Learning, History, Culture

From Lithuania to Israel via Siberia

From Lithuania to Israel via Siberia

The Vilnius Jewish Public Library is pleased to announce a presentation of a  translation of Shmaryahu Pustopetsky’s book From Lithuania to Israel via Siberia on Monday, June 16.

Translators Regina Kopilevich, an accomplished genealogist and tourist guide for Jewish Vilna, and historian and author Dalia Epšteinaitė will discuss the book with sociologist and historian Violeta Davoliūtė who specializes in family studies as moderator.

Pustopetsjy was a military officer in pre-World War II independent Lithuania, and was deported to Siberia, He was an active member of the Beitar movement before the Holocaust. In the book, he discusses both world wars, Litvak culture in the 1930s, the story of the so-called prisoners of Zion and the brutal prison camps under Stalin.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Monday, June 16
Place: Vilnius Jewish Public Library, Gedimino prospect no. 24, Vilnius

Geert Wilders: If Jerusalem Falls, So Do We

Geert Wilders: If Jerusalem Falls, So Do We

Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders delivered a strong speech to the Dutch parliament supporting Israel, and said Israel’s fight with terrorist organizations is a fight for the West itself. He said: “If Jerusalem falls, so will Paris, and Berlin. Israel is fighting for all of us.”

JNS reported the speech was made June 4 as Wilders’s party was considering leaving the ruling government coalition because of the failure by coalition partners to keep pledges on controlling immigration into the Netherlands.

Wilders also said: “A mother in Holland can sleep peacefully because a mother in Israel is staying awake to see if her son returns home from battle. Israel is an outpost of freedom. It is the only democracy in the Middle East and if it falls, so will Europe.”

Wilders decried the “almost anti-Semitic” statements made by opposition leader Frans Timmermans slandering the state of Israel. Wilders mused on the loss of moral compass among so-called leaders in the West who “are ready to condemn a state that is defending itself, and remain silent about those who are shooting up orphanages.”

Rafael Gimelstein Takes Respectable 2nd Place in Lithuanian Championship

Rafael Gimelstein Takes Respectable 2nd Place in Lithuanian Championship

Lithuanian Makabi athlete and LJC member Rafael Gimelstein, 47, recently took second place in the Lithuanian Table Tennis Veterans Championship, both in individual play and in duals with partner Jurga Grucytė,

Last year Gimelstein won first in dual matches and shared third and fourth places for one-on-one play. He is currently preparing to compete at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel later this year as part of the Lithuanian delegation. Even so, he finds time to teach ping-pong to students at Sholem Aleichem in Vilnius. He also holds table tennis sessions at the park across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius open to the general public, with matches on the weekends.

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Yiddish Veršes Album Launch/Concert

Yiddish Veršes Album Launch/Concert

Belarussian musicians will present their new album Yiddish Veršes with a performance of tracks at Petras Cvirka Park in Vilnius on June 13, which Vilnius Culture Night.

Tok Rukoo, Sveta Ben and Syndrom Samazvanca have created a musical interpretation of early 20th century Yiddish poetry from Belarus.

The performance of selections will be followed by a discussion at the bar of the outdoor performance space Cvi Park.

The organizers are the Blearussian-Jewish Cultural Heritage Center, Radio Plato, the Goethe Institute in Vilnius and the Cvi Park outdoor Israeli street food kiosk.

Tracks can be heard here: https://bnd.lc/ydver

Time: 8:00 P,M., Friday, June 13
Place: Petras Cvirka Park, Pylimo street no. 4 across from the LJC, Vilnius

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Art of the Jewish Renaissance Exhibit

Art of the Jewish Renaissance Exhibit

The Jewish Culture and Information Center is pleased to announce an exhibit called Art of the Jewish Renaissance from the collection of Tanya Rubinstein-Horowitz. She comes from a family of collectors and inherited much of the family collection from granfather Jakov Rubinstein, born in Warsaw in 1901, deceased in Moscow 1983. Jakov managed over a quarter of a century to amass a collection of early 20th century Jewish art from the Russian Empire and tje Soviet Union rivalling any other such collection in the world.

This period of creativity has been called the Jewish Renaissance, tragically cut short by Soviet ethnic and religious policy.

The exhibit includes a portion of wokrs by Tsfania-Gedalia Kipnis in her series Shtetl: Arayn un Aroys.

The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Time: June 5 to August 8
Place: Jewish Culture and Information Center, Mėsinių street no. 3a/5, Vilnius

Terrorist Lights 12 Jews on Fire in Colorado

Terrorist Lights 12 Jews on Fire in Colorado

Mohamed Soliman, an illegal alien resident in El Paso, Texas, and originally from Egyot, used a home-made flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to set 12 Jews on fire Sunday afternoon in Boulder, Colorado.

One victim was a Holocaust survivor.

Soliman targeted the weekly Sunday silent march by members of the Jewish community in Boulder held to remember the hostages still kidnapped in Gaza.

Soliman yelled “free Palestine” and claimed the Coloradan Jews were “burning my people.”

