Wooden Synagogue in Alanta Renovated
Read more
LJC, International Comminission and Olga Lengyel Institute Holding Holocaust Seminars for Teachers
Read more
LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky Speaks at Commemoration of Grosse
Aktion in Kaunas
Read more
Šiauliai Opens Righteous Gentile Square at the Intersection of Vilniaus and Ežero Streets at Former Ghetto Gates
Read more
"Symphony from Jerusalem of the North” Mark Day of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide in Presidential Courtyard
Read more
The renovated synagogue in Žiežmariai will become a new cultural center. The first synagogue in appeared sometime between 1690 and 1696. In the 19th century there three synagogues. Not surprising, since the majority of the population were Jewish. This synagogue which has survived and has now been renovated stands in the southern part of town between Vilniaus and Žalgirio streets, with the Strėva river flowing from southeastward from there.
Read more
The Lithuanian Post Office has issued a stamp commemorating 300 years since the birth of the Vilna Gaon
The Lithuanian Post Office has issued a stamp commemorating 300 years since the birth of the Vilna Gaon
with a face value of 0.81 euros, enough to mail letters abroad.
Read more
Lithuania Marks 300th Anniversary of Birth of Vilna Gaon, 2020 Named Year of the Gaon and Litvak History.
Read more
Most important events at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in 2018
Most important events at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in 2018
Revival of Jewish Scouting in Lithuania: The first new Litvak scouting camping trip with children from Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Molėtai took place August 24 to 26.
Read more
Jewish newspapers and advertisements from Vilnius in the period between the two world wars. Jews and other minorities were given equal rights in the reconstituted Lithuanian state. Yiddish thrived with many newspapers and books published in the language.
Read more
More Lithuanian Products to Enter Israeli Market

More Lithuanian Products to Enter Israeli Market

Lithuania is seeking to sell high-quality products to Israel, according to a press release from Lithuania’s Agricultural Ministry.

The rural business and market expansion agency Litfood and the Lithuanian embassy to Israel held a virtual business meeting so Lithuania’s food-processing enterprises could present their products to Israeli businesspeople.

Deputy ag minister Paulius Lukševičius said the food industry has unused opportunities for export to Israel. Last year Lithuanian agriculture and food exports to Israel hit 45 million euros. Compared to 2019, it grew 50 percent. Israel occupies 28 on Lithuania’s list of 155 major export partners.

Mainly Lithuania sends wheat to Israel as well as cheese, curds, wheatgerm, ice cream and canned vegetables.

“That’s certainly not the complete assortment of products which Lithuania can offer the Israeli market. We can do much much more,” Lukševičius said.

Read more
Tisha b’Av on Sunday

Tisha b’Av on Sunday

Tisha b’Av, the 9th day of the month of Av on the Hebrew calendar, falls on Sunday, July 18 this year. The holiday actually begins at sundown on July 17 and a 25-hour fast is observed, ending this year in the Vilnius region at 10:34 P.M., July 18.

Tisha b’Av commemorates the destruction of the First Temple of Solomon ca. 587 BCE and the Second Temple in 70 CE in Jerusalem and is traditionally a day of fasting and mourning. Observance includes five prohibitions, the main one being a 25-hour fast. The Book of Lamentations is read in the synagogue followed by the recitation of kinnos, liturgical dirges for the Temple and Jerusalem. Since the day has become associated with other major Jewish tragedies, some kinnos recall other events, including the murder of the Ten Martyrs in ancient Rome, pogroms against medieval Jewish communities and the Holocaust.

According to tradition, the sin of the Ten Spies is the real origin of Tisha B’Av. In the Book of Numbers, 13:1-33 when the Israelites accepted their false report of the Promised Land, they wept, thinking God could no help them. The night the people wept and wailed was the ninth day of Av, which then became a day of weeping and misfortune for all time, according to tradition, following which the Jews were made to wander the desert for 40 years.

Utyan Jews Speak about Holocaust and Post-War Years in Lithuanian Translation of Zakhor Book

Utyan Jews Speak about Holocaust and Post-War Years in Lithuanian Translation of Zakhor Book

The A. and M. Miškiniai Public Library in Utena (Utyan in Yiddish), Lithuania, hosted a presentation of the only Lithuanian translation of a zakhor or memorial book in Yiddish about the city and region of Utena (the region includes Molėtai, Anykščiai, Vyžuonos and other locations. Incredibly, it took the book 42 years to reach the Lithuanian reading public: it was published in Tel Aviv by Nay Leben in 1979 under the title “Yishker-bukh Utyan un umgegnt.”

