by Liudas Dapkus

It sometimes seems as if Amir Maimon has at least one doppleganger in Vilnius. One attends a concert at the synagogue while another welcomes guests at the embassy. Somehow he manages to attend events for Street Music Day and still take part in volunteer projects and meetings. The Israeli ambassador, who recently settled in at the highest tower in the capital city, at the Europa business center, is one of those active diplomats for whom work in Vilnius is not simply a tranquil posting.

I spoke with Maimon upon his return from his country recently, where many Lithuanian government and business representatives have been visiting recently. The interview covered our military and theirs, conscription, statehood and history.

You’ve been here almost a half year. What was most surprising?

Vilnius’s only working synagogue, the Choral Synagogue on Pylimo street, hosted a concert on the evening of Thursday, May 14, by the choir of the synagogue on Lowenstrasse in Zurich, Switzerland, conducted by Robert Braunschweig. The guests told the audience that while their Jewish community isn’t all that large, it is the largest in Europe at the current time, comprised of 400 families. The choir itself began over 90 years ago.

The audience was mainly members of the Vilnius Jewish community, with a few non-Jewish locals present as well. Haim Burstein, Lithuania’s chief rabbi, was in attendance, and the new Israeli ambassador to Lithuania, Amir Maimon, also attended. Bruno Kaspar, the Swiss consul in Lithuania, was also on hand.

Deputy Lithuanian foreign minister Mantvydas Bekešius on a working visit to Israel May 12 met in Tel Aviv with Lithuanian exile organizations Beit Vilna, Igud yotzel Lita and Israelita as well as honorary Lithuanian consuls.

Bekešius told organization representatives and consuls about an idea and program for a World Lithuanian Economic Forum to take place October 19 to 21 in Israel, and asked them to participate actively.

The deputy minister told of efforts to conserve Jewish cultural heritage in Lithuania and to conserve Holocaust education and commemoration projects, and delivered a letter from the Lithuanian prime minister Algirdas Butkevičius thanking World War II vets living in Israel on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war.

With endless varieties available for purchase at every grocery store, it is hard to imagine that there are still new combinations, and styles of hummus being conceived of and produced.

Jewish communal and organization leaders are set to gather together with Israeli and foreign politicians in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening for the opening of the Foreign Ministry’s biennial Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism.

This year’s event, organized in conjunction with the Diaspora Affairs Ministry, will mark the fifth time that Jerusalem has convened anti-Semitism experts from around the globe to discuss best practices and share information over a threeday period.

Anti-Defamation League director Abraham Foxman says Europeans “have to change the way they are managing and monitoring everyday society,” like Americans did after 9/11.

The future of Jewish life in Europe will be in large part dependent on the way in which national leaders there respond to attacks on their freedom and liberty, Anti-Defamation League director Abraham Foxman told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

According to Foxman, who is in Jerusalem for the biennial Global Forum on anti-Semitism, Europeans need to begin examining the balance between freedom and security as Americans did following the September 11 attacks fourteen years ago.

Lord George Weidenfeld was honored with the World Jewish Congress (WJC) Theodor Herzl Award at a gala dinner at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum on Tuesday. The award recognizes outstanding individuals who work to carry forward Herzl’s ideals for a safer, more tolerant world for the Jewish people.

The 95-year old statesman, scholar and publisher was presented with the award by WJC President Ronald S. Lauder, who said in his address: “There are some people in our world – just a few – who have the courage and the temerity to speak out when they see injustice. George Weidenfeld is one of these rare men.”

Introducing the Herzl Award laureate, Lauder recalled his own work with Weidenfeld to expose to the world former UN secretary general and later Austrian President Kurt Waldheim’s Nazi past, as well as Weidenfeld’s “constant efforts on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people.”

BNS and Lietuvos rytras

Lithuanian Government representatives agreed with Lithuanian and international Jewish organizations Thursday to work to conserve Jewish architectural heritage and Jewish cemeteries in Lithuania, and to provide more information to the public on Jewish history.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community reports the meeting focused on plans to restore synagogues and other Jewish heritage sites.

The first meeting of a commission set up to address Jewish culture and history issues agreed to draft an action plan on registering and conserving Jewish cemeteries and maintaining Jewish cultural heritage sites and adapting them for use by the public, Lina Saulėnaitė, an advisor from the Government Chancellery’s Department of Foreign and European Union Affairs, told BNS.

Following a night of last-minute negotiations, Likud and Bayit Yehudi sign a deal, completing the formation of Netanyahu’s coalition government; swearing in expected Wednesday.