Litvaks – Page 93 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

Simonas Gurevičius Announces Candidacy for Chairman of Vilnius Jewish Community and Lithuanian Jewish Community

To members of the Lithuanian and Vilnius Jewish Communities

Simonas Gurevičius
economist, lecturer, long-time Jewish Community volunteer, former executive director of Lithuanian Jewish Community
www.facebook.com/simonas.gurevichius
www.facebook.com/simonas.gurevichius.public.page
simonas.gurevicius@gmail.com

As many already know, several months ago I decided to become a candidate for the post of community chairman. This decision didn’t arise out of nothing, but was the result of several years of watching the community’s activities, of conversations with community members, of discussions which often concluded with calls, encouragement and requests I contest the post. My candidacy for this demanding and honorable post is the natural result of long-term and intentional action. My activities and life in the community, after all, began in my childhood.

Over the last few years the community has changed and I am no longer able to remain on the sidelines. I know and believe I can return to the community’s its lost essence, without devaluing that part of the community’s work which has been beneficial over those years.

After more than 10 years of volunteer work at the community, I spent the same amount of time performing as the executive director of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. This was very intense work requiring much experience, broad understanding, knowledge and talent. This was one of the most significant periods in my work-life, demanding responsibility and very complex, when I spent more time at community events and engaged in community projects than I did at home. But this period was also one of the most meaningful. During that period I lived constantly with the idea of the community’s development and improvement, and its beautiful future.

2017-05-222017-05-25

LJC Support to Rescuers

The Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Social Programs Department is continuing the project begun in 2014 in 2017 to provide aid to elderly WWII-era rescuers of Jews from the Holocaust, financed by the Goodwill Foundation.

Seventy-six Righteous Gentiles received personal letters wishing them good health and wellness. Each rescuer will receive up to 326 euros this year.

2017-05-222017-05-26

Arkadijus Vinokuras Announces Candidacy for Chairman of Vilnius Jewish Community

To members of the Vilnius Jewish Community

Arkadijus Vinokuras,
writer, journalist, actor
http://www.vinokuras.lt/cv/
arkadijus@vinokuras.lt

Hello.

Today I made a deeply-considered important decision not easy for me and my family, to become a candidate for chairman of the Vilnius Jewish Community. The main consideration in my decision was that only one candidate is seeking to assume the posts of chairman of the Vilnius Jewish Community and the Lithuanian Jewish Community pretending to be a democrat. The reality is different: the rules for a democratic election have been violated. In the name of personal and group interests, without regard to any principles of democratic elections, cynically dividing the community. And completely forgetting that the community is not a business enterprise, the chairman/woman is not an average manager, and the post of chairman is not a career step or a source of income. In the political, cultural and social sense, and finally in the sense of seriousness and solidarity, this division does not benefit any member of the Jewish community.

…

Transparency. This is a basic requirement for any candidate. A candidate should not have any problems with law enforcement, the tax inspectorate or the social insurance fund. What the future chairman of the VJC needs least of all is the specter of trials or debts. I myself am a member of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party’s Ethics and Procedures Commission and a member of the Lithuanian Journalists Union. I don’t have such specters. Unfortunately, candidate … Simonas Gurevičius possibly does, which he hasn’t made public. It is a matter of public record the Vakonda Group company has accused him of fraud, taking part in the embezzlement of 77,965.34 euros. This case has reached the Lithuanian Prosecutor’s Office. I would like to immediately stress the principle of the presumption of innocence which says a person is not guilty until proven otherwise. All the same, it would be intelligent and honest for every candidate to take care of similar accusations before announcing, so that there wouldn’t be any suspicions or lingering shadows. Therefore I sincerely hope Simonas Gurevičius does just that as quickly as possible.

…

Full announcement in Lithuanian here.

