A large group of Kaunas Jewish Community members are spending their weekends attending swimming exercises held by the Makabi Athletics Club at the newly renovated Girstutis pool complex. The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Goodwill Fund have extended financial support to the Kaunas Makabi Athletics Club so that members can make use of the sports and recreation center.
The Catholic newspaper and website bernardai.lt now has a video outlet as well and has presented a feature on the new Bagel Shop Café located at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. The video presentation in Lithuanian, Hebrew and English features short conversations with Lithuania’s two new rabbis on the meaning of kosher food and cooking, as well as a brief interview with Smhuel Levin, the chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish Religious Community, among others.
To view the interview, please direct your browser here.
Photo courtesy JDC
by Cnaan Liphshiz
SZARVAS, Hungary (JTA)–Escaping a sudden downpour in the summer of 2012, Andras Paszternak and Barbi Szendy ran to find cover inside an empty cabin at their Jewish summer camp, Szarvas, 100 miles east of Budapest.
The two senior counselors, then 31 and 36 respectively, chatted as rain drenched the sprawling compound where they had passed every summer since their early teens.
“I suddenly noticed I was holding Barbi’s hand,” Paszternak, a Hungarian Jew from Slovakia, said in recalling the day when he began his romantic relationship with his Hungarian Jewish wife.
March 4, 2016, No. 197
To:
the honorable Algirdas Butkevičius
Government of the Republic of Lithuania
Gedimino prospect 11
Vilnius 01103
the honorable Remigijus Šimašius
Konstitucijos prospect 3
LT-09601 Vilnius
the honorable Visvaldas Matijošaitis
Laisves alley 96
LT-44251 Kaunas
cc:
Chancellory of the President of the Republic of Lithuania
S. Daukanto square 3
LT-01122 Vilnius
Statement
March 4, 2016
Vilnius
The Lithuanian Jewish Community proposes the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the municipal governments of the cities of Vilnius and Kaunas take all possible measures to ensure the holiday to mark the 26th anniversary of the restoration of the Lithuanian state does not include neo-Nazi chants, marches and symbols and events of a similar nature.
We would like to underline the importance of this holiday for all of Lithuania’s citizens, including the Litvak community in Lithuania with its unique and long-standing traditions, and the importance of fostering in the international arena an image of Lithuania as a modern state based on democratic principles and celebrating a tradition of multiculturalism over many centuries.
We would like to remind you of the march held by the Union of Patriotic Youth and the Lithuanian National center on March 11, 2015 with permission from the Vilnius municipality. This march featured fascist and racist symbols and chants and slogans promoting ideas of segregation.
The Government and the municipal institutions should continue to make efforts so that neo-Nazi ideas do not become acceptable in Lithuanian society and especially that they shouldn’t be propagated under cover of state holidays and through manipulation of the concept of patriotism.
Sincerely,
Faina Kukliansky
chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
BNS reports the Lithuanian Government is planning to allocate 697,000 euros this year to traditional Lithuanian religious communities for refurbishing houses of prayer and other needs. The lion’s share–626,500 euros–will go to the Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church, according to the Government’s draft plan.
The Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church of Lithuania is to get 36,100 euros, the supreme council of the Old Believers of Lithuania will come away with 8,300 euros, the Lithuanian Lutherans take 7,800 euros, and the Synod of the Lithuania Evangelical Reform Church will take 4,700 euros.
The Muftiate of the Lithuanian Islamic Sunnis is to receive 3,600 euros, the Basilian Monastery of St. Yosaphat take 3,000 euros, the Lithuanian Karaïte Religious Community also gets 3,000 while the Lithuanian Jewish Community is to get 2,000 euros, the Eastern Old Believers Church and the Vilnius Old Believers Religious Community will come away with 800 euros, the Kaunas Jewish Community is to get 600 euros and the Panevėžys Jewish Community gets the same amount as the Chabad Lubavitch Hassidic group in Vilnius, 300 euros each, according to BNS. Last year the Lithuanian Government allocated 637,164 euros to traditional religious communities.
The Jewish song and dance Ensemble celebrate their 45th anniversary with a concert at the Russian Drama Theater in Vilnius. The concert is scheduled for 6:00 P.M. on March 22. Tickets cost 12 euros for the general public, 9 euros for Community members and 2 euros for students and senior citizens. To purchase tickets, see here.
The Jewish shtetl section of the annual Kaziukas Fair in Vilnius came to life at 4:00 P.M. last Friday when the Jewish ensemble Fayerlakh performed on the adjacent stage. Jewish music including those sung in the pre-WWII Lithuanian Republic rang out from the Old Town Hall and enveloped fair-goers. On-lookers swayed to the beat as Fayerlakh performed wedding melodies and love songs. As the afternoon turned into Sabbath evening, there was a prayer and those assembled had the chance to hear it, observe Sabbath rituals and listen to the music.
A line of people wanting to get a taste of a Jewish bagel formed at the Bagel Shop Café booth and more than a thousand bagels were sold on Friday afternoon alone. Some scenes from the shtetl exhibit are provided below and at the facebook link provided above.
