Lithuanian Jewish Community

Global Momentum Builds for Holocaust Restitution

The World Jewish Restitution Organization sent the following letter addressed to Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky:

Dear Faina,

We are writing to update you on two very positive news developments in our efforts to build global support for Holocaust restitution.

European Parliament

For the first time in history, the president of the European Parliament declared strong support for Holocaust restitution and related issues affecting survivors, following WJRO efforts in the European Union.

President Martin Schulz in a letter to the chair of the European Alliance for Holocaust Survivors (EAHS) fully endorsed the return of property and possessions unjustly taken from Jewish communities and victims during the Holocaust.

2016-11-072016-11-18

It’s His Secret

yona
by Yona Bartal

Shimon Peres insisted everyone hold a dialogue with tomorrow, to stare at the future in its eyes. he spoke of values, of morals. now, we must continue in his vision.

Today, a whole month after his passing, I look back on twenty-one years of non-stop round-the-clock work in Israel and the world in which I followed him, attempting to achieve his big steps and dive into his global ideas. I try to take my sack of immense personal feelings, tie them up with a big bow and for a minute to place them on a shelf. I sit myself in front of a historical mirror and try an explain to myself the phenomenon named Shimon Peres – from an up-close and intense acquaintance. I look at the huge pile of condolence letters from across the globe, I still feel the warm embrace of Clinton, Obama, president of France, French philosopher Bernard Henry Levi, the young Trudeau from Canada and numerous other leaders that came, stood silently and wept on Peres’s passing with us.

2016-11-072016-11-18

Great Aktion Remembered in Kaunas

The 75th anniversary of the Great Aktion, the day on which almost 10,000 Jews were murdered at the Ninth Fort, was marked in Kaunas on October 30.

In 1941 more than 9,200 Jews in the Kaunas ghetto were murdered at the Ninth Fort, including 4,273 children.

The remembrance ceremony was held at the field at the Ninth Fort where the mass murder was perpetrated.

2016-11-022016-11-08

75th Anniversary of Mass Murder of Jews of Veisiejai on November 3

Lapkričio 3d. – Veisiejų žydų bendruomenės sunaikinimo 75-osios metinės
The Jews of Veisiejai and Lazdijai were shot in Kaktiškės

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky lost twenty-nine relatives during the mass murders, and only her grandfather and his children survived because of help by rescuers. There are several members of the LJC who are descendants of Jews from Veisiejai, Lithuania, who survived the Holocaust, including: F. Kukliansky, A. Levinsonas, I. Bereznickis, Junona Bereznicky , V. Sideraitė and the sisters R. and L. Ofčinskaitė.

kaktiskes Monument to Holocaust victims in Kaktiškės

Saulius Kuklianskis. the pharmacist in Veisiejai, his wife the doctor Zinaida and their three children Moshe, Ana and Samuelis were living in Alytus when the war began in Lithuania. After the Nazis occupied the country, the family soon lost the young, cared, loving and beloved mother of three Zinaida Kuklianskienė, but the pharmacist and his children survived. The dramatic path to rescue for the family included fleeing occupied Lithuania, living in the Grodno ghetto for a year and a half, flight from Grodno and return to Lithuania, a road filled with danger and the continual fight for survival. After they returned to Lithuania in February, 1943, Saulius, Moshe, Ana and Samuelis hid for a year and half in the forests around Druskininai with the help of residents of the villages of Sventijanskas, Gerdašiai, Vainiūnai, Macevičiai and Bugieda.

2016-11-02

Happy Birthday, Maša Grodnikienė!

Happy birthday, Maša!

Lithuanian Jewish Community deputy chairwoman Maša Grodnikienė is celebrating her 70th birthday! Maša is the initiator and intellectual force behind many of the cultural events held by the Community and has been deputy chairwoman for over 20 years now. Thanks to her the first World Litvak Congress was held in Vilnius in 2001, marking a turning point within the Community and the renaissance of Litvak culture in Lithuania. Maša has contributed so very much to fostering Litvak culture within the Community and in the world.

On the occasion of her birthday, the Community has nothing but the most heart-felt words to say to Maša. We congratulate her on her birthday and wish her the best health, joy at home with her grandchildren, many more creative initiatives in the Jewish Community, a great mood and many more warm moments in life. Happy birthday!

Mazl tov!

