Lithuanian Radio and Television presents the story of Kaunas ghetto inmates Margarita Štromaitė and Juozas Kaganas, two inmates of the Kaunas ghetto who fell in love and survived.
Click here.
The Ten Commandments in Judaism
Natalja Cheifec invites you to a lecture on the meaning of the Most High’s Ten Commandments, including what punishment faces those who violate them, the significance of the eighth commandment “Thou shalt not steal,” whom Judaism considers a murderer, which violations of the Ten Commandments cannot be redeemed, and other topics.
The lecture will take place via internet at 5:30 P.M. on Wednesday, December 14. To access the zoom platform for the lecture, register at https://bit.ly/3K73kEE.
Children and the Internet: From Appropriate Use to Pathology
by Asta Katutė
Today digital technology, the internet and social media have become an indivisible part of the life of children as well as adults.
The ever-increasing use of digital technology by adolescents over the past decade reached a peak during the corona virus pandemic when even the educational process took place as distance learning on the internet. This made clear the negative influence too intense use of information technologies has on the physical and mental health of children.
The Lithuanian Health Ministry says there was increased depression and anxiety disorders during the pandemic and there was also a significant worsening of the emotional health of students in general. Dr. Giedrė Širvinskienė, the director of the Psychological Health Cathedral under the Social Health Faculty at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences spoke to us in depth on this topic.
Q.: What factors have a causal influence on the worsening emotional health of children? Is the problem the large amounts of time children spend on the internet? Are there other causes?
Happy Hanukkah Greetings
Dear readers,
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and Vilnius Jewish Religious Community chairman Shmuel Levinas wish everyone an excellent and happy Hanukkah holiday.
“I wish light, peace and happiness in everyone’s hearts, and invite you to attend the lighting of the Hanukkah lights at 7:00 P.M. on Monday, December 19, at the Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street number 39, Vilnius,” chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said.
Hag Hanukkah sameakh!
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
Shmuel Levinas, chairman
Vilnius Jewish Religious Community
LJC Members and Friends Recognized on International Human Rights Day
To mark international Human Rights Day on December 10, Lithuania’s Department of Ethnic Minorities held an awards ceremony at the M. K. Čiurlionis School of the Arts in Vilnius and recognized the work of a number of members and friends of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, including architect and designer Victoria Sideraitė-Alon, LJC executive board member and president of the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club Semionas Finkelšteinas, chairman of the Klaipėda Jewish Community Feliksas Puzemskis, Vilnius Jewish Public Library director Žilvanas Bielauskas, violinist and member of the Fayerlakh Jewish song and dance ensemble Boris Kirzner, Fayerlakh chairwoman Larisa Vyšniauskienė and documentary filmmaker and television producer Lilija Kopač.
The Ethnic Minorities Department awards are distributed to members of ethnic communities, the media and NGOs for their work increasing ethnic harmony, encouraging cultural diversity and unifying multicultural Lithuania.
We sincerely congratulate all prize recipients on the recognition of their work forging a better future for the Lithuanian Jewish Community and Lithuania.
Family Sabbath
You and your family are invited to a Sabbath celebration under the tenets of progressive Judaism in the run-up to Hanukkah, the holiday of light and miracles, at 6:30 P.M. on Friday, December 16. The prayer service will be held on the third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius followed by kiddush at 8:30 P.M. at the Bagel Shop Café at the same address. The Sabbath ceremony and Sabbath dinner will be followed by a Hanukkah surprise. To register, write viljamas@lzb.lt or call +37067250699.
Hanukkah in Israel
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Israel Agency Sokhnut’s Lithuanian office invite you to a Hanukkah celebration and workshop called “Hanukkah in Israel” at 6:00 P.M. on December 15 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius. Program:
•Education in Israel: from kindergarten to university, by Konstantin Shveibish from Israel;
•First steps in Israel, buying and renting real estate, attorney Sabina Shternin from Israel;
•Working in Israel, Oleg Dobkin from Israel,
•Questions from the audience;
•Hanukkah treats.
The event is free. For more information write info@ystreet.lv or call +3706998839.
Condolences
The Lithuanian Jewish Community and LJC chairwoman extend our deepest condolences on the death of Adolfas Šleževičius to his many friends and relatives. The Lithuanian prime minister from 1993 to 1996 was born February 2, 1948 and his parents rescued Jews from the Holocaust. His Government stabilized the Lithuanian economy not least of all through the re-introduction of the Lithuanian currency the litas, and through improved relations with neighboring countries in the aftermath of the break-up of the Soviet Union. He is the author of over 50 articles and two books. Both his parents were recognized as Righteous Gentiles in 1994 by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Commemoration and Education Institute in Jerusalem.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 3:35 P.M. on Friday, December 9, and concludes at 4:57 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Yakov Perelman: Singer of Science
by Sergei Konstantinov
That’s what his friends called him. And also a singer of mathematics and physics, a poet of astronomy, a prophet of aeronautics. He stands at the head of the river of using entertainment to popularize the fundamentals of real scientific knowledge. Perelman had the special gift of being able to translate dry axiomata into interesting material leaving listeners and readers thirsty for more. He knew how to tantalize the reader in such a way he was hooked from the very first line.
Happy Birthday to Algirdas Davidavičius
A very happy birthday to Algirdas Davidavičius. We wish you the greatest success in your studies and endeavors. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Upcoming Vilnius Jewish Public Library Events
The Vilnius Jewish Public Library presents a lecture by Oleksii Chebotarov called “Topography of Pogroms: Spatial and Social History of Anti-Jewish Violence on the Imperial Peripheries” on December 15.
On December 22 the library will feature an evening of poetry and music by Leonard Cohen.
