Programmes

Plein Air Painting Workshop Begins

Plein Air Painting Workshop Begins

The first day of the LJC “en plein air” arts workshop opened at the Įlanka farm in the Molėtai region of Lithuania with 40 people gathering to spend 5 creative days together. Some said this was their first attempt at painting and ceramics, while more experienced artists called it an opportunity to share their skills as well as to do a few paintings in this corner of paradise on the shore of Lake Bebrusai. The first paintings and first pottery works have already emerged. Everyone assembled for the official opening of the Plein Air together with some of the community’s favorite violinists.

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Film about Lithuanian Conductor Saulius Sondeckis Screened at Lithuanian Jewish Community

On May 21, 2015, founder and organizer of the on-going Likimai [Fates] cycle of seminars and deputy chairwoman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community Maša Grodnikienė hosted a public screening of a long-awaited film about famous Lithuanian musician and conductor professor Saulius Sondeckis. The moderator for the event was professor Leonidas Melnikas, who spoke about the concerts conducted by the maestro and his interpretations. Professor Melnikas said this is Lithuania’s musical legacy. The maestro himself thanked his parents for his successful musical career, noting stories of their good deeds circulated by word of mouth: the charity work of his mother, a teacher, to help poor students, and the deeds of his father, the burgermeister of Šiauliai, in saving Jews from the Holocaust.

Melnikas said from childhood the future conductor and teacher was sensitive to true human values and led an upright life. The film, lasting more than an hour and a half, features wonderful music, but also brings viewers face to face with Saulius Sondeckis as he speaks, whereas at concerts viewers usually only see the conductor’s back. Also in attendance at the screening were the conductor’s wife Silvija, herself a professor and a wonderful violoncellista, and their son Saulius.

Picture galery:

A Meeting with the Israeli Ambassador to Lithuania at the Lithuanian Jewish Community

A Meeting with the Israeli Ambassador to Lithuania at the Lithuanian Jewish Community

Israel’s first ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon was the guest at the 31st meeting of the “Likimai”[Fates] cycle of seminars initiated and organized by Lithuanian Jewish Community deputy chairwoman Maša Grodnikienė on June 9, 2015.

The event was billed as an opportunity for LJC members and the general public to get to know ambassador Maimon better. Opening the event, Grodnikienė said it was the first actual meeting of the ambassador with the LJC members, because not all were able to attend the historic opening of the first embassy of the State of Israel in Vilnius earlier this year.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chair Faina Kukliansky also delivered a warm-hearted and friendly introduction, but cautioned that the State of Israel and the Lithuanian Jewish Community were two entirely different entities and sometimes held differing positions.

Ambassador Maimon beamed confidently at the full third-floor auditorium and said he disagreed with Kuklianksy. He said both the local community and the state were essentially the same thing: the Jewish community. After that he launched into a retelling of his life and career starting with his great-grandparents’ generation and his ancestors who lived in Yemen. His entire talk was marked by a kind of joviality which occasionally manifested as humorous remarks, all of which were faithfully and accurately translated.

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Lithuanian Jewish Community Winter Children’s Camp at Šventoji, Lithuania

Lithuanian Jewish Community Winter Children’s Camp at Šventoji, Lithuania

Eighty children aged from 7 to 18 from Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Šiauliai came together for the LJC winter camp at the end of December. The camp held at the Šventoji, Lithuania recreational and health resort Energetikas lasted six days. The children were treated to an intensive program of activities prepared by the camp leaders as well as having an opportunity to enjoy the seaside and one another.

 Dorin Rosenkova, the camp leader, was a participant at such camps not so long ago but is now the director responsible for all children. She said everyone was satisfied with this camp.

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Olameinu Summer Camp for Kids

Olameinu Summer Camp for Kids

The first session of the Olameinu summer camp for kids at the Dubingiai-Litorina recreational area in Dubingiai, Lithuania, took place from June 30 to July 9, under the direction of camp director Dorin Rosenkov and a creative and active team.

One-hundred and seventy children from the Jewish communities of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia aged 7 to 13 gathered for the summer camp. There were 11 groups of children under the supervision of madrichs, or camp counselors and teachers, from the three Baltic states. The camp lasted for 10 days. The coordinators were Simona Psonikaitė, Yuliana Kravets and Veda Kucko. The camp counselors organized the entire program for the kids.

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