Social center

Condolences

We are sad to report the death of long-standing member and volunteer Izabela Svešnikova. She was born in 1933. We extend our deepest condolences to her son Aleksejus, her family and many friends.

Dubi Mishpocha Club Open for Children Aged 0 to 3

Dubi Mishpocha Club Open for Children Aged 0 to 3

Traditions are a treasure we pass on from generation to generation. We are glad to be able to share that treasure with others and to see how children grow up and take their children to the Lithuanian Jewish Community youth clubs.

It is so important for the younger generation of Jews to learn and practice our traditions from a very early age, so the Dubi Mishpocha Club welcomes you and your children aged 0 to 3 every Wednesday from 10:30 A.M. The club is located inside the LJC.

For more information, contact LJC programs director Žana Skudovičienė by e-mail at zanas@sc.lzb.lt.

Knafaim Club Open Again

Knafaim Club Open Again

After a short vacation, the Knafaim Club for youth aged 13 to 17 has reopened, ready to receive members and friends every Friday at 6:00 P.M., with different games and activities to improve Jewish and general knowledge, followed by a ceremony to greet the Sabbath. For more information, contact programs director Žana Skudovičienė at zanas@sc.lzb.lt or call+370 678 81514.

Applications Being Accepted Now for Compensation for Personal Property Lost in Holocaust

Applications Being Accepted Now for Compensation for Personal Property Lost in Holocaust

The Goodwill Foundation is planning to disburse from 5 to 10 million euros to those who lost personal property during the Holocaust and their heirs and who meet specific criteria.

Those who survived the Holocaust in Lithuania and their heirs are eligible to make application until December 30, 2023. Compensation is planned to be paid by July 1, 2025.

No claims can be made for plots of land, but applications made by those seeking recompense for commercial buildings, residential homes and apartments will be considered seriously.

Those eligible to apply include Jewish property owners who lived in Lithuania until May 8, 1945, and whose property was seized by the Nazis or Soviets from June 15, 1940, until March 10, 1990, and who didn’t have an opportunity to receive their property and get compensation for it because they weren’t Lithuanian citizens from June 18, 1991, until December 31, 2001. Inheritors eligible for compensation are widows or widowers of former Jewish property owners, parents or children of such, and in the event they are dead, then grandchildren or spouses of grandchildren. Those left property in last wills and testaments are also eligible, as are their widows or widowers, parents, children, grandchildren or spouses of grandchildren.

Bringing the Generations Together

Bringing the Generations Together

The Israeli International Museum Anu in Tel Aviv, the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium and the Lithuanian Jewish Community are conducting the “From Generation to Generation” project, bringing ninth graders together with seniors from the Community. The first meeting this year happened last week.

Sholem Aleichem principal Ruth Reches said: “Children especially enjoy this project and the seniors appreciate it as well. This moving and meaningful bringing-together of different generations makes people care, enriches the soul and let’s us understand one another better.”

LJC program director Žana Skudovičienė said the first meeting was very friendly, and marked the Tu b’Shvat holiday, with delicious dates from Israel. “It was very nice and warm. We discovered we shared interesting relatives in other countries. There was a lot of emotion because of that, and these will be good memories,” she confided.

Happy Birthday, Virginija

Happy Birthday, Virginija

Virginija Barauskienė has been a nurse in the home-care department of the Social Programs Department at the Panevėžys Jewish Community for many years now. She also a long-standing member of the Panevėžys Jewish Community and has been active in the Lithuanian Jewish Community for more than a decade.

We wish you a very happy birthday. Mazl tov. Bis 120!

Condolences

With deep sadness we announce the death of Nina Dubrovskaja on January 18. She was born in 1932. We extend our deepest condolences to her daughter Liudmila.

Community Hanukkah Events

Community Hanukkah Events

In addition to all the other events already announced, the Lithuanian Jewish Community is offering a walking tour of Jewish Vilna with guide Viljamas Žitkauskas and an Israeli dance marathon with Rikudim.

The tour begins at 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, December 17, meeting at the bell tower at the Arch-Cathedral in Vilnius. Program: Tour, avdala ceremony, dinner at the Bagel Shop Café, performance by the children’s section of the Fayerlakh Jewish song and dance ensemble. Registration required. Send an email to zanas@sc.lzb.lt or call +37067881514 on weekdays between 10:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M.

The Rikudim Israeli dance marathon will be held in the Jascha Heifetz Hall at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius from 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. on Sunday, December 18. To register send an email to Julija at Juliradv@gmail.com.

Clubs Celebrate Hanukkah

Clubs Celebrate Hanukkah

The various clubs at the Lithuanian Jewish Community are planning Hanukkah celebrations of their own.

The Yiddish-language Mameloshen Club is holding a Yiddish Hanukkah for members on December 18, call *37067881514 to register and for more information.

Knaifaim Club for adolescents aged 13 to 17 plans to hold a Hanukkah celebration at a special location at 8:00 P.M. on Friday, December 16. Contact Mark at margaris146@gmail.com or Elanas at Elan.Chackelevic@gmail.com.

Ilan Club for children aged 7 to 12 will hold a Hanukkah celebration at 12:00 noon on December !8. Contact Mark at margaris146@gmail.com or Elanas at Elan.Chackelevic@gmail.com.