2017-05-222017-06-02

Meeting with LJC Chairwoman Turns Ugly

What was billed as a short meeting for young Jews to meet and discuss matters with Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky last Thursday turned into a heated, high-stakes verbal brawl, lasting well beyond three hours instead of the one scheduled.

The discussion took place at La bohème restaurant right next to Pasaka Theater in Vilnius, which screened free of charge the Litvak film Meetings with Joseph. The theater managers delayed the start because the audience were all holed up in a back room at the restaurant next door, but finally came over and announced the film was starting. Of the fifty or so people present, only three appeared to leave to watch the film.

Tempers flared almost as soon as the chairwoman appeared. Daniel Lufshitz launched into some sort of tirade, fresh from his new-found celebrity as a young and upcoming wise man of Chelm following his youtube posting “Jew Wars” which managed to attack and alienate just about every Jewish institution in Lithuania, without foundation. One suspected it was intended to be comedy when he blurred out the backs of the heads of attendees of Simonas Gurevicius’s out-of-order meeting at the Conti Hotel in Vilnius, but in person there were no laughs to be found. Instead he berated Faina Kukliansky, hurling at best vague accusations of mismanagement, and then claimed to be a member of the Vilnius Jewish Community. Daniel Lufshitz, a native-born Lithuanian Jew who migrated to Israel but came back recently, was the subject of some controversy last year when he was courted to become some sort of Jewish representative for the Vilnius City Council and began making media appearances. Then, the LJC had to issue a public announcement that he was not a member of the Community and did not represent the Community in any way. This time Faina Kukliansky gently contradicted him, reminding him he was a not a member of the Vilnius Jewish Community, at which his pique visibly rose, he claimed he had a paper in writing that he would become a member after elections, that therefore he was a member now and she was a liar.

2017-05-22

Litvak Gatekeeper Attempts to Interfere in LJC Elections via Internet Invective

by LJC staff

Self-proclaimed gatekeeper of all things Litvak, professor without portfolio or classes Dovid Katz has taken exception with a new logo trademarked by the Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community for no other reason than that he detests the Lithuanian state.

Never mind he has subjected himself to a potential damages suit by using the new trademark without permission on his web site, Katz is apparently, in his own mind, in the heat of an election battle for the future chairmanship of the LJC. Except he isn’t a candidate, has no constituency and has consistently sought to sow discord within the Community’s ranks, playing sides against one another. One semi-recent example: his public complaints against Rabbi Borshtein, after whose contract was not renewed, Katz attempted to create an international scandal involving alleged “big money” attempting to usurp Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania for construction projects.

Seeing an opportunity to attack what he believed to be a new weak link, Katz took exception with the new trademark logo conceived by a 100% ethnic Litvak architect and designer. Her crime? She used a symbol of Lithuanian statehood in conjunction with a menorah.

2017-05-192017-05-28

Meet LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and Watch the Film Dialogue with Joseph by Elžbieta Josadė

We kindly invite Jewish young people and the general public to a screening of a documentary film by Elžbieta Josadė called Dialogue with Joseph on at 7:00 P.M. on May 18 at the Pasaka Theater (Šv. Ignoto street no. 4/3, Vilnius). After the film you may meet and discuss with film director Elžbieta Josadė and editor Rareş lenasoaie. Entrance is free to the public.

Dialogue with Josef was honored with a special jury award at the international competition Jihlava IDFF 2016 in the Overseas category and Best Central and Eastern Europe Documentary Film subcategory. The national premiere was November 2016 at the Scanorama film forum.

About the film:

“Joseph paints the earth and the sky with no other ambition than to observe and to gain a better understanding of the landscape‘s visual structure. Shyly, the filmmaker follows her father in his work and in this so particular space which surrounds him.“

At 6:00 P.M., just before the screening of the film, we invite young people from the Jewish Community to an informal meeting at the restaurant La Boheme (Šv. Ignoto street no. 4/3, Vilnius, right next door to the Pasaka Theater) with Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky. We will discuss Jewish heritage, future prospects for the Jewish community and other issues.

