Religion

Knife-Wielding Masked Teenagers Take Over Palace of Sports in Old Jewish Cemetery

Photo: Police at Palace of Sports by Paulius Skučas

A group of 50 masked, knife-wielding teenage boys has turned the crumbling Palace of Sports complex built on top of the old Jewish cemetery in Vilnius into their gang clubhouse and have threatened pedestrians in the area, including children, with their weapons, as well as attacking a lone security guard in charge of the site, according to Paulius Skučas, an LNK television reporter who posted on Instagram as well as did a Lithuanian state radio interview about the situation.

Skučas posted photos of the incident on Instagram with textual explanations:

This is how the Palace of Sports looked after the massive attack by teenagers this evening. Police and security stood guard for several hours. It seems the gang of teenagers are so uncontrollable and undetainable that all the residents of the surround neighborhoods and buildings have become hostages.

2024-10-042024-10-04

Happy New Year

Dear Community members, readers and friends,

May the new year 5785 bring you and your loved ones good fortune and health, happiness and a willingness to share your love with others. May all past and future errors and ill-chosen words be forgiven. May the New Year generously bestow upon all of us good news and good deeds, peace, prosperity and abundance.

Shana tova!

2024-10-042024-10-04

Shofar Procession through Vilnius

Dear Community members,

In celebration of Rosh Hashanah a shofar procession will make its way from the inner courtyard of the Old Arsenal next to the Tower of Gediminas, in honor of grand duke Gediminas who invited Jewish merchants, artisans and craftsmen from European cities to come settle in Lithuania, and wind through Cathedral Square to end up at the Vilnius Old Town Hall on Wednesday, October 2.

Shofar horns and shofar blowers from the Baltic states, the Ukraine, Israel and Great Britain will take part in the procession and sound the ancient ram horn instrument, dispelling evil and announcing the new year 5785.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community will hold a reception at the Old Town Hall following the procession.

Schedule (approximate):

October 2

4:00 P.M. Ceremony to kick off the march, inner courtyard, Old Arsenal, Arsenalo street no. 3

4:30 P.M. Procession along Arsenalo and Vrublevskio streets

4:40 P.M. Procession through Cathedral Square and along Pilies and Didžiosios streets

5:05 P.M. LJC reception for participants at Old Town Hall with sampling of holiday dishes

5:45 P.M. End of event

2024-10-01

Superpower Israel Goes It Alone in Proxy Wars with Iran

Following an operation coup against Hezbollah, Israel targeted and killed almost all of the terrorist organization’s top leaders including the supreme leader on Friday, despite calls from the United States, France, Great Britain, Canada and Australia to Israel to work out a ceasefire with the Iranian-backed proxy army in Lebanon. Israel also says it has destroyed all but one battalion of Hamas, also an Iranian proxy, again despite international calls to Israel to make peace with the terrorists attacking the country. Israel also bombed Houthi positions in Yemen over the weekend, another proxy army funded and armed by Iran. News reports Sunday and Monday claimed the new president of Iran and/or the supreme leader the Ayatollah were taken to allegedly safe locations in case Israel decided to bring the war back to Tehran.

2024-09-30

Bnei Maskilim Progressive Judaism Community Invites You to Celebrate Rosh Hashanah

Dear reader,

As Rosh Hashanah draws near, the Jewish new year 5785, with its accompanying holiday, we invite you to join in with our community’s holiday prayers and events.

This year one of our guests will be former US Army chaplain Rabbi Hanoch M. Fields.

During the celebration we will pray, sing and sample sweet symbolic foods, for example, apples with honey, so that the New Year would be sweet and filled with delight.

May this New Year bring everyone health, peace and happiness!

Shana tova u’metukah!

The cost is 20 euros per person. For more information and to register, send an email to viljamas@lzb.lt.

Time: 6:30 P.M., October 3
Place: Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

2024-09-30

Final Concert in the Shalom Culture and Music Festival

The final concert of the Shalom Culture and Music Festival will take place at 7:00 P.M. on October 3 at the Church of St. Catherine (St. Kotryna) in Vilnius. The special ROsh Hashanah program includes works by Ofer ben Amots, Philip Glass, Faustas Latėnas and others.

Tickets available here: https://bit.ly/4d3993B

2024-09-30

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 6:46 P.M. on Friday, September 27, and concludes at 7:55 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.

2024-09-272024-09-27

Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews Marked in Kupiškis

Photos by Miglė Zakarauskaitės and Aušra Jonušytė

Local residents and politicians commemorated Lithuania’s Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews September 23 at a monument to Holocaust victims at the Jewish cemetery there and visited an older Jewish cemetery in the once-thriving shtetl, laying stones gathered from streets in the town.

The same day the public library housed in the restored synagogue held a lesson on Jewish life in Kupiškis for students in grades 1 through 4.

2024-09-262024-09-26

Šiauliai Jewish Community Meets to Discuss Rosh Hashanah

Last Tuesday the Šiauliai Jewish Community held a meeting of members and friends with Rabbi Kalev Krelin to discuss material and spiritual preparations for the upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year celebration.

2024-09-26

Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews Marked at Ponar

The Lithuanian Jewish Community, Lithuanian politicians and foreign ambassadors marked the Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Jews September 23 at the Ponar Memorial Complex outside Vilnius.

LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky spoke at the event, saying among other things: “I have several requests by the Lithuanian Jewish Community. First, I want to know the names of the people who were murdered here. And throughout Lithuania as well, where 400, 500, 600 Jews were murdered in every town. Where are their names? … The Lithuanian Jewish Community also wants to know the names of the murderers. Many years ago now we were promised they would be made public, but they remain unknown to us. I am convinced it has to be made very clear who was a murderer and who was a rescuer. So I would like to ask sincerely the lists of those are known now at least be made available to us.”

Also attending and speaking were Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris, Israeli ambassador Hadas Wittenberg Silverstein with Israeli embassy chargé-d’affaires Erez Golan, German ambassador Cornelius Zimmermann, US ambassador Kara McDonald, speaker of Lithuanian parliament Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė and others. Choral Synagogue cantor Shmuel Yaatom performed kaddish. Vilnius Religious Jewish Community chairman Simas Levinas also participated.

2024-09-252024-09-25