Learning – Lithuanian Jewish Community

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.

2026-02-262026-02-26

A Modern Story of Esther at the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community

The Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community is staging the musical a Modern Story of Esther to celebrate Purim and invites you to attend. It happens at 6:00 P.M. on March 3 at the Laiptai Gallery in Šiauliai. Students under professors Sabina Martinaitytė and Audronė Eitmanavičiūtė from Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas will perform. The event is free and open to the public. Purim is March 3.

2026-02-24

Natalja Cheifec’s Internet Discussion Club Continues

Natalja Cheifec’s internet discussion club continues Thursday. To register and participate, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, February 26
Place: internet

2026-02-23

Małgorzata Quinkenstein Presents Book “Stronger than Fear”

Author Małgorzata Quinkenstein will speak at a presentation of her book “Stronger than Fear” at the Lithuanian Jewish Community. The book features 36 portraits of Righteous Gentiles from France, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and other countries and testimonies from rescued Jews. The interview with Quinkenstein is to take place in Polish with simultaneous translation to Lithuanian. Registration is required, click here.

Time: 1:00 P.M., Friday, March 6
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

2026-02-232026-02-23

Markas Volynskis Concert

You’re invited to an evening of music by Markas Volynskis and friends. Vocalists Marija Duškina and Rima Šechter, pianist and composer Vitalijus Neugasimovas and Choral Synagogue cantor Shmuel Yaatom will perform in homage to Volyniskis. The concert is being organized by writer and director Žaneta Berlin. Snacks and surprises to be provided. To register call Liza at +370 684 73592.

Time: 5:00 P.M., Sunday, February 22
Place: Vilnius Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

2026-02-182026-02-18

Special Sabbath with Performance by Actress from Israel

Lithuanian Jewish Community members are invited to a special Sabbath celebration with a performance by the Israeli actress Tatyana Khazanovskaya of “Wandering Stars,” a play by Nina Michoels based on the novel by Sholem Aleichem. The play will be in Russian. The cost is 10 euros and registration is required by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt. The event will last about 75 minutes.

Time: 7:00 P.M., Friday, February 20
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

2026-02-17

Natalja Cheifec’s Raising Children according to the Torah, Part 5

Natalja Cheifec continues her lecture series with the fifth instalment on raising children according to the principles of the Torah.

To receive zoom credentials and participate, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, February 12
Place: internet

2026-02-11

Visitor from DC Looking for Roots in Panevėžys

Harold Closter who lives in Washington, D.C., and his son Yulik Gurvich visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community looking or information on Closter’s great-grandfather Zvi Hirsh Avraham and Closter’s mother Milke Ginzberg, both of whom lived in Panevėžys before the First World War. The Panevėžys Jewish Community’s archive had matches for both surnames but further information such as street addresses couldn’t be determined, because Kloster didn’t have their dates of birth, marriages or death.

Kloster is a folklorist and historian. He said it was important to him and his son to see where their ancestors lived.

Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman recommended they apply to the Lithuanian State Archive which conserves material documenting Jews living in Lithuania since the 17th century. Kofman and Kloster made plans to stay in contact.

2026-02-10

Sixteenth Liova Taicas Tournament Held in Šiauliai

The 16th Liova Taicas sports tournament was held in Šiauliai Sunday. Participating were four soccer teams, two basketball teams, 5 volleyball, 6 chess and 6 ping-pong teams. Israeli embassy staff formed one of the basketball teams competing. As in earlier iterations of the games, the Ukmergė Jewish Community participated, having become an integral part of the annual tournament.

2026-02-102026-02-10

Vilkomir Chemistry Olympics Awards Renamed after Aaron Klug

The Ukmergė (Vilkomir) regional administration hosted the awards ceremony for winners of the chemistry contest which takes place at local high schools annually. This year the awards ceremony at the Antanas Smetona Gymnasium was renamed the Aaron Klug awards.

Aaron Klug was born in Želva, Lithuania, in 1926. Klug was taken by his parents from Lithuania to South Africa when he was three years old. He entered the University of the Witwatersrand at Johannesburg intending to study medicine, but he was graduated with a science degree. He then began a doctoral program in crystallography at the University of Cape Town but left with a master’s degree upon receiving a fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he completed his doctorate in 1953. He won the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1982 for his investigation of the three-dimensional structure of viruses and other particles which are combinations of nucleic acids and proteins, and for the development of crystallographic electron microscopy.. This year marks 100 since he was born. He died in 2018.

