News

Post-Doctoral Research Continues on Jewish Conversion in Lithuania

Dr. Elena Keidošiūtė who successfully defended her doctoral thesis on Catholic missionary activities among Jews and trends in conversions by Jews in Lithuania has been awarded a Prins Foundation post-doctoral fellowship for 10 months at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. She will be a visiting scholar at New York University concurrently.

According to the Vilnius University webpage, Dr. Keidošiūtė said she felt the fellowship would serve not only to deepen by also assess anew as well as contextualize her research. “I will develop further the research begun during doctoral studies on conversions by Lithuanian Jews to Catholicism in the Russian Empire, interwar Lithuania and the Vilnius region, but more importantly I will have an opportunity to make use of the source materials conserved in the archive of the YIVO, the Jewish research institute. I hope to take part in the discussion with the center and university colleagues as well as researchers visiting these institutions,” she said.

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Letters to the Editor: Lithuanian Group Rejects Charges of Naziism

In an open letter to the editor of the newspaper and website Lietuvos Žinios [Lithuanian News] published July 27, the Union of Freedom Fighters of Lithuania called upon Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašis and director of the Center for the Study of the Genocide and the Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania Teresė Birutė Burauskaitė to allow a memorial plaque commemorating Jonas Noreika, also known by his post-war partisan appellation as General Vėtra, to remain in place upon the wall of the library of the Academy of Sciences building in Vilnius. The call was made seemingly as a result of a recent editorial by Lithuanian veteran of journalism and opinion-maker Rimvydas Valatka in which he recounted Noreika’s Holocaust crimes and deconstructed his image as national hero on multiple fronts. Here is the text of the open letter by the Noreika supporters:

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Israeli Ambassador to Lithuania Visits Linava Transport Association

Ambassador of the State of Israel to Lithuania Amir Maimon visited the Lithuanian truckers association Linava and met with association president Erlandas Mikėnas and secretary general Vidmantas Adomaitis in the second half of July. They discusses possible avenues of cooperation between Lithuanian and Israeli transport companies and preparations for the World Lithuanian Economic Forum planned for this fall in Tel Aviv.

The Israeli ambassador wanted to talk about specific tasks of cooperation during the meeting, according to the Linava website. The website reported ambassador Maimon said: “There can be competition on price, quality, reputation and reliability. Israeli companies need to understand why it is beneficial to work with you.” The comments were reportedly in the context of how Lithuanian automobile carriers could form new partnerships with Israeli companies which have existing agreements with other European transporters.

The association website noted the association president also spoke about the extended economic sanctions against Russia and increasing competition among truckers in Western Europe leading to the search for new markets.

The Israeli ambassador reminded Linava officials Lithuanian prime minister Algirdas Butkevičius is planning an official visit to Israel this fall and the Lithuanian president is scheduled to attend the World Lithuanian Economic Forum being held in Tel Aviv on October 19 to 22. He told Linava representatives they should try to attend these events as a venue for making their aspirations known.

For the full story in Lithuanian

What’s Lithuania Trying To Prove By Accusing Jews?

What’s Lithuania Trying To Prove By Accusing Jews?

With horror, I read recently about the Lithuanian state’s attempt to hide its history of Nazi collaboration — by accusing Jewish partisans who fought against the Germans (and their Lithuanian collaborators) of ill-defined, ill-documented “war crimes.” It’s not the first time such an effort has been made, but it’s still maddening to read the charges brought against the now-elderly heroes of Lithuanian Jewry .

As the grandson of a Holocaust survivor and nephew of a victim, I was offended: here were folks fighting in self-defense against murderous invaders, and you try them! But as someone who had been to Lithuania, studied Lithuanian history, and continues to navigate Lithuania’s labyrinthine bureaucracy, I also knew there was a reason for this sickening development. Lithuania’s government and its nationalists have something to prove.

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City of Kaišiadorys Adopts Žiežmariai Synagogue

City of Kaišiadorys Adopts Žiežmariai Synagogue

At a meeting Thursday, July 30 of the Kaišiadorys City Council with mayor Vytenis Tomkus and Lithuanian Jewish Community chairperson Faina Kukliansky as well as the LJC’s heritage protection expert Martynas Užpelkis attending, the council considered what to do about the wooden synagogue falling into ruin in Žiežmariai. The LJC presented a plan for renovating the synagogue and the meeting was marked by a friendly atmosphere of cooperation. The council resolved to take on the synagogue with an exploitation agreement and to apply to EU structural funds for its renovation. After renovation and in addition to serving as commemoration of the lives of the Jews of Kaišiadorys and surrounding areas, the synagogue is to be used for the cultural needs of the people of the district. The council invited city and regional residents to take part in a clean-up of the Žiežmariai Jewish Cemetery on August 21.

LJC chair Faina Kukliansky thanked the Kaišiadorys City Council on behalf of the Lithuanian Jewish Community for their good will and understanding in adopting the important decision and called upon the Lithuanian Jewish community to join in the clean-up of the cemetery once used by the local Jewish community which no longer exists.

