The Bnai Maskilim association invites members and friends to ring in the new year with a special evening and an old friend. Progressive Rabbi Natan Alfred, a co-founder of the Bnai Maskilim association and currently serving in Geneva and as acting chairman of the European Rabbis Association, will preside over the ritual and discuss current events.
Registration required by sending an email to bneimaskilim@gmail.com.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Friday, January 23
Place: Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius
by Grant Gochin, January 5, 2026
History is not preserved by monuments or institutions. It is preserved by accuracy, accountability, and the willingness to confront what is difficult. Nowhere is that obligation more binding than in nations whose soil carries the memory of mass murder. When a state chooses to defend dishonest institutional narratives instead of historical truth, the cost becomes permanent: the leadership that made those choices becomes inseparable from the legacy of distortion.
Lithuania refuses to confront that legacy.
The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania
The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania (LGGRTC) is a state institution charged with researching and memorializing the crimes of totalitarian regimes. Over the past decades, its conduct has drawn sustained criticism for minimizing Lithuanian participation in the Holocaust while promoting dishonest national narratives.
International Jewish organizations and independent observers have warned that the Centre’s activities approach Holocaust distortion and contradict established historical scholarship. https://www.timesofisrael.com/lithuanias-genocide-studies-center-accused-of-holocaust-denial/
by Geoff Vasil
Not necessarily. What most people don’t realize is that numerous NATO member-states have standing territorial disputes with other NATO member-states and sometimes even attack one another militarily.
Cyprus is a prime example, the divided island split by the so-called Green Line between Turkey and the Greek population, reflecting a larger conflict going back to the Ottoman takeover of Greek territory in Anatolia and spilling over into bombing sorties into one another’s territories at times while both countries remained in NATO.
Denmark and Canada have a dispute over an Arctic island close to the Greenlandic shore. They’ve ritualized the conflict into an annual “occupation” where one side buries a whiskey bottle for the other “occupying army” to find.
Aleksandra Jacovskytė’s exhibit “Theater: Costume Sketches” will open January 20 at the Samuel Bak Museum of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum with the artist in attendance. She’ll speak about the sources of her inspiration, theater life, how costumes are created from idea to stage and talk backstage. Aleksandra Jacovskytė is a set designer, graphic artist and photographer.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Tuesday, January 20
Place: Samuel Bak Museum, Naugarduko street no. 10, Vilnius
Natalja Cheifec continues her internet lecture/discussion on raising children according to the Torah this Thursday. Topics include praise, showing love, controlling anger and appropriate discipline.
To receive zoom credentials and participate, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, January 22
Place: internet
The Šiauliai District Jewish Community is pleased to announce the 16th Liova Taicas memorial sporting event starting at 11:00 A.M. on February 8 at the Šiauliai Sports Gymnasium.. Games include mini-soccer, 3-on-3 basketball, ping-pong, chess and volleyball.
To participate, please register by January 20 by calling the Šiauliai District Jewish Community at +370 99 10621
Rūdiškės is a small town in the Trakai district which most people pass on the road without a thought about its complicated and painful history. The railroad came through in the 20th century and brought business and a Jewish population, almost completely exterminated in the Holocaust. Now local residents, teachers and descendants of people from the town are trying to revive memories of the past there, through testimonies, initiatives and manual labor.
For people travelling between Vilnius and Alytus, Rūdiškės is mainly just a name on a road sign. It has a railroad stop, a main square. a school and stores. The tranquil façade hides a complex story. Lithuanian language teacher Loreta Masienė says Rūdiškės is different from most towns because it was established around the railroad station.
“This was the first railroad in Lithuania, the St. Petersburg to Warsaw line. Rūdiškės began to grow around the railway and the Geležinė River,” she said.
Full story in Lithuanian here.
In the first part of a series on raising children according to the Torah, Natalja Cheifec will discuss:
• Main phases of raising and disciplining chldren according to age;
• Democracy or authority: which sort of relationships lead to greater harmony between parent and child;
• Which should come first, instilling good behavior or imparting understanding;
• Can parents and children be equal?
To participate and receive zoom credentials, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, January 16
Place: internet
Alė Šimulynienė has died. She was born in 1936. She was a member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center, We extend our deepest condolences on her loss to her surviving family and friends.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Economics and Innovation has issued a press release on the Baltic News Service webpage expressing approval for the idea of setting up a Holocaust museum at the former Palace of Sports built on top of the Vilna Jewish cemetery by the Soviets in the Shnipishok neighborhood on the northern side of the Neris (viliya( River.. The building has been in serious disrepair for over a decade.
“Taking into account the position held regarding the possibility of adapting the former Palace of Sports, since this site is not suitable for modern and competitive conference tourism… it would be more appropriate to renovate the Palace of Sports and equip it for use as a new memorial and museum,” the Economics and Innovation Ministry posted on the BNS press release webpage.
Vilnius mayor Valdas Benkunskas after meeting with economics minister Edvinas Grikšas last week told BNS the Vilnius municipality and the Economics Ministry have a common position regarding the aging concert and sports complex.
Mayor Benkunskas said: “We perceive in the same way that the Palace of Sports has to be renovated and adapted as a memorial and museum space, and that it wouldn’t be competitive for conference tourism, and would pose a risk to our public image as such.”
The Economics and Innovation Ministry earlier posted the building was not fit to use as a conference venue following a study ordered by the Government.
