Natalja Cheiifec’s internet discussion club continues Thursday. Participants are invited to submit questions beforehand while registering. To register, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, August 6
Place: internet
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:22 P.M. on Friday, July 31, and concludes at 10:30 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:04 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:22.
Delegation from Haifa Visits Panevėžys Jewish Community
Eighteen visitors from Haifa and guide Idit Perri visited the Panevėžys Jewish Community July 20. They discussed the Holocaust, Jewish life, traditions, surviving material heritage and local cooking with Community members over tea.
Voices of the Departed
The Klaipėda Jewish Community will hold a ceremony at the old Jewish cemetery there to name the names of 1,225 people buried there and to unveil a monument to the lost Jewish community and lost Jewish graves. Ruth Leiserowitz will speak about the history of Jewish cemeteries in Klaipėda, formerly known as Memel. The Jewish actors troupe Shatil will perform as well.
Time: 4:00 P.M., July 30
Place: Old Jewish cemetery, Sinagogų street no. 13, Klaipėda
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:34 P.M. on Friday, July 24, and concludes at 10:47 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:16 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:34 P.M. Tisha b’Av ends at sundown on Thursday, July 23.
Holocaust Commemorations in Šiauliai and Kužiai
The Šiauliai District Jewish Community commemorated the establishment of the Šiauliai ghetto 85 years ago, its liquidation several years later and Holocaust victims buried at the mass grave in Kužiai on July 20.
The International Commission to Assess the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania organized the procession to the Kužiai mass grave in the Luponiai Forest.
Šiauliai District Jewish Community chairwoman Rašella Galinienė addressed the gathering at the ghetto site in central Šiauliai and Choral Synagogue cantor Shmuel Yaatom performed kaddish. Šiauliai deputy mayor Justinas Švėgžda also spoke about the need to keep memory alive.
The commemoration continued indoors at the Chaim Frankl villa where Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky spoke about how her mother, an inmate at the Šiauliai ghetto, was marched with other prisoners to Radviliškis, where they were put on trains and sent to different concentration camps. Her mother was sent to the Stutthof concentration camp in what is now Poland surviving against all odds the barbarity of the camp.
Natalja Cheifec on Tisha b’Av
Natalja Cheifec continues here internet lecture series and discussion club with a presentation of Tisha b’Av, which starts at sundown Wednesday. Log on and find out why this is the saddest holiday in Judaism, what this date on the Jewish calendar commemorates, why this fast day is different from others and the various stories and traditions associated with Tisha b’Av. Natalja will also discuss what fast days mean in general in Judaism., Everyone interested in Jewish culture, customs and religion is invited. To receive zoom credentials, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Wednesday, July 22
Place: internet
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:44 P.M. on Friday, July 17, and concludes at 11:02 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:26 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:44 P.M. Tisha b’Av starts at sundown Wednesday, July 22.
Israeli Team Returns to Shulhoyf Site
Jonathan Seligman and other archaeologists from the Israeli Antiquities Authority have arrived back for summer and are working the Shulhoyf or Great Synagogue site in central Vilnius.
Seligman said they have uncovered already new finds this summer and plan to work down from the bimah to the ground floor in the main hall. The bimah stood about 1 meter high according to Seligman, and the upper surface is completely exposed now.
People interested in taking a guided group tour of the site are able to book a time on July 27, 29 or 30 by calling +370 650 91521 or writing info@gvf.lt. The minimum group size is five people and the cost is 20 euros per person, with an anticipated duration of 45 minutes. The tours are being organized by the Goodwill Foundation. More information available here.
The Dreyfus Test: Is Europe Failing Again?
Photo: Moshe Kantor, president, EJC, courtesy EJC.
by Moshe Kantor
Society is again being tested on whether it can distinguish legitimate political disagreement from collective hatred directed at an entire people.
On July 12, Europe marks Alfred Dreyfus Day, commemorating the French Jewish army officer whose wrongful conviction for treason became one of the defining symbols of modern antisemitism. More than a century later, Europe likes to believe that the Dreyfus Affair belongs safely to history, a reminder of prejudices overcome and lessons learned.
Nonetheless, the uncomfortable truth is that while the language has changed, many of the underlying patterns have not.
The challenge facing European Jews today does not resemble the antisemitism of the late nineteenth century. It is rarely expressed through crude racial theories or open declarations of hatred. Instead, it increasingly arrives wrapped in the language of politics, activism and social justice. The result is not always easier to recognize, but it can be just as damaging.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:52 P.M. on Friday, July 10, and concludes at 11:32 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:34 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:52 P.M. Tuesday, July 14, is Bastille Day. July 15 is St. Vladimir Day in the Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
From the Other Side of the Photograph
Photo: celebrate. My grandfather, Jonas Noreika, is in the third row. My mother, then two years old, is among them. Source: Silvia Foti, The Nazi’s Granddaughter (Regnery History, 2021).
by Silvia Foti
An open letter to Liam, on his bar mitzvah
Dear Liam,
You do not know my background and what I carry, as I know your background and your family history. You barely know me, and there is no gentle way to tell you who I am. I read about you in an article your cousin Grant Gochin published in The Times of Israel, about your family and mine. I am writing to a boy I have met just once, for a singular moment, at your cousin Grant’s home, to bless you shortly after the day you were called to the Torah and became a man. I am the granddaughter of the man whose orders helped empty your family’s world of Jews.