There are examples in Lithuania of how restored synagogues have been made available for the cultural needs and public use by the local community in Kėdainiai, Pakruojas and Joniškis. Currently a plan is being drafted to restore the Kalvarija synagogue complex as well.

Kaišiadorys and Žiežmariai are located almost right next to each other along the main Kaunas-Vilnius highway.

Elvis Presley’s Jewish Roots Highlighted on his 35th Yahrtzheit

Elvis Presley’s Jewish Roots Highlighted on his 35th Yahrtzheit

On the 35th anniversary of his death Thursday, Tablet magazine highlighted something about Elvis Presley that even his die-hard fans probably don’t know: he’s Jewish!

According to Talmudic law, whereby one is considered a Jew by matrilineal descent, then Elvis Aron Presley is indeed a member of the tribe by virtue of his mother.

Tablet points out that when Elvis’ eligibility to be nominated to the Jewish American Hall of Fame was highlighted along with other Jewish celebrities, the organization cited historian and biographer Elaine Dundy’s book “Elvis and Gladys” as evidence of the rock legend’s Jewish heritage:

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Israel says it ‘hasn’t been given all the details’ on Iran accord

IL times

National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen claimed Wednesday that Israel has yet to be informed of the full details of the nuclear accord between six world powers and Iran.

“Contrary to promises, Israel has not yet received all the written supplements to the agreement signed between Iran and the world powers,” Cohen, a former deputy head of the Mossad, told members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

He specified what he described as “confidential” appendices to the accord, relating to understandings reached between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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Žiežmariai Synagogue: A Holocaust Site as Well as an Important Architectural Monument

Žiežmariai Synagogue: A Holocaust Site as Well as an Important Architectural Monument

The city council and mayor of Kaišiadorys, Vytenis Tomkus, are scheduled to meet with Lithuanian Jewish Community chairperson Faina Kukliansky and the community’s heritage protection specialist Martynas Užpelkis July 30 to discuss the conservation and exploitation of the Žiežmariai (Zhezhmer or Zezmer in Yiddish) Synagogue.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community in cooperation with the Cultural Protection Department has been working on how to preserve the town’s only surviving synagogue, one of the few surviving wooden synagogues in Europe, for several years now. A series of tests, studies and research including engineering and geological, archaeological, historical, building construction, timber, chemical and painting/decoration investigations, and the drafting of a detailed plan for renovation work are planned for completion this year. Restoration work beyond that, and most importantly the positive social and economic effect accruing from that, will be part of the town’s general plan for the conservation and use of heritage sites.

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Double Genocide

Double Genocide

I met Yitzhak Arad in the cafeteria of his upscale retirement home outside Tel Aviv. To his enemies, this short man, softened by age and bundled in long sleeves against the facility’s overzealous air conditioning, is a kind of Jewish Kurt Waldheim: a brutal war criminal who deftly covered his tracks and went on to run one of the world’s leading human rights institutions. Waldheim, a former Nazi officer, famously became secretary-general of the United Nations before the truth came out. Arad allegedly committed atrocities against Lithuanian anti-Communists on behalf of Stalin’s secret police, the NKVD, before moving to Israel and becoming the director of Yad Vashem, the nation’s holocaust museum.

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“Whom Does Lithuania Honor, General Vėtra the Partisan Leader, or a Murderer of Jews?”

“Whom Does Lithuania Honor, General Vėtra the Partisan Leader, or a Murderer of Jews?”

Writing on the DELFI webpage, long-time Lithuanian editor, writer and journalist Rimvydas Valatka says he detects a sea-change in Lithuanian attitudes towards a painful past.

In an opinion piece/editorial roughly translated as “Whom Does Lithuania Honor, General Vėtra the Partisan Leader, or a Murderer of Jews?” Valatka opens:

“The removal of the idols [human figures in the socialist realist style from the Soviet era] from the Green Bridge [in Vilnius], and consequently the liberation of our history, has been met by some people with pain. There are signs, however, showing that these resolute steps could become the very foundation in a critical assessment of our history of memory. One such [step] is a letter by a group of intellectuals calling upon the mayor of Vilnius to immediately take steps to remove a plaque from the façade of the [Lithuanian] Academy of Sciences [building in Vilnius] commemorating and honoring partisan commander General Vėtra, aka captain Jonas Noreika.”

Valatka goes on to relate what has become an almost mainstream genre of reporting in Lithuania at the present time: the painful truth and horrible crimes lurking in the backgrounds of people who have—almost all posthumously—received the highest state awards and honors since Lithuania regained independence in the 1990-1991 period, by governments and presidents far to the left as well as on the more extreme right side of center.

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Decision on Ponar Memorial Renovation Project by Next Year

Decision on Ponar Memorial Renovation Project by Next Year

Following the selection of the two best projects for renovating the Ponar (Paneriai) Memorial Complex, architects have been perfecting and putting the final flourishes on their plans for how the Holocaust site will look, and a special commission is supposed to make a decision by the end of the year.

Jūratė Razumienė, deputy director of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum which is in charge of the memorial complex, told BNS that the project submitted by the Šnabždesių miškas [Forest of Whispers] group, chosen over sixteen other projects earlier, will compete with the Matyti tyloje [To See in Silence] group’s project.

“It was an idea project, not first or second, formally it only took third place. There was another project which was assessed the best by Lithuanian and foreign specialists. But not all questions were answered in any single project. The work will continue, they will both compete under additional conditions,” she said.

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Lithuanian president hands credentials to first ambassador to South Africa

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė on Wednesday handed letters of credence to Sigutė Jakštonytė, the country’s first ambassador to the Republic of South Africa.

Speaking at the ceremony at the President’s Office, Grybauskaitė stressed the importance of maintaining extensive contacts with the local Litvak community. According to the press release, Lithuanian exports to South Africa grew by 32 percent in 2014 but there was practically no investment. Food industry, agriculture, IT, chemical and engineering industries are perspective sectors for Lithuanian exports to South Africa, said the President’s Office. In Grybauskaitė’s words, the two countries are yet to sign a bilateral agreement on economic cooperation and Lithuania needs to look more intensely for trade and business partners not only in the Republic of South Africa but also in the wider South African region.

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Howard Margol’s group visited Lithuanian Jewish Community

Howard Margol’s group visited Lithuanian Jewish Community

Howard Margol is considered one of the foremost authorities on Lithuanian genealogical research.

Howard Margol began tracing his family history in 1990. After retirement, he plunged into genealogy, traveling to Lithuania in 1993. He joined the newly formed Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia, and his research took on a much more serious tone. Howard attended his first International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Washington, DC in 1995 and has attended every annual conference since then.

Howard served a two-year term as President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia. Under his leadership, the membership in JGSGA grew from 65 members to a total of 130 members. Howard has continued to serve on the board of JGSGA.

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WJC News

WJC News

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Tisha b’Av

Tisha b’Av

The Tisha b’Av fast this year falls on Saturday, July 25, beginning at 9:17 P.M. local time in Lithuania and ending at 10:26 P.M. on July 26.

Services will be held at the Vilnius Choral Synagogue at 9:00 A.M. and at 7:30 P.M. on July 26.

Tisha b’Av, literally “the ninth day of the month of Av,” commemorates the destruction of the First Temple of Solomon ca. 587 BCE and the Second Temple in 70 CE in Jerusalem and is traditionally a day of fasting and mourning. Observance includes five prohibitions, the main one being a 25-hour fast. The Book of Lamentations is read in the synagogue followed by the recitation of kinnos, liturgical dirges for the Temple and Jerusalem. Since the day has become associated with other major Jewish tragedies, some kinnos recall other events, including the murder of the Ten Martyrs in ancient Rome, pogroms against medieval Jewish communities and the Holocaust.

According to tradition, the sin of the Ten Spies is the real origin of Tisha B’Av. In the Book of Numbers, 13:1-33 when the Israelites accepted their false report of the Promised Land, they wept, thinking God could no help them. The night the people wept and wailed was the ninth day of Av, which then became a day of weeping and misfortune for all time, according to tradition, following which the Jews were made to wander the desert for 40 years.

World Lithuanian Economic Forum to Meet in Israel

The Lithuanian news website bernardinai.lt reports Lithuanians living around the world and other people with connections to Lithuania will meet for the seventh annual World Lithuanian Economic Forum this October, and that this year it’s being held in Tel Aviv. Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė is scheduled to make an official visit to Israel during the event planned for October 20 and 21.

Full article in Lithuanian

 

Work to Restore Zavel Synagogue in Vilnius Begins

Work to Restore Zavel Synagogue in Vilnius Begins

The newspaper and news website Lietuvos žinios [News of Lithuania] reports work to restore the historic Zavel Synagogue on what is now called Gėlių street (former Sadova/Sadowa street, now a continuation of Sodų street) near the Vilnius train station has begun. The restoration plan includes repairs to the entry stairs, floors, windows, doors, roof and cupola as well as a façade-lift, according to the newspaper. The synagogue, traditionally known as Zavl shul, was once a venue for the preaching of Rabbi Nathan Mileikowsky, the grandfather of current Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The synagogue kept extraordinary hours to cater to travelling Jewish merchants who passed through the Vilnius
station regularly.

>>Complete article in Lithuanian

LJC news

1. Alan Levin Resigns as Executive Director of Lithuanian Jewish Community

Alan Levin has asked to be relieved of his duties as executive director of the Lithuanian Jewish Community before the expiration of the three-month trial period which was agreed during the hiring process. The Community regrets his decision and the loss of an energetic professional who got off
to such a good start, and wishes him the best in all his future endeavors.

2. Lithuanian Jewish Community Chair Meets with Minyan at Breakfast to Discuss Religious Issues

Lithuanian Jewish Community chair Faina Kukliansky and Lithuanian Religious Jewish Community chair Simon Levin as well as members of the religious community met for breakfast and a warm and frank discussion of issues.

3. Lithuanian Jewish Community Chair Meets with Chief Rabbi Chaim Burstein to Discuss Changes in Work Agreement

Lithuanian Jewish Community chair Faina Kukliansky met with Chief Lithuanian Rabbi Chaim Burstein today to talk about changing the current employment arrangement to make the post of Chief Rabbi a permanent position. “Lithuania needs a full-time rabbi,” she said.