Hanukkah Lighting Ceremony Live
The Lithuanian Jewish Community announces the start of Hanukkah, the festival of lights.
Watch live from 5:00 P.M. (UTC+2) December 10.
Hanukkah begins December 10 and ends December 18 this year.
The holiday begins in Lithuania with the lighting of the first Hanukkah light at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius at 4:00 P.M. At 5:00 a light show begins at the LJC building in Vilnius.
The video above will feature a live streamcast. For more information see our facebook page as well at https://www.facebook.com/zydubendruomene
Lithuanian Jewish Community Presents Year of Vilna Gaon and Litvak History Commemorative Medallion to Lithuanian President
December 4, 2020
As Lithuania’s Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History draws to a close, Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda met via internet with Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and discussed current issues of concern to the Community.
“Lithuanian Jews are an inseparable part of our society and have been since the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. For centuries we built our country together, strengthening our learning, culture, business and security. Lithuanian Jews living in their homeland and abroad publicize Lithuania’s name,” the president said.
The Litvak contribution was celebrated around the country and the world as Lithuania marked the 300th anniversary of the birth of the great Lithuanian rabbi and Talmudist Elyahu ben Solomon Zalman, better known as the Vilna Gaon, and the 700th anniversary of Jewish history in Lithuania. The World Litvak Congress scheduled to meet in Vilnius and Israeli president Reuven Rivlin’s planned visit to Lithuania were postponed because of corona virus fears.
Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky presented the Lithuanian president a medallion commemorating the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History in the name of the entire Lithuanian Jewish Community. The medallion and commemorative coin issued by the Bank of Lithuania bears a symbol composed of the Jewish Menorah and the Post of Gediminas, an early symbol of Lithuanian statehood and power. The medallion also bears an inscription in Lithuanian from Moshe Kulbak’s poem Vilne: “You are a dark cameo set in Lithuania…”
In their discussion the president said the state is solving and will solve issues involving historical memory and will maintain a policy course of intolerance towards expressions of xenophobia.
The head of state thanked the Jewish community for its active role in society and wished the community light and peace as the holiday of Hanukkah approaches.
Communications group of the Office of President
Happy Birthday, Liuba
The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes Liuba Šerienė a very happy birthday. Liuba is an integral part of Community operations, fielding phone calls and distributing information to Community members every day. We wish you always remain the Liuba we know and love! Mazl tov! Bis 120!
Lithuanian Jewish Community Invites You to Come Together and Help Others
Dear Community members,
In this time of difficulties and challenges for us all, as the CoViD-19 pandemic runs amok, when many are forced to stay home, when we cannot meet with our children and grandchildren who live separately, when events can’t be held at the Community, we all miss meeting and talking.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to come together and help one another.
If you are a professional in your field, if you have a passion for some activity or an interesting hobby and you want to share your knowledge with Community members on the ZOOM platform or the LJC webpage, contact zanas@sc.lzb.lt, telephone +370 6788 1514.
The most important task for us now is to remain healthy and to survive this complicated period. Let’s stick together!
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
Honored on International Day of Tolerance
Information from the Ethnic Minorities Department under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania
The Ethnic Minorities Department under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania assembled an awards commission for their annual award November 18. Nominations were accepted from chairpeople of ethnic community organizations, minority NGOs, social organizations and cultural center directors for whom to award as part of the Department’s celebration of the International Day of Tolerance. The awards commission received 36 requests and recommendations for award recipients.
Alvida Gedaminskienė, the director of the social organization the Ethnic Communities Center, was chosen to receive the grand prize version of the award “For Merit.”
The next highest award was the golden award of respect “For Merit” and was awarded to Aldona Kodytė, a member of the Lithuanian Association of Belarussian Schools; Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and to Kęstutis Zenonas Šafranavičius, the chairman of the Kaunas Regional Tartar Community.
Happy Birthday to Eugenijus Bunka
We wish Eugenijus Bunka a happy 70th birthday. He created the Litvak Memorial Garden in the Žemaitijan National Park, is a great journalist, ethnographer and public figure.
Bunka was awarded the title of Tolerant Person of the Year for 2019. The award is made annually by the Chiune Sugihara/Diplomats for Life Foundation to Lithuanian citizens who stand up against xenophobia, anti-Semitism, radicalism and expressions of violence in Lithuanian public life by their words and deed.
Eugenijus has long led his father and sculptor Jakov Bunka’s fund, civic initiatives and restoring Jewish memory of Plungė, Žemaitija and Lithuania locally and around the world.
We wish you excellent health and may your life also be illuminated by happiness and joyful moments.
Mazl tov! Bis 120!
