Learning, History, Culture – Page 97 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

New Archaeological Discoveries at Pakruojis Synagogue Complex

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Pakruojis regional administration mayor Saulius Margis, administration director Ilona Gelažnikienė, deputy mayor Virginijus Kacilevičius and others attended a lecture by Dr. Ernestas Vasiliauskas presenting new archaeological discoveries at the Pakruojis synagogue complex.

The Pakruojis regional administration reports:

Dr. Ernestas Vasiliauskas gave a presentation October 14 detailing the newest archaeological discoveries in the winter synagogue and shtibl at the Pakruojis synagogue complex. The project “Maintenance of the City Park and the Banks of the Kruoja River in the City of Pakruojis” decided to perform the archaeology in concert with the Cultural Heritage Department of the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture.

There is a lot of surviving information about the summer synagogue in Pakruojis, but very little about the winter synagogue and the shtibl. Senior archaeologist Dr. Vasiliauskas said the wooden synagogue complex built in the 19th century in Pakruojis is unique in Lithuania and blends different architectural styles, including late baroque (summer synagogue), classicism (winter synagogue) and traditional architecture (the shtibl), and was an important part of the cityscape, one of the dominant buildings on the Pakruojis skyline.

2020-10-282020-11-13

Holocaust Archive Protected by U.S. Federal Government

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), a federal government institution in Washington, DC, has acquired an archive of documents and possessions belonging to Lithuanian Holocaust perpetrator Jonas Noreika.

The archive was donated by Noreika’s granddaughter, Silvia Foti, who has exposed her grandfather as the murderer of approximately 14,500 Lithuanian Jews at the start of the Holocaust. Foti calls the Lithuanian government’s whitewashing of her grandfather’s crimes, “perhaps one of the greatest cover-ups of the 20th Century.” Foti will release her exposé in March 2021, entitled, “The Nazi’s Granddaughter: How I Discovered My Grandfather was a War Criminal.”

Foti’s physical safety has been threatened due to her exposé, so to ensure the archive’s physical security, she has transferred possession and ownership of it to the USHMM.

2020-10-232020-12-08

Chiune Sugihara Statue Unveiled in Kaunas

A statue was unveiled Saturday to World War II-era Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara. He issued so-called visas for life, saving thousands of Jews from Lithuania and Poland as Nazi Germany advanced on the small Baltic country of Lithuania.

The bronze statue is almost 12 feet high and is located on Kaunas’s famous promenade, Laisvės aleja or Freedom Alley, next to the Metropol hotel where Sugihara continued to issue visas even after being ordered to stop, close down the Japanese consulate and to travel to a new assignment in Berlin. There are numerous stories Sugihara even issued visas from the train as it was pulling away from the station, and that he left blank visas and stamps with Jews in the city so they could make their own visas for life.

The sculpture designed by Martynas Gaubas depicts origami cranes which he says symbolize freedom. An inscription in Lithuanian, Japanese, English and Yiddish, reads: “Whoever saves a life, saves the world.”

2020-10-202020-12-07

Regarding the Activities of the Cantor of the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius

The cantor or khazan is the main singer of prayers at synagogue. At the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius some very famous cantors have sung, including Mordechajus Geršmanas, Noach Zeludkovsky, Abraomas Bernšteinas and Elias Zaludkowsky. World-famous cantor Josef Malovani also sang at the synagogue in 2002 and he was elected honorary cantor of our synagogue as well.

Since 2008 the original and special cantor Shmuel Yatom has worked at the Choral Synagogue. He is well known throughout the Lithuanian Jewish communities and is constantly invited to them. He is the only professional cantor in Lithuania.

The Vilnius synagogue has established rather strict requirements during the current virus outbreak, requirements which are also recommended by the Lithuanian Government, including taking the temperature of all minyan members, use of face masks, disinfecting pews and door handles and constant ventilation of the space.

Torah reading takes place from the bimah, a raised platform intended exclusively for Torah reading. It is a small space where four people just barely fit: the cantor, two minyan members who supervise the reading of the Torah passage to insure against errors and the guest who reads the words of the blessing. All can wear masks, but this is difficult for the cantor, because the words he reads out must be heard throughout the synagogue by all in attendance there.

