The Sabbath begins at 9:12 P.M. on Friday, July 26, and concludes at 10:41 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Sports Encyclopaedia Presented in Šiauliai
The summer Olympic Games opened in Paris Friday, and the Šiauliai Photography Museum hosted a presentation of an illustrated sports encyclopaedia called “Sportas Šiauliuose ir Lietuvoje (iki XX a. vidurio)” [Sport in Šiauliai and Lithuania (until the mid-20th century)] last Wednesday.
Author Jonas Nekrašius told the large audience the story of the birth of the genesis of the publication and thanked the collectors, museum specialists and other people who helped make the launch a success, giving copies of his book to them.
There was keen interest in the section of the book the on the history of the Šiauliai section of the Makabi Lithuanian Jewish sports and gymnastics society which operated between 1921 and 1940. The late chairman of the Šiauliai District Jewish Community Sania Kerbelis contributed heavily to that chapter of the book.
New Discoveries from the Great Synagogue of Vilnius Revealed
The Israel Antiquities Authority, Kultūros paveldo Išsaugojimo pajėgos, the Good Will Foundation, and the Jewish Community of Lithuania are pleased to announce the results of the fifth season of excavation at the Great Synagogue of Vilna (Vilnius) & the Shulhoyf.
Vandal Defaces Talmudic Sage Mural in Vilnius
The Vilnius municipality’s webpage madeinvilnius.lt reports a mural depicting a Jewish scholar called “The Sage” was defaced by graffiti recently. The mural is located in the Vilnius Old Town adjacent to what was the city’s Jewish quarter for a time and the Jewish ghetto instituted by the Nazis.
Reporter Šarūnas Černiauskas wrote about the vandalism on facebook: “Something nasty happened. The most known work in the ‘The Walls Remember’ project dedicated to preserving the historical memory of Lithuanian Jews, the mural ‘The Sage,’ was intentionally damaged. The people who did this obviously wanted to ruin the painting. I think this smacks of anti-Semitism. I went there today, recorded it and filed a complaint with the police.”
Černiauskas called on members of the public to come forward to police concerning the act of vandalism. He also called for any video footage from adjacent cameras to be sent to him and police.
The mural was heavily damaged. The mural “Street Musicians” in the same series was defaced with the name “Ivan,” presumably a pejorative for “Russian” rather than a tagger’s name.
Full story in Lithuanian with photographs here.
Happy Birthday
We wish a very happy birthday to Leonidas Markovičius who celebrated a milestone this year on July 20. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Government Approves Proposal for Jewish Memorial at Palace of Sports
by Augustė Lyberytė, ELTA, July 17, 2024
The cabinet ministers Wednesday approved a proposal by a working group who has been operating for over a year now on setting up a memorial to the old Jewish cemetery at the site of the Palace of Sports in the Vilnius neighborhood of Šnipiškės.
Government deputy chancellor Rolandas Kriščiūnas said proposals from the working group should be seen as a guidepost.
The plan is for a memorial to be set up inside the Palace of Sports and in the territory of the old Jewish cemetery surrounding that building.
“The site would be open to the public with special focus placed on synergy between the outside territory and the interior space,” Kriščiūnas said.
Full story in Lithuanian here.
Sholem Aleichem Day Camp
The Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium is holding a Young Travellers day camp from August 12 to 16 for children aged 6 to 15. The camp program includes heaps of entertainment, art, games, puzzles and experiments, a change to make new friends and meet old ones, healthy and delicious food and much fun whatever the weather might bring.
To register, click here: https://forms.gle/88qkbq6Rqq15ZyTs9
The price per child is 200 euros including three meals.
Payment:
Recipient: Skaitlis
Account number: LT68 4010 0424 0395 1807
In the reason for payment you must indicate Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium camp and the child’s name and surname. Following the transfer of funds send receipt to vaiva.seliaviene@gmail.com.
The camp is sponsored by the city of Vilnius, the LJC and the Ystreet organization.
Happy Birthday
We wish a very happy birthday to Gennady Kofman, the chairman of the Panevėžys Jewish Community and a member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s executive board. We wish you great health, continued success in all your endeavors and all the best. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:23 P.M. on Friday, July 19, and concludes at 10:57 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Saturday is also World Chess Day.
Silvia Foti Honored by City of Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, probably the highest concentration of wealth, success and power in the world, honored Lithuanian citizen Silvia Foti on Monday, July 15, 2024. The award was signed by all members of the city council.
In deciding to honor Foti the city council considered the following facts:
Silvia Foti holds dual citizenship in America and Lithuania. She has always remained loyal and patriotic to both countries. As a devout Catholic, she has stalwartly represented the finest ideals of honesty, integrity and compassion.
Silvia Foti is the granddaughter of the genocidal Lithuanian Holocaust perpetrator Jonas Noreika who is continuously and fraudulently honored by the Lithuanian government as a national hero of Lithuania and a rescuer of Jews.
Commemoration of 80th Anniversary of Liquidation of Shavl Ghetto
On July 15 people gathered in Šiauliai to remember the liquidation of the ghetto there on July 15, 1944, when the surviving approximately 3,000 Jews imprisoned there were sent to Dachau and Stutthof for extermination.
