Religion

Happy Holidays from the LJC!

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The Lithuanian Jewish Community, which recently celebrated the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah,

symbolizing Victory and the Miracle of Light, wishes all the friends and partners of the Community

a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We wish you the best holiday experience ever!

Thank you for your friendship, help, ideas and for caring about the history and culture of the Jews of Lithuania.

We hope to share the next year, 2016, with you as well.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky

How Hassidic Jews in the Diaspora Observe Christmas

The origins of Nittel Nakht customs are murky, and even the name itself is a matter of some debate.

NEW YORK–Christmas is a day like any other in most Hassidic neighborhoods in New York: children go to school, shops are open and tinsel and holly are nowhere to be seen.

But Christmas Eve occupies a special place on the Hasidic calendar as a kind of “silent night,” when beit midrash study halls fall silent.

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Lithuanian Jewish Student Union Celebrates Hanukkah

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Lithuanian Jewish Community Student Union director Amit Belaitė furnished the following information and responses from facebook.

This year we began celebrating Hanukkah at the Vilnius Choral Synagogue. Then we went to Roshon, the only kosher restaurant in Vilnius. It was great to see several dozen happy faces and that Rabbi Samuel Daniel Izakson joined our group. Before we began to eat dinner, we lit menorahs. Michaelis Frišmanas, who recently started his own beautiful family, led the getting-acquainted game in which we all shared our hopes and dreams. Hanukkah is inconceivable without playing the dreidel game. We decided to play in an unusual way, a true competition! Five players made it to the finalists’ table and the winners were Michaelis Frišmanas’s wife Gintarė and Rachmilas Garberis. The restaurant surprised us with a fantastic dessert: small kosher doughnuts in the shape of a dreidel! We would like to thank the staff of the Rishon restaurant very much, and especially Aleksandras Arončikas, for performing a Hanukkah miracle and helping us hold the celebration. We would also like to thank Lithuanian Jewish Community program coordinator Julija Lipšic, and the LJC for financial support. Now we know for sure that miracles really do happen during Hanukkah!

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Wooden Synagogues as Tourist Attractions

The Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Department under the Ministry of Culture has posted a PDF file on their website about wooden synagogues in Lithuania and their potential as tourist attractions called “Road of Wooden Synagogues”:

The Road of Wooden Synagogues

The 16th and the 17th centuries were a period of rapid growth and expansion for Jewish communities in Lithuania. These communities could not exist without a synagogue which was their socio-economic, administrative and spiritual centre. The synagogue was where members of the community prayed, studied Torah, and dealt with the problems of the entire community or those of individual members. The synagogue was the first building which a newly established Jewish community would construct as soon as possible to fulfill their vital needs, and thus, of course, they would use the most widespread and cheapest material for constructing the building. The material that served this purpose in the territory of Lithuania was wood which was also used widely in Lithuanian folk architecture. Later, after becoming economically stronger, the Jewish community would build a stone synagogue right next to the wooden one thus forming a courtyard of synagogues. The importance of wooden synagogues would then decrease slightly. Jewish people gathered in wooden synagogues during holidays. Due to the risk of fire, these synagogues would in most cases not be heated therefore they acquired the name cold synagogues (in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.)

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Lithuanian Community in Israel Attend Hanukkah and Christmas Event

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Holiday jazz rang out at the Felicja Blumenthal Music Center in Tel Aviv on December 11, in celebration of Hanukkah and anticipation of Christmas. The Nerija Lithuanian community in Israel invited compatriots and their family members, and all people with an artistic bent, to attend the second musical event called “Sounds of December: From Hanukkah to Christmas.” Lithuania’s ambassador to Israel Edminas Bagdonas and cultural attaché Saulius Pilinkus honored the community with their presence.

“Jazz is the universal language of the soul and freedom, it has no borders,” community member Ilona Sakalauskaitė, who ended up acting as hostess at the event, said. She invited the public to come hear one of Lithuania’s most talented saxophonists, Danielius Praspaliauskis. The pieces performed by him and Gary Libson, originally from Kaunas and resident in Israel now, received sustained applause. When the audience heard the duet had only formed several hours before the concert, they were amazed. “If this is what they can do after practicing together only once, just imagine what they could with more time!” ambassador Bagdonas exclaimed.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

A Happy Hanukkah for the Children of Panevėžys and Ukmergė

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It has become something of a tradition for the Panevėžys and Ukmergė Jewish communities to celebrate Hanukkah together. This year Hanukkah was celebrated at the Vakarinė Žara restaurant with a program drafted by both communities. About 100 members turned out for the holiday celebration including children and adults. Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon also attended with his wife Tal, as did Panevėžys mayor Rytis Račkauskas, members of the Panevėžys city council, Ukmergė regional administration Culture Department deputy director Julius Zareckas, Ukmergė Regional History Museum director Vaidutė Sakolnikienė, Ukmergė Tolerance Center director Vida Pulkauninkienė and other honored guests. The ceremony began with the lighting of the menorah. Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon lit the shamash candle and as Hanukkah music played lit the eight candles held by children.

