The Lithuanian Jewish Community sends its condolences to Arkadijus Gotesmanas on the death of his father, Burnitalis Arnoldas Gotesmanas, who passed away at the age of 90. The late Gotesmanas survived Auschwitz and Mauthausen. He died in Brooklyn and was buried there.
South African Litvak Denis Goldberg died of lung cancer just before midnight on April 29 at his home at Hout Bay in Cape Town. He was born April 11,1933. An anti-apartheid activist, Goldberg was tried with Neslon Mandela at the Rivonia trial and sentenced to 22 years in prison. Our deepest condolences to his many friends and family.
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky was interviewed by Lithuanian publicist Donatas Puslys on Yom haAtzma’ut, Israeli independence day, and spoke about what the holiday means to Jews in Lithuania, to her personally and to Jews around the world. She also spoke about the Holocaust, Litvaks living in Israel, the promise Eretz Israel held out to Soviet Jews and the country’s progress over the last 72 years. The interview was conducted in Lithuanian but concludes with warm wishes in Yiddish.
From: Ronald S. Lauder
Subject: My Letter to President Rivlin on Yom Ha’atzmaut
Date: 29 April 2020 at 17:09:53 EEST
To: WJC Affiliated Communities & Organizations, members of the WJC Executive Committee
From: Ronald S. Lauder, WJC president
Dear Friends,
I hope this message finds you all well and safe during this difficult time.
At no other time of the year is the dichotomy between joy and sadness, mourning and celebration more clear for Israelis and Jewish people around the world than the two days that we pause to observe Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut. During this period we honor those who laid down their lives for the establishment and protection of the Jewish State and revel in the achievement that is its independence.
Although this year’s public commemorations and gatherings have been severely limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I would like to share with you a letter I wrote on the eve of Yom Ha’atzmaut to Israeli president Reuven Rivlin on behalf of Jewish communities worldwide. I hope it will be of interest.
Please keep well and stay safe, and do not hesitate to let us know if there is anything at all that we can do to be of assistance to you or your community.
Best wishes,
Ronald
Israelis began celebrating 72 years of statehood this year by greeting medical personnel. A torch-lighting ceremony began without an audience in honor of Israel’s doctors, nurses, care-givers, hospital staff and volunteers who have been fighting the Wuhan virus, with many fireworks displays and hospital fly-overs by the Israeli Air Force canceled.
Most Israelis marked Independence Day at home.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the nation in a video saying “We’ve never celebrated this kind of Independence Day. We are in a physical sense far from one another, but we’ve never been closer.” Praising hospital workers Netanyahu added “The day will come when embraces return… But we still can’t do this because the pandemic is still here.”
Knesset speaker Benny Gantz lit a torch on the eve of Independence Day and spoke of national unity, saying Israelis must prepare for even more difficult days, and called for creating “a new moral face of the country.”
The Kaunas Jewish Community has redirected efforts under quarantine and is using the telephone and internet to make sure members, especially the elderly, don’t feel cut off from the world.
Many Community members celebrate Sabbath together and miss face-to-face interaction at the Sabbath table. While conditions aren’t allowing that to resume yet, the Kaunas Jewish Community, in the spirit of fellowship and keeping with tradition, is offering a free Sabbath care basket to members so that everyone can celebrate the Sabbath at home. Now members can break challa bread alone but at the same time together. The care baskets contain more than just challa, though, and include other traditional Sabbath dinner dishes.
KJC chairman Gercas Žakas is pleased this initiative has received the approval of the Goodwill Foundation and the interest and support of so many KJC members. One member said: “It really does feel as if you aren’t alone, but are celebrating Sabbath together with the entire community.” Look for the Jewish communities in other cities and towns to do the same thing, Žakas predicted.
Moshe Kukliansky has died at the age of 97 in Israel. He was the head of the Kukliansky family and was the uncle of Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community.
Our deepest condolences to his children Alexander, Zinaida, Liliiana, niece Faina, the multitude of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and the entire family.
Moshe Kukliansky was a chemist, a witness to Litvak history and a Holocaust survivor. Faina recalls: “Our big family has lost a noble person who survived the Holocaust and was a great witness to Litvak history, a chemist and a just man filled with the law. That’s what he liked to call other people. After my grandmother Zinaida–the mother of Moshe, Samuel and Anna–was murdered and Moshe was forced to work for local farmers, when he came home my father Samuel used to grab his hands and kiss him. Moshe asked ‘What are you so happy about? Our mother is dead.’ My father, who was 11 then, replied ‘I’m happy you’re still here.’ For me, my children and grandchildren, Moshe was like a father and a grandfather, just as all my aunts and uncles were like parents to me, and cousins like brothers and sisters. It is very sad that our last family member of the older generation has passed away.”
