We are deeply saddened to report the death of Rimas Timunas. He was born in 1952. A renowned theater director, he staged Grigoriy Kanovitch’s “Nusišypsok mums, Viešpatie” and popularized Litvak culture on the Lithuanian and world stage. He passed away in Italy from lung cancer.
Judaica Research Institute: Yiddish from Georgia
The Judaica Research Institute at the Martynas Mažvydas Lithuanian National Library invites the public to a concert called “Yiddish from Georgia” to be held on the third-floor atrium starting at 6:00 P.M. on Monday, March 18.
The Yiddish quartet was form by Georgian actress Ana Sanaia in 2022. Receiving great acclaim, Sanaia made the quartet part of her mono-drama Martokina in 2023. That same year, with several other talented musicians including Tamar Rtveliashvili, Ioana Navadze and Aleksandra Lortkipanidze, the quartet became part of the Yiddish Theater in Tblisi, also resurrected by Sanaia after more than a century of absence.
The quartet is vocalist Salome Bakuradze, musician Maria Elene Bezhashvili, actress Sofia Akhuashvili and actress and director Ekaterine Kato Sharikadze, and are well known to radio and television audiences in Georgia. While none of them are Jewish, they all feel a deep and abiding respect for the Georgian Jewish heritage and share an understanding of the contribution the Ashkenazi who spoke Yiddish made in bringing Georgia into Europe.
The program includes songs in Yiddish and Georgian. Lasha Shakulashvili, a lecturer in Yiddish language and culture at Tblisi State University, will also speak on Yiddish culture in Georgia and its connections to Litvak culture.
Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman
Photo: Deborah Feldman by D. Umbrasas/LRT
Lithuanian State Radio and Television has featured another Jewish author who appeared at the Vilnius Book Fair last month, Deborah Feldman, author of “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots,” under the headline “Author of Bestseller ‘Unorthodox’ with Litvak Roots: My Grandmother Is the Only Reason I’m Not Crazy” [Lietuviškų šaknų turinti bestselerio „Neortodoksiška“ autorė: močiutė – vienintelė priežastis, kodėl neišprotėjau].
Feldman recounts trying to sell her book to a publisher, and their response that it was a Jewish story, and why would it be interesting to non-Jews?
The American-born German author grew up in the close-knit Hassidic community of Satmar in Brooklyn, New York. She travelled to Lithuania to launch the Lithuanian translation of “Exodus, Revisisted,” the sequel to “Unorthodox,” at the Vilnius Book Fair. The Lithuanian translation was published by the Baltas Publishing House.
The New York Times bestseller “Unorthodox” tells the story of a young Jewish woman who extracts herself from an ultra-conservative community and has attracted readers around the world. It was made into a Netflix mini-series of the same name and was nominated for 8 Emmy awards.
Full article in Lithuanian here.
Righteous Gentiles Commemoration at Tolerance Center
The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum will hold an evening of literature and music to commemorate the Righteous Gentiles who rescued Jews from the Holocaust, happening at 5:00 P.M. on March 17. The Tolerance Center is located at Naugarduko street no. 10 in Vilnius.
The first half of the program is dramatic readings of prose and poetry by Lithuanian actors Vladas Bagdonas and Dalia Michelevičiūtė with musical accompaniment by Petras Vyšniauskas on saxophone and Arkadijus Gotesmanas doing percussion.
The second part of the program includes reflections on the rescue of Jews by Lithuanian artists and public figures. Gotesmanas will talk about how his father escaped being murdered at Auschwitz. Director Gintaras Varnas, poetess, playwright and actress Daiva Čepauskaitė and teacher and writer Vytautas Toleikis will also share their thoughts in a discussion moderated by writer Donatas Puslys.
The event is intended to mark the second Day of Rescuers of Lithuanian Jews, proclaimed an official day of commemoration by the Lithuanian parliament, to fall on March 15 every year.
NAALE International Exchange Student Program with Israel Coming to LJC Sunday
A representative from the NAALE Elite Academy will give a presentation this Sunday at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius for adolescents who want to study in Israel.
The NAALE program provides an opportunity to young people with Jewish roots to receive scholarships and attend from 3 to 4 years the best high schools in Israel.
The program was established in 1992 by the Progressive Education Association in cooperation with the Israeli Education Ministry and the Jewish Agency. Initially it was intended for children from families repatriating to Israel, but a decade later expanded to include all talented Jewish adolescents from around the globe, giving them the chance to get the best high school education and a priceless tool in aspiring after their future goals. NAALE Elite Academy also helps Jewish young people make a strong connexion with their Jewish roots and friendships to last a lifetime.
NAALE project leader Igal Brantman will give the presentation and answer all questions from the audience.
