Learning

Šiauliai Jewish Community Celebrates 100th Birthday of Leiba Lipshitz

Šiauliai Jewish Community Celebrates 100th Birthday of Leiba Lipshitz

from the newspaper Šiaulių kraštas

The Chaim Frenkl Villa of the Aušra Museum in Šiauliai hosted a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leiba Lipshitz on July 16. Lipshitz chronicled Jewish life in Šiauliai, researched regional history and was a well-known publix figure. People called him a walking encyclopedia. He survived the Stuthoff and Dachau concentration camps but lost his entire family in the Holocaust. He went back to his hometown and dedicated the rest of his life to documenting Jewish history and life in Šiauliai.

Historian Jonas Kiriliauskas delivered a presentation of Lipshitz and his views on life at the ceremony.

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Lithuanian Jewish Community Appeals to Prosecutor General over Hate Crimes

Lithuanian Jewish Community Appeals to Prosecutor General over Hate Crimes

Unpunished vandals continue to target spaces belonging to the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Last week, for the second time, perpetrators smashed the window of the Community’s Bagel Shop. Security camera footage clearly shows this was not an accident but a deliberate act aimed at one of the most frequently visited spaces of the :LJC. Sadly Lithuanian police seem incapable of recognizing crimes which exhibit the signs of anti-Semitism; instead they prioritize incidents solely based on material damage. While a few dozen or even a few hundred euros might not seem like a large sum, violence motivated by ethnic hatred is a hate crime punishable by imprisonment.

We emphasize this is not the first clearly anti-Semitic incident. Our Israeli flag was stolen and desecrated; glass near the children’s club in the Community building was smashed; the Vilnius Choral Synagogue was vandalized; the Šiauliai Jewish Community has been attacked multiple times and our Bagel Shop has repeatedly become a target for anti-Semites. Regrettably, in none of these cases did the Lithuanian police or prosecutors take meaningful action to identify and punish the perpetrators. This sends a dangerous message to malicious actors: they may spread hatred and endanger members of the community without consequence.

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Natalja Cheifec on Vegetarianism and Judaism

Natalja Cheifec on Vegetarianism and Judaism

Natalja Cheifec continues her lecture and discussion series on Jewish tradition. The next internet zoom meeting on Thursday will focus on vegetarianism in Jewish life. From the story of Cain and Abel in biblical history, Nazi theories about subhumans to the 21st century controversial ad campaign “Holocaust on your plate,” she’ll cover the gamut of issues from the micro to the macro view on diet, including:

• When the dinner table transforms into a “sacred altar;”
• Joy from meat and wine: myth or truth? {from Maimonides);
• Jewish principles regarding meat consumption;
• The heirarcyh of all God’s creatures;
• Sympathy for animals in Jewish tradition, why people were given dominion over the animals, and the contradiction of pity for animals and meat consumption.

To receive zoom credentials, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, July 17
Place: zoom vidphone app, internet

France Institutes Annual Dreyfus Day

France Institutes Annual Dreyfus Day

lechaim.ru

French president Emmanuel Macron has announced that July 12 will be a national day of remembrance for captain Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish officer unjustly convicted of treason due to public anti-Semitism, starting in 2026.

“From now on, July 12 will be Dreyfus Day, a day of truth and justice triumphing over hatred and anti-Semitism,” the Elysee Palace said in an official statement. The date was chosen to commemorate the decision of the French Court of Cassation on July 12, 1906, which fully acquitted Dreyfus. On the same day in 1935 Dreyfus died at the age of 76.

Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French army, and was the victim of a fabricated case in 1894. He was accused of passing secret documents to Germany. Despite the lack of evidence, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to hard labor in Guyana. The case was accompanied by mass anti-Semitic demonstrations.

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Kaunas Jewish Community Celebrates Volf Kagan’s 125th Birthday with Concert

Kaunas Jewish Community Celebrates Volf Kagan’s 125th Birthday with Concert

The Kaunas Jewish Community has the pleasure of inviting you to a celebration of the 125th anniversary of the birthday of Volf Kagan with a concert performed by the Kiryat Ono youth orchestra from Israel.