2016-11-022016-11-09

Holocaust Victims Remembered on All Saints’ Day

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For most of the year, the Ponar Memorial Complex in the hills south of Vilnius lies empty. Outside of official commemoration ceremonies, few people make it to this somewhat inaccessible mass murder site located to one side of the railroad tracks in a village with few amenities. If you happened to walk through the complex on the dismal and gray first day of November this year, you might have been surprised. The first day of November is All Saints’ Day on the Catholic calendar, traditionally the day when the souls of the departed are honored, and in Lithuania the tradition has merged with older pagan practices to become the holiday of Vėlinės. Lithuanians usually visit the graves of departed relatives and ancestors and solemnly place candles beside their final resting places. Whole hillsides are lit by flickering candles in cemeteries around the country. This year the Ponar mass murder site wasn’t forgotten, either, in yet another sign Lithuanians are embracing the Holocaust and Holocaust victims as their own. In past years candles have been lit at the Polish memorial at Ponar, and occasionally at the Soviet monument there which famously ignores the Holocaust with the non-committal inscription: “To the victims of fascism.” This year all the major Jewish monuments at Ponar also had candles burning in little glass and plastic holders at their base in addition to candles left burning at the Polish, Soviet and Lithuanian commemorative markers.

2016-11-02

Why Does Rabbi Krinsky Seek to Divide the Lithuanian Jewish Community and Our Believers?

LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky

As announced earlier, the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius has been closed for repair work to be carried out, and in the meantime temporary measures have been put in place for the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s congregation of the faithful to pray at the Lithuanian Jewish Community (no special measures are needed by mitnagdim). As Community chairwoman I am surprised that regular repair to the Vilnius synagogue has caused a furor in the global media and on social networks. Entry to Jewish communities around the world entail restrictions, and it is hardly surprising that someone who is constantly disturbing the peace and bothering others is not allowed entry on tyhe grounds that person is intentionally creating conflict situations. The Community’s rabbis have asked that people who disturb religious services not be given entry. The tension caused in recent days by the inappropriate actions of Chabad Lubaviych Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky is not accidental. This rabbi has his own center on Bokšto street in Vilnius and he receives support from different Jewish organizations. We know about them and their intentions to divide the LJC are also known. It goes without saying that a community of a different orientation may receive support, but we have information it is being supported for an ulterior purpose. When to repair the synagogue is our business and our decision. I would ask the world Jewish community to let the Lithuanian Jewish Community live in peace and tranquility and to allow us the right to repair our synagogue when we see fit, not according to what Rabbi Krinsky wants, and if we need help, we’ll ask. The Lithuanian Jewish Community employs two rabbis who are actively involved with the community of believers, among whom there prevails a spirit of peace. A rebirth of Judaism is taking place in Lithuania right now.

2016-11-022016-11-21

Condolences

Efimas Štarkman, a member of the Vilnius Jewish Community, passed away on October 30. He was born March 12, 1938. Our sincere condolences to his family during this time of grief.

2016-10-31

Choral Synagogue Closed for Repairs

The Choral Synagogue at Pylimo street no. 39 in Vilnius is closed until further notice for repairs to the heating system. Prayer services will be held temporarily at the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius.

2016-10-312016-11-09

Rabbi Kalev Krelin Invites Public to Teaching on Kosher Rules and Business in Judaism

This Saturday you are invited to an after-lunch tea and Judaism lesson/discussion with Rabbi Kalev Krelin.

From 2:00 to 2:30 P.M. will be the ABCs of Judaism for Beginners, a half hour of intense learning about the rules of kosher food, an explanation of prayers before different kinds of food and more. It’s important not to be late to this part of the teaching.

From 2:30 to 4:00 P.M. we’ll have a discussion and teaching about business in Judaism. You’re invited to ask questions, learn interesting facts and take one step closer to becoming a real expert on Judaism.

Languages: English and/or Russian, depending on audience.

Registration is not necessary but would be appreciated. It will help us decide which language to use. You can register here:

http://apklausa.lt/f/business-in-judaism-verslas-judaizme-qwvqala/answers/new.fullpage

For more information, contact infolujs@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/events/1248023268604192/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/296000767119214/

2016-10-282016-11-02

On Construction Planned Next to the Old Jewish Cemetery in Kretinga

LITHUANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY

October 27, 2016

To: Juozas Mažeika, mayor, Kretinga

Diana Varnaitė, director
Cultural Heritage Department to the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, Vilnius

ON CONSTRUCTION NEXT TO THE OLD JEWISH CEMETERY AND MASS GRAVE IN KRETINGA AND EARTHWORK IN THE COMPLEX OF THAT LOCATION (CULTURAL REGISTRY UNIQUE SITE CODE 34983)

In our letter of August 9 of this year we brought your attention to a series of indications showing that the Old Jewish Cemetery of Kretinga and the Holocaust site located within it are not being protected and maintained adequately. Of special concern is the lack of a complete fence surrounding the cemetery and that the sections of the cemetery along the perimeter not fenced in are not marked in any way. Since these parts of the cemetery lie on the boundaries of private plots of land, there is the threat that economic activities could be carried out within the territory of the cemetery. This problem has been exacerbated, as we have learned from media reports, with the beginning of construction of a complex of individual residential homes right along the border with the cemetery.