Time: 9:30 A.M., Sunday, March 10
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius
Registration is required by sending an email to viljamas@lzb.lt or by calling +370 672 50699. We hope to see you there.
Andrei Zvonkov to Perform Classical Music on Guitar at LJC
Andrei Zvonkov, a guitarist for the legendary group Bi-2 (who formed the larger part of the soundtrack for the movie Brat 2 (2000, Russian Federation), will perform an exclusive concert on acoustic guitar at the Lithuanian Jewish Community next week.
The program includes works by Back, Mozart, Paganini, Vivaldi, Rachmaninoff and other great classical music composers adapted for acoustic guitar.
There will be a chance to talk to the musician in person. Bi-2 has recently featured on front pages after their arrest in Thailand and subsequent deportation to Israel.
Time: 7:00 P.M., Thursday, March 14
Place: LJC, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius
Tickets available here: https://shorturl.at/hknyY
Seats are limited and interest is expected to be great. The LJC is giving away two free tickets via our facebook page. Post there the person with whom you’d like to attend in order to enter the contest. Winners will be selected randomly Friday.
Litvak Scouts Celebrate Important Date
Last Saturday Litvak scouts took part in an event hosted by the scouts of Panevėžys to celebrate the 167th birthday of Robert Baden-Powell, the father of the scouting movement.
Along with delicious birthday cupcakes, a fun-filled program and the friendly atmosphere of fellow scouts, brother and sister Anastasija and Dovydas also took the pledge. These earnest young scouts now wear the yellow neckerchief of that age-group of scouts. A big hip-hip-hooray! to our newest scouts.
A big thank-you to the organizers and scout leaders and to the Lithuanian Jewish Community for providing transportation and other services.
Remembering the 80th Anniversary of the Children’s Aktion in the Kaunas Ghetto
On March 27 and 28, 1844, more than 1,700 children and elderly were rounded up in the Kaunas ghetto and murdered. The Kaunas Jewish Community invites you to mark the anniversary of one of the greatest Holocaust atrocities in Lithuania.
Time: 4:00 P.M., March 27, 2024
Place: Kaunas ghetto gate, Linkuvos street no. 2, Kaunas
The commemoration ceremony will be followed by a concert at 5:30 P.M. at Vytautas Magnus University, Gimnazijos street no. 7, Kaunas.
Please indicate your intention to attend by sending an e-mail to ieva0102@yahoo.com by March 22.
Bomb Discovered at School, Removed
According to BNS, an explosive was discovered next to the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius Thursday afternoon. Bomb experts removed it and took it to a quarry for demolition, BNS quoted Vilnius District Police as saying. Police said the bomb was taken to the quarry about 4:35 P.M. Police wouldn’t tell BNS what kind of bomb it was, but students at the school reported it was unexploded ordnance from World War II. Police said a 20- to 25-centimeter shell or artillery piece was uncovered during construction work on the future kindergarten adjacent to the main school building and within the territory of the school. Police said they received the initial report at about 1:49 P.M. Thursday. The report led to alerts issued to police, medical services, Aras special police forces and military demolition experts. The school was temporarily evacuated and regular operation resumed Friday.
Story here.
Sabbath with Guitar Music
Last Friday the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Bnei Maskilim held a Sabbath celebration with prayer, food, guitar music and an evening of friendship and fun. This is at least a once-monthly event at the Community now. You’re invited to join next time. For more information about the next gathering, stay tuned, or send an email to viljamas@lzb.lt or call (+370) 672 50699.
Anti-Jew Hit List in Australia Bears Fruit: Man Kidnapped, Tortured
Photo: Australian pro-Hamas activist Laura Allam, from X/Twitter
Following the circulation of a hit-list of around 600 Jews targeted for attacks by pro-Hamas activists in Australia, Victoria State Police are only now disclosing to the public a kidnapping, assault and robbery of a man committed on February 16. The man works for a Jewish employer and was ripped from the driver’s seat of his car, placed in another vehicle, assaulted, robbed and discarded. One of the several perpetrators was known to police and had been reported for making death threats against a female Jewish journalist and television presenter.
Prominent Pro-Hamas Activist Arrested on Kidnapping and Torture Charges
Algemeiner, February 29, 2024
Melbourne–Australian police on Monday announced the arrest of a prominent pro-Hamas advocate accused of orchestrating the kidnapping and torture of a man whose perceived offense was to work for a Jewish employer.
Melbourne resident Laura Allam was charged with kidnapping, armed robbery, illegal detention, assault and battery against the 31-year-old man, who has not been named by authorities. Working with an accomplice who has also been arrested and charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, armed robbery, threats to kill, intention to cause injury, recklessly causing injury, unlawful assault and assault with weapon, the 28-year-old Allam is understood to have targeted the man solely because his employer is Jewish.
