Religion

History of the Alytus Synagogue: From House of Prayer, to Salt Storehouse, to Poultry Hatchery

History of the Alytus Synagogue: From House of Prayer, to Salt Storehouse, to Poultry Hatchery

Cultural Infrastructure Center

The Cultural Infrastructure Center of Lithuania is completing renovation work on the synagogue in Alytus. Emergency preservation work followed by renovation led to a fuller restoration and the building is now housing a section of the Alytus Museum.

The old synagogue on Kauno street in Alytus, Lithuania, appeared in total ruin just five years ago, with boarded-up windows and bricks falling from the walls. Experts saw even worse things at work.

“The condition of the outer wall was poor… In spots several bricks were missing, and in some places even larger sections of bricks had fallen out. The mortar on the lower portion was visibly damaged by moisture or salt which it will still take several years to drive out of the building walls. The façades on the southern side of the building were especially damaged. We found the interior also deeply damaged, with the floor dug up and windows and doors removed,” Cultural Infrastructure Center acting deputy director Viktoras Vilkišius said.

Strong Jewish Community Formerly Lived in Alytus

The first wooden synagogue was built in the western section of Alytus in 1856 apparently at the same site the currently restored synagogue occupies. It was a small building heated with a stove and housed a school and the rabbi’s living quarters.

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New Dead Sea Scroll Fragments, World’s Oldest Basket Found in Desert Cave

New Dead Sea Scroll Fragments, World’s Oldest Basket Found in Desert Cave

6,000-year-old child skeleton also found in Judean Desert cave. It is the first such discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 and the early 1950s.

Some 1,900 years ago, Jewish refugees fleeing the Romans made their way to the Judean Desert. Among the belongings they carried with them were scrolls featuring the biblical books of Zechariah and Nahum. Two millennia later, fragments of those texts have reemerged, the Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Tuesday.

It is the first such discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 and the early Fifties.

In recent decades, the caves have been targeted by looters eager to find artifacts to sell on the private market. For this reason, a few years ago, the IAA, in cooperation with the Civil Administration’s Archaeology Department, launched a rescue operation to survey all the caves in the area.

The findings, which include not only the biblical fragments, but also dozens of artifacts dating back as early as 10,000 years ago, have been astounding.

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Bagel Shop Café Offering Passover Matzo

Bagel Shop Café Offering Passover Matzo

The Bagel Shop Café at the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius is offering Passover matzo for sale from March 15 to March 26. The café will operate from 10 A.M. till 3:00 P.M. from Monday to Friday. A one-kilogram box of matzo costs 5 euros and payment may only be made using a bank card.

Sabbath Lesson on Branches of Judaism

Sabbath Lesson on Branches of Judaism

Viljamas Žitkauskas held an internet Sabbath discussion called “Differences and Shared Features of Branches of Judaism: Orthodox, Conservative, Modern, Progressive” last Friday as part of the continuing series of internet Sabbath meetings and discussion. He spoke about the unprecedented decision by the Supreme Court of Israel March 1 following 15 years of hearings recognizing conversion to Judaism in conservative and reform communities, and that every convert has the right to move to Israel.

Žitkauskas thought this decision and the recent joint Sabbaths the Lithuanian Jewish Community has held with Reform synagogues in Johannesburg and Minsk would be a good starting point to talk about the different schools of thought and differences among the currents in Judaism.

He began by defining the terms “Jew,” “Jewish people,” and “our sons, the pride of Israel.”

Community members from Vilnius, Panevėžys and other Lithuanian towns and cities participated in the Zoom conference. Participants learned about the origins of Judaism, what the words Torah and Tanakh mean, what the religious significance of being a Litvak is, that misnagdim means orthodox, how misnagdim differ from chassidim, how reform Judaism arose and more.

The lecture/discussion concluded with the havdalah ceremony, distinguishing the Sabbath from the working days of the week.

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Order Matzo by Internet

Order Matzo by Internet

This year again the Lithuanian Jewish Community is asking members to order matzo via internet with home delivery. The cost for one one-kilogram box of matzo is six euros. The LJC is partially subsidizing delivery costs. This is only being offered in Vilnius for the time being and orders will be taken till March 25.

