Natalja Cheifec continues her internet lecture and discussion club on the topic of Passover this Thursday. To receive zoom credentials and participate, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, March 26
Place: internet
The Impossibility of Ignorance
by Grant Gochin, March 19, 2026
In 2018, while already a member of NATO and the European Union, Lithuania’s Parliament (Seimas) formally recognized Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas as the head of the Lithuanian state for the period 1954 to 1957. Lithuania’s defense ministry then placed him in the Heads of State Pantheon and described him as a role model for the country’s officers and soldiers. That is not routine commemoration. It is state canonization inside alliances that define themselves by democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
Once a state does that, the first question is not ceremonial. It is governmental. What public record did Lithuania produce before this elevation showing how Ramanauskas-Vanagas responded to the destruction of Jews in his environment in 1941? Where is the record that he protected Jews, objected to anti-Jewish violence, forbade participation, or punished those who took part? Lithuania’s own official biographies place him in Druskininkai in June 1941 as leader of a self-defense unit and then in Alytus as a teacher from 1941 to 1944. Lithuania has produced no public record of protective action by him toward Jews in that period.
That silence matters because Ramanauskas-Vanagas cannot be sealed off from a documented persecution zone. The Simon Wiesenthal Center warned the Seimas against honoring him. Evaldas Balčiūnas, drawing on archival material cited from the Lithuanian Special Archives and on the work of Arūnas Bubnys, pointed to a July 18, 1941 police report stating that 28 people had already been shot and to evidence that a 38-man partisan unit assisted in establishing the Druskininkai ghetto beginning on July 16. Even on the narrowest reading, this is not an evidentiary void. It is a documented zone of confinement, shooting, and anti-Jewish coercion. Lithuania elevated him anyway.
Faina Kukliansky Elected to General Assembly of European Council of Jewish Communities
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky attended the sixth Summit or European Jewish Leaders in Athens over the weekend, representing Lithuanian Jews, where she was elected to the General Assembly of European Council of Jewish Communities.
The European Council of Jewish Communities holds the event. This time over 250 participants from more than 30 countries attended. They included community leaders, heads of institutions, cultural professionals and members of Jewish communities from around Europe. Israeli president Isaac Herzog and EC president Ursula von der Leyen greeted the gathering. The meeting focused on continuing Jewish life in Europe and served as an opportunity for Jewish leaders to exchange ideas and experience.
Ponevezh Purim Celebration and International Women’s Day
The Panevėžys Jewish Community celebrates International Women’s Day each year. This year was no exception and a large contingent of women gathered March 8 for a celebration of the day and improving spring-like weather. The common table was laden with special treats including Purim pastry from the holiday a few days earlier. Since they coincided so closely this year, the Community celebrated both at once, starting with a reading of the Book of Esther.
Shavl Celebrates Purim with the Musical “A Modern Story of Esther”
The Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community expanded Purim celebrations this year by inviting the general public from Šiauliai and elsewhere with a musical held at the Laptai Gallery of the Šiauliai Culture Center on March 3. The musical was called A Modern Story of Esther based on the text by Itzik Manger and composer Dov Seltzer. The performance space was packed by audience members. The musical itself is a modern version of the traditional purimshpil.
The play was preceded by a presentation by Community member and actress Jūratė Budriūnaitė-Kamrazer on the history, significance and traditions associated with this Jewish holiday.
Vytautas Magnus University Music Academy students performed in the musical, which was followed by traditional Purim treats including homentashn.
The Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community thanks musical director Audronė Eitmanavičiūtė, musical conductor Sabina Martinaitytė and their team of talent from Vytautas Magnus in Kaunas. They also thank the Laiptai Gallery for providing the space and making the event such a success.
Valentinas Kaplūnas and Co. to Perform at LJC
Photo by Virginija Valuckienė
Dear members,
The Lithuanian Jewish Community is pleased to invite you to a concert by cellist Valentinas Kaplūnas and friends. The program includes painting and literature as well as music.
Registration is required by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt.
Time: 2:00 P.M., Sunday, March 22
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
Exhibit on Jewish Vilna
The Films & Coffee café at the corner of Šv. Mikalojaus and Pranciškonų streets in the Vilnius Old Town will host an exhibit by Gediminas Dubonikas and Vytautas Tinteris on the Litvak population of the Old Town before the Holocaust and when Jews were imprisoned in two ghettos there. The exhibit opens at 7:00 P.M. on March 25. Triteris said the exhibit is appropriate for children.