2017-05-182017-05-19

Israeli Ambassador Says Names Not Numbers at Holocaust Mass Murder Sites

Izraelio ambasadorius: ant Holokausto kapaviečių turėtų būti ne skaičiai, o žmonių vardai

Lietuvos žinios

For centuries the Jewish community was an inseparable part of Lithuania, but this isn’t completely understood now. The legacy of the once-thriving Jewish communities is not receiving the attention it’s due. Lietuvos žinios spoke with Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon about whether Lithuania is a friendly country for Jews, how our mutual understanding is evolving and what still needs to be done to improve relations.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2017-05-18

Thank You

LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky received the following thank-you note from the granddaughter of a Lithuanian woman who rescued Jews from the Holocaust.

Hello,

My grandmother Stasė Minelgienė (a recognized Righteous Gentile) asked me to thank you for the card [debit card] which she received as a gift. She also asked me to wish you a nice day, good health and the highest success.

Respectfully,
Her granddaughter,
N. Žvirblytė

2017-05-18

Lithuanian Jewish Community Celebrates Leonidas Melnikas’s Birthday

The Destinies program of evening cultural events celebrated the birthday of Lithuanian musician and composer Dr. Leonidas Melnikas last Thursday, May 11.

The evening began at the Jascha Heifetz hall at LJC headquarters in Vilnius with the airs of a tango, an overflow crowd and the birthday boy smiling on stage. Leonidas Melnikas is a piano player, organ player, musicologist, a tenured doctor, the head of his cathedral at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater, chairman of the academy’s senate and professor. He’s also a member of the board of directors of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. He turned 60 Thursday.

The birthday celebration was part of the Destinies program of evening cultural events initiated and organized by LJC deputy chairwoman Maša Grodnikienė, who used the occasion to honor the memory of Melnikas’s father Isaiah Melnik, who would have turned 110 that same day. He was a well-known pharmacist at the Vilnius Central Pharmacy (on what is now Gedimino prospect) and at the Žvėrynas Pharmacy in Vilnius, where he made his own preparations in his time. He survived both Stutthof and Dachau. He was beloved by all and was a calm and warm person who enjoyed attending all sorts of concerts. His son Leonidas’s musical career began when his mother took him to the Ąžuoliukas school. His first teacher was the famous pianist Nadežda Duksdulskaitė. “My entire childhood was illuminated by my parents, the very best, the very wisest people, and family remains extremely important to me,” Melnikas said of himself before embarking on a performance of tango melodies with violinist Boris Traub, cellist Valentinas Kaplūnas and accordion player Gennady Savkov.

2017-05-182017-05-25

Attend Opening Ceremonies for New Judaica Studies Center

The Judaica Studies Center of the Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library was officially established May 3, 2017, but will only open to the public May 22 and May 23 with several events and exhibitions.

The Center’s main function is to further research on the Jewish documentary heritage, carrying out educational and informational projects and publicizing the results. The Center is an open enterprise and aimed at educational cooperation. According to its mission statement, the Center actively publicizes information about the Jewish textual heritage at its events, in the national and international media and on the internet, and also conserves collections of modern Judaica publications.

Program:

May 22

1:00 P.M. Opening ceremony (foyer, fifth floor)
2:00 P.M. Launch of exhibit People and Books of the Strashun Library (exhibit hall, third floor)

May 23

1:00 P.M. Samuel Kassow (USA) lecture Uniqueness of Jewish Vilna (conference hall, fifth floor)
2:30 P.M. Presentation The Vilnius YIVO Project (conference hall, fifth floor)

Full announcement in Lithuanian at the Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library web page here.

