Happy New Year

Happy New Year

Dear Community members, readers and friends,

May the new year 5785 bring you and your loved ones good fortune and health, happiness and a willingness to share your love with others. May all past and future errors and ill-chosen words be forgiven. May the New Year generously bestow upon all of us good news and good deeds, peace, prosperity and abundance.

Shana tova!

Iran Fires on Israel

Iran Fires on Israel

Iran fired 181 mainly ballistic missiles at Israeli cities Tuesday evening. Iran claimed they fired over 400 missiles including a new hypersonic missile. Israel reported one death of an Arab in Jehrico and some damage to buildings in Tel Aviv, a missile hitting near the Ayalon Mall and damaging a school with no one inside. Iran claimed they had delivered a crippling blow to the Jewish state and had only targeted military and intelligence installations. The first volley appeared to target Mossad HQ in Tel Aviv but apparently were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow anti-missile systems. The Kingdom of Jordan and the United States reportedly helped intercept incoming Iranian missiles. A Pentagon spokesman said American warships off the coast fired 11 interceptor missiles at incoming Iranian missiles. The United States and the United Kingdom condemned Iran’s attack while the prime minister of Australia again called for deescalation. Two Islamic terrorists from the West Bank murdered 6 Israelis and wounded another 12 using a knife and a gun at a transit station in Jaffa just before Iranian missiles were fired.

Shofar Procession through Vilnius

Shofar Procession through Vilnius

Dear Community members,

In celebration of Rosh Hashanah a shofar procession will make its way from the inner courtyard of the Old Arsenal next to the Tower of Gediminas, in honor of grand duke Gediminas who invited Jewish merchants, artisans and craftsmen from European cities to come settle in Lithuania, and wind through Cathedral Square to end up at the Vilnius Old Town Hall on Wednesday, October 2.

Shofar horns and shofar blowers from the Baltic states, the Ukraine, Israel and Great Britain will take part in the procession and sound the ancient ram horn instrument, dispelling evil and announcing the new year 5785.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community will hold a reception at the Old Town Hall following the procession.

Schedule (approximate):

October 2

4:00 P.M. Ceremony to kick off the march, inner courtyard, Old Arsenal, Arsenalo street no. 3

4:30 P.M. Procession along Arsenalo and Vrublevskio streets

4:40 P.M. Procession through Cathedral Square and along Pilies and Didžiosios streets

5:05 P.M. LJC reception for participants at Old Town Hall with sampling of holiday dishes

5:45 P.M. End of event

Superpower Israel Goes It Alone in Proxy Wars with Iran

Superpower Israel Goes It Alone in Proxy Wars with Iran

Following an operation coup against Hezbollah, Israel targeted and killed almost all of the terrorist organization’s top leaders including the supreme leader on Friday, despite calls from the United States, France, Great Britain, Canada and Australia to Israel to work out a ceasefire with the Iranian-backed proxy army in Lebanon. Israel also says it has destroyed all but one battalion of Hamas, also an Iranian proxy, again despite international calls to Israel to make peace with the terrorists attacking the country. Israel also bombed Houthi positions in Yemen over the weekend, another proxy army funded and armed by Iran. News reports Sunday and Monday claimed the new president of Iran and/or the supreme leader the Ayatollah were taken to allegedly safe locations in case Israel decided to bring the war back to Tehran.

Rosh Hashanah Event Program

Rosh Hashanah Event Program

Rosh Hashanah is almost here. When the sun sets Wednesday, the celebration begins.

Program of LJC Rosh Hashanah events:

Choral Synagogue:

October 2

6:00 P.M. Mincha and Maariv prayer service

October 3

10:00 A.M. Shacharis
12:00 noon Blowing of the shofar
12:15 P.M. Torah reading and Musaf
2:30 P.M. Mincha
6:00 P.M. BLowing of the shofar
7:42 P.M. Maariv

Bnei Maskilim Progressive Judaism Community Invites You to Celebrate Rosh Hashanah

Bnei Maskilim Progressive Judaism Community Invites You to Celebrate Rosh Hashanah

Dear reader,

As Rosh Hashanah draws near, the Jewish new year 5785, with its accompanying holiday, we invite you to join in with our community’s holiday prayers and events.

This year one of our guests will be former US Army chaplain Rabbi Hanoch M. Fields.

During the celebration we will pray, sing and sample sweet symbolic foods, for example, apples with honey, so that the New Year would be sweet and filled with delight.

May this New Year bring everyone health, peace and happiness!

Shana tova u’metukah!

The cost is 20 euros per person. For more information and to register, send an email to viljamas@lzb.lt.

Time: 6:30 P.M., October 3
Place: Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

Rosh Hashanah Celebration for Seniors

Rosh Hashanah Celebration for Seniors

The LJC’s Saul Kagan Welfare Center and the Abi Men Zet Zich Club invite seniors to celebrate the new year 5785 together.

Registration required by contacting Žana at zanas@sc.lzb.lt or +370) 678 81514.

Time: 2:00 P.M., Tuesday, October 1
Place: Third floor, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Vilnius

Shana tova!

Condolences

Irina Felgina passed away September 27. She was born in 1931 and was a member of the Union of Former Ghetto and Concentration Camp Prisoners as well as a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center. We extend our deepest condolences to her daughter Anna, grandson Alex and her other friends and family members.

Vilkaviškis Unveils Statue to Litvak Ballerina Sonia Gaskell

Vilkaviškis Unveils Statue to Litvak Ballerina Sonia Gaskell

The western Lithuanian town of Vilkaviškis is to unvei a public sculpture Friday commemorating native Sonia Gaskell, a world-class ballerina who went on to teach ballet in Paris and the Hague, according to Lithuanian state television LRT. Gaskell was born in Vilkaviškis on April 14, 1904, and died in Paris on July 9, 1974.

The statue by sculptor Lukas Šiupšinskas is located in a square in front of the Vilkaviškis Children’s and Youth Center near where Gaskell is believed to have been born. She was originally named Sarah. Vilkaviškis reportedly also has a small museum dedicated to the details of her rather amazing life which includes making aliyah to Palestine and returning to Europe before the Holocaust. Vilkaviškis, aka Vikovishk, had a Jewish population which hovered at about 50% compared to the Christian population, sometimes reaching 60% and falling back to 45% just before the Holocaust. William Shatner’s maternal grandmother was born in Vilkaviškis, as were Aharon April, Jonas Basanavičius, Vincas Kudirka, Miriam Markel-Mosessohn and Galina Shurepova.

Earlier LRT reporting in Lithuanian on Sonia Gaskell here.