Stahlhammer Klezmer Trio Woos Kaunas
The Stahlhammer Klezmer Classic Trio enchanted an audience in Kaunas Thursday at Vytautas Magnus University. The trio from Sweden provided food for thought, smiles and maybe even catharsis to some in the audience, according to reports from Kaunas.
The Kaunas Jewish Community sponsored the concert and dedicated it to the late Litvak bard, thinker and novelist Grigoriy Kanovitch, who would’ve celebrated his 95th birthday this year.
Stahlhammer Klezmer Trio Performs Concert at LJC
As announced earlier, the Stahlhammer Klezmer Classic Trio performed live last week for an audience at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. The trio smoothly combined classical, klezmer and tango music in their program. Thank you to the Swedish ambassador to Lithuania Lars Wahlund and everyone who attended for making this concert a success.
Holocaust Education Workshop for Teachers Held in Kaunas
Lithuania’s International Commission for Assessing the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania and the Centropa organization based in Austria held three days of workshops for teachers to teach the Holocaust in Kaunas from February 19 to 21. Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein and Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas contributed to the teachers’ workshop.
Wittenberg Silverstein spoke about her grandparents and their experience of the Holocaust. She showed the teachers copies of her grandparents’ testimony for Yad Vashem detailing the murder of family members.
Gercas Žakas spoke to them about his father’s Holocaust story in the Šiauliai ghetto and at the Stutthof concentration camp. He recalled his father completely avoided talking about it later, but in old age and infirmity he revealed his memories of the murder of almost the entire family.
Paideia Accepting Applications
The Paideia Institute for Jewish studies in Stockholm is accepting applications now for international students interested in their Jewish studies program focusing on Scripture for 2024-2025, starting next September and continuing on until May of 2025. Minimum requirements include a bachelor’s degree and proficiency in English.
Application can be made here: https://shorturl.at/qCE02
For more information, send an e-mail to recruitment@paideia-eu.org.
Applications must be received by April 14, 2024.
Ambassadors Ask Lithuanian PM for Police Response to Growing Anti-Semitism
The ambassadors of Germany, the United States and Israel have sent a letter to the Lithuanian prime minister pointing out the alarming growth of anti-Semitic attacks in Lithuania over recent weeks and calling for an increased police presence at Jewish community buildings, schools and synagogues.
American ambassador Kara McDonald, Israeli ambassador Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein and German ambassador Cornelius Zimmerman addressed their plea to Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė, invoking shared values of tolerance and inclusion and the rejection of anti-Semitism and citing recent stone-throwing incidents at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius and the Šiauliai Jewish Community in Šiauliai, Nazi symbols graffitied on a former synagogue in Daugai, Lithuania, and on a bridge in Vilnius and the overturning of a monument to the victims of the Druskininkai ghetto in Druskininkai, Lithuania, as examples of the rising number of incidents.
Efraim Zuroff Interview: It Always Starts with the Jews but Never Ends with the Jews
The Visegrad24 news website has been reporting on the conflict with Gaza live from Israel. In a recent interview they spoke with Efraim Zuroff, the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, about the Holocaust, justice for the victims, justice for the victims of the Hamas massacre on October 7, Israeli security failures and the problem of Islamists migrating to Western Europe and North America and open borders in general.
“It always starts with the Jews, but never ends with the Jews. Hitler wanted to launch a war to destroy the Jews and 50 million people were murdered, and not all of them Jews, far from it. This is what people have to understand: the Jews are like the canaries in the coal mine. They’re the first victims. And if they go after us, be sure that they’ll go after the Christians in Europe and everywhere else because their dream is to take over the world. That’s the problem,” Zuroff said during the interview.
Israeli Ambassador Congratulates LJC Chairwoman on Award
Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein sent a letter congratulating Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky on receipt of the Order of Merit medal presented to her by the Lithuanian president on February 16 in Vilnius.
A copy of the letter can be found below.
Happy Birthday to Artūras Taicas
The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes Ukmergė Jewish Community chairman Artūras Taicas a very happy birthday. We are grateful to you for your tireless energy safeguarding and protecting the memory of those who cannot protect themselves from vandals. We all wish you success, happiness, real people and sincere smiles. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Congratulations to Daumantas Todesas
The Lithuanian Jewish Community congratulates Daumantas Levas Todesas, chairman of the Council of Ethnic Communities, for recognition of his efforts in preserving the Litvak heritage in Lithuania, in representing the interests of the ethnic minority communities in Lithuania and in his public activities promoting the integration of minorities into Lithuanian society, as demonstrated by Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda’s presentation to him of the Lithuanian medal the Order of Merit, the Knight’s Cross, on February 16 at the presidential palace in Vilnius.