2017-05-18

Dukstyna Primary School of Ukmergė Tours Sugihara House in Kaunas

Vida Pulkauninkienė, coordinator of the Tolerance Education Center at the Dukstyna Primary School in Ukmergė (Vilkomir), and a group of students from the Center visited the Sugihara House museum in Kaunas May 15. They viewed the memorial exhibit there, a chronicle of events in Kaunas from 1939 to 1940, a virtual exhibit of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara’s deeds in Lithuania and an audio-visual exhibition about the daily life of Jewish refugees in Lithuania. They also learned about how Jews saved themselves, travelling to Kobe, Japan, on the visas Sugihara issued, then on to the USA, New Zealand and other countries.

Museum director Simonas Dovidavičius led the tour.

The group also visited the site of the former Slobodka ghetto in Kaunas, guided by Daiva Žemaitienė, also a Tolerance Education Center coordinator.

The Ukmergė Jewish Community set up the field trip as part of a continuing education project with financial aid from the Goodwill Foundation.

2017-05-17

Pakruojis Wooden Synagogue Restored

Following renovation, the wooden synagogue in Pakruojis, Lithuania, is to open its doors to the public Friday. The synagogue is to house the Pakruojis Regional Juozas Paukštelis Library. The women’s gallery and a permanent exhibition will remind visitors of Jewish life and history in the region. The Pakruojis synagogue was built in 1801 and is believed to be the oldest surviving wooden synagogue in Lithuania. It was renovated and painted in 1885.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2017-05-172017-05-26

LitvakSIG Delegation Visits Lithuania

LitvakSIG delegation visit Tolerance Center, Vilna Gaon Museum, Carol Hoffman third from left

The Litvak genealogical web site LitvakSIG‘s board of directors have recently been travelling around Lithuania as part of their important work. The board currently includes nine members: Amy Wachs, Barry Halpern, Carol Hoffman, Dorothy Leivers, Garri Regev, Jill Anderson, Phil Shapiro, Ralph Salinger and Russ Maurer. Six of the nine board members visited Lithuania this past week to meet with archivists and members of the Vilnius and regional Jewish communities. We managed to interview Carol Hoffman at the Bagel Shop Café in Vilnius last Sunday.

§§§

Tell us something about yourself.

My names is Carol Hoffman. I was born and raised in the United States. My father was born here in Lithuania in 1892 in Kapčiamiestis, in Yiddish it’s Kopcheve. My mother was born in the United States but her mother was born in Kapčiamiestis, in Kopcheve, in about 1858. So my entire family from my mother’s side and from my father’s side are Litvaks.

So, my entire family are Litvaks, they’re from the same place, from the same shtetl, and I was raised with a strong sense of being my brother’s keeper. I came to Israel in 1972 with three young children and a husband and we settled in the northern part of Israel. I worked as a librarian and a teacher of computer science in the university for many, many years, and I retired seven years ago when began working full-time as a volunteer for LitvakSIG. This is my seventh or eighth or ninth trip to Lithuania, I’m not sure. My first trip was in 2000. I had never been here. I met Regina Kopelevich on the border and we went to … Kopcheve and then to Vilnius. So I feel the strong sense of roots.

2017-05-162017-05-26

Maceva Litvak Cemetery Catalogue

Litvak Cemetery Catalogue MACEVA 2016.

This Newsletter contains an overview of activities of Litvak Cemetery Catalogue MACEVA in 2016.

Švenčionys (Svintsyán). It is believed that this cemetery was established during the 15th century. This is one of the oldest and largest cemeteries of Lithuanian Jewry, encompassing an area of 39670.00m2. We had expected to find approximately 2000 graves. Our work with students has found closer to 3,000 surviving graves. Approximately 1200 tombstones still have full, or partially legible inscriptions.

Prior to World War II, the cemetery was larger, it was devastated during the war and beginning in 1941, locals began to plunder stone monuments for construction material. Many tombstones were damaged and uprooted, black marble tombstones were considered particularly desirable.

The current condition of the cemetery is mediocre.

Many of the gravestones are fully, or partially buried, giving us limited ability to access the inscriptions. Many gravestones are leaning or have already collapsed.