Kagan came from Balbirishok and served in the volunteer army in the first Lithuanian republic. He fought in the early battles for independence and was awarded the medal Knight of the Order of the Cross of Vytis twice.

The Kiryat Ono youth orchestra’s program includes works by Lithuanian composer Čiurlionis, traditional European and Near Eastern melodies contemporary Israeli music and some excursions into jazz and pop arrangements.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Time: 5:00 P.M., Monday, July 21
Place: Great Hall, Vytautas Magnus University, Gimnazijos street no. 71, Kaunas

Coordinated Terror Attacks on Jews in Melbourne

Coordinated Terror Attacks on Jews in Melbourne

by Geoff Vasil

Pro-Hamas activists staged coordinated terror attacks on Jews in Australia’s second city Melbourne on Friday evening, July 4.

Police and fire were called to the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation shul where around 20 members of the community were at Sabbath table under the direction of Rabbi Dovid Gutnik. A boy in the outer vestibule alerted celebrants the outer double doors were on fire. The fire was contained before it could spread beyond the doors. Fire inspectors quickly determined an accelerant had been used to light the blaze. Victoria State Police anti-terrorism officials used public surveillance cameras to track down the perpetrator, 34-year-old Angelo Lorez from western Sydney, and he was arrested that night in the Melbourne Central Business District. During the arrest police dsicovered he was armed with a banned weapon, but police didn’t report whether that was a gun or a knife. He is being held for two weeks prior to an initial hearing.

Almost simultaneously a group of around 20 people wearing hoods, masks and Palestinian scarves marched through Melborne’s core, the Central Business District or CBD, banging drums, waving signs and chanting “Death, death, death to the IDF.”

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Hostages Reveal Horrific Details of Sexual Abuse by Hamas

Hostages Reveal Horrific Details of Sexual Abuse by Hamas

Warning: This information contains details that may be unacceptable to hypersensitive people!

A major new report by Israeli and international experts brings together for the first time the testimonies of 15 freed hostages who survived sexual abuse in Hamas captivity. According to the Sunday Times, only one of these victims, lawyer Amit Susanna, who was held in Gaza for 55 days, has previously spoken publicly. The others have remained silent until now.

The study called Project Dina was initiated by professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, director of the Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women at Bar-Ilan University. It was co-authored by former Israeli deputy attorney general and judge Nava Ben-Or and international law expert and former chief military advocate Sharon Zagagi-Pinchas. The project was funded in part by the UK government.

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Natalja Cheifec on the Principles of Kosher

Natalja Cheifec on the Principles of Kosher

Natalja Cheifec continues her lecture and discussion series Thursday with a lesson on what kosher food requirements means and how they affects Jewish life. To receive zoom credentials and view and participate in the discussion, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, July 10
Place: internet

LJC Forges Agreement on Judaica Research with Vilnius University

LJC Forges Agreement on Judaica Research with Vilnius University

The Lithuanian Jewish Community has signed a cooperation agreement with Vilnius University for closer collabaoration in Jewish studies and Judaica research, including joint efforts initiating new educational and cultural projects.

LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said: “This is a great honor and very useful for us … especially with Vilnius University with its centuries of learning and research. Jewish history and culture doesn’t start and end with the Holocaust. There is a millennium of the Yiddish language, a rich history and an abundance of deep and significant traditions which we want to pass on to future generations.”

Vilnius University rector and professor Rimvydas Petrauskas commented: “The Lithuanian Jewish Community is an important partner for us. This agreement is an opportunity to stimulate knowledge of the history and even the present-day of the Jewish community.”

Pro-rector for partnerships professor Artūras Vasiliauskas and organization contact coordinator Daniel Šematovič were also present at the signing of the historic agreement.

