Wooden Synagogue in Alanta Renovated
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LJC, International Comminission and Olga Lengyel Institute Holding Holocaust Seminars for Teachers
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LJC Chairwoman Faina Kukliansky Speaks at Commemoration of Grosse
Aktion in Kaunas
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Šiauliai Opens Righteous Gentile Square at the Intersection of Vilniaus and Ežero Streets at Former Ghetto Gates
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"Symphony from Jerusalem of the North” Mark Day of Lithuanian Jewish Victims of Genocide in Presidential Courtyard
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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.
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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.
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Lithuania Marks 300th Anniversary of Birth of Vilna Gaon, 2020 Named Year of the Gaon and Litvak History.
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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.
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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.
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Come Celebrate the 210th Birthday of Abraham Mapu

The Kaunas Jewish Community will celebrate the 210th birthday of Abraham Mapu at 5:00 P.M. on January 18 and everyone is invited! The event called “Abraham Mapu: Writer, Teacher, Kaunas Resident” is to be held at the Youth, Art and Music Section of the Vincas Kudirka Public Library at A. Mapu street no. 18 in Kaunas.

Participants include Dr. Lara Lempert, director of the Judaic Studies Center at the Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library; literature studies doctoral candidate Goda Volbikaitė; director of the Ars et Mundus public enterprise and initiator of the statue to Mapu Olegas Darčanovas and members of the Makštutis family who will perform a concert.

New Series of Seven Lessons Begins at Choral Synagogue

The first of seven lessons in the “Oh My G_d” series kicked off Sunday at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius with 40 people attending. They discussed the topic “How can we know G_d exists?” Seminar organizer and moderator Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky engaged the majority of people at the seminar and drew them into the discussion with his passion and characteristic sense of humor.

The main topics of discussion were:

– Is belief based on reason or blind faith?
– What sort of proof is there that G_d exists?
– What are the arguments of atheists?
– Is atheism more rational than belief?

Participants lingered after the formal lesson ended, discussing and spending time with one another, and were treated to cakes and fruit brought by Rebbetzin Dina.

The “Oh My G_d” series of seminars will now include seven classes. The next seminar’s topic will be “Are there logical proofs G_d exists” with the following subtopics for discussion:

– Whence does belief in G_d arise?
– Is there rational proof G_d exists?
– Is it more rational to believe on G_d the Creator, or something else?

All are welcome at the next, the second seminar, at 4:30 P.M. on Sunday, January 21 at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius. Both men and women are encouraged to come. The seminar will last approximately one hour.

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Discussion on Maintaining Žaliakalnis Jewish Cemetery in Kaunas

Work has begun on restoring a monument to Holocaust victims at the mass grave at the Žaliakalnis Jewish cemetery in Kaunas. Members of the Kaunas Jewish Community, representatives of the Kaunas municipality, Lithuanian Jewish Community executive director Renaldas Vaisbrodas, LJC heritage specialist Martynas Užpelkis and architect, designer and museum specialist Victoria Sideraitė-Alon met to discuss the issue, after which they visited Sugihara House and its new exhibit “Casablanca North: Kaunas 1939-1940” on the newly renovated second floor of the museum with a guided tour by Sugihara House director Simonas Dovidavičius.

Sugihara House is also exhibiting a show and film about Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved about 20,0000 Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust.

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One Century out of Seven Exhibit a Hit with Jews in Chicago

The cultural center of the Lithuanian consulate in Chicago is hosting an exceptional exhibition starting at the end of November called “One Century out of Seven: Lithuania, Lite, Lita.” The exhibit covers the history of Litvaks from the first arrivals and settlement of Jews in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the present day. The exhibit is now circulating in Chicago and suburbs. On January 12 it was presented to the Jewish community of Highland Park.

Exhibit author Pranas Morkus was able to present remarkable details of the relationships between Jews and locals and included a number of notable Litvaks, the most notable and best known being the Vilna Gaon, who is credited with making Vilnius the Jerusalem of Lithuania.

On January 15 the exhibit opened at the North Suburban Beth El Synagogue. Visitors sent photos to facebook and they may be viewed on the LJC webpage.

A large number of Jews with roots in Lithuania live in America and are proud to call themselves Litvaks.

The exhibit was the result of work by Pranas Morkus, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the designers Victoria Sideraitė-Alon and Jūratė Juozėnienė from the JUDVI design studio.

Lithuanian consul in Chicago Mantvydas Bekešius said the exhibit demonstrates Jews were, are and will always be an important part of the story of Lithuania.

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When Will Kaunas Have a Monument to Holocaust Rescuers?

More than a decade ago Jewish community representative and Rotary Club member Michailas Duškesas proposed erecting a monument to Righteous Gentiles in Kaunas.

At that time some world-famous architects said they were interested in the memorial project. Michailas Duškesas said at the time erecting the statue would have cost less than 1 million litas, and the Rotary Club and Jewish organizations in Lithuania, Europe and Israel would have paid the total sum, according to him.