The city of Svencionys has no directional signs indicating the location of the cemetery. …

Full catalog here.

2017-05-122017-05-26

Birthday Evening with Dr. Leonidas Melnikas at the Lithuanian Jewish Community

The organizers of the Destinies series of evening events are pleased to invite you to come celebrate the birthday of professor Leonidas Melnikas at the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

Program:

Dr. Leonidas Melnikas on piano, Boris Traub on violin, Valentinas Kaplūnas on cello, Gennady Savkov on accordion

Participating:

Silvija Sondeckienė and composer Audronė Nekrošienė-Žigaitytė, president of the Union of Lithuanian Musicians.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, May 11
Location: Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

Event planned and moderated by Maša Grodnikienė, deputy chairwoman, Lithuanian Jewish Community.

2017-05-112017-05-12

A New Litvak Logo

We have a new Litvak logo designed by Viktorija Sideraitė-Alon.

The Lithuanian Justice Ministry has granted permission to use the national Lithuanian symbol of the pillars of Gediminas as part of a Lithuanian Jewish Community logo trademark. The patent process for making the Litvak symbol a Lithuanian Jewish Community trademark is being completed right now.

The posts, pillars of columns of Gediminas was used as a coat of arms or insignia by Lithuanian grand duke Vytautas the Great beginning in 1397, following its use by his father grand duke Kęstutis, and has been employed by many other Lithuanian and Polish leaders since then. The Jewish community, living in Lithuania for approximately 700 years no, is an indivisible part of Lithuanian society in the political and historical sense. Many peoples have called Lithuania home over the centuries and the Jewish community has also made significant contributions to the state, the culture and the economy. Incorporating the pillars of Gediminas into a Litvak logo makes perfect sense and corresponds to what the current Lithuanian state openly declares, namely, pride that Lithuania has been open, tolerant and diverse over the centuries.

2017-05-112017-05-26

Presentation of Jews of Vilkaviškis at Lithuanian National Library

The Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library is hosting a presentation of the book “Dingusios tautos pėdsakais’ [Traces of a Lost People] by Antanas Žilinskas, the long-serving director of the Vilkaviškis Regional History Museum who has collected material about the Jews once resident in Vilkaviškis over many years, the contents of the book published in 2015. The event will also feature a meeting with Ralph Salinger, an Israeli historian specializing in the history of the Jews of Vilkaviškis. The public event is to be held in Lithuanian and English at 4:00 P.M. on May 12 at the library in Vilnius.

Jews were living in Vilkaviškis in the 16th century when queen Bona Sforza allotted a forest for the Jews to construct a synagogue. The Vilkaviškis synagogue appeared in 1623. There was a Jewish gymnasium in Vilkaviškis from 1919 to 1940. There were around 150 shops in the town, of which about 130 were Jewish. In 1939 there were officially 3,609 Jews living in and around the town, constituting 45 percent of the population.

2017-05-112017-05-15

Kaunas Jewish Community Commemorates Victims of WWII

On May 9 the Kaunas Jewish Community commemorated the victims of the Holocaust and World War II and recalled victory and the joy of liberation from the Nazi terror. Memories sweet, bittersweet and sad were shared by the widows and children of veterans at the evening event, and Abraham Leizerson recalled his attempts to join the war effort as a very young man. Aleksandr Rave’s song performance unified and brought together the crowd, while Lucija Laverenova unexpectedly lightened the mood with a comedy routine. Basia Šragienė helped organize the event, as she did two years ago with her husband, now the late WWII veteran Shmuel Shrage, whose bright spirit lives on in our memory.

2017-05-11

Vilkomir Remembers Victory

The Ukmergė Jewish Community marked the 72nd anniversary of Victory Day commemorating the victims of mass murder in the Pivonija forest.

Community members also visited the graves of late members of the community and war veterans at the Old Believers cemetery.

2017-05-112017-05-15