VILNIUS, March 4, BNS–Lithuania will support a Japanese application to include the documents issued by its vice-consul Chiune Sugihara in Kaunas in the UNESCO Memory of the World Program.
“Lithuania supports the initiative. Sugihara’s heroic deed must be remembered, immortalized and promoted as triumph of humanity even in the face of deadly threat. I am glad our nations share values,” Lithuanian parliamentary speaker Loreta Grauziniene said after meeting with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo.
During World War II Japanese vice-consul Sugihara issued Japanese visas to Jewish nationals fleeing Nazi oppression, saving many lives.
VILNIUS, March 4, BNS–The traditional St. Casimir’s Fair is starting in Vilnius on Friday, for the 1st time including a Jewish Township.
During the fair on March 4-6, the township will be based in the Town Hall Square, featuring traditional Jewish crafts, Jewish literature and Jewish food.
The township will include about a dozen of craft tents and marketplaces with Jewish souvenirs, a bookstore, a fabric shop, a laundry and a gramophone shop.
About 500 guests from 16 foreign countries are expected at the St. Casimir’s Fair this year.
St. Casimir’s Fair evolved from the Casimir’s processions that date back from 1604.
The opening of Vilnius’s annual street fair will feature a concert by the Jewish song and dance ensemble Fayerlakh, at 5:00 P.M. at the Vilnius Old Town Hall square. The group is promising a whole range of music and performances, including a traditional Sabbath prayer and song.
Don’t forget, the Bagel Shop Café will also be at the fair on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. LJC staff, members and volunteers are all invited to come and help sell Jewish bagels during the fair. It should be a lot of fun and this year the annual street fair will include a Jewish shtetl section.
A large group turned out for the launch of the new book “Lietuvos sporto klubas ‘Makabi’ 1916-2016” [The Lithuanian Athletics Club Makabi, 1916-2016] at the Lithuanian Jewish Community on the last day of February, 2016. The appearance of the book is a milestone not just for the Lithuanian Jewish Community, but for Lithuanian sport as a whole, because Makabi is the oldest athletics club in Lithuania. The book tells the story of the origins of Makabi a century ago, activities in the first Lithuanian Republic, how the club was reconstituted after Lithuanian independence from the Soviet Union and its activities since then over the last 25 years. It includes information on Makabi’s participation at European and World Maccabiah Games and other sporting events, and showcases athletes. The book is richly illustrated with photographs depicting the history of Makabi.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the club, which began in German-occupied Vilnius. On October 23, 1916, the Makabi Jewish Sports and Gymnastics Association was established in the ancient Lithuanian capital. Kaunas Makabi was established in 1919. The entire Maccabee athletics movement took place as part of the early spread of Zionism.
If you’re between 18 and 26 and always wanted to visit the Promised Land, the Taglit Program offers a wonderful opportunity to make this dream come true. For more information, contact Pavel Guliakov, telephone 8 685 42463, email p.guliakov@gmail.com
A new Lithuanian edition of “Sabbath” by Abraham Heschel (1951), translated by Asta Leskauskaitė and published by Katalikų pasaulio leidiniai [Catholic World Publications] was launched at the Vilnius Book Fair last week.
Rabbi Heschel became a rabbi at age 16 and was graduated from the Vilna Mathematics and Natural Science Gymnasium in Vilnius before going on to study under some of the greatest Jewish teachers in Germany. He was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Poland in October of 1938. He fled to Britain weeks before the Nazi invasion of Poland, and then went on to the United States in early 1940, where he became one of the most important and respected Jewish thinkers of the mid-20th century. His first book, apparently, “Der Shem Hamefoyrosh: Mentsch,” was written when he was a member of the Jung-Vilne group of writers in Vilnius, a book of poems in Yiddish published in Warsaw in 1933. Heschel’s poems attracted attention, including a letter of praise Chaim Nachman Bialik sent to the author from Israel.
March 2, 2016 No. 37
Office of Prosecutor General
of the Republic of Lithuania
February 29, 2016 No. 17.2.-2521
re: February 11, 2016, No. 179
To: Faina Kukliansky, attorney, chairwoman,
Lithuanian Jewish Community
Re: possible actions in connection with a list compiled by the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania of people suspected of committing or otherwise abetting the murder of people of Jewish ethnicity during World War II
Directed by the leadership of the Office of Prosecutor General, the Criminal Prosecution Department has examined your letter of February 11, 2016, to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Lithuania and the director general of the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania (henceforth CSGRRL) containing proposals by the Lithuanian Jewish Community on possible actions in connection with the list of people alleged to have committed or otherwise abetted the genocide of people of Jewish ethnicity during World War II compiled by the CSGRRL, and having considered these suggestions, we affirm that the Prosecutor General’s Office, operating within its area of competence and under the criminal code of the Republic of Lithuania, and under the law of the Republic of Lithuania of May 2, 1990, on the restoration of rights of people repressed for opposing the occupational regimes, after receiving from the CSGRRL a detailed list based on complete archival data of people alleged to have taken part in the genocide of the Jewish people, will assess all information received. After assessing it and only if there is a legal foundation for beginning a pretrial investigation of one of the aforementioned people on the list for the aforementioned criminal actions, for which there is no statute of limitations for criminal prosecution, the prosecutor will undertake the appropriate decisions for proceeding with the case.
