Lithuanian Jewish Community

Kaunas Commemorates Lea Goldberg

There’s a larger-than-life fresco painted on the wall of a building on Kęstutis street in Kaunas featuring a portrait of celebrated Israeli poetess Lea Goldberg, with a poem by her in Hebrew and Lithuanian. Her family fled their home in this building 85 years ago, with Leah making aliyah and settling in Tel Aviv in 1935, after receiving PhDs from universities in Bonn and Berlin in Semitic and Germanic languages.

Now the Lithuanian city is scheduled to become the European Union’s honorary European Capital of Culture for the year 2022. Now, in the run-up to that auspicious year, local and visiting Jews in Kaunas held a celebration of, perhaps, the town’s most famous poet, as well as its lost Jewish heritage.

Bella Shirin, who has been appointed “ambassador” of Kaunas, Capital of European Culture 2022, recited in selections from Goldberg’s corpus in Hebrew to musical accompaniment. Israeli exchange student Shahar Berkowitz sang Goldberg’s work.

2020-10-152020-11-11

Year of Eliyahu Exhibition

The Torah itself witnesses: I am Wisdom, who found a haven in Eliyahu’s soul, and through him was revealed to the world.

This fragment of the epithet inscribed on the headstone commemorating Eliyahu ben Solomon Zalman reflects well the significance of the Vilna Gaon for Litvak and global Jewish culture. As Lithuanian marks 2020 as the Year of the Vilna Gaon and Litvak Culture, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library is contributing with an exhibit of publications and documents called “The Year of Eliyahu: The Vilna Gaon’s Influence on Litvak Culture.”

The exhibit showcases the Gaon’s biography, personality and intellectual and pedagogical activity as well as his influence over Vilnius Jews, on their mentality and culture. Documents illustrating the sage’s life and works by the Gaon and his followers will be displayed. One of the major items is the pinkos of the synagogue of the Vilna Gaon conserved by the YIVO institute in New York City. This document, a compendium of vital statistics of the Jewish community, will be exhibited using a holographic projection system. The exhibit will also showcase the abundant and diverse Judaica collection conserved at Lithuania’s National Library.

The opening ceremony will be held in the atrium on the third floor at 5:30 P.M. on Tuesday, October 20, and will include a musical performance and installation employing modern audio-visual technology to transform an ancient text into a tale, providing a hint into the Gaon’s thought-processes.

The exhibit will also feature the issue of the Bank of Lithuania’s 10-euro silver coin commemorating the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Vilna Gaon, designed by our own Victoria Sideraitė-Alon, Jūratė Juozėnienė and Albinas Šimanauskas.

2020-10-152020-10-20

Dr. Ruth Reches to Present Her Book on Identity among Holocaust Survivors

Psychologist Dr. Ruth Reches will present her book called “Holokaustą patyrusių asmenų tapatumo išgyvenimas” [The Experience of Identity by People Who Survived the Holocaust] at a special event at 6:00 P.M. on Monday, October 19, 2020, at the Bagel Shop Café at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius. The event in Lithuanian will include a panel moderated by Vytautas Magnus University lecturer and philosopher Algirdas Davidavičius. Guests will be asked to wear masks. Please report your intention to attend by sending an email to info@lzb.lt

2020-10-14

EJC President Kantor Applauds Overdue Decision by Facebook to Ban Holocaust Denial

Monday, October 12, 2020–European Jewish Congress president Dr. Moshe Kantor has welcomed the decision by Facebook to ban Holocaust denial and distortion and to better inform the public about the Holocaust.

“This is a long overdue but an important decision,” Dr. Kantor said. “Holocaust denial is not legitimate debate and is only used as an expression of hatred for Jews, so this decision is not about anything except limiting hate and anti-Semitism.”

Dr. Kantor, who is also the president of the World Holocaust Forum Foundation, welcomed concerted efforts by governments, IT companies and civil society to counter the proliferation of online hatred conspiracy myths and Holocaust denial.

“At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise and knowledge about the Holocaust among young people is alarmingly low, it is crucial that online platforms continue to become part of the solution, not the problem,” Dr. Kantor said.

“This is an issue that the European Jewish Congress has long advocated for, and we thank Facebook for its regular and productive discussions with us and other Jewish organizations, both at the European and global level,” Dr. Kantor concluded.

Full statement here.

2020-10-14

Come Learn Hebrew

The Lithuanian Jewish Community is again offering Hebrew classes to the general public, starting October 18 and continuing every Sunday. Beginner and intermediate levels are available. To register, send an e-mail to ruthreches@gmail.com

2020-10-13

Facebook Bans Holocaust Denial

Facebook has explicitly banned Holocaust denial for the first time.