My grandfather was Jonas Noreika. He governed the Lithuanian district of Šiauliai, where the town of Papilė lies. He signed orders that confined its Jews and gave away what was stolen from them. Your family was murdered inside the system he ran. Tsile Gochin, the sister of your great-grandmother Sarah, was one of them. My grandfather bears responsibility for her murder, and that of your cousins, relatives, friends and neighbors.
Rabbi Visits Ukmergė
Rabbi Harry Pell whose family roots lie in Ukmergė (Vilkomir) visited the Ukmergė Jewish Community recently. Pell teaches Judaism and Israeli studies in the United States and also works as a chaplain in the armed forces.
Ukmergė Jewish Community chairman Artūras Taicas provided Pell a tour of Jewish sites in the town and they spoke about Jewish history and heritage there. They also sampled imberlakh at a local restaurant.
Movement at the Shulhoyf
For the last two weeks a Lithuanian crew of diggers have been uncovering new archaeological strata at the site of the Great Synagogue or Gros-Shul in Vilnius. No Israeli Antiquities Authority archaeologists have been seen this summer, although they were always in charge during past summers. Several teams of mostly young men were seen digging at the bimah and northern wall of the synagogue, but not at the mikvot which remain under a make-shift shed. The young men were wearing t-shirts identifying them as working for Lithuania’s Cultural Heritage Protection Department. They used shovels to pile mounds of debris on the western side of the synagogue and appeared to collect bricks at the northeast corner inside a gate next to the Vilna Gaon statue. No archaeological sieves were visible during several visits to the site. The dig at the eastern side of the complex appeared to reveal a descending staircase made of stone and an eastern wall of the synagogue just to the west of the staircase.
Tour of Choral Synagogue in Vilnius Thursday
Jewish educator Natalja Cheifec will lead a tour of the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius this Thursday, July 9, at 6:00 P.M. She’ll tell the story of the only traditional synagogue still operating in Vilnius and explain its architectural secrets, symbolism and storied traditions. Cantor Shmuel Ya’atov will also be on hand to offer his extensive knowledge of the edifice and to talk about his work there as cantor. The tour will be followed by an informal discussion with questions and answers. Natalja asks participants to make a 5 euro donation to the synagogue. To register, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, July 9
Place: Pylimo street no. 39, Vilnius, around the corner from the Conti Hotel and the egg statue, across the street from the Leonard Cohen statue
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:57 P.M. on Friday, July 3, and concludes at 11:25 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:39 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:57 P.M. Thursday, July 2, is the fast day of Shivah Asar b’Tamuz, commemorating the breach of Jerusalem’s city walls in AD 68, AD 69 or AD 70 (3828, 3829 or 3830), according to different sources, just three weeks before the destruction of the Second Temple, and also commemorates four or five other tragedies associated with this date on the Jewish calendar. Saturday, July 4 is Independence Day in the United States, with Monday included as a day off work in many parts of the country. Monday, July 6, is Coronation of King Mindaugas Day in Lithuania, a state holiday.
The Tragedy in Palanga 85 Years Ago Must Not Be Forgotten
by Mindaugas Surblys
Today we commemorate the men and young men of the Palanga Jewish community who were murdered in Birutė Park in Palanga in 1941. Palanga Jewish Community chairman Vilnius Gutmanas, Palanga deputy mayor Rimantas Mikalkėnas, Palanga municipal culture department director Robertas Trautmanas and members of the community lit commemorative candles and placed commemorative stones.
The army of the Third Reich occupied Palanga on June 22, 1941, and by June 26 all of the town’s Jews had been locked up inside two synagogues, mothers, children and the elderly in one and men and young men in the other. The 106 males were taken on June 27 to Birutė Park and murdered, along with 5 Lithuanians accused of collaborating with the Soviet government. The remaining 300 or so women, children and elderly were murdered on October 11 and 12, 1941, in the Kunigiškiai forest.
The males were exhumed in July of 1958 and moved to the Palanga city cemetery, where a single marker marks the mass grave.
Memory lives so long as we remember.
Chairman Gutmanas said: “Eighty-five years have passed but time is powerless to erase our pain. People who had families, dreams and lives were silenced forever. They were murdered because of their origin. It is our duty today not just to commemorate them, but not to allow their stories to be forgotten.”
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 10:00 P.M. on Friday, June 26, and concludes at 11:31 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:42 P.M. and completed before sunset at 10:00 P.M. Monday, June 29, is the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in the Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican Churches this year. July 1 is Canada Day.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:59 P.M. on Friday, June 19, and concludes at 11:32 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 9:41 P.M. and completed before sunset at 9:59 P.M. Celebrations of the summer solstice or Midsummer’s Eve, the longest day of the year, take place around the world starting Friday, but the Lithuanian state holiday called Švento Jono diena, or St. John’s Day, is on Wednesday, June 24, with solstice celebrations taking place the evening before, called Joninės.
United States Holocaust Envoy Visits Shnipishok
Ellen Germain, the special envoy for Holocaust issues at the United States Department of State, visited the old Jewish cemetery in the Shnipishok or Šnipiškės neighborhood of Vilnius last week, spoke with representatives of the Lithuanian Jewish Community about the site housing the ruins of the Soviet Palace of Sports complex and discussed plans for the site.