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Lost Shtetl Museum Opens
The Lost Shtetl Museum, after several years of construction and preparation and missed opening dates, finally opened its doors to the public in Šeduva, Kithuania on September 20.
According to visitors and experts, the museum is unlike any other in Lithuania. A large collection of authentic objects tells the story of the Jewish shtetl Šeduva, but also of all shtetls in Lithuania and the region. Some of the texts and exhibits are funny, and portray situations, trials and tribulations from daily life, love letters, immigration plans and excitement for upcoming holidays.
The museums thematic sections and exhibit items are complemented by tactile and olfactory details which might be ignored at first but provide an overall impression, according to one visitor.
Marker Commemorates Lost Synagogues in Baisogala
This week a stone marker was unveiled in Baisogala, Lithuania, to commemorate synagogues which once stood there.
Jewish settlement began there in the early 19th century and by the 20th century more than half the town was Jewish. The shtetl had a number of synagogues, a Jewish primary school and Jewish workshops. All signs of Jewish life were destroyed by the Nazis and Soviets.
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky unveiled the stone marker and Choral Synagogue cantor Shmuel Yaatom performed kaddish.
New Year’s Greetings
Dear friends,
Greetings on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, 5786!
May the mighty sound of the shofar drive away all of the bad from the previous year and bring happiness, success and peace. As you sit around the Rosh Hashanah holiday table with family and break the challa bread, I hope and wish you take pride in your identity and traditions, and that you would inculcate the next generation with this feeling.
May smiles and joy follow you at every step.
A calm, peaceful and sweet New Year. Shana tova umetuku!
Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 7:25 P.M. on Friday, September 19, and concludes at 8:16 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 7:07 P.M. and completed before sunset at 7:25 P.M. Rosh Hashanah begins at 6:59 P.M. on Monday and ends at 8:05 P.M. Wednesday. Tuesday, September 23, is Remembrance Day for Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide.
Rosh Hashanah at the Choral Synagogue
Rosh Hashanah begins at 6:59 P.M. on Monday and ends at 8:05 P.M. Wednesday. The new Jewish year is 5786. The Lithuanian Jewish Community will celebrate Rosh Hashanah at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius.
Schedule:
Monday
6:30 P.M. Mincha and maariv prayers
Tuesday
10:00 A.M. Shacharit prayer
12:00 noon Blowing of the shofar
12:15 P.M. Musaf with Shmuel Yaatom
2:30 P.M. Mincha
6:00 P.M. Blowing of the shofar
8:10 O,N, Maariv
Natalja Cheifec on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
Natalja Cheifec continues her internet discussion club with a special lesson the High Holy Days at 6:00 P.M. on September 18. To participate, register here.
Happy 5786!
Remembering the Jewish Community in Čekiškė
To mark Lithuania’s Jewish Victims of Genocide Remembrance Day, Audra Girijotė will give a presentation about Dovydas Matishohu Lipmanas at the synagogue in Čekiškė, Lithuania (Tsaykishok in Yiddish). Lipman was perhaps the most famous writer from the small town, and focused on the history of the Jewish community there, in Kaunas, Žemaitija and in Lithuania in general. He also wrote about the Vilna Gaon and was a frequent contributor to Yiddish periodicals. Born in 1888 in the village of Nemakščiai in the Raseiniai district, Lipman lived in and around Čekiškė from 1925 to his murder. He bought and ran a pharmacy there while writing a number of books. He was a qualified pharmacist with a degree from Dorpat (Tartu). He was murdered just outside the village in late July, 1941, by Stanislovas Gudavičius, a commander of local Lithuanian white-armbanders, according to Lithuanian historian Alfredas Rukšėnas.
Audra Girijotė is a writer and journalist who has been researching the life and death of Dovydas Lipmanas over the last several years.
Time: 1:00 P.M., September 23
Place: Čekiškė synagogue, Lašišos street no. 21, Čekiškė, Kaunas district
JewishGen yizkor for Tsaykishok here.
More biographical information in Lithuanian and English here.
European Day of Jewish Culture in Vilnius
The 21st annual European Day of Jewish Culture held on the first Sunday in September had the theme People of the Book this year. The Lithuanian Jewish Community celebrated in Vilnius with learning as well as song, dance and food during a day-long program that went well into the late evening.
The main venues were the Choral Synagogue with basic Yiddish and Hebrew lessons and a tour, and the Cvi Park Israeli street food kiosk and performance space at Petras Cvirka Park across the street from the LJC. Tours, sampling of food, Jewish Vilna toursm concerts by Fayerlakh and klezmer groups, entertainment by writer, thinker and self-professed professonial clown Arkadijus Vinokuras and a concert by the Kiryat Ono youth quartet were just some of the activities that day.
Photographs follow.
Come Celebrate Rosh Hashanah
The Bnei Maskilim association, the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Art of Shabbat and the Abraham Geiger college invite you to come celebrate Rosh Hashanah. Rabbinical college student Daniel Zekhry will lead the ceremonies.
There will be the traditional blowing of the shofar horn, traditional Rosh Hashanah foods and blessings and accommodations for vegans.
