Learning

Courage and Hope: Remembering the Rescuers

Courage and Hope: Remembering the Rescuers

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

Family Event Waiting for Hanukkah

Family Event Waiting for Hanukkah

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.

Natalja Cheifec on Shtetl Life

Natalja Cheifec on Shtetl Life

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

New Album: Litvak Violin Art

New Album: Litvak Violin Art

Violinist Dalia Dėdinskaitė and pianist Walter Delahunt will perform selections from their new album at the album lauch at 6:30 P.M. on Wednesday, December 3 at the Samuel Bak Museum of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum, Naugarduko street no. 10, Vilnius. The album is called Estrellita and features works by Litvak composers from Lithuania to Hollywood.

Exhibit of Works by Raimondas Savickas

Exhibit of Works by Raimondas Savickas

Life with Pastels is an exhibit of works by renowned Lithuanian visual artist Raimondas Savickas which opens at 6:00 P.M. on December 6 and runs till December 27 at the Savickas Picture Gallery, Tumo-Vaižganto street no. 5, Vilnius. A new exhibit of paintings by Savic;as also opens on December 30 at the Lithuanian Artists Union gallery at Vokiečių street no. 2.

News from the Šiauliai District Jewish Community

News from the Šiauliai District Jewish Community

Jewish history is an important part of the identity of Jews from Shavl and Žagarė. Last Sunday members of the Šiauliai District Jewish Community took a tour called “Jewish Houses, Trades and History.” sampled bagels and were treated to a lecture by ethno-musicologist Eirimas Velička about Jewish music.

The Šiauliai District Jewish Community also opened an exhibit Sunday on the kinder aktion in the Shavl ghetto in 1943. The exhibit is on display at the Culture Center in Šiauliai. Community members finished the day attending the play “The Thinking Heart of the Barracks” which recalled the injunction to remember.

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EJC President Says Social Media Radicalizing Youth

EJC President Says Social Media Radicalizing Youth

EJC President warns of dangerous influence of social media in youth radicalization at Paris Mayors’ Summit against Anti-Semitism

Paris, November 20, 2025–European Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor launched a radical plan aimed at eradicating hate-filled anti-Semitism from social media forums targeting disaffected youth.

Addressing the Paris Mayors Summit against Anti-Semitism Thursday in the French capital, Kantor told the gathering that the new social media environment has become “a breeding ground for anti-Semitism fueled by conspiracy theories about global financial cabals and Jewish elites in control of the media.”

“Hatred has gone viral,” he added.

The event brought together dozens of city leaders from around the world, policy makers and community and civil society representatives, all united in their commitment to confront and prevent anti-Semitism in all its forms.

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Youth Day at the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community

Youth Day at the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community

October 18 students from the Juventos pre-gymnasium arrived early at the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community for a special day of lessons on Jewish culture, history, tradition and customs. Teachers Aurelija Dirginčienė, Loreta Stankuvienė and Gaiva Šimonienė delivered the lessons. Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community chairwoman Rašella Galinienė and Oser Gleizer answered the cikdren’s questions. There are plans to include more of the school’s student body in future lesson days.

Dolskis and Gorbulskis Comcert Great Success

Dolskis and Gorbulskis Comcert Great Success

The concert “When Dolskis Met Gorbulskis” concert at the Kaunas State Pjilharmonic ib late October was a rousing success according to all involved.

THe concert celebrated the 150th birthday of Lithuanian estrada music founder Daniel Dolksis and the 100th birthday of Benjaminas Gorbulskis, a composer who contributed much to this genre of popular stage music.

Performers included tenor Rafailas Karpis, the Lithuanian Symphonic Horn Orchestra formerly known as Trimitas and a number of other talented musicians and actors.

The Kaunas Jewish Community would like to apologize to everyone who was unable to attend because of limited seating or had to stand during the free concert.

Some snapshots from the remarkable evening follow.

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Condolences

Roza Bloch has passed away. She was born in 1930 in Kaunas, survived the Kaunas ghetto, the Kaunas concentration camp and the Stutthof concentration camp. Almost her entire family was murdered, excepting her maternal grandparents who also survived the Holocaust. She repatriated from the Soviet Union with her family to Israel in 1973. She was a long-standing member of the Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel and served on its board of directors. We extend our deepest condolences on her loss to her friends and family, members of the Association and to all who knew and loved her.