“Everything was headed in the right direction. Kaunas Regional Judaic Religious Community chairman Josifas Kacas was getting ready to fly to meet Daniel Libeskind to discuss all the details when, unfortunately, just a few days before the flight, he died, and everything seemed to fall apart,” Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Gercas Žakas recalled. Now he and Rotary Club member Ignas Miniotas are reviving the project to commemorate Righteous Gentiles.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Visits Sugihara House in Kaunas

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe visited Sugihara House in Kaunas Sunday accompanied by Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius.

The Sugihara House museum is located at the site of the Japanese consulate where Chiune Sugihara rescued Jews by issuing transit visas in 1939 and 1940.

Kaunas mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis, other city officials and several dozen children greeted the prime minister outside. Mr. Abe viewed the office where Sugihara worked and signed the guest book before touring the rest of the museum.

Suihara House director Simonas Dovidavičius told BNS said the visit was a very important one as the museum struggles to develop. “This site has virtually no permanent financing because we are an NGO,” Dovidavičius said.

Full text in Lithuanian and more photos here.

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Happy Birthday to Adomas Jacovskis

The Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes the renowned Lithuanian artist, scenographer and painter Adomas Jacovskis a happy birthday. Jacovskis is a recipient of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art and has done much to make Lithuania known in the world.

He calls himself an individualist from birth. He dreamed of painting and became a painter after choosing to study scenography under the famous painter Augustinas Savickas. He currently teaches at the Vilnius Art Academy. His sister, daughter and son are all artists as well.

We wish you great health, inspiration and resolution in your continuing remarkable work. We are honored by and proud of your achievements and recognition.

Lithuanian Public Figures Oppose UN Vote against US Embassy in Jerusalem

A group of intellectuals, politicians, public figures and journalists from the Lithuanian-American Association have expressed their opposition to Lithuania’s vote at the United Nations General Assembly on December 21 in favor of a non-binding resolution rejecting the decision by US president Donald Trump to move the US embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They said Lithuania’s vote against the US position went against Lithuania’s national interests.

“It doesn’t really matter what the subject of the vote was. What’s important is that the US publicly and officially asked not to vote against them, and Lithuania voted against them. In this case it would have been possible to balance both the interests of the US and the European Union, as Latvia and Poland did. They abstained in the vote. If we want to believe a US soldier is prepared to die for Lithuania’s freedom, then we must take US positions into greater consideration. We all aspire to a unified Lithuanian foreign policy, but in this case this vote seemed unfair to one part of society. For that reason we are expressing a different opinion,” Lithuanian-American Association president professor Raimundas Lopata told Delfi.

Statement

Taking into consideration that on December 21, 2017, Lithuania voted in favor of the United Nations resolution on Jerusalem, that is, against the position of the United States and without regard to the clear request by the US not to vote against them;

That Lithuania’s neighbors Poland and Latvia did take this request into consideration and abstained in the vote;

That US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said after the vote that “the US will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in this assembly;”

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Šiauliai Jewish Community Celebrates 30th Birthday

An exhibit of artwork by the students of the Savickas Art School opened at the Povilas Višinskis Public Library in Šiauliai Sunday celebrating the 30th anniversary of the restoration of the Šiauliai Jewish Community. The exhibit is open to the public till January 28.

Accomplished painter and teacher Raimondas Savickas began offering classes at the Lithuanian Jewish Community in the summer of 2015. The classes and the outdoor painting and drawing workshops in natural settings were so successful led to the formal creation of the Savickas Art School at the LJC in the fall of 2015. The outdoor plein air workshops have become a summer tradition and regular classes are held for beginners and more advanced artists. Currently there are about 20 students, Savickas said. The program includes theory and practice, and Savickas said they are learning about more than just technique, with students learning about Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Classic styles and Judaica in general. Students paint synagogues and have the opportunity to meet and learn from accomplished Litvak artists.

“We have been noticed,” Savickas said, “and have been invited to show our work in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Šiauliai,” Savickas said.

Japanese PM Abe to Visit Sugihara House in Kaunas


Photo of Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara and an old Japanese flag on display at the Sugihara House Museum in Kaunas which housed the Japanese Consulate from 1939 to 1940. Photo: AFP-JIJI

KAUNAS, LITHUANIA–A Japanese diplomat who saved 6,000 European Jews from the Holocaust by issuing visas so they could escape war-torn Lithuania will be hailed by Japan’s prime minister decades after defying Tokyo to help the refugees.

Prime minister Shinzo Abe will pay tribute to Chiune Sugihara on Sunday when he visits the two-story building that housed the consulate where he worked in the Baltic state’s second city Kaunas.

Sugihara is thought to be among around 15 diplomats who issued visas to European Jews during World War II and is often called “Japan’s Schindler”–a reference to German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who is credited with saving 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.