The translation and publication was the initiative of cultural historian Sandra Dastikienė as part of her project “Old Neighbors” to educate the public about the Jewish community, Jewish culture and the Litvak legacy in the Utena region.

“The old neighbors return to their towns in different ways–as works of art on the streets, through live appearances–but we are really missing the authentic history. This book fills that gap. It’s not an academic work, not an historical study, but the real memories of Jews who survived the Holocaust or left Lithuania before it. It raises more questions and presents a lot of answers,” Sandra Dastikienė said.

The recollections were collected into a single zakhor book from 1945 to 1979 in Israel. Roma Jančauskienė has long been interested in the history of the Utyan Jews and when she learned of the existence of this book tried over an extended period to buy a copy on the internet, unsuccessfully. About four years ago she finally did buy a copy on eBay, in Yiddish of course.

Read more
Happy Birthday to Algirdas Macas

Happy Birthday to Algirdas Macas

We wish a very happy birthday to Algirdas Macas, the chairman of the Vilnius Jerusalem of Lithuania Jewish Community. While we wish him the traditional things, happiness and health, we also wish him the energy and fire he harbors in his heart and has shown in his leadership of the Vilnius Jerusalem of Lithuania Jewish Community, and we wish him many friends and happy days on his road of life. Mazl tov. Bis 120!

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:35 P.M. on Friday, July 9, and concludes at 11:17 P.M. on Saturday.

Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community Celebrates 100 Years of Makabi

Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community Celebrates 100 Years of Makabi

On June 23, 1921, the first Jewish athletics league Makabi began operating, giving rise to the Jewish athletics movement in Šiauliai. In 2021 the Šiauliai Jewish sports association Makabi is celebrating its 100th birthday. To mark the milestone year, the Šiauliai Regional Jewish Community, the Aušra Museum and the Gegužių pre-gymnasium in Šiauliai carried out a project in May and June of this year called “Sport: An Indivisible Part of Life of the Successful Person.”

On May 25 the young chess players from the area competed in a virtual chess championship, organized by the Community and local Makabi Club chairman Eduard Šer. Nine teams from eight local schools competed. Aušra Museum historian Antanas Jankūnas shared interesting facts about sports in Šiauliai before the matches began.

On June 9 a large gathering of local students attended a virtual event to celebrate Šiauliai Makabi’s 100th birthday. The students learned the story of athletics in Šiauliai from historian Antanas Jankūnas and took part in a quiz about sports.

Read more
Common Language of the Peoples Amateur Music Festival

Common Language of the Peoples Amateur Music Festival

The second “Common Language of the Peoples” festival of ethnic minority amateur song and dance groups has taken place in the city of Švenčionėliai, Lithuania, and the Fayerlakh Jewish song and dance collective directed by Larisa Vyšniauskienė participated.

The second annual festival took place June 23, supported by Lithuania’s Ethnic Minorities Department.

The Culture Center of the City of Švenčionėliai presented cakes and wreaths of wild flowers to all groups participating in the festival.

The representatives of different ethnic groups from Lithuania presented folk costumes and spoke about the characteristics of their ethnic group and their special foods.

The audience applauded every group heavily and the festival again demonstrated the need for more such ethnic community events.

Read more
Photos from the Road of Memory Procession in Jurbarkas

Photos from the Road of Memory Procession in Jurbarkas

The Road of Memory procession to mark the 80th anniversary of the extermination of the local Jewish community took place in Jurbarkas, Lithuania, on July 4. The event is one in a series of “Road of Memory 1941-2021” events by Lithuania’s International Commission to Assess the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupational Regimes in Lithuania and the Tolerance Training Centers founded by this commission, and other partners.

Photographs by Ignas Skridla here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ignas2/sets/72157719493108108/with/51289725584/

Faina Kukliansky Re-Elected Head of Lithuanian Jewish Community

Faina Kukliansky Re-Elected Head of Lithuanian Jewish Community

ELTA, July 8, 2021

A general meeting of the members of the Lithuanian Jewish Community held Wednesday voted for a third time to elect Faina Kukliansky the chairwoman of the organization. Twenty-six members of the LJC’s executive board were elected at the same time.