“According to the current studies, this site could only host some of the requirements as a venue, there would be a lack of parking places, and the costs of reconstruction are difficult to predict,” the Ministry said.
Goodwill Foundation co-presidents Rabbi Andrew Baker and Faina Kukliansky presented plans for a new Lithuanian Jewish Community Center at the US embassy in Vilnius last week.
World-renowned Litvak architect Massimiliano Fuksas’s team are drafting plans for the new building to be built at the site of the Great Synagogue complex in Vilnius Old Town.
Baker and Kukliansky provided details at the presentation on a planned YIVO exhibit at the new center telling the history of Litvaks, Litvak life, traditions, the people and their mass murder during the Holocaust.
Natalja Cheifec’s internet discussion club continues at 6:00 P.M. this Monday, December 22, with a discussion of recent topics. To receive zoom credentials, click here.
The Vilnius Literary Palace at Šv. Jono street no. 11 will host an event with Brazilian author Jacques Fux who is on a UNESCO fellowship to research in Lithuania famous Brazilian artist Lazar Segall, who came from Vilnius. Kamilė Rupeikaitė and UNESCO’s Marija Mažulė will also speak at the event which will take place in English. The event will start at 7:00 P.M. December 17.
The attack perpetrated on Bondi Beach in Australia where the attackers shot Jews gathered to celebrate Hanukkah has caused deep concern and upset to the Lithuanian Jewish Community. The victims included children, rabbis, Holocaust survivors and non-Jews as well.
We extend our sincerest condolences to the Australian Jewish community and call on everyone to realize that this mass murder targeted Jews around the world, not just in Australia. This is an alarm bell warning us no Jewish community is safe anywhere in the world. Our members including women and children are vulnerable to attack at any time.
Large metropolises throughout the world including Berlin, London and New York have responded to attacks on Jews by increasing security. Sadly in recent times amid a rising tide of anti-Semitism in the world and in Lithuania, we daily encounter hostile actions, vandalism and violence. We are citizens of a member-state of the European Union who are being targeted by followers of recognized terrorist organizations.
We call upon our members to remain vigilant, and we call upon the Lithuanian Government and the citizens of Lithuania to take measures to protect Lithuania’s Jewish organizations, including the communities, the kindergarten, the Choral Synagogue and other sites.
Events in Washington, D.C., Berlin and Sydney demonstrate the danger is real and that in order to avoid further tragedy, we must act now. Tomorrow could be too late.
Liucija Lavrenova has passed away. She was born in 1937. She was a member of the Kaunas Jewish Community and a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center. Our sincere condolences to her daughter, other family members and friends.
Dear friends,
We live in unusual times. We are surriunded by the danger of war. In our historical homeland Israel the war has not ended, people are still fighting and dying. In Ukraine people are suffering because of the actions of the aggressor.
I never thought I would live under conditions of war. I thought this generation, of ou children and grandchildren, would grow up without war. But this is what has happened, without regard to what we wanted.
Despite all these tragic circumstances, the holidays still go on, bringing light, jope and joy. Each day we light a candle to remind ourselves the world is entirely dark. There are also good developments in life, there is hope all the wats will end, we will be safe and our children and grandchildren will be sage, healthy and happy and won’t have to face these dangers in the future.
Hanukkah, the festival of lights, jas been celebrated xince ancient times. Ot gives us hope that in the country where we live anti-Semitism will disappear and demonstrations against Israel will fade away. Instead of crying, we will fight anti-Semitism.
I wish you all the best. Most importantly, I wish you health, happiness, hope and a happy Hanukkah.
Hag urim sameakh,
Faina Kuklianksy, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
Natalja Cheifec continues her lecture begun last week on the miracle of Hanukkah in the run-up to the Jewish winter holiday.
What does the Most High do during Hanukkah? Why do Jews gaze at the candle flame during this holiday? What are the doughnuts, sufganyot and Hanukkah gelt all about? Tune in and find out! To receive zoom credentials, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, December 11
Place: internet
The Palanga Jewish Community and the Jonas Šliūpas Museum in Palanga are holding an event to remember the courage displayed by the Righteous Gentiles, those who rescued Jews from the Holocaust. MEP professor Liudas Mažylis will share his insights and Palanga Jewish Community chairman Vilius Gutmanas will talk about his family’s experience. The Mažylis family rescued Jews and were recognized posthumously as Righteous Gentiles by Yad Vashem in 2006. The presentation and discussion will be in Lithuanian. The event is free and open to the public.
Time: 5:00 P.M., December 11
Place: Jonas Šliūpas Museum, Vytauto street no. 23A, Palanga
Hanukkah us more than just lighting the eight candles on the menorah, it’s a time to have a good time with family and friends, a time for children to play and adults to talk. With that in mind we invite you to the Waiting for Hanukkah celebration this Saturday, December 6 starting at 2:00 P.M. at the renovated Bagel Shop café now known as Pylimo 4 located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. We’ll make doughnuts, spin the dreidl, play other games and sing and dance. Registration required by sending a request to levickajasimona@gmail.com.
The shtetl was bit just a tiwn, but a self-contained world where Jewish traditions were maintained, students attended the yeshiva, people were married and buried under the precepts of Judaism and almost everyone spoke Yiddish.
To receive zoom credentials, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Tuesday, December 4
Place: internet