The social network said its new policy prohibits “any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust.”

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg wrote that he had “struggled with the tension” between free speech and banning such posts, but that “this is the right balance.”

Two years ago, Mr Zuckerberg said that such posts should not automatically be taken down for “getting it wrong.”

“I’m Jewish and there’s a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened,” he told Recode at the time.

2020-10-132020-10-16

Monument to Commemorate Makabi Stadium in Kaunas

Photo: A sculpture commemorating the Makabi Stadium in Kaunas. Photographs by Laimutis Brundza

A sculpture by Gediminas Pašvenskas will mark the spot where the Makabi Stadium was opened 100 years on Jonavos street in Kaunas. When you drive along the street today, you’d likely never think there was a soccer stadium here. Opened on October 19, 1920, by the Makabi Jewish athletics and gymnastics association, exactly one year later it was outfitted as a soccer stadium.

“The first stadium was in Ąžuolynas. The second was here, actually, a little bit away from this location where we’re standing now. There was a third in Panemunė, but back then Panemunė wasn’t part of the city of Kaunas, it belonged to the Kaunas district,” Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas, who used to play soccer there, said at the ceremony to unveil the new sculpture.

The arena operated from 1920 to 1940 and held 2,500 people. It had a running track and other facilities as well. “Everything was fine if the ball didn’t go into the Neris River, at which point all the spectators would disperse. They didn’t wait the ten minutes it took to get the ball out of the water,” Žakas recalled.

Lithuanian Makabi president Semionas Finkelšteinas shared his own memories, not just balls going into the water, but water coming into the stadium. In 1931 the river overflowed and covered the entire field.

2020-10-082020-11-09

Righteous Gentile Aldona Radzevičienė-Norvaišaitytė Has Died

Sad news came from Kaunas October 2: Righteous Gentile Aldona Radzevičienė-Norvaišaitytė has passed away. Three years ago the Kaunas Jewish Community celebrated her 90th birthday where she even danced the waltz.

She and her family lived in Vilkaviškis where they rescued the Jews Alper Kirkilovski, Haim Chernevski and the sisters Shenka and Tsipka Verber who had escaped the Vilkaviškis ghetto just before it was liquidated and all of whom survived the war. In 1993 then-president Algirdas Brazauskas awarded Aldona the Life-Saver’s Cross and Yad Vashem recognized her as a Righteous Gentile on Junly 16, 2001.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community mourns the loss of Aldona Radzevičienė-Norvaišaitytė together with her family and many friends. Her memory will always remain vivid in our hearts.

2020-10-082020-10-08

St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra Holding Concert Dedicated to Sugihara

lrytas.lt

As the cultural landscape shifts, new challenges arise, which the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra of the Vilnius city municipality faces courageously.

At 7:00 P.M. on October 8 the orchestra will hold a concert at St. Kotryna’s Church in Vilnius dedicated to Japanese diplomat and Righteous Gentile Chiune Sugihara to mark the 80th anniversary of his activity in Kaunas and the 120th anniversary of his birth. This is the first time orchestra and its soloists will perform from different locations in countries around the world, connected by internet.

Full article in Lithuanian here.

Tickets available here.

2020-10-08

Jewish Mass Grave Monument Vandalized in Kaunas

Kaunas residents reported October 5 a monument marking the Jewish mass murder and grave site next to the buildings at Energetikų street no. 19 was vandalized.

2020-10-08

World Jewish Congress Welcomes Greek Court Decision Naming Anti-Semitic Golden Dawn Party as Criminal Organization

Press Release
October 7, 2020

NEW YORK–The World Jewish Congress (WJC) applauds a Greek court’s decision today to convict the leadership of the country’s Golden Dawn national political party for heading up a criminal organization. The court also convicted a party member of murder and 15 others of conspiracy in the case.

At its peak in 2015 Golden Dawn received as much as 7 percent of the national parliamentary vote and still holds seats in the European Parliament. Other than those acts at the center of the court’s deliberations, the group is notorious for its history of antisemitic hate speech and desecration of Jewish sites across the country.

The WJC released the following statement in response to the decision:

2020-10-08

Lithuanian Parliament Ethics and Procedures Commission Censures Šimas

The Ethics and Procedures Commission of the Lithuanian parliament has adopted a resolution censuring MP Audrys Šimas concerning what appeared to be a sieg heil Nazi salute he made during a vote in the Lithuanian parliament’s National Security and Defense Committee last spring.