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Launch of Lithuanian Book about Israel

Thursday evening the Lithuanian Jewish Community hosted the launch of Živilė Juonytė’s new book “Izraelis ir jo žmonės. Viena šalis. Daug veidų” [Israel and Its People: One Country, Many Faces]. Juonytė and the LJC’s new liaison for social media Viktorija Pajarskė formed a small panel for a brief Q&A session after the author described her experience of Israel as an exchange student there for one year and in trips made after that. Juonytė said she wanted to portray Israel differently from that of the media, which paint a picture of conflict. Juonytė was the editor of the Bagel Shop Newsletter before her trip to Israel and now works for the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. The softcover 200-page octavo, A5 book (ISBN 978-6098-105-41-4) is full of color photographs on glossy paper and costs 12 euros from the publisher, Aukso pieva.

Lithuanian Limmud, February 9-11, 2018

Dear friends,

Limmud is back and better than ever. Register early this year so you don’t miss your place!

The educational Judaism conference will be held at the Vilnius Grand Resort hotel this year from February 9 to 11. Three days of meaningful meetings with friends and fellow travellers, great speakers from the Baltics, Israel, Russia and other countries, and a special program for young Limmud participants–what could be better?

The cost is 100 euros.

Registration via internet: https://www.lzb.lt/limmud-lietuva-2018/
For further information contact limmudlietuva@lzb.lt

Happy Birthday to Irena Veisaitė

Lithuanian Jewish teacher, scholar and theater expert Irena Veisaitė is not just a legend among students. Elegant, with an inherent sense of communicability, a woman of broad erudition, at home in any number of languages and filled with an inner inspiration, Irena is able to engage in warm conversation in any circle.

Her biography is full of the experience of tragedy, which she survived unbroken. The entire Jewish community remembers her words as a kind of mantra: “While even one anti-Semite still lives, I will be a Jew.” As a child during World War II imprisoned in the Kaunas ghetto, she lost her mother. Stefanija Ladigienė became her adoptive mother, rescuing Irena and raising her in her own home as her own daughter. Irena still calls all rescuers holy people, to whom Lithuania has still not erected a single monument.

Dear Irena, the Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes you a very happy birthday. May you always enjoy strong health, much joy and days of happiness! May your heart never age. Mazl tov! May you live to 120!

Police Called to Choral Synagogue in Disturbance

Monday during morning prayers police officers were called to the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius during a disturbance. Vilnius mayoral advisor Daniel Lupshitz allegedly disturbed the peace of worshipers during prayers and Torah reading through the issuance of insults and profanities. It was reportedly not the first time security had to be increased and police help sought because of this individual’s behavior.

The Lithuanian Jewish Community categorically rejects and condemns intentional provocations aimed at members of the religious congregation.

This sort of behavior is unacceptable and demonstrates gigantic disrespect towards all visitors. The incident will be investigated by law enforcement and appropriate measures will be taken.

We apologize for the disruption of the service to those who were affected by the incident.

Positive Factors in Holocaust Survival

by Izabelė Švaraitė
manoteisės.lt


Ruth Reches, photo: Jonas Kliučius

An understanding of the Holocaust is incomplete without the psychological point of view. So says Ruth Reches, doctoral candidate at Mykolas Romeris University, who is researching the experience of Jewish genocide by survivors. While most researchers stress the negative consequences of this historical trauma, Reches is also researching positive aspects, those which allowed survivors to carry on.

The Holocaust Isn’t One Person’s Trauma

In Lithuania psychologists do investigate historical trauma such as deportation, Soviet oppression and war, but Reches is one of the first in the country to research the experience and survival of the Holocaust. She has interviewed Jews in Israel and Lithuania who managed to survive. The long-term study of trauma has led to a basic assessment of the consequences of the Holocaust, and Reches’s interviews with some of the subjects have had a therapeutic effect on the latter, who have opened up and talked about their childhoods during the war for the first time ever.

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Grief Support for Families of Holocaust Survivors

Miami, January 7, 2018–While all grieving is individual, there are grief issues surrounding the loss of Holocaust survivors that are unique to the families of survivors. Until now, however, there has not been a dedicated approach to grief support for this population. Metropolitan Jewish Health System (MJHS) Hospice and Palliative Care based in New York is working to develop a grief support group to support families impacted by Holocaust trauma, and Targum Shlishi is supporting this much-needed initiative.

The Need

“We have found that the children of Holocaust survivors ask for grief support that is specific to their experience as members of the second generation. There are aspects of the grieving process that are uniquely different among family members of Holocaust survivors due to lifelong patterns of communication and behaviors in families of survivors,” explains Toby Weiss, MJHS’s director of cultural diversity and Jewish programming.

MJHS cares for a large number of Holocaust survivors at the end of life, and, by extension, it cares for the family members. As a hospice with a focus on family-centered and holistic care, MJHS also provides pre- and post-bereavement support for thirteen months. Although MJHS has long offered support groups, before now none have been tailored specifically to families of survivors. But as more people began asking for this service, MJHS researched the topic and found a marked lack of grief support groups dedicated to this population.

“This is a very real and unfortunately unmet need until now,” says Aryeh Rubin, director of Targum Shlishi. “We applaud MJHS for recognizing this problem and for taking the initiative to address it. These are the types of projects that, as a foundation, we are honored to support. People need this service and MJHS has the wherewithal not only to provide it to its constituents, but to create a model that it will share with others.”

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