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
Rabbi Heschel’s “Sabbath” Issued in Lithuanian by Catholic Publisher
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.
Prosecutor General Responds to Lithuanian Jewish Community Call to Release the List of Suspected Holocaust Perps
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.
Farewell Herr Schwarz (Schnee von gestern, 2013)
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.
Help Wanted at the Kaziukas Shtetl!
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
BDS: The Movement That Keeps Getting It Wrong
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.
Meeting the New Rabbis
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.
International Studies Days
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
Lithuanian Jewish Community Requests Finding on Holocaust Crimes of Molėtai Priest
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
Jerusalem Post on Plans to Rename Street in Molėtai after Alleged Holocaust Perp
In an article dated February 28, the Jerusalem Post reported on plans to rename a street in Molėtai, Lithuania after a man suspected of complicity in the mass murder of 1,200 Jews from the town during the Holocaust.
The man in question is the late priest Jonas Žvinys, long dead but honored with a state medal by Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus in 1999.
The Jerusalem Post article quotes Lithuanian author and activist Rūta Vanagaitė complaining no one is will to take responsibility in investigating the supposed hero’s past. Vanagaite also said that after searching through KGB archives she discovered the priest in fact had set up the unit responsible for the mass murder operation in Molėtai, and that one of the unit’s commanders was his brother who later confessed to his role in the massacre.
Dr. Efraim Zuroff, Holocaust researcher, author and director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told the Jerusalem Post the Žvinys case reflects a “much wider problem.”
Five Incredible Jewish Stories behind This Year’s Oscars
It’s the biggest night of the year in Hollywood, so it’s not surprising that Jews are typically well-represented among the annual list of Oscar nominations. This year, in the absence of a major Jewish-themed film, the Jewishness of this year’s Oscars is of a quieter kind.
As it happens, several Oscar-nominated films have unusually triumphant, behind-the-scenes Jewish stories worth celebrating. Below, we give you five of the best “secret” Jewish stories behind the 88th Academy Awards.
Full story here.
Roseanne Barr to Attend Anti-BDS Conference in Israel
American Jewish comedian Roseanne Barr will participate in a March 28 conference in Jerusalem about fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement. Barr was invited to the conference, which is sponsored by Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, because of her involvement with the pro-Israel group Stand With Us, according to Ynet.
“I am proud to stand with Israel during the week of Purim,” Barr said Thursday, according to Ynet. “This is the holiday where Esther mobilized the Jewish community, and because of her strong and unifying stance, she succeeded in overturning the brutal decree to destroy us.”
Barr, who starred in the long-running sitcom “Roseanne,” will tour the country for two weeks prior to the conference and will be accompanied by her mother. The comedian, who frequently posts on Twitter, is an outspoken critic of the pro-Palestinian left and BDS. She has even called Jews who support BDS “anti-Semites” and recently retweeted a post from JTA’s partner website Jewniverse noting that the Bataclan, the Paris nightclub where at least 130 people were killed in a recent attack, was named for a 19th-century Jewish operetta.
Others expected at the conference include Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, several government ministers and Knesset members and Sodastream CEO Daniel Birnbaum.
Full story here.
Užupis Jewish Cemetery to Be Declared National Protected Site
February 26, BNS–An old Jewish cemetery in Vilnius is being put forward to become a state-protected cultural heritage site. Cultural Heritage Department director Diana Varnaitė initiated the process.
“There are surviving headstones there and there should be a certain amount of state protection. The cemetery is already on the registry, it is already a cultural heritage treasure. The registry is so construed that significance determines whether the state or a local government is the party to make a decision and declare sites protected,” Cultural Heritage Department deputy director Algimantas Degutis told BNS. He said state-protected cultural treasures have stricter protection, financing and maintenance requirements.
The move to change the status of the Užupis Jewish cemetery is unconnected with plans by the adjacent funeral home to build a crematorium, Degutis said. The Vilnius municipality is against the crematorium plan.
Mass Murder of 1,200 Molėtai Jews in Hero Priest’s Past?
by Mindaugas Jackevičus
An initiative is underway in Molėtai, Lithuania, to rename part of Darbo street after the priest Jonas Žvinys, but material from the Lithuanian Special Archives casts doubt on his reputation: could he have organized the mass shooting of 1,200 Jews from Molėtai? Proponents ask how the reputation of a man given a national award by the president can even be questioned.
Local residents also have questions, but no one has approached historians for a professional opinion.
Awarded but not Checked
The Molėtai regional administration is considering whether to rename the street. The plan is to name just part of the current Darbo street after the priest, spanning only a few houses.
Annual Vilnius Kaziukas Fair to Include Shtetl This Year
Vilnius, February 25, BNS–This year the annual St. Casimir, or Kaziukas, street fair in Vilnius will include a Jewish Shtetl. The village will establish itself on the square in front of the Vilnius Old Town Hall at the fair running from March 4 to 6 and will feature traditional Jewish crafts and the opportunity to browse Jewish literature and try Jewish food.