How to Order and Pay

1. Fill out the form at https://forms.gle/wRSoZ1Sf4kvVPxFj7
2. Open your internet banking profile.
3. Transfer funds to the Lithuanian Jewish Community at account number LT09 7044 0600 0090 7953 to the amount of matzo you wish to purchase.

You must indicate in the payment field the information we need to deliver the matzo to you, namely, your name and surname, exact postal address, telephone number, email address and the exact number of boxes you are ordering.

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Virtual Sabbath

Virtual Sabbath

You’re invited to a virtual Sabbath celebration featuring a lecture by Viljamas Žitkauskas called “Differences and Shared Features of Branches of Judaism: Orthodox, Conservative, Modern, Progressive,” followed by havdalah, all starting at 7:00 P.M. on Friday, March 12. Registration required: https://forms.gle/P4tiLVUndP1NjKUe7

Lithuanian Jewish Community Marks Sabbath with Johannesburg Rabbi Julia Margolis

Lithuanian Jewish Community Marks Sabbath with Johannesburg Rabbi Julia Margolis

Julia Margolis of the Beit Luria Progressive Shul in Johannesburg led a Sabbath celebration with the Lithuanian Jewish Community last Friday via the internet. She was the first female rabbi to open a progressive synagogue in South Africa along with others from the South African Union of Progressive Jews. The synagogue is the eleventh progressive synagogue in South Africa and the first in Gaunteng province in many years.

Tull Eckhart provided music during the virtual meeting.

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Invitation to Celebrate Sabbath with Beit Luria Progressive Shul Rabbi Julia Margolis

Invitation to Celebrate Sabbath with Beit Luria Progressive Shul Rabbi Julia Margolis

Shalom haverim! The Lithuanian Jewish Community invites you to usher in the Sabbath together at 6:00 P.M. on March 5 with a virtual meeting with Rabbi Julia Margolis of the Beit Luria Progressive Shul in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Sabbath event will be held in English. Please register at the link below to receive Zoom room credentials.

Registration: https://forms.gle/cn5KCv3mLdb1c4Z36

Protecting the Summer Synagogue in Kalvarija from Rain and Snow

Protecting the Summer Synagogue in Kalvarija from Rain and Snow

A special project to conserve and prevent the collapse of the summer synagogue in the Lithuanian town of Kalvarija was prepared back in 2016.

The Kalvarija synagogue complex belongs to the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Under an agreement signed in 2014 the Kalvarija municipality has exclusive use of the buildings for 50 years for cultural, educational and academic needs and for tourism.

Advisor at the Alytus-Marijampolė section of the Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Department Violeta Kasperavičiutė said work to conserve the synagogue was just approved, including installing wooden columns in the interior and along the perimeter of the outside walls, reconstruction of the wooden roof, bricking and mortaring windows and the roof cornice to protect them from precipitation, installing doors, roof shingling to protect against rain and snow and tin roofing where needed for further protection.

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One Hundred and Ten Years of Fighting for Women’s Rights and Peace

One Hundred and Ten Years of Fighting for Women’s Rights and Peace

Now 110 years have passed since German socialist Klara Zetkin proposed setting aside one day per year for women around the world to talk about their rights. The first such day happened in 1911. According to reports from the time, crowds of people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland took to the streets to demand for women the right to study, vote and work. On March 8 two years later, on the eve of World War I, women marched for peace.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is marking this anniversary of the struggle for women’s rights with a virtual meeting with female leaders of different ages and cultural backgrounds. Participants will include Svetlana Novopolskaja, director of the Roma Social Center; a representative from the Lithuanian Human Rights Center; Natalja Cheifec, teacher of Judaic and Jewish tradition as well as Choral Synagogue guide; and others.

The meeting will be held mainly in Lithuanian and broadcast live on youtube March 8.

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Israeli Modern Art Curator Ory Deassau: Give Artists the Freedom to Decide

Israeli Modern Art Curator Ory Deassau: Give Artists the Freedom to Decide


by Jolita Jankuvienė, www.DELFI.lt

Well-known Israel art curator and writer Ory Dessay with the modern art gallery Vartai presented an international exhibition at the end of 2020 called “An Unfinished Project” to mark the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak History. It wasn’t easy to hold the exhibition during the virus pandemic and the curator was unable to travel to Lithuania as had been planned, but despite everything, art is priceless in removing limitations, it is free and mobile, posing questions as well as answers, which the curator presented to the public in a virtual form.