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Lithuanian Jewish Community Condemns Desecration of Ponar Memorial Complex

Lithuanian Jewish Community Condemns Desecration of Ponar Memorial Complex

The anti-Semitic attack on the Paneriai (Ponar) Memorial Complex commemorating the victims of the Holocaust there victims there is an act of vandalism equivalent to the desecration of graves.

During World War II 96% of Lithuania’s Jewish population, more than 200,000 people, were murdered. Nearly half were killed in Paneriai. There is no Litvak family untouched by the Holocaust, which is why Paneriai is not merely a place where we lay flowers and light candles several times a year. It is a sacred site where every patch of soil covers the bones of the murdered. Here we mourn our loved ones, reliving their terror and suffering each time we visit. It is cowardly and despicable to fight the dead, yet such is the tactic of terrorists, to rape women, to kidnap and torture the elderly, to murder children in front of their mothers. And to smash windows, attack synagogues which also house schools and shoot diplomats. This attack at the Paneriai Memorial Complex is part of a global wave of rising anti-Semitism.

Regrettably the number of anti-Semitic acts of vandalism in Lithuania continues to increase. But no matter what the terrorists do, the Lithuanian Jewish Community will continue to stand firm with Israel in its struggle for survival and its right to self-defense.

We thank everyone who has condemned this attack and we call upon Lithuanian law enforcement and state institutions to take action and identify those responsible for this anti-Semitic offense.

Aleksandra Jacovskytė’s Exhibit Punktyras Now Showing

Aleksandra Jacovskytė’s Exhibit Punktyras Now Showing

Aleksandra Jacovskytė’s exhibit Punktyras opened July 2 at the Artifex Gallery of the Vilnius Art Academy. It will run till July 25.

Jacovskytė’s works on display include drawings in pen and pencil made on found scraps of paper, freehand drawings made without plan nor narrative.

Jacovskytė is a lauded artist in Lithuania whose media include drawing, photography, graphic design and even scenography and costumes for the stage. Her work on the play “Always Yours, Anne Frank” earned her recognition in the form of the Golden Cross of the Stage award. Her works are on display in museums and demonstration spaces throughout Lithuania.

Time: July 2-25, 2025
Place Artifex Gallery, Gaono street no. 1, Vilnius

Garage

Garage

Members of the Kaunas Jewish Community and the public commemorated the Garage massacre last Friday at the location where it happened in Kaunas.

On June 27, 1941, Lithuanians murdered about 50 Jews at the Lietūkis automobile service garage in Kaynas as onlookers watched. They tortured the men by beating them with crowbars and forcing high-pressure water from fire hose down their throats. The victims were pulled off the streets at random for being Jewish. When they had killed all the Jews, they placed the corpses in a pile and one man climbed on top and performed a Lithuanian song on accordion. Some eye-witnesses claimed it was the Lithuanian anthem, other sources indicate it was a different song. Photographs were taken of the massacre as it was carried out. The infamous Garage massacre was one of many pogroms carried out in Kaunas during the last two weeks of June and into July and August..

After the commemoration in situ, kaddish was said for victims of the pogroms and Holocaust at the Jewish cemeteries in the Slobodka and Žaliakalnis neighborhoods in Kaunas.

Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas thanked everyone for participating and the Kaunas municipality for their support.

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Vilna Gaon Museum Presents Samuel Bak Catalog

Vilna Gaon Museum Presents Samuel Bak Catalog

The Samuel Bak Museum at the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum’s Tolerance Center will host a presentation of a catalog of works of art by Samuel Bak. There will be a number of speakers including Bak himself.

Time: 6:00 P.M., July 2
Place: Samuel Bak Museum, Naugarduko street no. 10, Vilnius

Hundredth Anniversary of Birth of Leiba Lipshitz in Šiauliai

Hundredth Anniversary of Birth of Leiba Lipshitz in Šiauliai

The Šiauliai District Jewish Community invites you to come celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leiba Lipshitz. The Community and the Aušra Museum in Šiauliai will mark the date with an event commemorating this chronicler of the Šiauliai Jewish community in the 20th century and well-known personality with a presentation by historian Jonas Kiriliauskas.