Dubi Club for chilren from 4 to 6 will also hold a Hanukkah celebration at 12:00 noon on December !8. Register by contacting Margarita at +37061800577.

Dubi Mishpoha Club for children from 0 to 3 will hold a Hanukkah celebration at 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday, December 21. Register by contacting Aleksandra at +37067250599.

Children and the Internet: From Appropriate Use to Pathology

Children and the Internet: From Appropriate Use to Pathology

by Asta Katutė

Today digital technology, the internet and social media have become an indivisible part of the life of children as well as adults.

The ever-increasing use of digital technology by adolescents over the past decade reached a peak during the corona virus pandemic when even the educational process took place as distance learning on the internet. This made clear the negative influence too intense use of information technologies has on the physical and mental health of children.

The Lithuanian Health Ministry says there was increased depression and anxiety disorders during the pandemic and there was also a significant worsening of the emotional health of students in general. Dr. Giedrė Širvinskienė, the director of the Psychological Health Cathedral under the Social Health Faculty at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences spoke to us in depth on this topic.

Q.: What factors have a causal influence on the worsening emotional health of children? Is the problem the large amounts of time children spend on the internet? Are there other causes?

World Jewish Restitution Organization Welcomes Lithuanian PM’s Proposal for Holocaust-Era Property Restitution

World Jewish Restitution Organization Welcomes Lithuanian PM’s Proposal for Holocaust-Era Property Restitution

The proposed legislation provides €37 million as symbolic compensation for private property expropriated during the Holocaust and addresses heirless Jewish property.

New York, NY, November 20, 2022–The World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) welcomes legislation introduced by Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Šimonytė addressing restitution claims of Holocaust victims. The new legislation being proposed by the government would provide €37 million as symbolic compensation to private claimants and to the Lithuanian Goodwill Foundation with respect to heirless Jewish property.

Prime minister Šimonytė’s proposal is an important step to providing a measure of justice to Lithuanian Holocaust survivors and their families for the horrors they suffered during World War II and its aftermath. We look forward to the opportunity to review this new legislation which would continue the process of property restitution and support Jewish life in Lithuania.

Over a decade ago following intensive negotiations with the Lithuanian Jewish Community and WJRO, the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, passed legislation to pay €37 million in compensation for former Jewish communal property. This payment represented only a partial value of the properties, but it provided much needed funds to support Jewish communal life in Lithuania, restored several Jewish heritage sites and offered modest payments to needy survivors.

Happy Birthday to Boris Gelpern

Happy Birthday to Boris Gelpern

The Lithuanian Jewish Community wish Boris Gelpern a very happy birthday. We wish you fantastic health and happiness. May our wishes for your longevity echo out and repeat forever. Mazl tov. Bis 120!

Condolences

Jefim Grafman passed away on November 17. He was born in 1938. He was a member of the Panevėžys Jewish Community for many years and more recently a client of the social department there. He died unexpectedly while visiting his daughters in Germany. Those wishing to bid him farewell may attend the wake from November 26 to 27 at the Grauduva funeral home in Panevėžys. We extend our deepest condolences to his daughters and their families as well as all the other members of the family and the entire Panevėžys Jewish Community.

Condolences

Bela Tontak passed away November 9. She was born in 1946. Our deepest condolences to her son Eduard and her other friends and family members.

Jewish Scout Meeting

Jewish Scout Meeting

The Lithuanian Jewish Community will host a Litvak scouting meet at 3:30 P.M. on Thursday, November 10 at the Ilan Club room at the Community building at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius under the direction of scout leader Adomas Kofman. We will continue to learn about the scouting movement and engage in edifying and fun activities. All young people aged 6 to 18 are invited. For more information, write skautai@lzb.lt.

Knafaim Youth Club Re-Opens for New Season

Knafaim Youth Club Re-Opens for New Season

The Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Knafaim Club for young people is starting a new season and invites everyone to come and get involved. We’ll be meeting every Friday at 6:00 P.M. at the Ilan Club on the second floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. For more information, contact club coordinators Elan Chackelevič at elan.chackelevic@gmail.com or Mark Garas at margaris146@gmail.com.

Dubi Mišpacha Club

Dubi Mišpacha Club

The Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Dubi Mišpacha Club invites children aged 0-3 and their parents to come take part in club activities at 11:00 A.M. on Wednesdays. For more information contact Alexandra Žitkauskienė-Khenkin by calling +370 672 50599.

Commemorating Holocaust Victims in Švenčionys

Commemorating Holocaust Victims in Švenčionys

On October 3 a ceremony was held in the Švenčionys city park to mark the anniversary of the onset of the mass murder of Jews in the region in the first week of October, 1941. In total over the course of the Holocaust approximately 8,000 Jews from the city and surround district were murdered.

Kristina Sizonova moderated the event. Speakers at the ceremony included Lithuanian Jewish Community executive board member Ela Gurina who is the chairwoman of the Holocaust Victims Commission, Švenčionys Jewish Community chairman Moshe Shapiro, Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium principal Ruth Reches, Polish ambassador to Lithuania Urszula Doroszewska, deputy mayor of the Švenčionys district Violeta Čepukova, Pabradė’s Rytas Gymnasium history teacher Danguolė Grincevičienė and others.