§§§

ETHICS AND PROCEDURES COMMISSION OF THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

FINDING
ON THE BEHAVIOR OF MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT AUDRYS ŠIMAS

No. 101-I-18
September 30, 2020
Vilnius

The Ethics and Procedures Commission of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter Commission)–Antanas Matulas, Aušrinė Norkienė, Petras Čimbaras, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Virgilijus Poderys, Mazys Starkevičius, Dovilė Šakalienė, Ona Valiukevičiutė–having received a request from Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky on May 29, 2020, to assess the behavior of member of parliament Audrys Šimas at the meeting of the parliamentary National Security and Defense Committee on May 20, 2020, and based on article 78, part 1, point 3 of the Parliamentary Statute of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter Statute), presents this finding.

2020-10-082020-10-28

Sukka at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius

Despite restrictions because of the corona virus, the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius has constructed the traditional sukka there to celebrate the holiday of Sukkot. Traditionally called the Feast of Tabernacles in English, Sukkot is better translated as the Day of Tents in modern English. This year it began October 2 and it lasts for seven days. The idea is to “dwell” or spend time in the tent or temporary structure during each day of the week-long holiday. It is traditional to handle the etrog, a fruit in the citrus family, and to wave a palm frond inside the sukka, or dwelling, and to eat and celebrate, remembering the past when the Hebrews lived in tents after the exodus and liberation from Egypt. The Torah says one should wave the branches and fronds of three pleasant trees during the holiday, including palm fronds, willow branches and the branch of a leafy deciduous tree which the Talmud specifies is the myrtle. The trees and the etrog together constitute the four species. The palm fronds are first made into a bundle which becomes the first element, to which are added two willow branches, then three myrtle branches in a specific pattern, This three-fold branch and etrog are waved around on each day of the seven days by observant Jews in adherence to Leviticus 23:40. Visitors to the sukka are also supposed to have a good time there.

The sukka at the Choral Synagogue is only open during scheduled prayer services as part of entry restrictions designed to curb the spread of the corona virus. Please check prayer service schedules or call ahead if you intend to visit and spend time in the sukka.

2020-10-062020-10-13

2020-10-06

Condolences

Sad news has arrived from Šiauliai: Righteous Gentile Meilutė Zofia Kalendraitė-Levinskienės has passed away. The Lithuanian Jewish Community extends our deepest condolences to her family, including her husband, children, grandchildren, her sister who is also a Righteous Gentile and to her many friends.

Her father Andrejus Kalendra, enthusiastic about the ideas of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, organized the rescue of the Gordimer family from the Šiauliai ghetto. Andrejus Kalendra was a man who was known and respected throughout the area. He organized the operation to save the family together with other members of his family and friends following the Children’s Aktion in the ghetto on November 5, 1943. Six-year-old Sholem was carried out the ghetto in a potato bag and hidden at the Kalendra estate near Žarėnai. He remained there until the summer of 1945.

Due to the efforts of the Kalendra family, their friends and their acquaintances, the entire Gordimer family was saved and went to the USA in 1945.

2020-10-06

Condolences

The Lithuanian Writers Union reported Dovydas Judelevičius passed away at the age of 95 on September 23, 202, in Vilnius. Dovydas Judelevičius was a member of the union, a literature and theater critic and a translator. He was born October 5, 1925, in Kaunas.

2020-10-06

WJC Condemns Sukkot Attack at Hamburg Synagogue

NEW YORK–During a Sukkot celebration for students at the Hohe Weide Synagogue in Hamburg, an individual wearing a military-style uniform hit one of the students in the head with a shovel, gravely injuring the student who was taken to the hospital. Police providing security for the synagogue apprehended and arrested the attacker, according to the Hamburg police.

In response, World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder declared:

“As we mark the one-year anniversary of the Yom Kippur attack in Halle, Germany, which left two dead, I am saddened to learn that once again, this time on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, a German Jewish community is confronting a violent, anti-Semitic act of terror. While thankfully, police on the scene acted quickly to stop the attacker from committing further violence, the security presence was not enough to deter this attacker from gravely injuring someone.

2020-10-062020-10-06

LJC Closed October 4 and 9 for Sukkot

The Lithuanian Jewish Community will be closed October 4 and 9 for the holiday of Sukkot.

2020-10-02

The Holocaust through the Eyes of a Girl from Vilnius

July 19th, 1922.
Beba Epstein is born.

In 2017, a bundle of Jewish documents was found hidden in Lithuania, which are now being digitized as part of the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections. One of them is the autobiography of a secular middle-class Jewish girl in the 1930s, whose life was not unlike that of many children today. While her experience doesn’t reflect the circumstances of every Jewish child at the time, we can learn a lot through her account. But first, let’s meet her!

Full interactive experience here.

2020-10-02

Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania

On the War in Israel and the Situation in Lithuania