The ambassador’s wife Tal Maimon lit the main menorah with mayor Račkauskas, Julius Zareckas, city council member Petrauskas, Panevėžys Jewish Community board of directors member Jurij Grafman, alderman Michail Grafman, Artūras Taicas and Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman. The room was filled with warmth and light, appropriate to Hanukkah, the festival of lights. Everyone danced to Hava Nagila.

Ambassador Maimon briefly told the story of Hanukkah and greeted all the participants with Hanukkah greetings. Panevėžys mayor Račkuskas also gave a greeting and wished for understanding, light and peace for all those present. Artūras Taicas passed on the greetings of Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky. Chairman Gennady Kofman explained the holiday foods, what the pancakes and doughnuts symbolize, and told of the three miracles which occurred 2,160 years ago. Toasts were made and celebrants tried the pancakes and doughnuts. Halfway through the celebration gifts were presented to the children, the children improvised a concert, Jewish music was played and the children played dreidl.

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Sex and Judaism

Miami, December 13, 2015–Targum Shlishi is supporting two innovative programs developed by JOFA (Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance) to disseminate knowledge and foster greater understanding of the intersection between sexuality and Judaism: Chatan and Kallah Teacher Training Workshop and the Joy of Text Podcast.

“One might think that in an age of technology when knowledge is easily accessible, that the Orthodox community would be fairly educated about sexuality. Unfortunately, this is not true. Many enter marriages without adequate knowledge of biology, the mechanics of sex and the range of sexual acts permitted by Jewish law,” notes Sharon Weiss-Greenberg, executive director of JOFA.

These two programs are part of JOFA’s efforts to educate the Orthodox community about issues of Jewish law and sexuality, to improve marriages and to promote healthy sexual activity in the Orthodox community.

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LJC Social Center Jewish Family Service Celebrates Hanukkah

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The Jewish Family Service of the Social Center at the Lithuanian Jewish Community held a Hanukkah celebration December 10 for children and parents which included a creative workshop. An experienced developmental psychologist who several years ago led Purim programs for children served as guide at the event. First the children watched a short film about Hanukkah and associated traditions, then in the art workshop portion of the program the children and their parents used colored sand to create a decorative menorah. The children enthusiastically used many different colors to represent the flames. They framed their pictures and then continued to work on them using different decorations. After the work was done, there was a treasure hunt for Hanukkah gelt, gift-giving, dreidl play and snacks of fresh doughnuts.

Approximately thirty children and parents participated. They reported having a lot of fun and said they would remember the event for a long time to come.

More snapshots from the event here.

When Chiune Sugihara Celebrated Hanukkah in Lithuania

Hanukkah, 1939.
Kaunas.

I told him the story of how Judah Maccabee led his men into war against the powerful Greeks, who had defiled the temple, and how their tiny force defeated the much greater armies of Antiochus. Judah and his followers liberated Jerusalem, and set about rededicating the temple, but when they went to light the lamps they could find only enough oil to burn for one day. Keeping the faith, they used the one small cruse they had, and God made the oil burn for eight full days. This is how Chanukah became the festival of lights. Each evening the shammers, the one candle used to light all the others, was used to light one more candle, until on the eighth day all eight candles were burning.

The tables were laden with the best of food and drinks, including some Japanese food which [aunt] Anushka supplied from her shop. We also had veal with small roasted potatoes, roast duck in orange sauce, and many other wonderful things.

Mr. Sugihara also asked me about our family life and my hobbies. When I told him that I collected stamps, he invited me to come and visit him at the consulate. He said he would give me some stamps from Japan.

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Giant Menorah Lit in Klaipėda

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photo © 2015 Egidijus Jankauskas

The Klaipėda newspaper Vakarų Ekspresas reports the city mayor and representatives of the Chabad Lubavitch movement in the Lithuanian port city held a ceremony on central Lietuvninkų square to light the first Hanukkah lamp on the menorah erected there.

Full story and photo gallery here.

