas, Lara Lempertienė, Julija Lipšic, Artūras Navickas, Monika Antanaitytė, Lauras Sabonis, Michail Segal, Irina Frišman, Genė Nachumovienė, Rašelė Šeraitė, Diana Paškovaitė, Irina Slucker, Emanuelis Ryklys, Elina Nolan, Uri Zer, Regina Pats, Markas Babot, Rabbi Kalev Krelin, Rabbi Efraim Prijampolski, Devora Prijampolski, Anna Keinan, Saulius Šaltenis,Giedrius Jokūbauskas, Kama Ginkas, Anna Avidan, Galina and Sergejus Libenštein, Jurijus Tabak, Daumantas Todesas, Eugenijus Bunka, Ala Segal, Ruth Reches, Adelina Nalivaikaitė, Alina Azukaitis, Samuelis Garas, Valdis Liakas, Valentinas Solomiak, Pavel Guliakov and the entire team of wonderful Lithuanian Jewish Community youth counselors, the West Express company and Avital Maizel, Nira Koltun, Gdalij Reches, Daina Vrubliauskienė, the Conti Hotel and Semionas Ceitlinas, the Rishon Restaurant and Aleksandras Arončikas, Grimo Akademija and Eglė Pališkienė, Margarita Gurevičienė, the Vilnius Grand Resort Hotel and Ekskomisarų Biuras.

Žana Skudovičienė, Mini Limmud coordinator

When Chiune Sugihara Celebrated Hanukkah in Lithuania

Hanukkah, 1939.
Kaunas.

I told him the story of how Judah Maccabee led his men into war against the powerful Greeks, who had defiled the temple, and how their tiny force defeated the much greater armies of Antiochus. Judah and his followers liberated Jerusalem, and set about rededicating the temple, but when they went to light the lamps they could find only enough oil to burn for one day. Keeping the faith, they used the one small cruse they had, and God made the oil burn for eight full days. This is how Chanukah became the festival of lights. Each evening the shammers, the one candle used to light all the others, was used to light one more candle, until on the eighth day all eight candles were burning.

The tables were laden with the best of food and drinks, including some Japanese food which [aunt] Anushka supplied from her shop. We also had veal with small roasted potatoes, roast duck in orange sauce, and many other wonderful things.

Mr. Sugihara also asked me about our family life and my hobbies. When I told him that I collected stamps, he invited me to come and visit him at the consulate. He said he would give me some stamps from Japan.

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Thank You!

The Lithuanian Jewish Community would like to thank chairman of the Kaunas Jewish Community Gercas Žakas and director Ieva Černevičiūtė for their great organizational work in putting on the seminar “I and Others” held in Druskininkai for representatives and staff of the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

Thank You, Junona Berznitski

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is grateful to Junona Berznitski for her
alomst 14 years of work at the community. We were used to having Junona
organize the Limmud conferences, an event of great importance to the LJC
whose organization took months and which was anticipated as almost a
holiday, attracting families and children to interesting lessons and
treats and a weekend of making friends and seeing old friends.

We hope this important work will be taken over by a good team. Junona with
a group of friends also set up the Gesher Club for adults. Now Junona
Berznitski has chosen to return to serious academic work, to the
discipline of psychology, and will not be available for organizational
work at the community. We wish her the highest success and thank her for
her great work.

Jewish Community Thankful for Help

Events to mark Lithuanian Holocaust Remembrance Day have ended. All week long civics lessons, social campaigns and other events were held throughout the Kaunas region to remember and honor Holocaust victims.

At the final event Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas passed on a message from Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, singling out and thanking for their contributions in preserving the Jewish cultural legacy leaders of the Kaunas municipality and regional administration, the aldermen of Babtai, Čekiškė and Garliava districts as well as of Vilkija, Vandžiogala and Zapyškis; the director of the public library; folk artist Arūnas Sniečkus, Jonučiai Gymnasium director Valentinas Padriezas and Urban Planning Department deputy director Rūta Černiauskienė for her active cooperation with the Jewish Community.

Gercas and Kaunas mayor Makūnas agreed that more than money is needed to safeguard history. “Since joint efforts and good will are needed. All of the dead were Lithuanian Jews, which is to say, Lithuanians, who, like you, fought for the country’s independence, studied, worked and lived in common with everyone else,” Gercas said.