The Sabbath begins at 7:30 P.M. on Friday, September 10, and concludes at 8:41 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Alytus Marks 80th Anniversary of Onset of Holocaust
Wednesday the city of Alytus south of Vilnius marked the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust with a procession before noon from the Old Town to a mass murder site in the Vidzgirdas Forest.
A commemoration ceremony was held at the memorial at the Holocaust site.
Jewish community members from Kaunas and Vilnius, Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, MPs, local government officials, foreign ambassadors, students from schools in the area and local residents participated.
Following the ceremony the renovated synagogue building on Kauno street was opened as the new home of the Alytus Audio-Visual Arts Center with a concert by Rakija Klezmer Orkestar.
Grave Robbers Hit Old Jewish Cemetery in Kaunas
September 9, 2021
Unknown criminals desecrated the old Jewish cemetery on the Radvilėnai highway in Kaunas, exhuming at least three graves in what might have been an attempt steal valuables from the dead.
The Kaunas municipal agency charged with maintaining cemeteries noticed the disturbed graves Thursday morning while clearing tree branches at the site.
The three graves well all adjacent to one another in the southern section of the cemetery near the fence. Maintenance personnel found several pits which seemed to be dug towards the upper body section of the corpses. The pits were about a half meter deep and were partially filled in.
Rosh Hashanah Greetings
Remembering the Mass Murder in Pivonija Forest
The traditional commemoration of Holocaust victims took place on the first Sunday in September in the Pivonija Forest outside Ukmergė (Vilkomir). This is the third-largest mass murder site in Lithuania. Members of the Lithuanian, Kaunas and Ukmergė Jewish Communities took part as did representatives of the International Commission to Assess the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania, various Tolerance Centers around the country and representatives of the Road of Memory 1941-2021 commemoration project. A large group travelled from Vilnius for the event, including Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Yossef Avni-Levy, US ambassador to Lithuania Robert Gilchrist, German embassy cultural attaché Anja Luther, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, members of Lithuanian parliament Viktoras Pranckietis, Juozas Varžgalys and Emanuelis Zingeris and Ukmergė regional administration mayor Rolandas Janickas
New Jewish Calendar Available
The Lithuanian Jewish Community is happy to announce our annual Jewish calendar has been printed and is ready for distribution. This year’s calendar, for the year 5782, features the communities and people who lived in Lithuania before the Holocaust, with period photography from shtetls across the country. The format this year is smaller and hopefully more convenient and functional but contains the features from past years, including local times for Sabbath, fasts and holidays. It will be made available to the public starting Thursday, September 9, at the Bagel Shop Café.
Rosh Hashanah at the Choral Synagogue
Rosh Hashanah at the Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street no. 39, Vilnius
Monday, September 6
7:00 P.M. Mincha/maariv, holiday prayers, kiddush, buffet
Tuesday, September 7
10:00 A.M. Shacharit morning prayer
12:00 noon Blowing of shofar horn, new Jewish calendar for 5782 presented
12:30 P.M. Musaf prayer
2:00 P.M. Mincha
5:00 P.M. Tashlich (prayer by river at Bokšto street no. 19, Vilnius)
6:30 P.M. Rosh Hashanah celebration (Choral Synagogue):
–blowing shofar horn
–distribution of new Jewish calendar for 5782
–holiday treats
8:51 P.M. Maariv prayer
Wednesday, September 8
10:00 A.M. Shacharit morning prayer
12:00 noon Blowing of shofar horn
2:00 P.M. Mincha
6:30 P.M. Blowing of shofar horn
Molėtai Marks 80th Anniversary of Holocaust with Commemorative March, New Monument
The Lithuanian city of Molėtai, located about 60 miles north of the capital Vilnius, marked the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust on August 29. On that date in 1941 more than half the population of Molėtai, the local Jewish community, was murdered.
Five years ago a large Jewish commemorative march was held in Molėtai, attracting international attention. Tzvi Kritzer, the organizer of that event, was made an honorary citizen of Molėtai by the local municipality.
This year’s event began with the unveiling of a monument at the site where the town’s four synagogues once stood. The monument is a commemorative plaque affixed to a large field stone in the town center with a silhouette of the former synagogues and inscriptions in several languages saying this is where the synagogues once stood. Saulius Pilinkus, an art historian who was directing this event, called upon Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Molėtai regional administration mayor Saulius Jauneika, screenwriter and cartoonist Ilja Bereznickas and the creator of the plaque, Aurimas Širvys, to help in the unveiling.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, administration mayor Saulius Jauneika and Molėtai Regional History Museum director Viktorija Kazlienė both said Molėtai is striving to restore historical memory.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 7:47 P.M. on Friday, September 3, and concludes at 9:00 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 8:04 P.M. on Friday, August 27, and concludes at 9:19 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Vilnius City Council Says Palace of Sports Reconstruction Must Go On
Photo by Saulius Žiūra
In response to a Government decision not to go forward with plans to reconstruct the Palace of Sports in Vilnius, the Vilnius City Council adopted a resolution today [August 25] urging the Government and other state institutions to continue with the reconstruction project to build the Congress Center [convention center] meeting international standards and important to the nation as a whole.
Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius tabled the resolution and said: “It is very important for Vilnius that the central part of the city be vital, and the renovated facility would allow for exploiting the potential of conference tourism. There is a real lack of a conference center in Vilnius. Maybe the Government has a different vision, but I would highly urge to continue the project which the capital, business and all of Lithuania need.”
The city council pointed out the capital has set for itself the goal of building a conference venue in its general plan and other strategic documents which could appear following reconstruction of this protected building with unique architecture.
Five Years On Molėtai Marches Again
Five years ago Marius Ivaškevičius wrote of the need to remember the exterminated Jewish community of Molėtai, a town about 60 miles north of Vilnius. His call to mobilize with a march through the town became the second-most popular item ever on this website (the most popular being a reprint of an article about the South African Jewish community which continues to attract hits years later). The march itself was a watershed moment in Lithuanian Holocaust consciousness, drawing ethnic Lithuanians from around the country and the world together with Lithuanian Jews and Jews from South Africa, Uruguay, Great Britain, the USA and other countries. Several thousand people turned up on the town square and listened to the different speeches before marching to the mass murder site across town there.
The march was covered by the New York Times, Washington Post, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Jerusalem Post and other publications.
The march is to be repeated this year. August 29 is the date all Jews from Molėtai were murdered. On that “Day of Wrath” they were marched under armed guard two kilometers from one of the synagogues to the killing ground.
A Lecture and a Prize
Jon Seligman of the Israeli Antiquities Authority delivered a lecture called “The Great Synagogue of Vilnius: Finds from the Past and a Vision of the Future” in the evening on August 24 in the Jascha Heifetz hall on the third floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius.
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky made use of the occasion to present the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History commemorative medallion to Jon Seligman for his work keeping Litvak traditions, learning and the Litvak cultural legacy alive.
News from the Great Synagogue
Archaeologists continuing their annual summer digs at the Great Synagogue complex in Vilnius plan to share their results from this year’s dig with media at the site itself at noon on August 26. The site is located at Vokiečių street no. 13A in Vilnius.
This year they continued to uncover the bima and aron kodesh, and uncovered a floor mosaic. They’ve also uncovered the base of one of four pillars.
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said “This year there was an especially moving moment: finally we have seen the central part of the synagogue which was destroyed more than sixty years ago.”
Media contacts:
Michail Segal, executive director, Lithuanian Jewish Community, +37065075939, info@lzb.lt
Dr. Jon Seligman, Israeli Antiquities Authority, jon@israntique.org.il
Zenonas Baubonis, archaeologist, z.baubonis@gmail.com
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 8:20 P.M. on Friday, August 20, and concludes at 9:47 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Books and Texts Buried
According to Jewish tradition regarding sacred books and texts, some old books and texts were buried at the Jewish cemetery on Sudervė road in Vilnius August 18. Works mentioning the Most High or containing Torah passages are treated with special respect. The books were worn out from daily use and were no longer suitable for prayer and study. Such books and Torah scrolls are collected at synagogue in a special location for this purpose called the genizah, often located in the basement or attic of a synagogue. When there are sufficient numbers of them, they are buried at a Jewish cemetery.
Rosh Hashanah Camp
The Ilan and Knafaim Clubs of the Lithuanian Jewish Community in concert with the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium invite 12-16-year-olds to a special Rosh Hashanah holiday camp in Palanga at the Prie Parko hotel from September 3 to 7. The cost is 85 euros. Space is limited. Register by internet at https://forms.gle/WGFe64ZY7oEq5W6Z6 and for further information contact Viljamas by telephone at+37067250699 or Žana at+37067881514.
Gesher Club Offers Tour
The Gesher Club at the Lithuanian Jewish Community is offering a two-day tour of the Panemunė castles and the Curonian Spit on August 28 and 29. The group will visit the Pažaislis monastery, the Raudondvaris manor estate, Vilkija, the Veliuona earth-mounds and the Raudonė and Panemunė castles. They will also visit the Holocaust memorial and Alley of Synagogues in Jurbarkas, with rest and an overnight stay in Klaipėda with an evening tour of the Klaipėda Old Town. Following breakfast on Sunday the group will move on to the Curonian Spit with visits to Juodkrantė, the Dead Dunes and Nida, followed by the return trip to Vilnius. The tour will be conducted by long-time LJC member and professional tour guide Markas Psonikas. For more information and to register, call+37067881514 or send an mail to zanas@sc.lzb.lt. For more about Markas’s tours, see here.