German TV, also shown on Israel Channel 2, captures the early days of the revival of the Jewish Community in Lithuania in 1990. First Jewish organizations. Grigory Kanovich’s “Jewish Daisy”: to stay or to leave.
Condolences
The Lithuanian Jewish Community extends our deepest condolences to the friends and family of noted writer and producer Felix Dektor who passed away at the age of 89 in Jerusalem. He was born December 21, 1930, in Minsk to a family of Litvaks. He lived there until being evacuated to the Ukraine and then Siberia during the Holocaust.
Graduated from the History and Philology Faculty of Vilnius University in 1955, Dektor continued studies at the Gorky Institute of Literature in Moscow including in Lev Ozerov’s literary translation seminar. Dektor translated a number of Lithuanian writers into Russian, including books by Justinas Marcinkevičius, Juozas Požėra, Alfonsas Bieliauskis and Mykolas Sluckis. His best-known translations were perhaps the novels of Icchokas Meras on Jewish death and valor during the Holocaust (Ничья длится мгновенье (Вечный шах) and На чём держится мир).
Dektor was removed from the Writers’ Union of the Soviet Union in 1975 in response to his publication and distribution of the Jewish cultural and educational magazine Tarbut.
Jewish Holiday of Freedom Celebrated without Foods Recalling Slavery
Judita Gliauberzonaitė, 42, chairwoman of the Vilnius Lithuanian Jerusalem Jewish community, recalls how her grandmother Cilė Žiburkienė every spring before Passover would cleanse the entire house so that, God forbid, not even a grain of flour would remain, which would mean leavened bread remained in the house, a sign recalling the enslavement of the Jews in the land of Egypt.
Jews around the world who count their history in millennia begin celebrating their Passover holiday on the 15th day in the month of Nisan (March or April), lasting for seven days in Israel and eight elsewhere in the world. Secular Jews who keep to tradition usually celebrate the first and last days of Passover, gathering as families for dinner.
Judita Gliauberzonaitė says more religious Jews attend synagogue every day of Passover.
Passover often coincides with Catholic Easter. This year it began on April 8 and continues till April 15.
We Did It, We Got Matzo to Our Seniors
Two weeks ago the Community accepted the challenge to distribute and home-deliver more matzo to more than 900 seniors living in Vilnius. Today we can truly say, mission accomplished.
It would have been mission impossible without the help of our volunteers who heeded the Community’s call for help. We had from 3 to 4 teams of Community staff and volunteers on the street daily.
The distribution of matzo took place so very smoothly because we were able to harness so many who offered to help.
A mitzvah should be done quietly and without fanfare, but the Community has a right to know who its heroes are.
Menachem Rosensaft Sends Passover Greetings
Dear Friends,
I want to wish all of you and yours a peaceful and health-filled Pesach. May we all succeed in adapting to the pandemic crisis sufficiently to have meaningful Seders, in many (most) cases connecting remotely to family members who should have been sitting with us.
In advance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, I also want to share with you a video that the World Jewish Congress produced, in cooperation with the World Federation of Bergen-Belsen Associations, (WFBBA) about the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, the Belsen Displaced Persons camp, and the more than 2,000 children born in the DP camp’s Glyn Hughes Hospital:
https://youtu.be/Jv9M0yvi_J0
I hope that the example of the survivors’ resilience, determination and optimism as they emerged from the horrors of the Holocaust will inspire us at this difficult and anxious time. Please feel free to share the video widely.
I am also pleased to share with you a second video, also produced by the WJC together with the WFBBA, based on the beautiful photography of Debbie Morag featuring daughters of Auschwitz survivors:
https://youtu.be/b_PrrHLp8U4
Again, I wish you and yours a peaceful, health-filled Pesach.
With all warm regards,
Menachem
§§§
Menachem Z. Rosensaft (born 1948 in Bergen-Belsen, Germany) an attorney in New York and the Founding Chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Survivors, is a leader of the Second Generation movement of children of survivors,[1] and has been described on the front page of the New York Times as one of the most prominent of the survivors’ sons and daughters.
LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and Lithuanian Jewish Religious Community Chairman Simas Levinas Send Passover Greetings to Community
Dear Community members,
So Passover, the holiday eagerly awaited by Jews around the world, has come.
The seder night is so important to Jews, when we eat matzo, meditate and remember G_d’s revelation during the flight from Egypt. We do this year after year. This is what our fathers and forefathers have done, and we do it, and we teach it to our children.
This year the seder won’t be so large, not all family members are able to come to the table, not here in the Diaspora and not in our historical homeland Eretz Israel.
