News

EJC Launches Aid Deliveries for Refugees Fleeing Ukraine

EJC Launches Aid Deliveries for Refugees Fleeing Ukraine

March 10, 2022–As part of its ongoing efforts to assist refugees fleeing Ukraine, the EJC has initiated deliveries of trucks to the Hungarian and Slovak border with Ukraine.

With the help of Jewish communities in bordering countries, especially the Federation of Jewish Communities in Slovakia (ÚZŽNO) and the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (MAZSIHISZ), relief trucks containing basic necessities including food, medicine, sanitary products and other items are being sent out to provide immediate aid to refugees fleeing Ukraine.

EJC executive vice-president and CEO Raya Kalenova together with EJC vice-president Dr. Ariel Muzicant and ÚZŽNO president Richard Duda supervised the first dispatch of trucks leaving Bratislava to the Slovak- and Hungarian-Ukrainian borders. Deliveries will be replenished on a constant basis and expanded to further locations according to needs on the ground.

“Our goal is to assist as many refugees as possible during this urgent humanitarian situation, and to provide them with a measure of relief and safety,” Kalenova said.

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On War, Women and Sunflowers

On War, Women and Sunflowers

The Pakruojis synagogue will host this event at 3:00 P.M. on Friday, March 18. Neringa Latvytė will give a presentation called “We Were All Heroines: Experiences of Jewish Women in World War II.” An exhibit of photographs by Sošana Zaksaitė (1906-1959) featuring snapshots from the lost Jewish world will open at the synagogue and be presented by Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community chairman Sania Karbelis. Later in the afternoon Alina Shakhova from Kharkov in the Ukraine will perform a song. Everyone is invited to attend. The street address and telephone number for the Pakruojis synagogue is located to the right of this page.

Condolences

Social Department client Slava Alterman has died. He was born in 1949. Our deepest condolences to his wife Golda, daughters Rita and Tatyana and his grandchildren.

Condolences

Aleksandr Ovchinikov passed away March 10. He was born in 1963. He had no family left and was a client of the LJC Social Department.

Kabbalat Shabat

A Kabbalat Shabat ceremony will be held to usher in the Sabbath under the tenets of Progressive Judaism at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius at 6:30 P.M. on March 11. To register, write Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt.

Indoor Rock Climbing March 13

The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club invites everyone interested to an indoor rock-climbing exercise at noon on March 13. The event will take place at Kalvarijų street no. 143 in Vilnius. You need to dress in clothing which won’t restrict your movement, and we’ll provide the rest of the equipment. More information is available at vertical.lt and to register write an email to dubrovinas@yahoo.com or call 8 687 83 005. Students will be admitted free of charge, adults pay 4 euros.

Daniel Dubrovin, director,
Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club

Condolences

Long-time Lithuanian Jewish Community member, doctor, pediatrist and cardiologist Šulamis Borveinienė passed away March 1 at the age of 88. Our deepest condolences to her husband Gercas and her many family members and relatives.

Condolences

Lithuanian Jewish Community member Raja Kerbelienė, wife of Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community chairman Sania Kerbelis, has died. She was born in 1935. Our deepest condolences to her widowed husband, grandchildren Dovydas and Simonas and all her many relatives and friends.

Concerning Matzo Ordered from Ukraine

Concerning Matzo Ordered from Ukraine

The Lithuanian Jewish Community has always maintained special ties with the Ukrainian Jewish community. In December last year we ordered matzo from the Ukrainian Jewish community which was supposed to be baked and certified kosher under the authority of chief Ukrainian rabbi Dov Yaakov Bleich and then packed and shipped in our original-style package.

We have received a query from Ukrainian Jewish community leaders in recent days asking whether they could return 9,000 euros already paid for this. While we appreciate their honesty and conscientiousness, our reply was that this constitutes a portion of our aid to the Ukrainian Jewish community and this money should be used for the needs of members of the Ukrainian Jewish community.

We reminded the Ukrainian Jewish community every Lithuanian Jewish family stands ready to help all Ukrainian Jews who need help.

We have a special telephone help hotline,+370 665 064 60, and may also be reached at ukraina@lzb.lt

Historical Prayer Service

Rabbi Nathan Alfred will deliver lectures via internet before an historic and historical Saturday prayer service and Torah reading at 10:00 A.M. on March 19 to mark the 100th anniversary of the bat mitzvah when Judith Kaplan read the Torah portion on March 18, 1922. To register contact Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt or call+37067250699.