Which exhibit was the most significant and memorable for you?

As the musician Duke Ellington once said when asked about his best musical work, I would repeat that the most important exhibit is the one coming up next which I will curate. I give all of myself to the project on which I am working. Currently an exhibit is taking place at the Vartai art gallery in Vilnius. This location makes the process of my curating and presentation easy. I am especially intrigued by the historical conditions of the location of the exhibit “An Unfinished Project,” it is part of Jewish history. There are many untold stories here which we can show to the audience. I am enchanted by the vitality of Vilnius, not just because of the recent success Lithuanians enjoyed at the 58th modern art Biennale in Venice, but because I really feel a strong attraction to this city.

Full interview in Lithuanian here.

Sabbath Discussions: New Project by Lithuanian Jewish Community and Viljamas Žitkauskas

Sabbath Discussions: New Project by Lithuanian Jewish Community and Viljamas Žitkauskas

It has been said the Sabbath is the time to forget food for the body and provide food to the soul. The Lithuanian Jewish Community and Viljamas Žitkauskas have invited members and the public to a series of Sabbath discussions, the first one dedicated to Zionism among Litvaks.

Viljamas Žitkauskas recounted to the virtual audience historical facts about the Vilna Gaon and his contribution to Zionism. Religious Litvak Zionists consider the Gaon the father of the national movement. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the father of the modern Hebrew language, spent his whole life adapting Hebrew, which had become mainly a liturgical language, for use in daily life. Abraham Mapu was a Hebrew novelist. Menachem Begin helped found the State of Israel and served as Israel’s seventh prime minister.

Žitkauskas spoke about these Litvaks and the history of Zionism and his audience showed rapt interest throughout.

The virtual meeting and discussion concluded with the havdalah ceremony to mark the end of Sabbath.

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Family Recipe for Hamantaschen

Family Recipe for Hamantaschen

Photo: Tarbut Gymnasium students in Pabradė prepared for the Purimspiel, March 3, 1939. Courtesy YIVO.

Purim starts February 25 this year. Purim is the happiest of Jewish holidays dedicated to remembering the miraculous salvation of the Jewish people from destruction. Traditionally the triangular pastry Hamatasch are eaten on this day and the Lithuanian Jewish Community will share them with the leaders of the state this year as well.

“The essence of Purim is to celebrate life in all its fullness. This is a happy holiday, on this day you need to eat deliciously and much, especially the traditional hamantaschen pastry. This traditional treat reminds us that the plans of evildoers often turns back upon them, while wise rulers always receive the help to make the right decisions. We will also be sending hamantaschen pastry to the leaders of the country, wishing them to make wise decisions beneficial to the people,” Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said.

Vilnius Jewish Religious Community director Simas Levinas recalls the Purim story which reaches back into biblical times when the Jewish people were exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon. Although the king married the Jewish beauty Esther, the magnates and bureaucrats of Babylon really hated the Jews in their country, who weren’t there by their own choice. The vizier Haman came up with a plan to exterminate all Jews and cast lots (פור) to discover an auspicious time for this.

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Purim Greetings from the Panevėžys Jewish Community

Purim Greetings from the Panevėžys Jewish Community

The entire Jewish people celebrate the happy spring Purim holiday. Although the times are not amenable to personal meetings and celebrations together, Jews do not give up to despair. As Esther revealed evil schemes and save the Jewish people from destruction and slavery, so will the Purim holiday lighten the mood and bring joy to every home.

The Panevėžys Jewish Community has prepared holiday Purim food parcels for our members and gifts for the children which will be distributed as will the holiday spirit.

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Traditional Purim Costume Contest Continues

Traditional Purim Costume Contest Continues

Dear members of the Lithuanian Jewish Community,

Although this year we will celebrate Purim at home, we invite you to share moments from the holiday and to take part in the traditional Purim costume contest.

Don your carnival attire, take a snapshot and send it to zanas@sc.lzb.lt by February 28.

Your photos will be considered for awards in the following categories:

Most original costume
Best family costume
Best mask

Winners to receive valuable prizes!