As the Lithuanian Jewish Community counts down the days to the New Year 5784, the Bagel Shop Café has come up with some new menu items. One of them is rugelakh, the amazing pastry traditionally served during Shavuot and Rosh Hashanah. The name comes from the Yiddish root “rugel” meaning little twist or tie.
Although Lithuania’s De-Sovietization Commission sent a recommendation to the Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania [hereinafter Genocide Center] for the removal of a statue commemorating [Nazi collaborator and Holocaust criminal] partizan Juozas Krikštaponis located in Ukmergė [Vilkomir], it appears a decision on the matter has been postponed. Genocide Center says since Krikštaponis’s status as a volunteer soldier hasn’t been annulled, it would be wrong to remove the monument stone honoring him. The Genocide Center says its leadership has asked the Lithuanian prosecutor general to remove his status as a volunteer soldier.
De-Sovietization Commission chairman Vitas Karčiauskas as well as people filing complaints about the statue are all unhappy with this decision by the Genocide Center and believe this is an attempt to postpone addressing the controversy. They say Krikštaponis’s role in Holocaust crimes is obvious and that the stone commemorating him needs to be removed.
Genocide Center deputy general director Vytas Lukšys reported the Genocide Center had signed a request to the Lithuanian Office of Prosecutor General Tuesday [July 25] for voiding Krikštaponis’s status as a volunteer soldier. He said they did so because it would be wrong to remove the marker commemorating Krikštaponis as long as he is recognized as having been a volunteer soldier.
Last week we bade farewell to outgoing US ambassador to Lithuania Robert Gilchrist. We thanked him for three and a half years of sincere friendship, genuine care, infectious energy and reliable partnership, as well as for his real interest in Litvak history and traditions, constant attention to culture and resolute support of the Lithuanian Jewish Community in all initiatives. We also saluted his lack of patience with all forms of anti-Semitism and discrimination. Immediately upon arrival, ambassador Gilchrist got involved with Holocaust commemoration and never passed up an invitation to attend a Holocaust event, even when COVID-19 was a threat. We thank him for his great contribution to sustaining the Jewish communities in Europe and for the attention he gave to regional Jewish communities as well. We wish him the best of luck and success in all his new postings and appointments. Until we meet again!
The Sabbath begins at 9:10 P.M. on Friday, July 28, and concludes at 10:38 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Aleksandras Rutenbergas has passed away. He was an active member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s board of directors and dedicated his life to preserving the Litvak legacy. Our deepest condolences to his son, family members and many friends. Those wishing to say farewell may attend the wake at the Nutrūkusi styga funeral home at Ąžuolyno street no. 10 in Vilnius from 4:30 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. Thursday, July 27. The burial will take place at 4:00 P.M. on July 28 at the Jewish cemetery on Sudervės road in Vilnius.
We wish a very happy milestone birthday to long-time member and Saul Kagan Social Center client Polina Sukolskaja. May you continue to enjoy good health and may many happy moments with loved ones fill your days. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
“This is the eighth act of vandalism in seven months. Although we’ve gone to all the authorities asking for protection for the memorial and the mass grave, this site continues to be vandalized,” Ukmergė Jewish Community chairman Artūras Taicas said.
Located just 4 kilometers outside Ukmergė (Vilkomir) the memorial in the Pivonija Forest marks the mass grave of 11,000 Jews murdered there.
Taicas said that his calls to police over earlier incidents went unheeded.
“Frankly, I don’t believe and I don’t believe in officials who think the desecration of graves is trivial,” Taicas added.
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman brought up the issue at a meeting with Ukmergė mayor Darius Varnas in June.
“It’s difficult to believe the police with modern equipment for criminal investigations can’t track down the owners of four-wheel off-road vehicles who continually disturb this Jewish site of eternal rest. There really aren’t a lot of these vehicles around and it would be possible to check tire treads. Furthermore, mobile telephone records would show who was using them. There’s not just one or two solutions to this, there are many, so one begins to think this is being avoided intentionally,” Kukliansky commented.
Jefimas Libmanas died on July 25. He was a member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community for many years and a client of our Social Center. He was born in 1935. Our deepest condolences to his widow Tatjana as we grieve along with his many friends and family members.
Mendelis Askotskis passed away on July 24. He was born in 1928. He was a Community member of long standing and a client of the Community’s Saul Kagan Welfare Center. We extend our deepest condolences to his daughter Mira and all his many friends and family.
Thursday, July 27 is the ninth day of the month of Av, Tisha b’Av, on the Jewish calendar.
Tisha b’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 kinos, liturgical dirges for the Temple and Jerusalem. Since the day has become associated with other major Jewish tragedies, some kinos 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 not 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.