The chairperson of the Community is elected for a four-year term by a majority of the regional Jewish communities and associate members constituting the LJC. Of the 32 organizations under the LJC umbrella, 31 representatives took part in Wednesday’s ballot. Kukliansky received 30 votes out of the possible 31, according to a press release from the LJC.

Kukliansky said her most important task as chairwoman is to inspire unity among the different Jewish communities in Lithuania. She said the LJC’s other priorities haven’t changed, but life is changing: the generation which experienced the horrors of World War II is growing old and dying, and so caring for them is becoming even more crucial.

“We are continuing to strengthen the activity of our social center, taking care of those requiring support, employing people with disabilities and engaging them in Community activities. Another important priority is preservation and putting to use the surviving Jewish cultural heritage: we have wonderful examples of restored synagogues being used as cultural activity centers,” Faina Kukliansky said.

Read more
WJC President Ronald Lauder: Jewish Community Should Reevaluate Relationship with Polish Government

WJC President Ronald Lauder: Jewish Community Should Reevaluate Relationship with Polish Government

WJC president Ronald Lauder calls Polish legislation a “slap in the face” to what remains of Polish Jewry

World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder called on the Jewish community worldwide to rethink its relationship with the Polish government over the weekend after the country’s lower house of parliament passed a draft law which would severely limit any ability by Polish Jewish Holocaust victims to recover their stolen property.

“This law is a slap in the face to what remains of Polish Jewry and survivors of Nazi brutality everywhere. It also sets a terrible precedent throughout Europe as survivors and descendants continue to seek justice,” said Lauder, who’s WJC represents Jewish communities in 100 countries. “It pains me to say this, but I think that the time has come for the international Jewish community to reevaluate our relationship with a government that is behaving with unimaginable callousness and is emulating the worst traditions in Polish history rather than the best and most uplifting ones.”

While most post-Communist countries have sought to right historical wrongs and address the issue of stolen Holocaust-era Jewish property, Poland has lagged behind. The Sejm’s new legislation will make it impossible for Jewish claimants or their descendants to recover or be compensated for what was taken from them in Poland.

Read more
Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel Letter on 80th Anniversary of the Beginning of the Extermination of Lithuanian Jewry

Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel Letter on 80th Anniversary of the Beginning of the Extermination of Lithuanian Jewry

Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel

 

Letter to friends on the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the extermination of Lithuanian Jewry

Eighty years ago, on June 22, 1941, the Germans invaded Lithuania. The Lithuanians immediately declared independence and formed a “temporary government” consisting of members of the “Lithuanian Activists Front”–an underground group headquartered in Germany and composed of nationalist elements who prepared plans for the extermination of Jews and waited for an opportunity to act. The opportunity came on June 22, 1941, with the start of Operation Barbarossa. Before the Nazi army entered the cities and towns of Lithuania, the extermination of Lithuanian Jews began–a 600 year history of coexistence ended in the great tragedy that has no precedent in human history.

Within the first 10 days of the invasion thousands of Lithuanian Jews were murdered. During the Nazi occupation 95% of Lithuanian Jewry were brutally murdered.

Read more
Israeli Street Food Booth Open for Business

Israeli Street Food Booth Open for Business

An Israeli street food kiosk called “Tzvi in the Park” opened on July 2 in the Petras Cvirka Square park across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. The food booth is offering humous, carrots with anise, chicken shwarma and other traditional foods with pita bread, with ingredients to order by the customer. The menu is planned to expand over time. While the food kiosk is the initiative of the culinary masterminds at the Bagel Shop Café across Pylimo street, the food booth will offer different dishes and hopes to inspire people to linger and talk.

“When we set up the Bagel Shop, we wanted to offer people delicious food, but also to offer them a way to have a good time, to hang around and talk about different things, even such sensitive and important topics as tolerance, human equality and so on. So this summer we want to create a space for city residents and visitors where they can spend some time in the green space of the park and learn about Israeli culinary culture,” LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky commented.

While the Bagel Shop offers more traditional Litvak fare, the food kiosk will present characteristically Mediterranean food, the new director of the Bagel Shop and of the Israeli food kiosk Aistė Košienė said. She said Israeli street food has distinct characteristics, but the main features are that it’s healthy and of good quality.