This has happened to Jews many times before–slavery, the Inquisition, wars and other misfortunes have separated families so many times before, leaving some of us alone, turning some of us into outsiders. This year we celebrate Passover during a time which is difficult not just for Jews.
Nonetheless, let’s try. Let’s remember and tell in our thoughts the story of the exodus from Egypt. Let’s pose the questions to ourselves and find the correct answers. Let’s remember at least a few of the 248 mitzvot, let’s believe in miracles if only briefly, and in the arrival of the Messiah.
Let’s believe, let’s dream, let’s think and let’s thank the Most High that we are alive and spring has come, and let’s give thanks for every day lived and believe in the future.
Next year will be better. We just have to believe it.
A happy holiday to all, be free and be happy.
Lithuanian TV Program Crossroads of Cultures: Menora Asks How Lithuanian Jewish Community Is Doing under Quarantine
Following the state of emergency announced in Lithuania, the daily life of the Lithuanian Jewish Community has changed. All events have been canceled, entry to visitors is restricted and some staff are working from home. The work of the Community’s Social Center hasn’t stopped, though.
To view the program in Lithuanian, click below.
Kultūrų kryžkelė. Menora. Kaip žydų bendruomenė laikosi karantino laikotarpiu?
§§§
Panevėžys Jewish Community Sends Passover Greetings
Despite the complicated time in the world, the dates assigned by the Torah to the holidays don’t change and they are part of the history and story of the Jewish people. Passover is one of the main Jewish holy days. Over the days of Passover Jews remember their historic liberation from slavery.
During these difficult days I wish you patience, the love of those around you and endurance. Maintain hygienic requirements and adhere to the safety measures as we fight the corona virus.
Gennady Kofman, chairman
Panevėžys Jewish Community
Panic and Contempt
by Arkadijus Vinokuras
When the heads of state lack any experience managing crises, panic envelops society. When leaders try to compensate for their lack of ability through dictatorial means, they demonstrate contempt for society. It’s pointless to blame Lithuanian health minister Aurelijus Veryga for changing his directives several times daily. He was appointed by those who have no experience themselves, and who are therefore unable to manage the crisis effectively. It seems they don’t really understand human lives are at stake. And freedom.
On panic. Seeking somehow to demonstrate the abilities he doesn’t have, health minister Veryga even donned military costume. He seems to have wandered into the tragicomic league of Don Quixote by attempting to fight the virus this way. Where you’re not sure whether to laugh or cry. If he had served in the military even at the level of lieutenant, he would know how orders are issued by a military commander. They would be based–and this is the crucial matter–on emergency management scenarios drawn up by the military leadership. But from the very first days of the spread of the virus in Lithuania it was completely clear the Lithuanian Peasants/Green Union Government is not following any emergency management plan.
The minister who has turned himself into a laughing stock with his military uniform should at least understand in a general way that an order by a military commander first indicates the prevailing situation in the theater of war. It indicates the time frame. It also enumerates enemy forces and our own forces, e.g., what we have and what we don’t have. Only then comes the definition of missions.
Genocide Center Wins Case Demanding Retraction of Jonas Noreika Finding
The Lithuanian Telegraphic Agency ELTA reports the Lithuanian Supreme Administrative Court dismissed a suit lodged by US-resident Litvak Grant Gochin against the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania.
ELTA reports said the panel of judges rejected Grant Gochin’s demand the Genocide Center retract an historical finding they issued earlier on the person of Jonas Noerika during a hearing on April 1.
The court’s finding isn’t subject to appeal. The court also obliged Gochin to pay additional court costs to the Genocide Center.
Gochin was appealing a finding issued by the Vilnius District Administrative Court on March 27, 2019, in favor of the Genocide Center.
Full text in Lithuanian here.
We Can’t Give Up Hope Now
Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky. Photo: Blanka Weber
by Blanka Weber
The country’s Jewish community is watching the time of pandemic with alarm
Faina Kukliansky is currently managing her life and that of her members from her home office in Vilnius. “This is a time that demands everything from us,” the 65-year-old chairwoman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community says.
This is a time when preparations for Passover would be underway normally. The Bagel Shop next to the Community building on Pylimo street is now only open for a few hours and only accepts cards for payment. Cash is forbidden. There are strict rules here, too. Matzo will be distributed to Community members here and should be delivered in the next few days.
Chief Rabbis Call on Jews to Keep It Together
An open letter
An open letter from the Chief Rabbis of the world
8 Nisan 5780
2 April 2020
This Shabbat–the Shabbat before Pesach–is called Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Shabbat.
It was first celebrated at the birth of the Jewish people, moments before the dawn of our deliverance from Egyptian slavery.
Every Jewish family, alone in their homes in Egypt, sat fervently anticipating the united dream of deliverance and nationhood.
Three thousand, three hundred and thirty-two years later, this Shabbat HaGadol, we too sit, isolated in our own homes, once again united in our fervent prayer for relief from the global pandemic that has shaken our world to its core.
Passover 5780
This year we are recommending you spend Passover at home with family. We have prepared kits with everything needed for the traditional kosher seder which can be ordered by internet. Orders must be received before April 5.
The order form in Russian and Lithuanian is available here:
https://www.torah4lithuania.com/seder-to-go
Let’s Talk: LJC Chairwoman Delivers Video Address to Members
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky has posted a video address to members. She said the following:
“Good day. I am addressing members of our Jewish community. Unfortunately, I can’t speak with you in person. Under these conditions I must speak with the aid of technology, but I would say the exact same thing if we were speaking in person.
“A certain time has come which is not pleasant and not favorable to anyone. Somehow we must live through this period with the hope that this period overall will end sometime. I believe that very much, and I hope it will end very soon.
Jewish Scouts Invited to Internet Jamboree
The International Forum of Jewish Scouts based on Paris is inviting Jewish scouts around the world to take part in an internet “Jewboree” on April 5 using the ZOOM platform.
EJC Video Conference with Communities around Europe
The Security and Crisis Center of the European Jewish Community and heads of security and representatives of Jewish communities in Ireland, Span, Italy and Belgium held a video conference March 30 on the ZOOM platform* to discuss best practices during the current virus epidemic. Milo Hasbani, president of the Milan Jewish community, reported 8 members had died. Topics included welfare checks on members, delivering Passover foods and maintaining Jewish life via internet under quarantine conditions. Participants also discussed a possible rise in anti-Semitic activities during Passover and during the viral epidemic. EJC representatives called for more such video conferences in the coming weeks.
* Please note the ZOOM platform, created by Chinese national Eric Yuan, is notoriously unsafe, insecure and has even been called malware by responsible observers. The U.S. military recently banned the Chinese-controlled TikTok app among its ranks. For more, see: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/02/zoom-technology-security-coronavirus-video-conferencing
Cipla Pharmaceuticals Working on Corona Treatments
Yusuf Hamied, the Litvak founder of India’s generic pharmaceuticals giant Cipla, reports on his company’s efforts to develop drug treatments for the novel Wuhan virus.
WJC Letter to Member Organizations
To: WJC Affiliated Communities & Organizations
WJC Executive Committee
From: Maram Stern, WJC Executive Vice President
Dear Friends,
In response to the current global COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, WJC President Ronald S. Lauder has published the opinion piece below rejecting any kind of scapegoating and focusing on the need for all people to work together in these troubled times, which I invite you to read:
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/fight-against-coronavirus-together-ronald-lauder
Stay Safe, Be Well – Zeit Gezund!
Maram
No, Mr. Kasčiūnas, Jews Did Not Create the Corona Virus
by Arkadijus Vinokuras
I’m having a dark laugh, Homeland Union/Lithuanian Christian Democrats member of parliament Laurynas Kasčiūnas did not, thank God, accuse Jews for the corona virus. But he did accuse the Lithuanian Jewish Community of financially supporting “that liar” Rūta Vanagaitė’s book “How Did It Happen.”
You might ask what my fake headline has in common with MP Kasčiūnas’s accusation against the LJC. Well both ideas are false and allow for manipulating the truth.
See, the main figure in the book isn’t Rūta Vanagaitė, but Dr. Christoph Dieckmann, one of the best known European historians and an expert on the Holocaust in Lithuania. Or is it this fact which frightens Kasčiūnas? It’s one thing to criticize a “dilettante of history” (as Rūta Vanagaitė’s critics claim) and quite another to criticize a member of the International Commission for Assessing the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, convened and supported by the president of Lithuania.
Plan for Commemorating Vilnius Great Synagogue Becomes Clearer
by Roberta Tracevičiūtė for 15min.lt
The Vilnius city municipality reports agreement has been reached wit the Lithuanian Jewish Community on how best to commemorate the site of the former Great Synagogue in Vilnius’s historical Jewish quarter.
The plan according to the city is to set up a memorial square or park with an open-air exhibition and no permanent construction of any kind. According to the city, the undeveloped other side of Jewish Street will host a playground and athletics field [which it does now--LZB].
Discussion on how to commemorate the site has gone on for years. Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius said earlier the synagogue site will be commemorated in 2023 when Vilnius celebrates its 700th birthday.