The small square–actually more of a triangle–on Basanavičiaus street in Vilnius with a sculpture of Litvak writer in French and diplomat Romain Gary as a boy was the sight of a fairly large protest Wednesday last week.
Several hundred people came to protest plans by the adjacent cafė to cut down some larger trees around the sculpture.
The cafė owner claimed the trees weren’t rooted in soil and had simply grown over pavement, and posed an obstacle to renovating the terrace there.
Protestors called for tree specialists to make a determination about root-depth. Last Friday the Vilnius city municipality rescinded permission to remove the nine trees until experts have had a chance to look at the situation.
BNS, July 23, 2023
Two new artistic installations now grace the Old Town in Anykščiai, Lithuania, north of Vilnius intended to commemorate the former Jewish population.
The Anykščiai municipality reports a sculptural relief by professor Romualdas Inčirauskas and Zita Inčirauskienė called “Memorial Marker for the Former Synagogues” was installed at the site of the former synagogue at Šaltupio street. It reportedly includes portion of a map of the town from 1925 with the sites of six former synagogues marked.
The same artists installed a bench in front of the building located at Baranauskas Square no. 7. There are seven human figure sculptures on top of the bench back to symbolize the days of the week with the Sabbath represented as a rabbi.
Photo: Panevėžys Esperanto club members with their club flag in 1930.
The Revo Esperanto Club in Panevėžys recently celebrated its 100th birthday and Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman delivered a greeting there from Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, wishing members success in their meeting. Kofman also delivered an address, quoting from a book that the first Esperanto enthusiasts in Panevėžys were Jewish and talking about Jewish contributions to the Esperanto movement.
Revo Esperanto Club director Vida Kulikauskienė presented a short history of the club and said Esperanto might have begun there with Lithuanian Esperanto pioneer Aleksandras Dambrauskas, also known as Adomas Jakštas. Of course the artificial language was invented by Lazer Zamenhoff writing under the pseudonym Dr. Esperanto. Zamenhoff lived at various times in Lithuania and Poland but published the initial book in Poland. It quickly became popular in Lithuania and especially among Lithuanian Jews. At a certain point Soviet authorities banned the Esperanto clubs in the Soviet Union as possible avenues for foreign espionage, but eventually lifted the ban.
The Sabbath begins at 9:21 P.M. on Friday, July 21, and concludes at 10:54 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
On Wednesday, July 19, all of the main Lithuanian television channels on their evening news reported the Vilnius municipality sent a request to the Office of Prosecutor General seeking to revoke the license the Vilnius municipality issued 10 years ago for embattled Lithuanian MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis, accused and apparently guilty of making numerous anti-Semitic statements on facebook and in the Lithuanian press, for construction of his home on what is considered a fragile wetlands area and aquifer on the Neris River.
Lithuanian state television LRT and independent channels LNK and TV3 reported the city reviewed the permitting process and found it hadn’t met current standards and didn’t meet the allegedly same standards 10 years ago.
Žemaitaitis was laconic in comments made by telephone video from his automobile to the press, saying the permits had already been investigated three times by both the city and the prosecutor, and had been found in order. He said if the city wanted to revoke the permit and force the removal of his home, they would have to pay compensation adjusted for inflation, and that the legal process would probably take ten years or more. He also indicated he was currently on vacation. The Vilnius municipality administration director responsible for the current scandal enveloping the MP, Adomas Bužinskas, told multiple media outlets that was, that the municipality would be found at least partially liable for issuing the permit to begin with, and thus would bear financial responsibility.
You’ve watched the discussion, perhaps even attended the live dance lesson component, so now it’s time to test your knowledge of Jewish dance with a quiz.
Participants are to meet at 5:00 P.M. on Friday, July 21, at the Israeli street food kiosk in Petras Cvirka Square across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius.
Julija Patašnik will lead an Israeli dance presentation after the quiz with quiz participants invited to join.
Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and the whole Lithuanian Jewish Community wish Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman a very happy 71st birthday. We wish you continued good health, happy moments, interesting people and many years to come. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Abramas Goldfarbas, a client of the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Saul Kagan Social Center, passed away July 15. He was born in 1934. Our deepest condolences to his widow, family members and friends.
The third annual iteration of the Shalom, Akmenė event in the European Days of Jewish Culture series was held at the Akmenė Palace of Culture over the weekend, educating locals on Jewish culture, life and heritage.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Bagel Shop Café brought baskets of fresh bagels and Litvak snacks to the event. The Jewish market as well. Participants talked about Jewish cuisine and especially bagels, and shared the history and best recipes for this world-renowned food item.
The theme for the upcoming 2023 European Days of Jewish Culture is memory. The European Days of Jewish Culture will conclude this year on September 3 with an event in Vilnius.
Some snapshots from the most recent Shalom, Akmenė event can be found here.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes Irina Bielienė a very happy birthday. Mazl tov. Bis 120!