Classes for Making Challa and Other Jewish Foods

Classes for Making Challa and Other Jewish Foods

The Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Bagel Shop Café is offering students and teachers the opportunity to learn Jewish cooking secrets in classes held every Thursday. The classes are intended for students in grades 5 to 10 and the cost is 12 euros per 60-minute class. For more information see the details in Lithuanian here.

What Lithuanian Ethnic Minority Communities Think about the War in Ukraine: Our Position and Israel’s

What Lithuanian Ethnic Minority Communities Think about the War in Ukraine: Our Position and Israel’s

Note: Postponed due to illness. A later date for the discussion will be announced.

With the majority of people in Lithuania appearing to support the Ukraine in the current conflict with Russia, Israel’s position doesn’t seem to make sense. At the same time, the majority population of Lithuania is questioning the Lithuania Jewish Community’s position regarding the war.

To address these questions and to discuss the atrocious current events coming out of the war, the #ŽydiškiPašnekesiai discussion club is holding its fifth round entitled “What do the Lithuanian ethnic minority communities think about Russia’s aggression against the Ukraine? The position of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and of Israel.”

The panel discussion will take place at the Bagel Shop Café located at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius on Wednesday, March 16. You are invited to attend in person or watch on facebook. Speakers will include conservative Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris, cultural historian Violeta Davoliūtė, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and a surprise guest. Arkadijus Vinokuras will serve as moderator on the panel. The discussion will take place in the Lithuanian language.

For more information and to view live, see the announcement on facebook here.

Note: Postponed due to illness. A later date for the discussion will be announced.

Purim Celebrations

Purim Celebrations

Purim is coming up and as usual the Lithuanian Jewish Community is sponsoring multiple celebrations for all age-groups, including but not limited to the following three:

Purim celebration for seniors from the LJC Social Department starting at 1:00 P.M. on March 17. Register by sending an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or call +37067881514;

Family Purim celebration at 6:30 P.M. on March 18 at the Bagel Shop Café with Rabbi Nathan Alfred, including reading the Book of Esther, Sabbath ceremony and food. Cost is 15 euros. Register by contacting Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt or +3067250699;

Purim carnival for children at 12 noon on March 20 with a traditional Purim shpil with the Fayerlakh musical ensemble and our favorite madrichs. Purim foods including Hamen tashn and special guests. Children expected to wear costumes. Register by contacting Margarita at margarita.kozevatova@gmail.com or +37061800577. The event is free.

LJC and Partners Begin S4Change Project

LJC and Partners Begin S4Change Project

The Lithuanian Jewish Community in concert with the Lithuanian Human Rights Institute and the Padėk Pritapti organization are carrying out a project called S4Change which will assess anti-discrimination policies in Lithuania, present comprehensive recommendations and increase resistance among teachers and young people to anti-Semitic, anti-Roma and xenophobic narratives. Besides assessing the state of anti-Semitism and Romophobia and providing recommendations to legislators and national institutions to encourage a strategic response the discrimination and xenophobia, the project will work to increase Roma resilience to hate narratives in society and will hold workshops for Roma children, young people and women. The project will work with teachers and students in the majority population to encourage critical thinking regarding anti-Semitism, Romophobia and xenophobia with teaching workshops and an additional “inconvenient cinema” class for educators to acquire teaching methods and aides. The project will hold an international conference intended to strengthening the state’s strategic response to anti-Semitism, Romophobia and xenophobia and will include a public education campaign.

The full name of the project is “S4Change: Strategy for a Change in Anti-Discrimination Policies in Lithuania” and is financed jointly by the EU’s Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Program. The project will run from February of 2022 to January of 2024.

Table Tennis

Table Tennis

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is sponsoring ping-pong classes for beginners and skilled players. Classes/matches for adults will take place Sundays from 2:00 to 4:00 P.M. at the Community, and from Monday to Friday from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M. at the Simonas Daukantas pre-gymnasium in Vilnius. Classes for primary school students will take place on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:00 to 4:00 P.M. at the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium, as will classes for students from higher classes, on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:00 to 5:00 P.M. For more information contact Rafael Gimelštein by telephone at 866283856 or Neta Alon at 862957005.

Grant Gochin Brings New Suit against Genocide Center

Grant Gochin Brings New Suit against Genocide Center

South African born Los Angeles-based Litvak Grant Gochin is bringing another lawsuit against Lithuania’s Center for the Study of the Genocide and Resistance of Residents of Lithuania, or Genocide Center, over the latter’s mendacious claims Lithuania Nazi collaborator Jonas Noreika actually let an underground anti-Nazi network to rescue Jews. Gochin says Noreika was directly responsible for the murder of his relatives in Šiauliai and calls Genocide Center apologies and equivocations Holocaust denial.

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