Kaunas Jewish Community Hanukkah Celebration

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Members of the Kaunas Jewish Community gathered on the afternoon of the first Sunday of December, 2015, at the cafe and music club Punto Jazz to light the first Hanukkah candle and celebrate the start of this eight-day holiday of light and miracles. One of the most senior and most active members of the Community, Šmuelis Šragė, was supposed to light the first candle, but he unexpectedly left us just a week before Hanukkah. His widow Basia Šragienė was called upon by her sons to light the first candle in his place. Despite the somber circumstances, participants managed to have fun at the event, aided by guests from Vilnius Michail Jablonskij and Leonard Zenkevič, musicians from the Fayerlakh musical ensemble. There was a latke-eating contests for the men and a doughnut-eating contest for the women, and a general quiz to test the participants’ knowledge of Hanukkah. Rabbi Efraim Piryampolski and his family who currently live in Kaunas attended and the rabbi addressed the participants. Their visit pleasantly surprised the audience and added spiritually to the Community’s holiday gathering.

Snapshots here:
http://www.lzb.lt/kauno-zydu-bendruomene-uzdega-pirmaja-chanukos-zvake/

First Hanukkah Candles Lit at Vilnius Synagogue

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On December 6 the Lithuanian Jewish Community gathered at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius to light the first Hanukkah candle and enjoy some treats. Israel’s ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon and all embassy staff were there, as well as Israel’s honorary consul V. Bumelis and many other honored guests. Rabbi Izakson greeted the assembly. Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky lit the first candle and ambassador Maimon lit the second. Traditional Jewish music was played.

Photographs by Milda Rūkaitė
Facebook photo album here.

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Tirkšliai Wooden Synagogue Gets Legal Protection

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A new cultural heritage site has been placed on the list of Lithuanian cultural treasures: the wooden synagogue of Tirkšliai in the Mažeikiai region of Lithuania. The synagogue is believed to be the earliest synagogue in the region built in the late classical style. Cultural Heritage Department director Diana Varnaitė said: “Wooden synagogues are now a rarity in Europe. Bearing in mind how the world values heritage made of wood from the past, we must understand that wooden synagogues are priceless.” She said she was glad another wooden synagogue had been added to the list of cultural treasures and that it will facilitate preserving the site. Antanas Eičas, head of the Telšiai section of the Cultural Heritage Department, said the Žemaitija region is exceptional for its wooden architecture and especially its wooden churches and synagogues. “The Tirkšliai synagogue built in the first half of the 19th century has been listed on the cultural treasures registry. It is now the only remaining wooden synagogue in the Mažeikiai region. It and the former Seda synagogue are from a similar late classical period. Up until World War II there was also wooden Jewish houses of prayer in Viekšniai, Židikai, Leckava, Laižuva and Pikeliai. Let’s preserve this rare and unique cultural heritage treasure,” Eičas commented.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Celebrate Hanukkah in Panevėžys

The Panevėžys and Ukmergė Jewish Communities invite you to attend a Hanukkah celebration from 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. on December 13 at the Vakarinė Žara restaurant at S. Dariaus ir S. Girėno street No. 4 in Panevėžys.

There will be games and gifts for the children.

Please announce your intention to attend via email to genakofman@yahoo.com

See you there!

Haifa and Community: Lessons in Tolerance from Israel

by Živilė Juonytė

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Israelis sometimes joke that while Tel Aviv is partying, and Jerusalem is praying, Israel’s third-largest city and largest port Haifa is busy at work. Maybe that’s why the people of Haifa don’t have time for squabbles and why the different ethnic groups—Jews, Druzes, Arab Christians and Muslims, Ahmadiyya Muslims and Baha’i—get along so well, despite their many differences.

Newest World Religion Recognizes All Others

The unique Baha’i, Druze and Ahmadiyya communities in the kaleidoscope of cultures and religions of Haifa are probably the least known to outsiders. Baha’i is one of the newest religions of the world whose origins are found in 19th century Persia, now Iran. It was immediately banned there, and continues to be. Baha’i believe all religions are valid and study them and their sacred texts. Their emphasis on the shared features of all religions means they are tolerant of mixed marriages. Children born to Baha’i parents don’t become Baha’i automatically. It is the parents’ duty to teach them about all religions, and the young adult chooses the one which most resonates with him or her at the age of 15.

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An Evening of Getting to Know One Another

with Rabbi Efraim Priyampolski and his family

Sunday, November 22, 2015

The weekly Vaishlakh

4:00 P.M. Lesson: “Three Sources, Three Ingredients…” (with Rabbi Efraim)
5:00 P.M. Children’s Hour. Let’s learn about Kiddush haShem (Yitzhok and Tsofochka)
6:00 P.M. Lesson “Hanukkah in the Talmud”/free discussion (Rabbi Efraim)
7:00 P.M. Lesson for women: “What is a Lie?” (Devora)
8:00 P.M. We say goodbye, but we remain together

To be held at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius.