The Šiauliai Jewish Community organized a volunteer clean-up at the Donelaitis cemetery in Šiauliai. Everyone did a great job and many graves were put in good order. Well done!
The Bagel Shop Café baked 75 small and large loaves of challa bread Friday evening as part of the world Shabbos Project. The Sabbath on October 22 was special. The Lithuanian Jewish Community invited everyone young and old to bake challa together with the world Jewish community. Members, friends and a ton of children gathered at the Bagel Shop Café, had fun making and baking challa, and were treated to a performance by the Fayerlakh ensemble. We counted around 75 loaves. Snapshots below.
Photo: Righteous Gentile Genovaitė Černiauskaitė-Dugnienė expresses gratitude in name of Righteous Gentiles.
Righteous Gentile Square at the intersection of Vilniaus and Ežero sttreets at the former ghetto gates in the Lithuanian city of Šiauliai was opened ceremoniously and consecrated last week. The renamed square will showcase the names of people from the city and district of Šiauliai who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. The city of Šiauliai thus becomes the first municipality in Lithuania to honor Righteous Gentiles with a monument. The new park is the fruit of the Jungtis [Connection] project by Šiauliai-resident designer Adas Toleikis and includes artistic allusions to the former ghetto.
“You can’t buy love or tolerance for money, you have to grow it in your heart,” Righteous Gentile Genovaitė Černiauskaitė-Dugnienė said.
Davidas Ščiupakas has passed away at the age of 84. He was born in 1938. An active member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community who sat on the executive board, he held a doctorate in medical science. He served as a member of the governmental Health and Environmental Sciences Committee and authored numerous books and academic articles on medicine. He also taught many medical students.
He helped launch the book “Lietuvos Jeruzalės medikai” [Medical Experts of the Jerusalem of Lithuania] in 2017 which contained recollections from more than 70 authors about Jewish doctors in Lithuania.
Our deepest condolences to his widow Eva and their sons.
The Sabbath begins at 5:46 P.M. on Friday, October 22, and concludes at 7:02 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
As the weather turns colder out, it’s almost natural for us to retire to our kitchens and engage in baking bread. For most of us this is a solitary vocation, perhaps a weekly one, with few around us to enjoy the pleasing aroma of baking bread. This year as in past, the Shabbos Project is inviting people around the world to bake Sabbath challa bread together, if only in spirit. The Bagel Shop Café will host a challa-bread-making event at 5:00 P.M. on Friday, October 22, as part of this world-wide project connecting millions of people in over 1,600. At 6:00 P.M. the Fayerlakh ensemble will perform for participants at that event.
More information here.
The Ilan and Knafaim Clubs of the Lithuanian Jewish Community invite Community children (aged 7 and up) to participate in the Future Live experimental laboratory workshop, for those interested in chemistry and experiments. The chemist Jolanta Pileckienė, PhD, will conduct the activities. The cost is three euros per child. Registration and payment are required by October 22. We will send payment forms to those who register. To register, send an email to avital@lzb.lt. We will meet at 11:45 A.M. at PC Live Cup located at Upės street no. 9 in Vilnius. For more information call Avital Libman at +37064515730.
The Ilan and Knafaim Clubs of the Lithuanian Jewish Community invite Community children and young people to an introduction to the game of chess with trainer V. Dambrauskas at 5:30 P.M. on Thursday, October 21 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius. Register is required. To register send an email to avital@lzb.lt or call Avital Libman at +37064515730.
Some snapshots taken at the presentation of the book “Dešimties stebuklų liudytojai” held at the Lithuanian Jewish Community on October 19.
Šiauliai mayor Artūras Visockas invites the public to attend the opening ceremony for the city’s new Square of the Righteous Gentiles at 10:15 A.M. on October 22 at the intersection of Vilniaus and Ežero streets in Šiauliai, followed by a ceremony for planting Japanese cherry trees at Dainai Part at noon, located at Jonas Jablonskis street no. 16. At about 1:30 representatives of the Vilna Gaon Jewish History Museum will deliver a talk at the Aušra Museum located in the Venclauskiai manor at Vytauto street no. 89 including a lunch and discussion with actual Righteous Gentiles and their descendants. Please report your intention to attend by calling (8 41) 50 05 31 or by writing an email to agne.areliunaite@siauliai.lt
Jadvyga Zelenkova, a member of the Union of Former Ghetto and Concentration Camp Prisoners, has passed away. She was born in 1935. Our deepest condolences to her son Sergejus and many friends and family members.
Those wishing to bid their final farewell to the late Alfonsas Pilitauskas may attend the wake from 10:00 A.M. till 1:00 P.M. on Thursday, October 21, at the Nutrūkusi styga funeral home, Ąžuolyno street no. 10, Vilnius. The burial is scheduled for 1:30 P.M. the same day at the Antakalnis cemetery, Karių kapų street no. 11, Vilnius.
The Kaunas Jewish Community send condolences to Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky on the loss of her beloved husband and friend. We mourn his loss together with those he left behind and the entire community. We will always remember his warm glances, direct communication and his really being there together.
The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club send their condolences, as do the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community and the Ukmergė Jewish Community.
We all wish Faina spiritual strength and comfort in this difficult time of loss.
Our deepest condolences to Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky on the unexpected loss of her beloved husband Alfonsas Pilitauskas. Your loss is our loss and we mourn together.
The Sabbath begins at 6:02 P.M. on Friday, October 15, and concludes at 7:12 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
A very happy birthday to Borisas Traubas, the famous violinist born in Vilnius and the founder of the Jerusalem of Lithuania ensemble, among others. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Dear reader,
The Lithuanian Jewish Community is pleased to invite you to a presentation of the book “Jehudit. Pasaulis galėtų būti toks gražus” by Aneta Anra with readings of passages in Lithuanian by Lithuanian actors Jolanta Dapkūnaitė and Darius Gumauskas at 6:00 P.M. on October 21 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. The author will be there.
More information available here.
Judita Leitaitė, teacher at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater, performed a concert with her singing students Aija Jermoloviča, Jūratė Minelgaitė, Greta Rimšaitė, Gabija Žvinklytė, Natalija Dmuchovska, Skirmantė Vaičiūtė, Giedrius Gečys and Joris Gudelevičius at the Lithuanian Jewish Community October 12.
The hour of music was dedicated to commemorating the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Holocaust in Lithuania.
At 4:00 P.M. on October 15 the Lost Shtetl project and Vilnius University will continue the series of discussions called “Public Conversations about History.” During these discussions we will raise the issues of historical truth, memory wars and the motivations behind choosing to serve one ideology or another.
This time the topic is “The POLIN Museum and Poland’s Memory Wars.” We will engage historian and former POLIN director Dariusz Stola in conversation.
POLIN, the Polish museum of Jewish history, opened in 2014 and has had millions of visitors since then. The museum successfully addresses the complex past of Poles and Jews. But when POLIN demonstrated an exhibit about the anti-Zionist campaign of 1968 and expressed opposition to Poland’s new law on Holocaust complicity, right-wing nationalists and politicians in the ruling party attacked the museum.
Dariusz Stola will talk about the museum’s achievements and about how everything changed when the culture wars began dividing the country. In the discussion we’ll talk about how national commemoration policy rejects a critical judgment of the past as a “shaming methodology.” We will reflect on how these factors affect us.
Moderators: Sergejus Kanovičius and Paulius Gritėnas
The discussion will take place in English in the Theater Hall of Vilnius University. Certificate of vaccination or equivalent required for entry.
More information available here.
