With great sadness we report the death of Šlioma Šperling on December 19. He was born in 1940. Our deepest condolences to the Community’s long-time volunteer doctor Liusia Šperling on the death of her husband, and to their daughter.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community sincerely congratulates Dr. Mindaugas Kvietkauskas on his selection as Lithuania’s new minister of culture.
Dr. Kvietkauskas will be the first member of the Lithuanian Government to speak Yiddish in many years. Likely the last was Jewish affairs minister Jokūbas Vygodskis who left the post when the interwar Republic of Lithuania annulled official Jewish autonomy in the country.
Kvietkauskas has translated a number of Yiddish works into Lithuanian. After completing Lithuanian literature and language studies at Vilnius University, he studied at Oxford’s Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He also acquired skills in Yiddish from Fania Brancovskaja, the Jewish partisan and Vilnius ghetto inmate.
At the behest of the Lithuanian Jewish Community an international Heritage Advisory Group consisting of renowned global experts on Jewish heritage was formed, including:
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, advisor to the director and senior curator of main exhibits at the POLIN Polish Jewish History Museum; Assumpció Hosta, general secretary of the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage (AEPJ); Sergey Kanovich, founder of the Maceva NGO and project manager of the Šeduva Jewish Memorial Fund; Lyudmila Sholokhova, PhD, director, YIVO archive and library; Sergey Kravtsov, senior research correspondent, Jewish Art Center, Hebrew University; the Lithuanian Jewish Community was represented by LJC heritage conservation specialist Martynas Užpelkis and architect and designer Victoria Sideraitė-Alon.
The expert group now has issued a set of recommended guidelines for the memorialization of the Great Synagogue of Vilna.
Since it is basically clear that attempts to rebuild the Great Synagogue would send a false message, they instead recommended emphasizing the uniqueness of the site’s history and its current state. Commemoration should pursue the objectives of conserving what remains and proper education. The project should focus on recovering and expressing the centrality and unique meaning of the site in Lithuanian Jewish history and memory.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community ushered out 2018 with a concert Monday called Heart to Heart with Markas Volynskis and Marija Drukshna on vocals, Jurijus Sukhanovas on piano and Boris Kirzner on violin.
Shmuel Yatom, the cantor at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius, opened the concert by reminding the audience the synagogue is celebrating its 115th anniversary currently. His words and songs, some solo, some with Markas Volynskis, created a warm and comfortable atmosphere in the hall. Well-known Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Judita Leitaitė MCed the concert and sang to a great response from the audience. Her warm and funny introductions of the other performers also contributed to the entertainment. Musical works by Kern, Pakhmutov, Dunayevsky and Olshanetsky, classical Russian favorites and old-time Jewish favorites elicited much applause.
Viktor Chramcov, born in 1927, a Holocaust survivor who was imprisoned at Dachau, has passed away. The Lithuanian Jewish Community sends our deepest condolences to his wife Svetlana and daughters Neli and Tatjana.
Preliminary design
bernardinai.lt
Marija Rupeikienė on the webpage autc.lt writes: “It is a compact space something like a cube with a cupola, constructed of bright yellow bricks with two unplastered façades and a tin roof. The building has two storeys, a basement and three small one-storey side buildings in the corners. The floor plan isn’t standard, with a many-cornered outer shape with steps, with an elongated entrance-way, stairs built on protruding sides and auxiliary spaces: the second storey is surrounded on three sides by a gallery. The main façade on the north east side facing the street is plastered with horizontal indentations. The two-storey portion dominates with short one-storey side constructions hugging it. Protrusions mark the sides of the two-storey portion while an elongated entrance-way in the interior leads to a half-rounded ark with a triangular shield bearing an image of the Ten Commandments on inscribed on stone tablets.”
In 1899 the leadership of the synagogue acquired a plot of land on Zawalna, now Pylimo street.
In 1902 architect Dovid Rozenhaus drafted blueprints for the synagogue.
Full story in Lithuanian here.
The Choral Synagogue was lit with festive lights December 16 as Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinksy and Vilnius Jewish Religious Community chairman Simas Levinas greeted Lithuanian Jewish Community members and guests to a celebration of the 115th anniversary of the founding of the synagogue.
