News – Page 10 – Lithuanian Jewish Community

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.”

2025-07-132025-07-15

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:51 P.M. on Friday, July 11, and concludes at 11:13 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:33 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:51 P.M. Sunday is the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in Great Britain and the weekend plus Monday is the celebration of National Day in Mongolia.

2025-07-102025-07-10

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.

2025-07-102025-07-11

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to Algirdas Malcas, chairman of the Vilnius Jerusalem of Lithuania Jewish Community. Mazl tov. Bis 120!

2025-07-10

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

2025-07-08

German President Visits Ponar

Yesterday, July 7, German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid his respects to victims of the Holocaust at Ponar outside Vilnius.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein, Lithuanian prime minister Gintautas Paluckas, German ambassador Cornelius Zimmermann and others accompanied the German head of state and paid their respects as well.

2025-07-082025-07-08

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.

2025-07-072025-07-07

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:57 P.M. on Friday, July 4, and concludes at 11:24 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:39 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:57 P.M. July 4 is Independence Day in America and is a national holiday there with foreign embassies closed. July 6 is Coronation of Mindaugas Day in Lithuania, also a state holiday but fallis on a Sunday this year.

2025-07-03

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.

2025-07-032025-07-07

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

2025-07-032025-07-04

Israeli ForMin Visits Vilnius

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar visited Vilnius Tuesday, met with his Lithuanian counterpart and attended a ceremony in Ponar to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust there.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky told foreign minister Sa’ar the LJC and the organizations it represents fully support the state of Israel which is defending itself from terrorists who seek to destroy it.

According to LNK television evening news Tuesday, Sa’ar met with Lithuanian foreign minister Kęstutis Budrys and they discussed EU efforts to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, and the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Budrys, Kukkliansky, Israeli embassy staff and other Lithuanian Foreign Ministry officials accompanied Sa’ar to Ponar, the largest Jewish mass murder site in Lithuania.

LNK reported the Israeli foreign minister at a press conference at the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said “Lithuania is our friend.” He also said both of his wife’s parents are Litvaks from Vilnius. He said this was his first but not his last trip to Vilnius.

Gideon Sa’ar replaced Israel Katz as foreign minister in November of 2024.

2025-07-032025-07-03

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.

2025-07-03

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

2025-07-012025-07-01

Victims of First Mass Murder Remembered in Palanga

Palanga Jewish Community chairman Vilius Gutmanas, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, members of the Palanga Jewish Community, Lithuanian MPs Mindaugas Lingė, Dalia Asanavičiūtė-Gružauskienė and Paule Kuzmickienė, Palanga mayor Šarūnas Vaitkus, deputy mayor Akvilė Kiljonienė, Palanga municpal Vulture Department director Robertas Trautmanas, staff from the Jonas Šliūpas Museum and high school students gathered to remember the first mass murder of Jews in Lithuania on June 27.

On June 22, 1941, a Young Pioneers summer camp of mainly Jewish children saw the brunt of the Nazi invasion with a building burnt down from aerial bombardment and children fleeing in panic. On June 26 all Jews in Palanga were arrested and crowded into two synagogues, one designated for females and young children and the other for males. The males were taken out and shot in the city’s main park on June 27. Around 111 people were murdered there that day, including 106 Jews and 5 Lithuanians. Remaining Jews were subjected to mass murder again on October 12, 1941. It is believed more than 400 Jews from Palanga were killed during both mass murders.

2025-07-01

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

2025-07-01

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.

2025-06-302025-07-01

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:59 P.M. on Friday, June 26, and concludes at 11:31 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:41 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:59 P.M.

2025-06-262025-07-01

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.

2025-06-262025-06-26

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?

2025-06-23