You’re kindly invited to the preview of the documentary “Farewell Herr Schwarz” (2013, Germany / Israel) and the meeting with the director Yael Reuveny. The event is to be held at the Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum (Naugarduko street 10/2) at 4.00 P.M. on March 10, 2016.
The documentary is in several langaugues with English and Lithuanian subtitles. The discussion with the director is to take place in English.
The Bagel Shop Café will participate at the annual Kaziukas Fair this year on all three days–Friday, Saturday and Sunday–at the Old Town Hall Square in Vilnius. All LJC staff, members and volunteers are invited to take part at the fair and help sell bagels. It should be a lot of fun, and don’t forget: there’s a Jewish shtetl at Kaziukas this year!
Please contact Indrė: irutkauskaite@gmail.com
From Europe Israel Public Affairs
BDS: The Movement That Keeps Getting It Wrong
We are all familiar with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, whose campaign was started on July 9, 2005, when 171 Palestinian non- governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause called for boycott, divestment and international sanctions against Israel.
The campaign spread like a wildfire, mainly amongst left-leaning groups worldwide, and pro-Palestinian student groups on campus. In the few short years they have existed, they have successfully managed to make it into the political lexicon, and are a persistent headache to the state of Israel and its supporters.
But how effective is this movement, and are they doing the Palestinian people on whose behalf they profess to act any favors? There’s no doubt they have a successful media department, but what about their tactics? Do they tangibly achieve their aims? As a pro-Israel advocacy group, we thought it might be useful to share with you some recent news about BDS, that you, as a friend of ours and of Israel’s, might be interested in. Think of this update as your Nurofen to the BDS headache.
A meeting of the newly appointed rabbis Kalev Krelin and Shimshon Daniel Izakson (Isaacson) was held at the Lithuanian Jewish Community February 29. Participants included representatives of foreign embassies in Vilnius, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, Parliament, the Catholic Church, the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture and the regional Jewish communities in Lithuania. Also attending was Vilnius auxiliary bishop Arūnas Poniškaitis.
Shmuel Levin, director of the Lithuanian Jewish Religious Community, spoke at the meeting and said: “The physical genocide by the Nazis and the spiritual genocide by the Soviet regime destroyed the Jewish communities in Europe and especially in Lithuania. Today Judaism is an exotic religion, not just for the other religions, but for us ourselves. We hope Rabbi Izakson and Rabbi Krelin will be successful in reviving and preserving the Litvak tradition, Jewish spiritual life.”
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky welcomed the new rabbis to the community and wished them every success in their work.
The exhibition International Studies Days will be held from 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. on March 3 in the conference center at the Radisson Blu Hotel located at Konstitucijos prospect no. 20 in Vilnius. This will be the first time the cultural center of the embassy of Israel participates. Anna Keinan, first secretary of the Israeli embassy in Vilnius, and Ray Keinan, director of the Israeli cultural center, will greet participants.
The exhibition will also be held on March 5 in Riga, Latvia, and on March 6 in Tallinn, Estonia.
For more information contact lietuva@balticcouncil.org or see www.balticcouncil.org
The Lithuanian Jewish Community
Pylimo street No. 4, Vilnius
February 29, 2016
No. 190
To: the honorable Birutė Burauskaitė
Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania
the honorable Evaldas Pašilis
Office of the Prosecutor General of Lithuania
the honorable Stasys Žvinys
Molėtai regional administration
Re: Assessment of the Actions of Father Jonas Žvinys and Bronius Žvinys
The Lithuanian Jewish Community, possessing information about the direct and personal participation of Bronius Žvinys in the murder of Jews during World War II and his brother Father Jonas Žvinys’s collaboration in the murder of Jews, requests:
I. the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania (hereafter Center)
1. to perform a study, or if this has been done already, to perform a new study of the aforementioned people for their possible involvement in the stated criminal activity, and to make public, i.e., to acquaint the public with, the conclusion of this study and the material used in this study.
2. If the Center determines the information held about the criminal acts committed by the aforementioned people is true, to recommend to the Molėtai regional administration and/or other regional and municipal administrations to take no actions to commemorate Bronius Žvinys and/or Jonas Žvinys, i.e., not rename streets after them and not to make other commemorative markers intended to honor these people.
II. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Lithuania
1. In light of the conclusion and material from the Center regarding the aforementioned people, to investigate whether the Supreme Court of Lithuania legally and correctly rehabilitated Father Jonas Žvinys.
Sincerely,
Faina Kukliansky, attorney at law, chairwoman
Lithuania Jewish Community