“The Jewish prices will include VAT but are subject to haggling,” Algis Gurevičius, director of the Jewish Culture and Information Center in Vilnius, joked at a press conference Thursday. Students from the Russian-language Saulėtekis High School in Vilnius and the Jewish song and dance ensemble Fayerlakh are scheduled to perform at the Shtetl. The shtetl was chosen as the Kaziukas Fair’s showcase exhibit because many Jews were employed as merchants. “Jews taught Lithuania how to sell products, and it’s unlikely anyone would argue against that. Jews were employed in crafts and there were about 70 Jewish craft workshops registered in Vilnius in the 19th century.” The shtetl is to include more than ten Jewish crafts tents, booths offering Jewish souvenirs, a book shop, a fabric shop, a laundry and a gramophone shop. Besides all these products there will also be traditional Jewish foods and treats on offer.
The Kaziukas Fair began as a religious procession to honor St. Casimir in 1604.
Jewish Mysticism
Dear friends,
We invite you to attend the lecture “Mysticism in Judaism” this Sunday, February 28, at 6:00 P.M. at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius.
Shimson D. Izakson
Rabbi of Vilnius
Documentary Film about Osip Mandelshtam
The Vilnius Jewish Public Library is to host the premiere of a film about the life of the poet Osip Mandelshtam called Sokhani Moyu Rech Navsegda [Save My Speech Forever]. The film was completed in 2015 by director Roman Liberov of Moscow. Its running time is 84 minutes. It is in Russian but the premiere will make Lithuanian subtitles available. This year is the 125th anniversary of the birth famous poet and essayist who worked in the Russian language but who is often described as a Polish Jew. In fact his father, grandfather and great-grandfather allegedly all hailed from Žagarė, Lithuania. Director Liberov is to attend the premiere to be held at the Vilnius Jewish Public Library located at Gedimino prospect no. 24 in Vilnius at 5:30 P.M. on Monday, February 29.
Rabbinate Now Working in Lithuania
Dear Community member,
A rabbinate supported by the Conference of European Rabbis has begun work in Lithuania. It will provide solutions to urgent questions and problems ranging from birth to death:
-circumcision
-weddings (with the Ministry of Justice)
-certification of Jewish origins
-training for conversion
-registration of vital statistics and civil ceremonies (with the Ministry of Justice)
-others
Appointments and consultations will be conducted either at the LJC or the Choral Synagogue at a time agreed upon with Rabbis Kalev Krelin and Shimson Izakson. Telephone numbers, contacts and additional information will be provided at a later time.
Shuel (Simas) Levin, chairman
Vilnius Jewish Religious Community
“I’m a BBC Patriot”
That’s how Sam Yossman described his love for the Beeb at an event to introduce his new autobiography, “Šaltojo Karo Samdinys” [Cold War Hired Hand], co-authored with Inga Liutkevičienė.
Trying to sum up his book, itself only a brief summary of a very rich life, Yossman spoke about his Litvak roots in Vilnius, the post-war period, Jews in the Soviet Union and the eventual success he and his friend Yefim Kybarskis, whose family includes a well-known Litvak doctor, and others had in exiting the USSR for Israel. Kybarskis traveled to Lithuania for several presentations of the new book of which the first was hosted by Lithuania’s Department of Minorities as part of a series called “Litvakai sugrįšta” or “Litvaks return.” Also accompanying Yossman was a team of children and grandchildren and assorted friends from Lithuania and elsewhere. The audience included Department personnel, reporters, interested parties from other Lithuanian institutions and a representative from the embassy of Azerbaijan in Vilnius. A representative expected from the Turkish embassy did not appear. Algis Gurevičius, director of the Jewish Cultural and Information Center in Vilnius, also attended.
Holding up the new book, a much younger Yossman gazed out from the cover, a corporal in the Israeli army in khaki fatigues, binoculars half raised, rifle at the ready. The dashing figure of the young corporal was almost immediately contradicted by Yossman’s own account of his time in Israel: he didn’t like it much. It wasn’t what and his friends had expected, it was too hot for a son of the north and he felt he might as well have gone to Uzbekistan or some Arab country. He stayed long enough to fight for Israel in the Yom Kippur war in 1973, but soon repatriated, to England.
Presentation of Book about the Maccabi Sports Club
You’re invited to attend a presentation of V. Žeimantas’s new book “Lietuvos sporto klubas Makabi 1916-2016” [Lithuanian Sports Club Maccabi 1916-2016] by Maccabi Sports Club president Semionas Finkelšteinas at 5:00 P.M. on Monday, February 29, at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius.