Lithuanian poet, publicist and professor Tomas Venclova, Lithuanian essayist and film writer Pranas Morkus and other well-known figures attended the event.
Professor Donatas Katkus directed a concert by the Vilnius Chamber Orchestra at the birthday celebration.
A complicated early history of seeking permission from authorities to build what was called the Taharat HaKodesh synagogue finally led to the opening of the synagogue at its current location in 1903. Architect Dovid Rozenhaus designed the synagogue in the Moorish-Romanesque style. The only classical Vilnius Jewish synagogue to survive the Holocaust out of more than 110 Jewish houses of prayer operating in the city before the war, the Choral Synagogue became the focus of the post-war Vilnius Jewish community during Soviet times and remains so today.
The Ilan Club of the Lithuanian Jewish Community invites children to attend a paper-puppet theater workshop at 1:00 P.M. on December 16 on the second floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community in Vilnius. For more information contact Sofja at sofja@lzb.lt or call +370 672 57540.
Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas received the Lithuanian state’s award “For Merit” on International Tolerance Day. Dainius Babilas, the director of Kaunas’s Ethnic Cultures Center, called Žakas one of the most active members of the city working in the cultural and social activities of the ethnic communities, both as head of the Kaunas Jewish Community and as the leader of various projects.
Since taking the post as Kaunas Jewish Community chairman in 2000, Žakas has rallied many Jewish people, initiated dozens of cultural projects and educated people on the history of Lithuanian Jews and the Jewish legacy during public events. Thanks to his resolution and consistency, the city of Kaunas remembers so many of its famous citizens who have made major contributions to Lithuania and humanity.
The newspaper Kauno diena has published an article in Lithuanian about Gercas Žakas and his work, available here.
The mass protests in France by the “yellow vests” have taken on a sort of red-brown racist ideology and have gone on an anti-Semitic rampage on facebook. Slogans include “Seize everything and redistribute it” and “The Jews get fat while the French have nothing to eat” as well as others aimed at Jews. A banner appeared on the A6 freeway linking Paris and Marseilles with the inscription “Macron is a whore of the Jews.” Israel’s Ynet reported on activities by what they called organizers of pogroms last Saturday, during which for the first time in many years Chabad House on the Champs-Élysées remained closed. Community leaders reported they didn’t want to take any risks because the French police were not in control of the situation.
The social media have become a source for anti-Semitism with Jews now being singled out as France’s main enemies. Popular accusations include “The Jews brought Macron to power so he would serve as their puppet,” “It must be realized that the true enemy is the Jews,” “The Jews light candles while the French go hungry” and so on.
Israel’s Russian-language TV 9 has a report here.
Our deepest condolences to Social Programs Department director Mikhail Segal on the death of his grandmother. We are with you in this time of great loss.
Judita Rozin passed away December 12, 2018, following a battle with illness and a recent debilitating fall. She was born January 8, 1937 in the Birobidzhan Autonomous Jewish oblast (the Birobidzhan ASSR) located in the Soviet Far East. She was graduated from High School No. 6 in Vilnius in 1955 and matriculated at the Philology Faculty at Vilnius University specializing in Russian language and literature. After being graduated she worked for the next 32 years at the Vilnius Teachers School in Naujoji Vilna. She worked at the History Department of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum from 1992 until 2012, and volunteered at the museum even in retirement up to the present time. Judita was unusually fluent in English even by current Lithuanian standards and used to say she preferred being called Judith; “That’s my real name in Hebrew.”.
A wake and funeral for Judith will be held in hall 4 at the Vilnius Funeral Home located at Olandų street no. 22 on Friday, December 14, starting at 11:00 A.M. The coffin will be transported to the Jewish cemetery at Sudervės road no. 28 at 1:34 P.M.
Rest in peace, Judith.
kauno.diena.lt
A city bus in Kaunas has been decorated with war-time diplomats Chiune Sugihara and Jan Zwartendijk. Both rescued a large number of Jews from the Holocaust, issuing “visas for life” for Jews in Kaunas to flee Europe.
Full article in Lithuanian here.