Learn Hebrew

Learn Hebrew

Psychologist, teacher and principal of the Sholem Aleichem Gymnasium Ruth Reches continues to offer Hebrew courses ti the general public at Sholem Aleichem on Sundays. Classes resume December 7, including an advanced group.

Schedule:

9:30 A.M. – 11:00 A.M. Level 3
11:15 A.M. – 12:45 P.M. Level 2

It all takes place on Sundays at the Sholem Aliechem ORT Gymnasium located at Kraševskio street no. 5 in Vilnius. Registration is required, contact ruthreches@gmail.com.

Sabbath Celebration with Vegetarian Dishes Inspired by Lewando

Sabbath Celebration with Vegetarian Dishes Inspired by Lewando

The team of the fotmer Bagel Shop Café, now called Pylimo 4 (the street address) is pleased to announce a Sabbath celebration featuring vegetarian dishes inspired by Fania Lewando from Vilnius, the author of a vegetarian cookbook published in Yiddish in 1938.

It happens this Friday, November 14. The menu pays tribute to Lewando’s cuisine which reflects Litvak traditions. Participants are asked to donate €22 per diner, but smaller donations are also very acceptable. The point is to celebrate the Sabbath together. To suggest dishes, for more information amd to register, send an email to gut.shabbos.vilnius@gmail.com.

Continuing Education Students Visit Panevėžys Jewish Community

Continuing Education Students Visit Panevėžys Jewish Community

Continuing education university students visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community on November 9 where they were received by chairman Gennady Kofman. Jifman presented members of the group his book on the Holocaust and two of the visitors spoke about the Holocaust experience of their families. They spoke for an hour and a half.

The Panevėžys Jewish Community and the older students planmed three lecture series starting in December on Krystallnacht, hate and the roots of the Holocaust, and to commemorate victims of the Holocaust together on January 27.

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Concert of Jewish and Other Composers

Concert of Jewish and Other Composers

Lithuanian saxophone prodigy Petras Vyšniauskas and pianist Aleksandra Žvirblytė will perform a program of works by Jewish, Litvak and other composers called Dialogue on Thursday, November 13, at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius.

Prior registration is required by filling out the internet form here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., November 13
Place: LJC, Vilnius

Memory Written in Stone

Memory Written in Stone

On October 18 Švenčionys Jewish Community chairman Moshe Shapiro, MP Emanuelis Zingeris and a number of local officials and residents as well as educators from Lithuania and abroad attended an event in Pabradė called Memory Written in Stone. The event was held by the Paribio Pažinimo Centras as part of a borader project to memorialize locations where synagogues once stood.

During this event two stone markers were erected at the site of two former synagogues. The Pabradė Fanfare Orchestra provided musical accompaniment.

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Congratulations to Jokūbas Šiuipys

Congratulations to Jokūbas Šiuipys

Congratulations to Šiauliai Jewish Community member Jokūbas Šiuipys who was recently accepted into a six-week course in Israel for training young diplomats and leaders called Masa Diplomats. The training course is held by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Seasoned career diplomats teach about the country’s history, foreign policy and international relations during the course held in Israel.

Kaunas Jewish Community Attends YIVO Birthday in Brussels

Kaunas Jewish Community Attends YIVO Birthday in Brussels

A contingent of members of the Kaunas Jewish Community travelled to Brussels to attend a celebration of 100 years since the founding of the YIVO held at a Lithuanian government representative office there in late September. Member of the European Parliament Liudas Mažylis extended the invitation for the Kaunas legation o attend the event.

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Jewish Grandmother Inspires Concert Program

Jewish Grandmother Inspires Concert Program

Pianist Gintaras Januševičius has inspired Lithuanian audiences with his concert programs in recent years. Now he’s taking inspiration from his own family.

“My grandmother was Jewish and lived in Novosibirsk, Tashkent and near the end of her life in Haifa,” Januševičius said.

Januševičius is calling this new concert program Freylakh, literally “happy” in Yiddish, but usually denoting a happy song, plural freylakhs.

“This program is a reflection of her smile, optimism and strength,” Januševičius said.

The program includes works by Mendelssohn, Gerschwin, Schulhoff and others.

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