Please assess quickly whether this above-mentioned construction does or does not pose a danger to the preservation of the site of the cultural treasure, and whether during construction or later as the buildings are being put to use and in the execution of commercial activities the eternal rest of the dead interred there will not be disturbed, whether access to the cemetery will be degraded and, if there is a foundation for this, whether or not to halt construction work until all necessary measures are taken to protect the cemetery and insure the integrity of the dead and access to the cemetery is insured.

Faina Kukliansky, chairwoman
Lithuanian Jewish Community

2016-10-272016-11-09

Housing Development Next to Old Jewish Cemetery

Kuriasi senųjų žydų kapinių kaimynystėje

Surveying and infrastructure construction are already going on next to the old Jewish cemetery. A residential and recreational complex is to be built here.

by Viktorija Vaškytė, Pajūrio naujienos

When you see the stakes being driven in and the infrastructure being built in the meadow next to the old Jewish cemetery, residents of Kretinga, Lithuania are concerned that business activity is taking place right next to the place of eternal rest. Chief and senior architect of the Architectural and Territorial Development Department of the Kretinga regional administration Reda Kasnauskė says the regional administration has ordered land surveys of the old Jewish cemetery, so locals have probably seen surveyors measuring the site. She says the territory of the old Jewish cemetery is surrounded by legal plots of land and each one them may be measured and marked.

statinys-planuojamas-kretingoje
This is how the residential and recreational complex to be built next to the old Jewish cemetery will look. To the right: the topography of the future neighborhood.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2016-10-272016-11-09

Jurbarkas Jewish Community: Signs and Memories

Jurbarko žydų bendruomenė: ženklai ir prisiminimai

Leading tours of Jurbarkas, Nijolė Paulikienė tells tourists about Jews as well, because it is impossible to leave out the story of people who lived here for centuries. The guide gets her information from books and from Jurbarkas old-timers.

The large Jewish community who lived in Jurbarkas are now only commemorated on Kauno street, formerly called Didžioji and Vilniaus streets, where there are signs about genocide locations and graves. When Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon visited our town in June, Jurbarkas residents began to recall the legacy of the Jewish community more intently. At the end of October Israel Day events will be held at the public library, and there are plans for sites in the town to commemorate the memory of the Jews.

Guide and teacher Nijolė Paulikienė has much she can say about the Jews of Jurbarkas. She even dreams of setting up a Jewish museum there and is actively charting the vision for that museum. Individual old-timer residents of Jurbarkas still have memories of the Jews in the card-catalogs of their memories, as do the streets covered over in asphalt and the repainted façades of the Old Town. Before World War II Jews accounted for 42% of the population of Jurbarkas, but after the war only 76 were still alive.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

2016-10-272016-11-09

Israel Day Event in Jurbarkas

Izraelio dienos renginys Jurbarke

An Israel Day celebration took place in Jurbarkas, Lithuania on October 26, attended by Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon with embassy staff, representatives from the Jurbarkas regional administration, representatives from the Lithuanian Jewish Community and others.

Before the event the Israeli ambassador and Skirmantas Mockevičius, the head of the Jurbarkas regional administration, met and talked with students from the Antanas Giedraitis-Giedrius Gymnasium in Jurbarkas, and later with Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky and Community members visited the Jewish cemetery in Jurbarkas. The official event took place at the Jurbarkas Regional Administration Public Library in the afternoon, where the photo exhibit “Pope Francis’s Visit to Israel” was opened and a sculpture by sculptor Dovydas Zundelovičius dedicated to the memory of the Jewish community of Jurbarkas was unveiled. The winners of a student drawing contest called “Let’s Draw Jerusalem” were also awarded, photos of trips to Israel were displayed and Jewish cuisine was showcased.