Read more
Honored Guests Gather at President’s Office to Mark Coronation of Mindaugas Day

Honored Guests Gather at President’s Office to Mark Coronation of Mindaugas Day

Delfi.lt

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nausėda held the traditional reception at the President’s Office to celebrate July 6, Coronation of King Mindaugas, with many honored guests invited.

Although the celebration was scheduled to being at 7:00 P.M., invited guests began gathering earlier outside the building. Attendees were dressed in their finest and displayed a festive mood. Snapshots from the event are available here.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 9:39 P.M. on Friday, July 2, and concludes at 11:26 P.M. on Saturday.

Israeli Street Food Kiosk to Operate All Summer in Vilnius

Israeli Street Food Kiosk to Operate All Summer in Vilnius

The Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Bagel Shop Café are pleased to announce a kiosk serving authentic Israeli street fare will operate in the center of the park across the street from the LJC and café in central Vilnius, next to the Petras Cvirka statue. The plan is for it to keep serving the public until autumn. Stay tuned for more information.

Jewish Scouting Camp This Summer

Jewish Scouting Camp This Summer

The camp is for children and young adults aged 13 and above. In order to participate, applicants need permission from their parent, parents or legal guardian(s) and proof of payment by electronic transfer of funds. Please note that payments for the camp will not be refunded (although for unavoidable reasons beyond the power of the parents or applicant to stop, LJC will consider reasonable requests).

Payment information:

Recipient: Lithuanian Jewish Community
Corporation code: 190722117
Bank: SEB Bank
Account: LT097044060000907953
For: Scouting Camp 2021, child’s name and surname and which specific fee is being paid

For more information contact Viljamas at viljamas@lzb.lt or by telephone at+370 67250699

Registration form: https://forms.gle/66KHQmVpUXJJV9WbA

Lietūkis Garage Massacre 80 Years Ago Commemorated in Kaunas Schoolyard

Lietūkis Garage Massacre 80 Years Ago Commemorated in Kaunas Schoolyard

Kauno diena

The 80th anniversary of the Lietūkis Garage massacre, one of the most brutal mass murders in Lithuanian Holocaust history, was marked in what is now an athletics pitch in the courtyard of two schools in Kaunas. The court in the yard shared by the Startas athletics school and the Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas Gymnasium was locked Monday symbolically. Athletes including basketball players and swimmers neither warmed up nor played. Instead Lithuanian actress Kristina Kazakevičiūtė recited a poem by Aleksandras Bosas about the site of the mass murder.

Read more
Warsaw Summons Israeli Ambassador Following Statement on Restitution

Warsaw Summons Israeli Ambassador Following Statement on Restitution

Warsaw Sunday reported they had summoned the Israeli ambassador for discussion following Tel Aviv’s statement a law adopted by the Polish parliament on restitution to Holocaust victims was “immoral.” Experts say the new law would basically halt the restitution of property to Jews and others.

Polish foreign minister Pawel Jablonski said Warsaw sought to clarify the situation regarding the new law. Israeli embassy chargé d’affaires Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon “was summoned and we explained to her clearly and based on facts about all of this,” Jablonski told Polish broadcaster TV Polonia about the meeting on Monday. “We believe, unfortunately, they we have come upon a situation where some Israeli politicians seek to exploit this for domestic political gain,” he said.

Lithuanian Nazi Leader Re-Appears as Street Name

Lithuanian Nazi Leader Re-Appears as Street Name

On Wednesday [June 23, 2021] the old name of Tricolor Alley–Škirpa Alley–was pasted over the street sign there.

A video recording made around noon Wednesday appears to show a man creasing the wrinkles out of a sticker and then seems to give a thumbs-up to friends standing below him.

This has happened before and the city of Vilnius has removed the sticker. They say they will again.

“We’ll do as we’ve done the previous times, we’ll take it off,” advisor to the mayor of Vilnius Karolis Vaitkevičius told 15min.lt. In early January of last year the same thing happened and the municipality said then they had written two complaints to the prosecutor’s office.

The street sign hangs from a corner of the Museum of Applied Art at the intersection of Tricolor Alley and Arsenalo street in central Vilnius. The city of Vilnius resolved to change the name from the controversial [Lithuanian Nazi leader] Kazys Škirpa to Tricolor Alley in late July, 2019, citing Škirpa’s “anti-Semitic statements” as the reason behind the move.

Read more