Time: 4:00 P.M., Wednesday, July 16
Place: The Chaim Frenkl Villa and Museum, Vilnius street no. 74, Šiauliai

The War with Iran: Aftermath

The War with Iran: Aftermath

by Geoff Vasil

The aftermath of what the US administration is calling the 12-Day War (referring to the Six-Day War in 1967 when Moshe Dayan took the whole of the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt) is somewhat contentious.

Jonhny-come-lately the United States joined the fray but then attempted to take over the strategic ciurse of the conflict. As in World War I and World War II, when first the European powers then the Soviet Union had expended countless troops to win the war, the United States joined late, then allowed themselves to declare peace.

In the case of the latest 12-Day War, US president Trump declared mission accomplished, and demanded the state of Israel cease hostilities.

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Hundredth Anniversary of the YIVO in Vilnius

Hundredth Anniversary of the YIVO in Vilnius

An international seminar for Lithuanian teachers dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the YIVO Institute (Jewish Research Institute) in Vilnius was held at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library, and a virtual museum was presented with a prepared methodological manual entitled “Beba’s Story,” based on the story of Beba Epstein, a girl who lived in Vilnius.

The opening of the seminar was attended by library director Aušrinė Žilinskienė, Israeli ambassador Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, MP Emanuelis Zingeris, diplomats from the USA and Germany and deputy Vilnius mayor Vytautas Mitalas.

The seminar was attended by 40 teachers from different locations in Lithuania who are interested in the history of Lithuanian Jews and the possibilities of using various historical sources in their curricula.

Speakers included Egidijus Aleksandravičius of Vytautas Magnus University, YIVO sirector Jonathan Brent, director of the National Library’s Judaica Center Lara Lempertienė and historian Saulius Sužedelis.

The seminar was organized by the YIVO Institute (USA) in cooperation with the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library, the city of Vilnius, the Goodwill Foundation and the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

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Brothers and Sisters in Arms in the Service of Remembrance

Brothers and Sisters in Arms in the Service of Remembrance

by Sergėjus Kanovičius, www.lrt.lt

When a half year ago German ambassador to Lithuania Cornelius Zimmermann asked me whether I’d object to an initiative by which soldiers from a Germany armored brigade would help document Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania, I was at a loss for words. The first thought which occurred to me was, why now Lithuanian soldiers?

But as I sat in the waiting room of the German embassy… Over 14 years in the life of Maceva (Matseva, Hebrew for monument), there’s been a bit of everything–Austrian and German volunteers, Christian, Lithuanian high school students, US embassy staff, visitors from Israel. But Bundeswehr soldiers maintaing Jewish cemeteries and documenting grave monuments? Why?

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Where in the World is Diego Garcia?

Where in the World is Diego Garcia?

by Geoff Vasil

I always used to ask myself that every time i heard Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on television.

Back in the 1980s Brøderbund Software released a game by the same name which became extremely popular with school children. It went on to become a children’s game show on the Public Broadcasting System network in the United States. Later the newcomer network Fox picked it up as well.

The games and series are essentially a mystery where clues are given to the current location of the arch-villain Carmen Sandiego, head of the international association of bad guys called V.I.L.E., shades of SPECTRE, HYDRA and KAOS.

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Intensive Yiddish Courses Coming This Summer

Intensive Yiddish Courses Coming This Summer

The Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium in Vilnius will host two weeks of Yiddish course at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels under the tutelage of Dov-Ber Kerler and Anna Vershik–both teachers at the former Vilnius Yiddish Institute’s summer courses–and Yuri Vedenyapin from Poland August 3-15. The cost is €350 per student and registration is open now by clicking the following link:
https://forms.gle/DR4nzbXrDS84TVQ37

Beginners need no knowledge of the language at all but the instructors say knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet would be a big help. For more information, write to: yiddishcourse@ort.lt