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New Holocaust Remembrance Project Echoes

New Holocaust Remembrance Project Echoes

A new Holocaust remembrance project called Echoes kicked off in May of 2025, subtitled “Conversations with Holocaust Survivors using Artificial Intelligence.” The project was first demonstrated in Thessaloniki, Greece recently with staff from the Lithuanian Jewish Community participating. Thessaloniki has had a Jewish community for over 2,000 years.

Project partners include the Saloniki Jewish Museum, the European Commussion, CERV, the Lithuanian Jewish Community and others.

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Shavuot

Shavuot

Shavuot is the holiday which celebrates the receiving of the Torah. This marks the day the Jewish people received the Law. It is celebrated on the 6th day of Sivan on the Jewish calendar. This is a state holiday in Israel.

Shavuot means “weeks” in Hebrew. It is the seventh week from the second day of Passover. It marks the day when Moses received the Ten Commandments of G_d on Mount Sinai. They were written on two stone slabs. These are known in Hebrew as Aseret haDvarim and in Greek as the Decalogue.

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Kaunas Jewish Community Honors Righteous Gentiles

Kaunas Jewish Community Honors Righteous Gentiles

Although sadly their numbers continue to diminish naturally, Righteous Gentiles were again honored by the Kaunas Jewish Community at their annual event.

Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas said: “It is also great to receive these old family friends of ours we know so well, and it is equally great to meet these new descendants of rescuers and to make new friends with them.”

Architect Tauras Budzys attended the event for the first time this year. He’s been marking the graves of Righteous Gentiles with a symbol of his own design, at his own initiative and expense. Conservative MP Paulė Kuzmickienė also attended. She initiated legislation for Lithuania’s Day of Righteous Gentiles, March 15, in parliament back in 2022. The duet Perfect Nemesis provided musical accompaniment for the evening.

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Moshe Shapiro Honored on Lithuanian Ethnic Minorities Day

Moshe Shapiro Honored on Lithuanian Ethnic Minorities Day

Švenčionys Jewish Community chairman Moshe Shapiro received the Silver Honor Award from the Lithuanian Ethnic Minorities Department on Lithuania’s Ethnic Minority Communities Day May 21 at St. Catherine’s Church in Vilnius.

Shapiro was recognized for his contributions to preservation of Jewish historical memory, tireless community work, working for integration, educating the younger generations and contributing to the culture of Lithuanian ethnic minorities.

Pabradė municipal cultural center director Lolita Vilimienė presented the prize to chairman Shapiro.

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Natalja Cheifec on Shavuot

Natalja Cheifec on Shavuot

Natalja Cheifec will deliver a lecture and host questions and discussion on the Jewish holiday Shavuot on the internet at 5:30 P.M. on Thursday, May 29.

To register and receive zoom credentials, click here.

Visitors with Roots in Panevėžys

Visitors with Roots in Panevėžys

The Panevėžys Jewish Community received visitors with roots in the northern Lithuanian city last week. Larry Shuman and wife Barbara live in Pittsburgh. Grandfather Jakob Shuman and great grandparents Natan and Yelka Shuman lived in Panevėžys and went to America in 1890. Gary Kaiserl also comes from the USA. His grandfather Israel and great-grandmother Yulia Levit (their surname used to be Cezarski in Panevėžys) left for America between 1880 and 1890.

Trump Expresses Condolences over Shooting of Israeli Diplomats in US Capital

Trump Expresses Condolences over Shooting of Israeli Diplomats in US Capital

President Donald Trump called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday to express condolences and his personal shock for the murder of two Israeli embassy personnel in Washington, D.C., Yaron Liszczynski and Sarah Milgrim.

Netanyahu thanked Trump for the efforts he and his administration have made to fight anti-Semitism in the United States.

The shooter Elias Rodriguez targeted an AJC event for young diplomats at the Capital Jewish Museum near the Israeli embassy. This was the first successful assassination of a foreign diplomat in Washington, D.C., since the car-bomb killing of former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier in 1976.

Local High School Tolerance Center Visits Panevėžys Jewish Community

Local High School Tolerance Center Visits Panevėžys Jewish Community

Ninth-graders and teacher Jekaterina Ledneva from the Velžys Pro-Gymnasium in the Panevėžys set up a Tolerance Center at their school and visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community as part of that initiative. They wanted to know more about the pre-Holocaust local Jewish population, Jewish customs and traditions, holidays and what happened in the Holocaust. The students visited the ghetto territory in the northern Lithuanian city and laid floral wreaths at the monument marking the former ghetto gate.

Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman spoke to the young people as part of the Community’s ongoing educational outreach program and spoke about how Jews and Lithuanians lived together before the Holocaust, often enough as co-owners of businesses, sharing their expertise. They celebrated holidays together and shared in their joys and misfortunes, sometimes sacrificing their last bit of bread for one another, Kofman said. Russian and Jewish children attended the same high schools both in Tsarist Russia and independent Lithuania, Kofman recalled.