Moshe Kukliansky’s telling of the dramatic story of the family’s survival during the Holocaust was immortalized several years back in a film called the Pit of Life and Torment (Gyvybės ir kančių duobė).
Members of the Lithuanian Jewish Community have shared with us some of their thoughts about and memories of service in the Israeli armed forces.
Itzhak Solomon: “I hope Israel doesn’t experience new wars… I have many photographs from my life in the army.”
Itzhak Soliomon sent us photos from the Yom Kippur War in the Sinai Peninsula in October of 1973 where he saw combat.
On October 6, 1973, a military coalition of Egypt and Syria (formerly joined as one state in the United Arab Republic), attacked Israel during the holiday of Yom Kippur. They took the Sinai and retook the Golan Heights in Syria which Israel had occupied since the Six-Day War in 1967. While the Syrians and Egyptians made inroads during the first 48 hours, Israel quickly seized the initiative.
By week two the Syrians had been completely routed from the Golan. In Sinai Israel attacked forces who had crossed the Suez canal, the former cease-fire line, and cut them off from resupply. After two weeks of hostilities, the US came to Israel’s aid supplying ammunition by airlift, and Israel pushed enemy forces back to their initial positions.
Itzhak Solomon hopes Israel won’t face new wars and remembers victory was bitter in the Yom Kippur War with so many young lives lost.
Yom haZikaron is the day Israel marks to honor its fallen soldiers, victims of terrorism and all who have died defending the state of Israel. According to the Jewish reckoning of time, it began on the evening of April 27 this year at around 8:00 P.M. and lasts until the evening of the next day.
President Rivlin spoke in the square in front of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and said it was sad there couldn’t be a mass public commemoration because of the virus epidemic. He said while we can’t cry together, we still remember and give honor to the 23,861 soldiers and victims of terrorism.
In Israel the commemorative holiday begins with an air-raid siren. People simply stop whatever they are doing and give honor to the dead. Those driving pull over and get out of their cars. All commercial activity ceases and people at the dinner table stop eating and sit in silence.
Please note: the ZOOM platform used for the virtual lectures below is widely known to be unsafe and is considered spyware by competent observers, deployed most likely by China. It can usurp control of cameras and microphones on your computer and telephone. Its use is banned by the U.S. military and U.S. government organizations. The Lithuanian Jewish Community takes no responsibility for those infected by clicking the links below.
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The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum is sponsoring two virtual lectures called “Story of Escape from Ponar” and “Lithuania in Jacques Lipchitz’s Reminiscences.”
“I am a sculptor from Lithuania,” Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973) used to say to introduce himself at openings of his works in museums and galleries around the world, even though Lithuania had disappeared from the world map when these shows took place. Sculpture and memorial heritage researcher Aušra Rožankevičiūtė talks about Lipchitz’s image of Lithuania and his contacts with Lithuanian artists and thinkers.
Happy birthday to Eta Gurvčiūtė as she turns 100. Lithuanian Jewish Community member Eta Gurvčiūtė turned 100 April 27. Clear of mind, with no health complaints and her beautiful smile, she is busy receiving greetings and congratulations today. She was graduated from the Sholem Aleichem Gymnasium before World War II.
Many of our other seniors remember Eta because she volunteered at the medical center of the LJC for so many years, later becoming a client herself. She spends her time these days at the Social Care House for Seniors in Vilnius now.
To celebrate her milestone, the LJC is planning a Fayerlakh concert for everyone at her senior citizens’ home. ALthough she’s celebrating her birthday under strict quarantine at the senior center, the Lithuanian Jewish Center tried to send her a present anyway. We managed to have a vase of flowers and a card delivered.
Dear Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Mrs. Faina Kukliansky, dear Lithuanian Jewish Community,
We mark the 300th anniversary of that most exalted Litvak, Eliyahu ben Solomon Zalman, the Vilna Gaon. The parliament of the Republic of Lithuania named this year, 2020, the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History, to stress the priceless contribution the Jewish community, an inseparable part of our society for 700 years now, has made to Lithuania’s history, culture, learning and consolidation of statehood through your adherence to tradition and social activity.
In all times there have been people who do not conform to the canons of their era, who through their creativity and unconventional thinking have changed the world. The Jewish people have given so much to the world. One of them, the Gaon or Genius of Vilna, Eliyahu ben Solomon Zalman, was a scholar of Jewish texts and law and a Talmud interpreter and scholar. This was a brave challenge during his times but, happily, Eliyahu grew up in an intellectual environment and was supported by his family and appreciated by the community. Rumors about the young sage and his intellect spread far beyond the limits of Vilnius. The Vilna Gaon became the most renowned religious authority and he changed people’s life paths, thought and the concept of Litvak, and turned Vilnius into a Jewish spiritual center, the Jerusalem of Lithuania. This is a priceless historical, cultural and philosophical legacy of the Jews and Lithuanians of Vilnius and Lithuania and of the other peoples who live in Lithuania.
The Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History is a great opportunity for all of us today, in the words of the Gaon, “to see with our own eyes, hear with our own ears and feel with our entire heart” what significant and rich heritage we have in creating the Lithuania of our future. Congratulations!
[signed]
Gediminas Kirkilas, deputy speaker, chairman of the European Affairs Committee
Lithuanian parliament
April 24, 2020
Dear friends!
The Jewish Confederation of Ukraine sincerely congratulates you on the 300th anniversary of the Vilna Gaon who is a symbol of wisdom and spirituality for Jews around the world.
The memory of the great leader of the best Jewish traditions and laws stands beyond the constraints of time and brings together generations of Jews.
May the brilliant heritage of the Vilnius Gaon help the Lithuanian Jewish Community to successfully develop and increase the traditions embodied in his philosophical teaching.
Jewish Confederation of Ukraine
April 23 was the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Vilna Gaon, the outstanding Torah-Talmud scholar from Vilnius in the 18th century. Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda and Israeli president Reuven Rivlin called each other to offer congratulations on the occasion.
The Lithuanian president expressed respect for the Vilna Gaon, the Rabbi Eliyahu ben Soiomon Zalman, who put Vilnius on the map as a center for Torah learning. He told the Israeli president the year 2020 had been declared the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History in Lithuania to honor the Gaon’s bright memory.
“The intellect and erudition of the Vilna Gaon made Vilnius the spiritual center of Jews in Europe, famous throughout the world. It was thanks to him that Vilnius appeared on the world map as the capital of Torah-Talmud scholarship and became the religious center of Judaism. The Gaon’s teaching, based on thoroughness, patience and dedication to revealing spiritual power and to seeking wisdom, is an inspiration in difficult times,” the Lithuanian president said.
President Nausėda emphasized Lithuania remains the home of the large Litvak community spread throughout the world. The Lithuanian Jewish Community maintains active ties with Litvaks living in Israel, the USA, South Africa, France and elsewhere, Nausėda noted.
The two presidents also discussed the health situation in their two countries and measures for restoring economic life. They agreed this time full of challenges the world faces demands special attention to international relations and solidarity between the nations.
At the end of their conversation the Lithuanian president greeted Israel on the 72nd anniversary of statehood and invited the Israeli president to visit Lithuania.
Information from the President’s Communication Group
Subject: The Jewish imperative of the coronavirus crisis
From : Ronald S. Lauder, WJC President
To: Affiliate organizations
Dear Friends,
I hope that, despite the difficult circumstances, you and your families had a good Pesach, and that you are managing to deal with the difficulties of the current situation without too much hardship.
As the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to spread around the world and impact all of our lives significantly on a daily basis, I have been giving a lot of thought to how we, as representative of Jewish communities around the world, should act now and also start to prepare for the challenges of transition to the post-corona world.
I hope that you will find my views on this critical issue, published in the Jerusalem Post, to be of interest:
Of course, I would be most interested to hear your reactions.
Please keep well and stay safe. If there is anything at all that we can do to be of assistance to you or your community, at this time, please let us know.
Best wishes and Shabbat Shalom,
Ronald
by Ruth Reches
Most people probably know the song “Dance Me to the End of Love” written in 1984 by Leonard Cohen. Many people consider it a love song with its up and down melody. Leonard Cohen, however, wrote the song as a hymn to death.
Consider the first line in the song: ”
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin.”
When prisoners at some concentration camps were selected for and taken to be murdered, a group of prisoners played violins to mask the sounds of people being slaughtered. The classical music performed erased the border between beauty and the horrific, between life and death.
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry reports Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius and Israeli ambassador Yossef Levy gathered at what is considered the final resting place of the mortal remains of the Vilna Gaon in the Jewish section of the Sudervės road cemetery in Vilnius April 23, the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Gaon.
The Lithuanian foreign minister expressed the hope events planned to mark 2020 as the Year of the Vilna Gaon which were postponed because of the virus epidemic will take place later in the year.
From Noir Press:
PRESS RELEASE
April 22, 2020
Lithuanian author wins €20,000 Literature Prize from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The UK publishing house Noir Press is delighted Lithuanian Jewish author Grigory Kanovich has just won the €20,000 EBRD Literature Prize, a prestigious award celebrating literature in translation.
The prize, normally awarded at Bank headquarters in London, was awarded virtually this year because of the quarantine announced by the UK Government. The award was announced on Twitter on April 22.
Rosie Goldsmith, chairwoman of the panel of judges for this year’s prize, said the winning novel “is sincere, it is warm, it is generous. It has the feeling of a very great classic.”