Faina Kukliansky’s mother was imprisoned in the ghetto. She recalled: “I am here not just as the chairwoman of the the Lithuanian Jewish Community. I am the daughter of a female prisoner of the ghetto. My grandmother miraculously was able to save two of her daughters, but not the third one. I was named after her, Feigele, little bird.”
She said we were in the debt of the ghetto prisoners and the Jews who died for their concord and unity, and so their sacrifice will not have been in vain.
Condolences
Romanas Šechteris passed away unexpectedly last Thursday. He was born in 1958. We extend our deepest condolences to his wife Galina, daughter Diana, son Borisas, his grandchildren and his many friends.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:32 P.M. on Friday, July 12, and concludes at 11:11 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Lithuanian National Olympic Committee Awards Former Makabi President
The Lithuanian National Olympic Committee issued an award to Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club founder and former president Semionas Finkelšteinas July 11 in recognition of his contributions to Lithuanian athletics and the Olympic movement.
Mechanical Puppet Show for the Whole Family
The Cvi Park Israeli street food kiosk and performance space invites you to a mechanical wooden puppet show called Kuthi put on by the family endeavor Wooden Laboratory Tricktrek based in Tallinn. While the puppet show is intended for children, adults will find something to like in it as well.
The play features the marriage of a princess, the most important event in the country during the height of which the kuthi, ancient crow warriors, begin their attack. The puppet show continues with a siege of the palace, catapults, the clever tricks by defenders, moving parts, secret rooms and mysterious characters. The musical accompaniment adds to the suspenseful atmosphere of secrets, magic and the mediaeval Gothic.
Following the culmination of the play, audience members will have the chance to take a closer look at the mechanisms involved and the creators will share a few of their engineering secrets. Parents and children will have the opportunity to touch and try out the mechanical puppets.
Condolences
We report with deep sadness the death of Sania Kerbelis on July 11. He was born in 1963. His death followed his struggle with a chronic illness. Sania Kerbelis was the chairman of the Šiauliai District Jewish Community and the Šiauliai Jewish Religious Community. Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and the entire Lithuanian Jewish Community extend our deepest condolences to his sons Doyvdas and Simonas and his many friends and family members. Baruch Dayan ha’Emet.
French Jews Wary of Far Left’s Election Gains amid Surging Anti-Semitism
Socialist Jean-Luc Mélenchon has vowed to recognize a Palestinian state; 92% of French Jews say his party has contributed to rising anti-Semitism
In a surprise outcome, French voters rejected a far-right party with anti-Semitic roots–but elevated a left-wing alliance that has faced anti-Semitism allegations of its own.
The country’s most prominent far-left politician, meanwhile, vowed in his victory speech to push to recognize a Palestinian state.
No party won a majority in the second round of France’s parliamentary elections on Sunday, in which all 577 seats of the National Assembly were in play. According to Le Monde, the left-wing New Popular Front alliance won 182 seats while the centrist Ensemble, backed by president Emmanuel Macron, won 168.
“We will have a prime minister from the New Popular Front,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the French far Left leader, posted on X Sunday night. “We will be able to decide many things by decree. On the international level, we will have to agree to recognize the State of Palestine.”
Full story here.
Events in Kaunas Considered by Researchers: “Think about History, Understand Memory”
by Jurgita Šakienė, kauno.diena.lt
An international academic conference to mark the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of the Kaunas ghetto has begun at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. Called “Think about History, Understand Memory,” the conference includes researchers from Lithuania and abroad who will present Jewish life before and during the Holocaust through the lens of history, politics, social sciences, the theater and the arts.
“This anniversary is a powerful reminder of our collective responsibility to understand memory and to insure the lessons of the past inform our present and future,” Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein said during her speech opening the conference. Also giving welcome speeches were US ambassador Kara McDonald and Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas.
Germany’s ambassador Cornelius Zimmerman in his speech said, among other things, “It’s difficult to understand how these unspeakably brutal things could have happened. But they happened. I feel sadness, remorse and shame. It’s crucial to remember everything in order to prevent this from happening again.”
Full story in Lithuanian here.
Happy Birthday to Algirdas Malcas
The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes Vilnius Jerusalem of Lithuania Jewish Community executive board member Algirdas Malcas a very happy birthday. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Marking the 80th Anniversary of the Liquidation of Shavl Ghetto
July 15 is the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the liquidation of the Šiauliai ghetto in 1944 when the surviving 3,000 Jews were transported to Dachau and Stutthof concentration camps, condemned to die there instead. The Lithuanian Jewish Community and both Šiauliai Jewish Communities invite the public to remember and pay honor to the victims of the Šiauliai ghetto, the men, women, children and elderly who were murdered this July 15.
Program
11:30 A.M. Gathering at Šiauliai ghetto gate monument at the intersection of Trakų and Ežero streets to remember the victims;
12:00 noon procession to Chaim Frenkl villa at Vilnaius street no. 74 with stopover on Righteous Gentiles Square;
12:30 P.M. Commemoration of victims at Frenkl villa.
Transportation: there will be minibus to carry passengers to the event leaving from the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius at 8:15 A.M. on July 15. Passengers must register before the event (see below).
Registration: Those wishing to attend are asked to please register before 4:00 P.M. on July 12 by calling Liuba Šerienė at (+370) 5 261 3003 or by sending an email to office@lzb.lt.