The ninth-graders also learned about Jewish holidays including Passover, Purim, Rosh Hashanna and others, and the stories behind these holidays. Kofman spoke about kosher food and why healthy food and cleanliness is so important in Jewish tradition. The students had the chance to sample matzo bread and heard the story of unleavened bread during the Exodus from Egypt. The students posed many questions and had a chance to tour the Community building as well.

Lecture on Hebrew Evolution, Revival

Lecture on Hebrew Evolution, Revival

The Fascinating and Multifaceted 3,300-year Evolution and Regenesis of Hebrew

The Vilnius Jewish Public Library invites you to a lecture by professor Ghilad Zuckerman called “The Fascinating and Multifaceted 3,300-year Evolution and Regenesis of Hebrew” in English with simultaneous Lithuanian translation.

After centuries as a liturgical and literary medium, Hebrew underwent a dramatic transformation in the modern era. The lecture will shed light on its unprecedented revival in the early 20th century driven by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and others who saw language as central to cultural and national identity.

Professor Zuckermann will lead us on a journey through the history of Hebrew from its emergence after the conquest of Canaan, through its prominence during the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Judah, to its decline and [alleged] eventual disappearance as a spoken language by AD 100 (2nd century CE).

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Jewish Communities across Africa

Jewish Communities across Africa

Photo: Delegates from around the world attended the Jewish Africa Conference

The third Jewish Africa Conference, an event spearheaded by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), Mimouna Association (Morocco) and the American Sephardi Federation (ASF), took place during April in Cape Town.

The conference was supported by the Cape SA Jewish Board of Deputies, with a welcome address by chair of the board Adrienne Jacobson. Predecessor conferences were held in New York in 2019 and in Rabat, Morocco, in 2022. The event took place at the Old Shul, the SA Jewish Museum and the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town.

According to Wayne Sussman, director of the AJC Africa Institute who oversaw conference proceedings, “We all know that the South African Jewish community has made a rich contribution to Jewish life around the world. This is also true with other African Jewish communities. They have strong traditions and customs. Many made a huge impact on their respective countries. This conference allowed Jews from across Africa and scholars interested in Jewish African life today to come together and make sense of how we carry on building our respective communities and ensure we preserve our past properly.”

While we in South Africa tend to think of Jewish life from an Eastern European bias–because the bulk of our community is of Ashkenazi origin–Jewish life in fact traces a great deal back to Africa. With roots in ancient Egypt, Jewish religious and cultural practice are certainly a significant feature of the African continent.

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No More Student Visas for Harvard

No More Student Visas for Harvard

Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem announced Thursday the cancellation of visas for foreign students at Harvard College.

The Trump administration had been demanding information from Harvard about misconduct by foreign exchange students there. Harvard refused to furnish that information.

Noem told Fox News current foreign student visa holders at Harvard would have to seek enrollment at other universities and Harvard’s participation in the foreign student visa program had been suspended, meaning no new visas would be issued for foreign nationals seeking to matriculate or continue studies there.

The Trump administration’s conflict with Harvard College stems from attempts to insure the civil rights of Jewish students and teachers be respected at American universities.

Holocaust Historian, Litvak Wife Visit Panevėžys Jewish Community

Holocaust Historian, Litvak Wife Visit Panevėžys Jewish Community

Noah and Frances Schoen (Milinsky) visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community May 12. The family lives in Pittsburgh. Noah is an historian and teacher who reseraches the Holocaust. His lectures discuss forms of anti-Semitism from prejudice to genocide. He was an eye-witness at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2012 when a gunman opened fire on the congregation.

His wife teaches children aged 11 to 14 and leads summer youthg camps. Her father’s family comes from Panevėžys and immigrated to America early on, preserving their Litvak heritage.

Chairman Gennady Kofman spoke to them about the Community’s current activities and showed them around the archive collection, and they talked about anti-Semitism in Europe and America. Kofman gave them a tour of the northern Lithuanian city focusing on Jewish heritage sites.

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Kaunas Jewish Community Celebrates Righteous Gentiles from the Čiurlionis Family

Kaunas Jewish Community Celebrates Righteous Gentiles from the Čiurlionis Family

As part of the Year of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, the Lithuanian artist and composer, the Kaunas Jewish Community presents two events June 2 to celebrate the Righteous Gentiles in his family.

At 4:00 P.M.a plaque will be unveiled commemorating Čiurlionis’s wife Sofija, daughter Danutė and son-in-law Vladimir Zubov, all people who rescued Jews. The plaque will be located on the building which houses the memorial apartment once occupied by Sofija. The address is Žemaičių street no. 10, Kaunas.

At 6:00 P.M. Vyautas Magnus University will host a concert dedicated to Sofija, Danutė and Vladimir at their Great Hall (Gimnazijos street no. 4, Kaunas) featuring music and recollections by pianist Rokas Zubovas and his wife Sonata, pianists and organists who have received the Čiurlionis prize, Kaunas Jewish Community member Robertas Lozinskis and Vytautas Magnus University’s own choir Vivere Cantus.

These events are free and open to the public.