Happy Birthday, Holem Shapsai
The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes a very happy birthday to Holem Shapsai, former ghetto prisoner, he survived the Holocaust until his liberation at the Dachau concentration camp complex. We wish him great health, strength and many more years to come. We know and love his wonderful sense of humor, his sincerity and his great knowledge.
Mazl tov! Bis 120!
Dr. Moshe Kantor Re-Elected President of the EJC
Dr. Moshe Kantor has been re-elected the president of the European Jewish Congress by representatives of European Jewish communities. A press release from the EJC said there were no election violations and voting was safe and credible in the vote of confidence.
Marie van der Zyl, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, was re-elected head of the EJC’s executive committee.
“I am honored and I feel the support shown by the Jewish leaders and communities across the entire Continent,” Dr. Kantor said. “European Jews are a powerful force in the Jewish world; we have remained in the forefront in fighting anti-Semitism, defending Jewish traditions and reviving Jewish communities and institutions.”
In recent months the EJC under Kantor’s leadership has undertaken new action helping provide support to Jewish communities and institutions, including schools, community centers and other organizations vitally important to European Jews facing the complex challenge of the corona virus epidemic.
Happy Birthday, Libė Britanskina
The Lithuanian Jewish Community sends heartfelt congratulations to Libė Britanskina on her milestone birthday and we wish you a happy birthday, great health and much joy!
Libė is said to the be the only Jew left from Utena and is an active member of the Community and our seniors club.
Mazl tov! May you live to 120!
Before Yom Kippur, please forgive me if I unintentionally hurt people. I wasn’t sensitive enough, I can admit that right now. I needed to exert myself to better recognize and understand others, to become more sensitive. “I’m sorry” is the most miraculous phrase which could ever be uttered. It is a bridge between war and peace and is the foundation for the survival of humanity.
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman,
Lithuanian Jewish Community
European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas Reaffirms EU Pledge to Jewish Communities on Rosh Hashanah
Lithuanian Ministry of Culture Awards Six Creators
The Lithuanian Jewish Community congratulates the six winners of the highest award given by the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, “Carry Your Light and Believe.” The winners this year were Marijus Jacovskis, Birutė Banevičiūtė, Aldona Elena Puišytė-Grigaliūnienė, Gintaras Grajauskas, Gediminas Gelgotas and Liubomiras Laucevičius.
Culture minister Dr. Mindaugas Kvietkauskas awarded the honors at a ceremony at the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture September 22.
Lithuanian President Sends Rosh Hashanah Greetings
Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda has issued Rosh Hashanah greetings to the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the global Jewish community.
He wished the people of Israel strength, resolution and health in the struggle against the corona virus and its effects, and Jews of Lithuania and the world a beautiful, sweet New Year’s celebration and success in all things. “We live in a time-period filled with challenges, but holidays always remind us of the fundamental values, placing our misfortunes in the background. Today is it is important not to forget the power which shared goodness, support and unity have. I wish you a successful and peaceful 5781,” the Lithuanian president said. He also said it’s significant 2020 was declared the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History. “Despite the outbreak of the pandemic, we were successful in marking the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Vilna Gaon, in appreciating his influence on the development of Judaism, and in recalling the undeniable contribution the Jewish community has made in promoting Lithuania’s image in the world.
Lithuanian MPs Send Rosh Hashanah Greetings
Members of Lithuania’s parliament Gediminas Kirkilas and Aušrinė Armonaitė sent Rosh Hashanah greetings to the Lithuanian Jewish Community as the country’s Jewish community marked the beginning of the new year, 5781 on the Jewish calendar.
Former prime minister Gediminas Kirkilas, now deputy speaker of parliament and chairman of the European Affairs Committee there as well as heading his Social Democratic Labor Party, regularly sends greetings to the Community on major holidays and occasions.
Aušrinė Armonaitė was voted in as an MP in 2016 on the Liberal Movement ticket and was a member of the independent faction there. In 2019 she helped found and was voted in as chairwoman of the new Freedom Party. Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius is a deputy chairman in the new party.
Rosh Hashanah Greetings from Israeli President Reuven Rivlin
Rosh Hashanah Greetings
Congratulations to Kaunas Jewish Community Chairman Gercas Žakas on Unanimous Re-Election
On July 29 the Kaunas Jewish Community held their reporting and elections conference. Despite summer vacations and renewed fears of the corona virus, a large contingent of members of the Kaunas Jewish Community turned out to express their will. Many who weren’t able to come authorized family members or friends to vote for them. Gercas Žakas gave a positive assessment of his activity to date in the post of chairman and was re-elected unanimously with just under 200 votes.