Day of Rescuers of Jews in Kaunas
The Ninth Fort in Kaunas opened an exhibit called Rescuers on March 15. The opening coincided with Lithuania’s Day of Rescuers of Jews. The museum invited members of the Kaunas Jewish Community, families of rescuers of Jews and Righteous Gentiles and others.
Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas, Palanga Jewish Community chairman Vilius Gutmanas, daughter and granddaughter of Righteous Gentiles Iga Makutėnienė, speaker of Lithuanian parliament Juozas Olekas and Darius Jakavičius, chairman of the Commission on Battles for Freedom and Historical Memory, participated, along with other family members of Righteous Gentiles.
A moment of silence was followed by a reading of the names of rescuers of Jews in the city and district of Kaunas. Students from the Naujalis music gymnasium performed. the Ninth Museum’s Vytautas Petrikėnas and Vytautas Švėgžda, the director of Multimediamark who organized the exhibit, presented it in more detail to the audience.
Remembering Righteous Gentiles in Panevėžys
The Panevėžys Regional History Museum hosted an event to mark Lithuania’s Day of Rescuers of Jews Sunday. Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman, son of Righteous Gentiles Vidmantas Markevičius and museum director Donatas Juzėnas spoke at the event.
The official Lithuanian commemorative day was first marked on March 15 in 2023. March 15 is the date Yad Vashem recognized Lithuanian librarian Ona Šimaitė for her work rescuing Jews from the Holocaust. Vidmantas Markevičius’s family rescued nine Jews in the Kupiškis region.
Viltis school students read the names of Jews rescued and their rescuers in the Panevėžys district.
The event featured a screening of the documentary film “Irena” about the late Irena Veisaitė. Veisaitė as a girl was rescued from the Holocaust by Stefanija Ladigienė.
Marking Rescuers Day in Šiauliai
Lithuania’s Day of Rescuers of Jews on Sunday was marked by the Šiauliai District Jewish Community and the Lost Shtetl Museum at an event at Righteous Gentiles Square in Šiauliai which then moved on the museum in Šeduva. Community members, members of the Lithuanian parliament and students from the Juventa school remembered the Righteous Gentiles who rescued Jews from the Holocaust. Conservative MPs Ingrida Šimonytė and Paulė Kuzmickienė provided moving speeches and Pinchas Nol spoke about how the Paluckas family rescued him. Nol spoke by video link from Israel. Juventa students provided a live musical performance.
Faina Kukliansky Presents Autobiography at Vilnius Book Fair
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman presented her book about her life and family “Dainos iš mėlynos užrašinės” [Songs from a Blue Notebook] at the Vilnius Book Fair early Friday afternoon and signed copies for readers. She also held a book-signing event there late Saturday evening.
Covering three generations of Litvaks, the recorded memories move from her grandparents who miraculously survived the Holocaust, her parents in the concentration camps to the youngest generation, Faina and her sister Sulamita, the generation of Jews who came out of survivors of the Holocaust.
Danutė Selčinskaja Named Person of Tolerance of the Year for 2025
The Sugihara Foundation awarded Holocaust and Righteous Gentile historian Danutė Selčinskaja the Person of Tolerance for the foregoing year 2025 and awarded writer Sergey Kanovich the recipient of the Leonidas Donskis prize in Kaunas Sunday.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 6:05 P.M. on Friday, March 6, and concludes at 7:00 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 5:47 P.M. and completed before sunset at 6:05 P.M. Sunday is International Women’s Day. Wednesday, March 11, is Lithuania’s Day of Restoration of Independence, a national holiday marking the act passed by the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet on March 11, 1990, restating the country’s independence from the Soviet Union.
Ceramics Workshop for Children
The Ilan Club is pleased to announce a pottery class for children aged 4 to 12 and their parents. The cost is €10 per lesson, but the first class on Saturday, March 7, is free. To register, send an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt.
Time: 11:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M., Saturdays (first class March 7)
Place: Ilan Club, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
Natalja Cheifec on Purim
Natalja Cheifec continues her lecture series and discussion club with a discussion of Purim symbols, traditions and the deeper significance of the Jewish holiday. To receive zoom credentials and participate, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, March 5
Place: internet
Jews of Palanga: An History in Photographs
The Palanga Jewish Community invites you to visit an exhibit of photographs called “Jews of Palanga: An History in Photographs” at the Palanga Youth and Volunteer Center, Vytauto street no. 110, Palanga, opening March 3 and running till March 31.