2026-02-042026-02-04

Raising Children according to the Torah, Part 4

Natalja Cheifec continues her internet lecture series with a fourth installment on raising children according to the Torah. To receive zoom credentials and participate, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, February 5
Place: internet

2026-02-04

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust in Panevėžys

The Panevėžys Jewish Community, deputy mayor Deividas Labanavičius, continuing-education students and visitors from Kupiškis as well as local residents marked the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust on January 27.

“The Holocaust reminds us to the depths to which hate, apathy and ignoring human dignity can lead. As we remember the victims, we take responsibility for preserving human respect, for strengthening tolerance and for passing on historical memory to the future generations. This is a duty, leading to a mature and responsible society,” deputy mayor Deividas Labanavičius said.

Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman spoke about the incredible mass murder of almost all Lithuanian Jews and noted more than 600,000 Jews had fought against Nazi Germany, many of them falling on the battle field or returning home disabled. “We also remember those who at risk to themselves and the lives of their families rescued Jews from certain death,” he said.

2026-02-03

Remembering Holocaust Victims in Šiauliai

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust was marked in Šiauliai January 27. People gathered at the location of the ghetto gates at the intersection of Ežero and Trakų streets. Members of the Šiauliai Jewish Community, local officials and local residents attended. Candles were lit at the monument marking the former ghetto gates. The attendees then moved on to Righteous Gentile Square.

2026-02-03

Palanga Jewish Cemeteries: Inscriptions, Records, Territories

Information from Mindaugas Surblys, Palanga Jewish Community

When fire ran rampant in Palanga in 1830, old burial pinkhas were destroyed, dating back to 1487. Beginning in 1831 burial records were kept for the new Jewish cemetery at the edge of town. For a time two Jewish cemeteries operated in tandem in Palanga, the old one since 1487 till 1892, located inside Birutė Park. The new cemetery was instituted near Naglys Hill.

There are ten remaining headstones (matsevot) of different sizes made from granite and cement with inscriptions in Hebrew letters. Three headstones are broken in their upper sections. One is splintered with fragments lying on the ground. Many of the surviving monuments are difficult to read.

Several inscriptions are legible and correspond to the burial records of the Palanga Jewish community. The inscriptions match the information in the pinkhas, for example, “Here lies our dear and honored father who was famous for his charity work and high moral character, Natan Frank, son of Hirsh (Tzvi), deceased on Rosh Hashanah, 1935” (partial translation).

2026-02-022026-02-02

UN Holocaust Day at the Šiauliai District Jewish Community

The Šiauliai District Jewish Community marked the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust on January 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, with an evening of tea celebrating Vulf Visotiski, a tea expert whose family began dealing in tea in Žagarė back in 1849.

The Šiauliai District Jewish Community invited experts and cultural anthropologists from Žagarė and around Lithuania as well as the general public and served Visotski tea imported from Israel. The fifth generation of the family is still blending tea in Israel now. High school student singers from the area and from Klaipėda provided the highlight of the evening. Speakers also provided historical insights into the Volpert family and the history and current state of Žagarė.

2026-02-02

Tu b’Shvat

Today is the Jewish holiday of Tu b’Shvat, the 15th day of the month of Shvat, the New Year for trees also known as Israeli Arbor Day. It is traditional to eat of the shvat ha’minim (seven species endemic to the Land of Israel): wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Hag sameakh!

2026-02-02

Palanga Jewish Community Marks UN Holocaust Day

Members of the Palanga Jewish Community, representatives of the municipality and local high school students marked the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust Tuesday by visiting a marker commemorating victims at a cemetery there.

“The Holocaust isn’t a past tragedy, it’s a warning of what happens when apathy becomes the norm and hate becomes acceptable. Our duty is not just to remember the victims, but also to protect the truth, which is uncomfortable to some. Remembering isn’t a ceremony, it’s a daily choice,” Palanga Jewish Community chairman Vilius Gutmanas remarked on the occasion.

The seaside resort town has several Holocaust memorial sites with commemorative markers and plaques. The local cemetery has a stele marking where 106 Jews and 5 Lithuanians murdered in 1941 were reburied. Jewish sites including the Great and Lesser Synagogues and a site connected with Dr. Lazar Gutman are also marked now, as are two pre-Holocaust Jewish cemeteries.

2026-01-292026-01-29

« Previous