The Lithuanian Jewish Community will host the concert Heart to Hear at 6:00 P.M. on December 17. The concert is free and will include singers Marija Dushkina and Mark Volynski, pianist Jurijus Suchanovas, Boris Kirzner on violin and an appearance by the soloist Judita Leitaitė. Shmuel Yatom, the cantor at the Choral Synagogue, will be the guest of honor. The program includes works by Kern, Pakhmutov and Dunayevsky as well as popular classic Jewish and Russian tunes.
Around 70 children attended the Hanukkah celebration the Lithuanian Jewish Community held at the Future Live hall in Vilnius. The candles were lit and songs were performed in Hebrew and Yiddish. Children spun the dreidl and took part in quizzes and competitions. Traditional doughnuts were eaten and Hanukkah gelt was passed out. Children also received dreidls to take home.
The Fayerlakh song and dance ensemble announces the finale of the Israelit de Lita Best Jewish Woman contest 2018/5778 and music show to be held at 4:00 P.M. on December 23 at the Vilnius House of Polish Culture, Naugarduko street no. 76, Vilnius. For ticket information, contact the Lithuanian Jewish Community at +370 5 261 3003 or Valerija Jurevičiūtė at +370 646 84 823.
Press Release
December 11, 2018
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky was elected in May of 2017 legally, in keeping with all the requirements of law, the Vilnius Regional Court confirmed, annulling an earlier finding by the Vilnius District Court and rejecting a claim by the Vilnius Jewish Community against the legality of the decisions made by the LJC conference.
“The principle of the rule of law triumphed in the case of the legitimacy of the LJC elections. The work of the Lithuanian Jewish Community should be directed towards the continuity of community traditions and the needs of members, to solving the most urgent problems and celebrating Jewish life in Vilnius and throughout Lithuania. We should all focus on that which is truly important rather than on destructive activities. Now, after this exhausting legal argument has ended, it is time for the community to come together and continue our work together. Jews must be united, we must take care of one another and those around us, and work needs to replace disputes,” LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said.
You are invited to come celebrate the 115th anniversary of the opening of the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius at 2:00 P.M. on December 16 at the synagogue, located at Pylimo street no. 39. The celebration is to include a concert by the Vilnius Chamber Orchestra conducted by Donatas Katkus, birthday greetings and a buffet.
Rafael Lemkin, the Jewish lawyer who at the end of World War II coined the term “genocide” and brought it to global awareness, understood that atrocities are all the more grievous when based upon race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. The systematic extermination of Jews in the Holocaust was the predominant event that led Lemkin to this understanding, but he was also motivated by other atrocities he had witnessed during his lifetime.
The world commemorates this week the 70th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It was designed to set in stone the well-known proclamation “never again”. The Genocide Convention was passed by the UN on December 9, 1948 and has been ratified to date by approximately 150 states. The Genocide Convention classifies genocide as an international crime and provides that all member states must prevent and punish genocide, its incitement, and any attempt to commit genocide. Israel ratified the treaty in 1950 and enacted the Crime of Genocide (Prevention and Punishment) Law that provides Israel with universal jurisdiction over this crime. Genocide is customarily referred to as “the crime of crimes” because it seeks to wipe out an entire group of people based upon nationality, ethnicity, race or religion. All states are called upon to prevent and punish the perpetrators.
Our 30th birthday Hanukkah celebration was just as fun as it was 30 years ago, and almost the same number of people attended, around 400. Although times have changed, there’s a new generation and we have lost many of those who attended in 1988, we remember them, say a good word about them and take joy in the present, in the fact that Community members of all ages came to celebrate, including children and young families from the regional communities.
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky welcomed celebrants. Social programs department director Žana Skudovičienė spoke about the first post-war communal Hanukkah celebration on December 4, 1988, held at the Dainava restaurant in central Vilnius. Then as now, Yiddish was spoken and sung, and the Fayerlakh ensemble performed, while 30 years ago the event was organized by the Lithuanian Jewish Cultural Association.
This year we celebrated at the Radisson Blu Lietuva hotel in Vilnius. The Israeli klezmer band Gefilte Drive and saxophonist Juozas Kuraitis performed and delighted the audience with their concerts.