Everyone is welcome. The cost is 20 euros and registiation is required by emailing viljamas@lzb.lt.
Time: 6:30 P.M., September 22
Place: Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 7:43 P.M. on Friday, September 12, and concludes at 8:35 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 7:25 P.M. and completed before sunset at 7:43 P.M.
Lost Shtetl Museum in Šeduva to Open to Public September 20
by Anthea Gerrie, Hewish Chronicle, August 24
The Jews of Šeduva were murdered 84 years ago. Now a new museum will commemorate their shtetl way of life
Eighty-four years ago more than 600 Jews, men, women and children, of the shtetl of Šeduva in rural Lithuania were executed in the forest outside the town. Now the finishing touches are being made to a museum which will commemorate the shtetl way of life which was extinguished in the Holocaust, not just in Seduva or Lithuania, but all over Eastern Europe.
The Lost Shtetl Museum will use cutting-edge technology to recreate the sights and sounds of everyday pre-war Jewish life, based on the history of Šeduva and more than 200 similar small Lithuanian towns, and the thousands more communities in neighboring Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Ukraine which were wiped off the map forever.
Natalja Cheifec on Misnagidim and Hassidim
Natalja Cheifec carries on her internet lecture series and discussion club this Thursday with a lesson on Litvaks and Hassidim.
The concept of Litvak today isn’t just Jews from Lithuania and the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but for centuires now has included the idea of Litvaks as the Misnagidim (mitnagidim) who fiercely oppose the Hassidim. How do these two currents of Judaism differ? WHere does the opposition of these two groups originate? Tune in Thursday to hear the full story, from centuries ago to the present time.
Everyone is welcome to participate. To receive zoom credentials, click here.
Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, September 11
Place: internet
Pivonija Massacres Eighty-Four Years Later
The 84th anniversary of the mass murder of the Jews of Vilkomir (Ukmergė) in the Pivonija Forest jut outside the town was commemorated on the first Sunday in September, the traditional date selected for honoring these victims of the Holocaust.
The entire Jewish population of Vilkomir and surrounding villages was exterminated ruing three mass murder operations in 1941. A sole survivor hid in the forest and later told the tale to the world.
Pivonija is the third-largest Jewish mass murder site in Lithuania after Ponar and the Ninth Fort.
Lithuanian and Jewish Communities Meet in Los Angeles County
The Lithuanian Consulate and Lithuanian consul Sandra Brikaitė hosted an evening called “History, Heritage and Diplomacy” earlier this mont, bringing together the Lithuanian-American community, the Lithuanian Jewish Community, the local Valley Outreach Synagogue, diplomats and other interested parties.
The Lithuanian Consulate is located in Calabasas in the southwestern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County.
Consul Sandra Brikaitė, Valley Outreach Synagogue Rabbi Ron Li-Paz and Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky all spoke at the event and all three discussed together the deep roots of Litvak culture, the Holocaust and Righteous Gentiles, among other things.
“The Jewish heritage is part of the soul of Lithuania,” Brikaitė said.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 8:00 P.M. on Friday, September 5, and concludes at 8:53 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 7:42 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:00 P.M. Saturday is the Hungry Ghost holiday in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
Come Celebrate European Day of Jewish Culture with the LJC
Sunday is the annual European Day of Jewish Culture. This year the theme is People of the Book. The Lithuanian Jewish Community has a full day of events planned starting in the morning. Some events require prior registration, see below. Unless otherwise noted, events will take place at the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4. The outdoor Cvi Park space is across the street from there. The Choral Synagogue is located about 300 meters away on Pylimo street as you go towards the train and bus station.
Program:
10:30 A.M. Beginner’s Hebrew lesson with Ruth Reches at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius. Register here.
French Documentary on the Great Synagogue
The French Institute will show a documentary film by Loïc Salfat on the history of the Great Synagogue of Vilnius at 5:30 P.M. on September 10. The French Institute is located at Didžioji street no. 1 in Vilnius.
The film includes ancient lore regarding the synagogue complex and the Vilna Gaon, damage from bombs during WWII, removal by Soviet authorities after the war and archaeological digs over the last several decades there. The French film has English and Lithuanian subtitles.
The event is free but registration is required by filling out the form here.
The screening of the documentary is part of an educational program called “Make No Idols,” For more information about that program in Lithuanian, click here.
Remembering the Unknown, Experiencing the Non-Existent
The Vilnius Picture Gallery and the Lithuanian National Art Museum invite the public to a lecture by Giedrė Mickūnaitė called “risiminti nežinomą, patirti nesantį–keli žydiškojo Vilniaus maršrutai” [Remembering the Unknown, Experiencing the Non-Existent: Several Tracks in Jewish Vilnius] at the Vilnius Picture Gallery at 5:30 P.M.om September 9. The galLery is located at Didžioji street no. 4 in Vilnius.
According to the hallery’s announcement of the public lecture:
“Historical knowledge and making it topical, urban planning not just as space and architecture, but as a way of life–these are the questions confronting Vilnius. The lecture invites you to an indirect tour of the current city and provides a glimpse of the Jewish past, asking you to experience that loss in the present.”
The lecture is free, open to the public and registration is not required.