A recent meeting of the synagogue’s executive board resolved to recommend the cantor temporarily not travel to events at the regional communities.

In the name of the minyan, we apologize to the communities that the cantor of the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius will not be able to participate at their important events for the time being.

Simas Levinas, chairman
Vilnius Jewish Religious Community

2020-10-162020-10-30

Kaunas Commemorates Lea Goldberg

There’s a larger-than-life fresco painted on the wall of a building on Kęstutis street in Kaunas featuring a portrait of celebrated Israeli poetess Lea Goldberg, with a poem by her in Hebrew and Lithuanian. Her family fled their home in this building 85 years ago, with Leah making aliyah and settling in Tel Aviv in 1935, after receiving PhDs from universities in Bonn and Berlin in Semitic and Germanic languages.

Now the Lithuanian city is scheduled to become the European Union’s honorary European Capital of Culture for the year 2022. Now, in the run-up to that auspicious year, local and visiting Jews in Kaunas held a celebration of, perhaps, the town’s most famous poet, as well as its lost Jewish heritage.

Bella Shirin, who has been appointed “ambassador” of Kaunas, Capital of European Culture 2022, recited in selections from Goldberg’s corpus in Hebrew to musical accompaniment. Israeli exchange student Shahar Berkowitz sang Goldberg’s work.

2020-10-152020-11-11

Year of Eliyahu Exhibition

The Torah itself witnesses: I am Wisdom, who found a haven in Eliyahu’s soul, and through him was revealed to the world.

This fragment of the epithet inscribed on the headstone commemorating Eliyahu ben Solomon Zalman reflects well the significance of the Vilna Gaon for Litvak and global Jewish culture. As Lithuanian marks 2020 as the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak Culture, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library is contributing with an exhibit of publications and documents called “The Year of Eliyahu: The Vilna Gaon’s Influence on Litvak Culture.”

The exhibit showcases the Gaon’s biography, personality and intellectual and pedagogical activity as well as his influence over Vilnius Jews, on their mentality and culture. Documents illustrating the sage’s life and works by the Gaon and his followers will be displayed. One of the major items is the pinkos of the synagogue of the Vilna Gaon conserved by the YIVO institute in New York City. This document, a compendium of vital statistics of the Jewish community, will be exhibited using a holographic projection system. The exhibit will also showcase the abundant and diverse Judaica collection conserved at Lithuania’s National Library.

The opening ceremony will be held in the atrium on the third floor at 5:30 P.M. on Tuesday, October 20, and will include a musical performance and installation employing modern audio-visual technology to transform an ancient text into a tale, providing a hint into the Gaon’s thought-processes.

The exhibit will also feature the issue of the Bank of Lithuania’s 10-euro silver coin commemorating the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Vilna Gaon, designed by our own Victoria Sideraitė-Alon, Jūratė Juozėnienė and Albinas Šimanauskas.

2020-10-152020-10-20

Dr. Ruth Reches to Present Her Book on Identity among Holocaust Survivors

Psychologist Dr. Ruth Reches will present her book called “Holokaustą patyrusių asmenų tapatumo išgyvenimas” [The Experience of Identity by People Who Survived the Holocaust] at a special event at 6:00 P.M. on Monday, October 19, 2020, at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The event in Lithuanian will include a panel moderated by Vytautas Magnus University lecturer and philosopher Algirdas Davidavičius. Guests will be asked to wear masks. Please report your intention to attend by sending an email to info@lzb.lt

2020-10-14

EJC President Kantor Applauds Overdue Decision by Facebook to Ban Holocaust Denial

Monday, October 12, 2020–European Jewish Congress president Dr. Moshe Kantor has welcomed the decision by Facebook to ban Holocaust denial and distortion and to better inform the public about the Holocaust.

“This is a long overdue but an important decision,” Dr. Kantor said. “Holocaust denial is not legitimate debate and is only used as an expression of hatred for Jews, so this decision is not about anything except limiting hate and anti-Semitism.”

Dr. Kantor, who is also the president of the World Holocaust Forum Foundation, welcomed concerted efforts by governments, IT companies and civil society to counter the proliferation of online hatred conspiracy myths and Holocaust denial.

“At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise and knowledge about the Holocaust among young people is alarmingly low, it is crucial that online platforms continue to become part of the solution, not the problem,” Dr. Kantor said.

“This is an issue that the European Jewish Congress has long advocated for, and we thank Facebook for its regular and productive discussions with us and other Jewish organizations, both at the European and global level,” Dr. Kantor concluded.

Full statement here.

2020-10-14

Come Learn Hebrew

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is again offering Hebrew classes to the general public, starting October 18 and continuing every Sunday. Beginner and intermediate levels are available. To register, send an e-mail to ruthreches@gmail.com

2020-10-13

Facebook Bans Holocaust Denial

Facebook has explicitly banned Holocaust denial for the first time.

The social network said its new policy prohibits “any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust.”

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg wrote that he had “struggled with the tension” between free speech and banning such posts, but that “this is the right balance.”

Two years ago, Mr Zuckerberg said that such posts should not automatically be taken down for “getting it wrong.”

“I’m Jewish and there’s a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened,” he told Recode at the time.

2020-10-132020-10-16

Monument to Commemorate Makabi Stadium in Kaunas

Photo: A sculpture commemorating the Makabi Stadium in Kaunas. Photographs by Laimutis Brundza

A sculpture by Gediminas Pašvenskas will mark the spot where the Makabi Stadium was opened 100 years on Jonavos street in Kaunas. When you drive along the street today, you’d likely never think there was a soccer stadium here. Opened on October 19, 1920, by the Makabi Jewish athletics and gymnastics association, exactly one year later it was outfitted as a soccer stadium.

“The first stadium was in Ąžuolynas. The second was here, actually, a little bit away from this location where we’re standing now. There was a third in Panemunė, but back then Panemunė wasn’t part of the city of Kaunas, it belonged to the Kaunas district,” Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas, who used to play soccer there, said at the ceremony to unveil the new sculpture.

The arena operated from 1920 to 1940 and held 2,500 people. It had a running track and other facilities as well. “Everything was fine if the ball didn’t go into the Neris River, at which point all the spectators would disperse. They didn’t wait the ten minutes it took to get the ball out of the water,” Žakas recalled.

Lithuanian Makabi president Semionas Finkelšteinas shared his own memories, not just balls going into the water, but water coming into the stadium. In 1931 the river overflowed and covered the entire field.

2020-10-082020-11-09

Righteous Gentile Aldona Radzevičienė-Norvaišaitytė Has Died

Sad news came from Kaunas October 2: Righteous Gentile Aldona Radzevičienė-Norvaišaitytė has passed away. Three years ago the Kaunas Jewish Community celebrated her 90th birthday where she even danced the waltz.

She and her family lived in Vilkaviškis where they rescued the Jews Alper Kirkilovski, Haim Chernevski and the sisters Shenka and Tsipka Verber who had escaped the Vilkaviškis ghetto just before it was liquidated and all of whom survived the war. In 1993 then-president Algirdas Brazauskas awarded Aldona the Life-Saver’s Cross and Yad Vashem recognized her as a Righteous Gentile on Junly 16, 2001.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community mourns the loss of Aldona Radzevičienė-Norvaišaitytė together with her family and many friends. Her memory will always remain vivid in our hearts.

2020-10-082020-10-08

St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra Holding Concert Dedicated to Sugihara

lrytas.lt

As the cultural landscape shifts, new challenges arise, which the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra of the Vilnius city municipality faces courageously.

At 7:00 P.M. on October 8 the orchestra will hold a concert at St. Kotryna’s Church in Vilnius dedicated to Japanese diplomat and Righteous Gentile Chiune Sugihara to mark the 80th anniversary of his activity in Kaunas and the 120th anniversary of his birth. This is the first time orchestra and its soloists will perform from different locations in countries around the world, connected by internet.

Full article in Lithuanian here.

Tickets available here.

2020-10-08

Jewish Mass Grave Monument Vandalized in Kaunas

Kaunas residents reported October 5 a monument marking the Jewish mass murder and grave site next to the buildings at Energetikų street no. 19 was vandalized.

2020-10-08

Lithuanian Parliament Ethics and Procedures Commission Censures Šimas

The Ethics and Procedures Commission of the Lithuanian parliament has adopted a resolution censuring MP Audrys Šimas concerning what appeared to be a sieg heil Nazi salute he made during a vote in the Lithuanian parliament’s National Security and Defense Committee last spring.

§§§

ETHICS AND PROCEDURES COMMISSION OF THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

FINDING
ON THE BEHAVIOR OF MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT AUDRYS ŠIMAS

No. 101-I-18
September 30, 2020
Vilnius

The Ethics and Procedures Commission of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter Commission)–Antanas Matulas, Aušrinė Norkienė, Petras Čimbaras, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Virgilijus Poderys, Mazys Starkevičius, Dovilė Šakalienė, Ona Valiukevičiutė–having received a request from Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky on May 29, 2020, to assess the behavior of member of parliament Audrys Šimas at the meeting of the parliamentary National Security and Defense Committee on May 20, 2020, and based on article 78, part 1, point 3 of the Parliamentary Statute of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter Statute), presents this finding.

2020-10-082020-10-28

Sukka at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius

Despite restrictions because of the corona virus, the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius has constructed the traditional sukka there to celebrate the holiday of Sukkot. Traditionally called the Feast of Tabernacles in English, Sukkot is better translated as the Day of Tents in modern English. This year it began October 2 and it lasts for seven days. The idea is to “dwell” or spend time in the tent or temporary structure during each day of the week-long holiday. It is traditional to handle the etrog, a fruit in the citrus family, and to wave a palm frond inside the sukka, or dwelling, and to eat and celebrate, remembering the past when the Hebrews lived in tents after the exodus and liberation from Egypt. The Torah says one should wave the branches and fronds of three pleasant trees during the holiday, including palm fronds, willow branches and the branch of a leafy deciduous tree which the Talmud specifies is the myrtle. The trees and the etrog together constitute the four species. The palm fronds are first made into a bundle which becomes the first element, to which are added two willow branches, then three myrtle branches in a specific pattern, This three-fold branch and etrog are waved around on each day of the seven days by observant Jews in adherence to Leviticus 23:40. Visitors to the sukka are also supposed to have a good time there.

The sukka at the Choral Synagogue is only open during scheduled prayer services as part of entry restrictions designed to curb the spread of the corona virus. Please check prayer service schedules or call ahead if you intend to visit and spend time in the sukka.

2020-10-062020-10-13

Condolences

Sad news has arrived from Šiauliai: Righteous Gentile Meilutė Zofia Kalendraitė-Levinskienės has passed away. The Lithuanian Jewish Community extends our deepest condolences to her family, including her husband, children, grandchildren, her sister who is also a Righteous Gentile and to her many friends.

Her father Andrejus Kalendra, enthusiastic about the ideas of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, organized the rescue of the Gordimer family from the Šiauliai ghetto. Andrejus Kalendra was a man who was known and respected throughout the area. He organized the operation to save the family together with other members of his family and friends following the Children’s Aktion in the ghetto on November 5, 1943. Six-year-old Sholem was carried out the ghetto in a potato bag and hidden at the Kalendra estate near Žarėnai. He remained there until the summer of 1945.

Due to the efforts of the Kalendra family, their friends and their acquaintances, the entire Gordimer family was saved and went to the USA in 1945.

2020-10-06

Condolences

The Lithuanian Writers Union reported Dovydas Judelevičius passed away at the age of 95 on September 23, 202, in Vilnius. Dovydas Judelevičius was a member of the union, a literature and theater critic and a translator. He was born October 5, 1925, in Kaunas.

2020-10-06

The Holocaust through the Eyes of a Girl from Vilnius

July 19th, 1922.
Beba Epstein is born.

In 2017, a bundle of Jewish documents was found hidden in Lithuania, which are now being digitized as part of the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections. One of them is the autobiography of a secular middle-class Jewish girl in the 1930s, whose life was not unlike that of many children today. While her experience doesn’t reflect the circumstances of every Jewish child at the time, we can learn a lot through her account. But first, let’s meet her!

Full interactive experience here.

2020-10-02