With more than 20 authentic period portraits of interbellum Palanga, the exhibit tells the story of the Palanga Jewish community’s daily life, urban spaces and communal and cultural sites integrated in the landscape of the Lithuanian seaside resort town.
The exhibit is a joint project of the Palanga Jewish Community and the Palanga Youth and Volunteer Center. Mindaugas Surblys is the curator.
Happy Purim
Dear Community members,
A happy and colorful Purim!
Our ancestors taught us a very important thing: to make use of every opportunity to enjoy life. Even as history has been full of challenges, we chose light, unity and joy. Therefore laughter, music and song ring out in our homes and community today.
May your tables be laden with fruit, your friendships be sincere and your hearts open. May there be no lack of homentashn, symbolizing the ear of the vizier Haman who sought to harm the Jews as a reminder to us that evil and falseness never win, but courage, hope and unity do.
I hope the joy of Purim inspires in us strength, a sense of belonging and togetherness and faith in the future.
Hag Purim sameakh!
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
LJC Statement on Iran
For whole decades Iran has sown death, harbouring and supporting financially terrorist groups, threatening to acquire a nuclear bomb and inciting hate and violence. The brutal massacre on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, shocked the world, when Hamas terrorists raped and killed women, children, the elderly and others ruthlessly. For the civilized world, this attack planned in Iranian command centers was a blood-curdling reminder of the consequences of unchecked terror and the extremist regime. For Litvaks it was proof the aspiration to exterminate the Jewish people was not just an empty threat.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has persecuted the Iranian people for decades as well, imprisoning, torturing and murdering hundreds of thousands of citizens for seeking freedom, dignity and a life without coercion. This regime poses a threat beyond the Middle East to the entire democratic world. The international community has tried for years to put a halt to their aggression through diplomatic means, agreements and economic sanctions. This has not led to a change in direction by the regime giving up violence, nuclear ambitions and support for terrorism.
When the threat became existential, someone had to act. Today Israel and the United States have stepped up both to protect their own citizens and the whole world. This is not a war against the Persian people or a religion. It is a war against an extremist repressive regime and the violence it continues to practice.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community supports the state of Israel and the United States in their and our fight against terrorism. Our thoughts and prayers are with our brothers and sisters who are risking their lives to secure peace for all of us.
Am Israel chai.
Faina Kukliansky Bio at Vilnius Book Fair
Publisher Alma Littera will present “Dainos iš mėlynos užrašinės” [Songs from a Blue Notebook] at the Vilnius Book Fair Friday.
The book tells the story of the family of the author, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky.
Covering three generations of Litvaks, the recorded memories move from her grandparents who miraculously survived the Holocaust, her parents in the concentration camps to the youngest generation, Faina and her sister Sulamita, the generation of Jews who came out of survivors of the Holocaust.
Readers say the book reads like a film with one frame following another painting a moving picture of the Jewish spirit: culture, heritage, traditions, holidays, cooking, children’s games and communal life. It’s also about a people who were condemned to death who, despite the great love of their families, carry grief from generation to generation, but also boundless courage, resolution, energy and an unstoppable ability to take joy in those things which make up daily life.
“Sometimes people ask me why I spend so much energy on the status of Jews in the world and history, especially since the majority of my people are gone. My only answer is, to safeguard their memory. We no longer have our parents’ candelabra which held the Sabbath candles in every Jewish home. All we have left is memory and respect,” Faina Kukliansky said.
The public is invited to the presentation with Faina Kukliansky who will sign books from 1:30 to 3:30 P.M. on Friday and from 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. on Saturday in Hall 5 at the Alma Littera Stand at the Litexpo pavilion in Vilnius. The Vilnius Book Fair starts Thursday.
Purim Workshop for Children and Young Adults
Members of the Dubi and Ilan Clubs and their parents are invited to take part in a Purim workshop in preparation for the upcoming holiday. We’ll make masks and hamantashen along with many other fun and interesting activities. Registration required by 12 noon on Friday by sending an email to levickajasimona@gmail.com.
Time: 1:00 P.M., Saturday, February 28
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius