The Sabbath begins at 4:53 P.M. on Friday, January 30, and concludes at 5:53 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 4:35 P.M. and completed before sunset at 4:53 P.M. Monday is Tu b’Shvat, Jewish Arbor Day. Monday is also Candlemas for Christians and Groundhog Day in the US and Canada.
Photo: Chabad Lubavitch headquarters in Brooklyn on January 28. Photo by Louis Keene
by Louis Keene and Jacob Kornbluh, Forward, January 29, 2026
The incident occurred on a day of celebration in the Chabad community. No one was hurt.
CROWN HEIGHTS–A driver crashed a car into an entrance of the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Brooklyn Wednesday night, damaging the building on a night thousands were gathered there to celebrate.
Video circulating online and verified by eyewitnesses shows a vehicle repeatedly driving into the building’s doors at 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood, the main synagogue of the Chabad movement and one of the most recognized Jewish institutions in the world. One witness said the driver had yelled at bystanders to move out of the way before he drove down a ramp leading to the doors.
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.
Natalja Cheifec continues her internet lecture and discussion on child-rearing according to the Torah this Thursday at 6:00 P.M.
To participate, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, January 29
Place: internet
The Šiauliai District Jewish Community invites you to mark International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust together with the community on January 27. At 12 noon there will be a candle-lighting ceremony at the Shavl ghetto gate located at the corner of Ežero and Trakų streets. At 6:00 P.M. the Community will hold an evening to celebrate Vulf Visotski and tea called “Memory, Faith, Hope” at the Community at Višinskio street no. 24 in Šiauliai. Participants are to include the student theater from the Ąžuolynas Gymnasium in Klaipėda, vocalists from the Juventa Pre-gymnasium in Šiauliai District and guests from Pakruojis and Žagarė.
The Sabbath begins at 4:39 P.M. on Friday, January 23, and concludes at 5:41 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 4:21 P.M. before sunset at 4:39 P.M. on Friday. Sunday is Burns Night, in honor of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Monday is Australia Day.
The Bnai Maskilim association invites members and friends to ring in the new year with a special evening and an old friend. Progressive Rabbi Natan Alfred, a co-founder of the Bnai Maskilim association and currently serving in Geneva and as acting chairman of the European Rabbis Association, will preside over the ritual and discuss current events.
Registration required by sending an email to bneimaskilim@gmail.com.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Friday, January 23
Place: Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius
by Grant Gochin, January 5, 2026
History is not preserved by monuments or institutions. It is preserved by accuracy, accountability, and the willingness to confront what is difficult. Nowhere is that obligation more binding than in nations whose soil carries the memory of mass murder. When a state chooses to defend dishonest institutional narratives instead of historical truth, the cost becomes permanent: the leadership that made those choices becomes inseparable from the legacy of distortion.
Lithuania refuses to confront that legacy.
The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania
The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania (LGGRTC) is a state institution charged with researching and memorializing the crimes of totalitarian regimes. Over the past decades, its conduct has drawn sustained criticism for minimizing Lithuanian participation in the Holocaust while promoting dishonest national narratives.
International Jewish organizations and independent observers have warned that the Centre’s activities approach Holocaust distortion and contradict established historical scholarship. https://www.timesofisrael.com/lithuanias-genocide-studies-center-accused-of-holocaust-denial/
by Geoff Vasil
Not necessarily. What most people don’t realize is that numerous NATO member-states have standing territorial disputes with other NATO member-states and sometimes even attack one another militarily.
Cyprus is a prime example, the divided island split by the so-called Green Line between Turkey and the Greek population, reflecting a larger conflict going back to the Ottoman takeover of Greek territory in Anatolia and spilling over into bombing sorties into one another’s territories at times while both countries remained in NATO.
Denmark and Canada have a dispute over an Arctic island close to the Greenlandic shore. They’ve ritualized the conflict into an annual “occupation” where one side buries a whiskey bottle for the other “occupying army” to find.
by Danielle Greyman-Kennard, December 26, 2025
Israel becomes first UN member state to recognize Somaliland, Netanyahu declares
Netanyahu congratulated Somaliland president H.E. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi and praised his leadership and commitment to security, stability and peace.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially recognized Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state, the Prime Minister’s Office announced Friday, making Israel the first UN member state to recognize the nation as a sovereign state.
Together with foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar and the Somaliland president, Netanyahu signed a joint and mutual declaration on Friday.
Natalja Cheifec continues her internet lecture/discussion on raising children according to the Torah this Thursday. Topics include praise, showing love, controlling anger and appropriate discipline.
To receive zoom credentials and participate, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, January 22
Place: internet
The Sabbath begins at 4:26 P.M. on Friday, January 16, and concludes at 5:29 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 4:08 P.M. and completed before sunset at 4:26 P.M. Friday is National Religious Freedom Day in the United States.
The Šiauliai District Jewish Community is pleased to announce the 16th Liova Taicas memorial sporting event starting at 11:00 A.M. on February 8 at the Šiauliai Sports Gymnasium.. Games include mini-soccer, 3-on-3 basketball, ping-pong, chess and volleyball.
To participate, please register by January 20 by calling the Šiauliai District Jewish Community at +370 99 10621
Rūdiškės is a small town in the Trakai district which most people pass on the road without a thought about its complicated and painful history. The railroad came through in the 20th century and brought business and a Jewish population, almost completely exterminated in the Holocaust. Now local residents, teachers and descendants of people from the town are trying to revive memories of the past there, through testimonies, initiatives and manual labor.
For people travelling between Vilnius and Alytus, Rūdiškės is mainly just a name on a road sign. It has a railroad stop, a main square. a school and stores. The tranquil façade hides a complex story. Lithuanian language teacher Loreta Masienė says Rūdiškės is different from most towns because it was established around the railroad station.
“This was the first railroad in Lithuania, the St. Petersburg to Warsaw line. Rūdiškės began to grow around the railway and the Geležinė River,” she said.
Full story in Lithuanian here.
In the first part of a series on raising children according to the Torah, Natalja Cheifec will discuss:
• Main phases of raising and disciplining chldren according to age;
• Democracy or authority: which sort of relationships lead to greater harmony between parent and child;
• Which should come first, instilling good behavior or imparting understanding;
• Can parents and children be equal?
To participate and receive zoom credentials, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, January 16
Place: internet
Grigorijus Jechvedovas has passed away. He was born in 1947. He was a member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center. We extend our deepest condolences to his surviving wife, son and friends and family.
The Sabbath begins at 4:14 P.M. on Friday, January 9, and concludes at 5:19 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 3:56 P.M. before sunset at 4:14 P.M.
Ana Glaško has passed away. She was born in 1954. A longtime member of the Klaipėda Jewish Community, she served as chairwoman from 2000 to 2006. Our deepest condolences to her loved ones.
The Sabbath begins at 4:04 P.M. on Friday, January 2, and concludes at 5:10 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 3:46 P.M. before sunset at 4:04 P.M. on Friday. January 4 is World Braille Day.
We wish you a peaceful and happy New Year filled with light, concord and understanding.