2016-10-272016-11-09

Academic Conference at Ninth Fort in Kaunas

The Ninth Fort Museum in Kaunas is holding an academic conference called Lokalinė Holokausto raidos analizė nacių okupuotuose Rytų ir Vakarų Europos valstybėse [Local Analysis of the Development of the Holocaust in the Nazi-Occupied States of Eastern and Western Europe]. The conference is scheduled for October 27 and 28 at the Best Baltic Kaunas Hotel, Mickevičiaus street no. 28, Kaunas.

2016-10-272016-11-09

Lithuania Seeks to Expand Business with South Africa through Trade Mission

by Keith Campbell
Creamer Media Engineering News

The first ever trade mission to South Africa from Lithuania will arrive in the country on November 1. This is part of the European country’s programme of diversifying its trade and investment partners and expanding into the global economy. The trade mission will remain in the country until November 4.

“There has been a significant interest in South Africa by Lithuanian business,” affirmed international business consultancy The Business Mill CEO Živilė Jankauskaitė, who hails from Lithuania. “There have been proposals for trade missions before, but this is the first and it is no coincidence that it follows the opening of the Lithuanian embassy in South Africa–Lithuania is the only one of the three Baltic states to have an embassy in this country.”

The mission was organised by government business promotion agency Enterprise Lithuania on quite short notice, following a presentation on business opportunities in South Africa by Jankauskaitė. This was attended by 30 companies. Although the forthcoming business mission comprises only six companies, each represented a different sector of the Lithuanian economy.

2016-10-27

French Jews Protest French Decision to Abstain in UNESCO Vote on Jerusalem

France’s Jewish umbrella bodies on Thursday rallied opposite the French Foreign Ministry in Paris to protest France’s failure to vote against UNESCO resolutions that ignore Jewish ties to Jerusalem.

CRIF, the political lobby group representing French Jewish communities, and the Consistoire, French Jewry’s organ responsible for religious services, called for joining a protest rally on Thursday at the Quai d’Orsay. The gathering came in reaction to the passing of two resolutions on Jerusalem this month by UNESCO committees.

France was among 26 countries which abstained from voting during the first resolution at the UNESCO Executive Board last week. It refers to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount only by their Arabic-language names. Similar language was used in a decision adopted this Wednesday by the World Heritage Committee, a UNESCO body.

In an article, CRIF President Francis Kalifat, who is also a vice-president of the World Jewish Congress, wrote: “France decided to abstain. But to abstain when the choice is between truth and a lie, between honoring history and the infamy of revisionism is not worthy of France and its values.”

2016-10-27

“Shameful” House of Lords Event Condemned after Audience “Blames Jews for Holocaust”

by Marcus Dysch

The Israel Embassy in London has condemned an event at the House of Lords at which audience members compared Israel to Daesh terrorists and suggested Jews were to blame for the Holocaust.

One man said Zionism was a “perversion of Judaism,” and then implied an American rabbi had provoked Hitler into murdering six million Jews in the Shoah, using quotes reportedly taken from a neo-Nazi website.

Another speaker is shown announcing, to applause: “If anybody is antisemitic, it’s the Israelis themselves.”

Full story here.
tjc

2016-10-27

Pope Francis: “God promised the land to the people of Israel”

Israeli deputy minister for regional cooperation Ayoub Kara felt the pontiff was sending a direct message to UNESCO.

God promised the Holy Land to the people of Israel, Pope Francis said during a public address at the Vatican in Rome on Wednesday in a speech about migration.

“The people of Israel, who from Egypt, where they were enslaved, walked through the desert for forty years until they reached the land promised by God…” he said.

2016-10-27

Oldest Hebrew Mention of Jerusalem Found on Rare Papyrus from 7th Century BCE

Reference to consignment of wineskins “to Jerusalem” appears on 2,700-year-old First Temple-era scrap believed plundered from Judean Desert cave

By Ilan Ben Zion

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A First Temple-era 2,700-year-old papyrus bearing the oldest known mention of Jerusalem in Hebrew.

A rare, ancient papyrus dating to the First Temple Period–2,700 years ago–has been found to bear the oldest known mention of Jerusalem in Hebrew.

The fragile text, believed plundered from a cave in the Judean Desert cave, was apparently acquired by the Israel Antiquities Authority during a sting in 2012 when thieves attempted to sell it to a dealer. Radiocarbon dating has determined it is from the 7th century BCE, making it one of just three extant Hebrew papyri from that period, and predating the Dead Sea Scrolls by centuries.

2016-10-27

Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania

On the War in Israel and the Situation in Lithuania