On December 29 the library will screen the made-for-tv documentary film “The World Was Ours” (2007) about the pre-WWII Jewish community of Vilnius. According to imdb:
“A documentary chronicling the rich, vibrant history of the Jewish community of Vilna (then Poland, now Lithuania) known as ‘The Jerusalem of Lithuania’ before its destruction in World War II.”
For more information, send an e-mail to vzvbvjpl@gmail.com or call 8 604 15765.
World Jewish Restitution Organization Welcomes Lithuanian PM’s Proposal for Holocaust-Era Property Restitution
The proposed legislation provides €37 million as symbolic compensation for private property expropriated during the Holocaust and addresses heirless Jewish property.
New York, NY, November 20, 2022–The World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) welcomes legislation introduced by Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė addressing restitution claims of Holocaust victims. The new legislation being proposed by the government would provide €37 million as symbolic compensation to private claimants and to the Lithuanian Goodwill Foundation with respect to heirless Jewish property.
Prime minister Šimonytė’s proposal is an important step to providing a measure of justice to Lithuanian Holocaust survivors and their families for the horrors they suffered during World War II and its aftermath. We look forward to the opportunity to review this new legislation which would continue the process of property restitution and support Jewish life in Lithuania.
Over a decade ago following intensive negotiations with the Lithuanian Jewish Community and WJRO, the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, passed legislation to pay €37 million in compensation for former Jewish communal property. This payment represented only a partial value of the properties, but it provided much needed funds to support Jewish communal life in Lithuania, restored several Jewish heritage sites and offered modest payments to needy survivors.
Happy Birthday to Izidorius Donskovas
A very happy birthday to Izidorius Donskovas. He’s a member of the Palanga Jewish Community. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 3:39 P.M. on Friday, December 2, and concludes at 4:59 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Jewish Scout Jamboree
The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites all students to attend a Jewish scouting jamboree under the guidance of scout leader Adomas Kofman at 2:00 P.M. on December 4 at the Ilan Club at the Lithuanian Jewish Community located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. Contact skautai@lzb.lt for more information.„“
NATO 2023 in Lithuania: Rife with Political Pitfalls
Photo: Outer wall of so-called Genocide Museum on Vilnius’s main street near parliament. Personal collection.
by Grant Gochin
One of the greatest public relations catastrophes of president Reagan’s tenure was his May, 1985, visit to a cemetery in Bitburg, Germany, which contained numerous members of the SS. Today, nearly four decades later, the visit is still remembered with anger, amazement and mostly, for America, embarrassment.
NATO has announced that the next meeting of NATO heads of state and government will be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11-12, 2023. There are, unfortunately, obvious parallels to Reagan’s “goodwill” visit to Bitburg.
In World War II, and primarily in the second half of 1941, about 200,000 Lithuanian Jews–about 96%–were systematically expelled from their homes, robbed, starved, tortured, and brutally murdered primarily by ethnic Lithuanian death squads euphemistically referred to as “auxiliary police” units. Lithuania does not acknowledge the fact that most of the mass murderers were ethnic Lithuanians. To the contrary, Lithuania in many cases has elevated the stature of many of those who led the Lithuanian Holocaust, arguing that they were anti-Soviet. This itself is an echo of the Nazis’ canard conflating Jews with Communism.
Vilnius Jewish Public Library Showing Israeli Film Testament
The Vilnius Jewish Public Library will screen the Israeli film Testament (2017) at 6:00 P.M. on Thursday, December 1. The library is located at Gedimino prospect no. 24 in Vilnius. The film is in Hebrew with Lithuanian subtitles.
The film won a special prize in the Horizons program at the Venice film festival in 2017, and was awarded first prize for best film at the Haifa film festival.
The screening is free and open to the public, but prior registration is requested by sending an e-mail to vzvbvjpl@gmail.com or by calling 8 604 15 765.
According to imdb:
“Yoel, a meticulous historian leading a significant debate against Holocaust deniers, discovers that his mother carries a false identity. A mystery about a man who is willing to risk everything to discover the truth.”
The screenplay is loosely based on a true story about the mass murder of Jews at a specific location near the end of World War II. It becomes personal for Holocaust researcher Yoel when he discovers his mother’s testimony among the others. Encompassed by the silence of his mother regarding her life on the one hand and the silence of Holocaust deniers on the other, Yoel decides to press on with his duty to find and reveal the truth, no matter at what cost to his professional and personal life.
Alejandra Czarny Yiddish Music Concert in Kaunas Great Success
Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas reports the concert of Yiddish music by vocalist Alejandra Czarny and Michel Gonzalez on guitar in Kaunas was a great successe with the audience.
The concert was part of a series the Kaunas Jewish Community has been putting on called “Yiddish Hear Again in Kaunas.” This concert was called “Inspired by Grandmother’s Songs.” Czarny’s grandmother and that side of the family all came from Kaunas. She’s a transplant to south Florida from Argentina and charmed the audience with tango melodies along with Yiddish favorites, which became sing-alongs with the audience, and Alejandra Czarny’s own creations which at times evoked Venezuelan music, according to Gercas Žakas.
Alejandra Czarny and Michel Gonzalez were also scheduled to perform at the restored synagogue in Alytus on November 30.
Celebrate Hanukkah with Fayerlakh
Celebrate Hanukkah with a Fayerlakh concert and a holiday meal at the Natali restaurant at 5:00 P.M. on December 18. The restaurant is located at Žalgirio street no. 92 in Vilnius. Tickets cost 35 euros for adults and 20 euros for children aged 4 to 12. To register contact Ilya by telephone at +37065127777 or write Larisa an email at larisa.vysniauskiene@gmail.com.