Click “read more” to see entire gallery.
Wooden Synagogue in Alanta Renovated
Read more
Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania
Picture Gallery of Mini Limmud Conference (Friday)
Ten Most Memorable Moments in Human Rights
A message from the Human Rights Monitoring Institute in Lithuania:
Dear readers,
Our warm holiday wishes to you for the upcoming holidays. We wish you deep relaxation, a rest from worry and work, good time spent with your family and time to reflect on the last year and thing about what you expect from the new year.
Thank you for being with us, for taking an interest in human rights, for supporting us and inspiring us to ever new work. We invite you to remember the most interesting moments in the field of human rights in Lithuania, Europe and the world in 2015. See here.
The eighth human rights review covering the year 2013-2014 has been published and presented to the President’s Office and Parliament. You may read it on our website in English:
Israel and Turkey Discuss Normalization of Relations
Israel and Turkey have reached an understanding on the need to normalize relations which broke down after the 2010 Israeli raid on a Turkish vessel sailing to the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official reported Thursday. The memorandum was prepared during a secret meeting in Switzerland and calls upon Israel to pay compensation to the families of victims of the raid, return Israeli diplomats to their posts and begin talks on natural gas exports to Turkey, the anonymous official said. In exchange Turkey would drop all cases against Israel for the actions against the vessel and would ban Salah Aruri, an important Hamas figure, from traveling to and operating in Turkey. Israel has blamed Turkey of allowing Aruri to plan attacks from Turkish territory. The unnamed Israeli official said the Israeli delegation to the secret talks included future Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s advisor on relations with Turkey Joseph Ciechanover. The Turkish delegation reportedly was led by deputy foreign minister Feridun Sinirlioglu.
BNS
Israeli Officials Praise Reports Terrorist Samir Kuntar Killed in Syria
Israel released Kuntar in 2008 as part of a prisoner swap with the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah group.
Israeli officials praised the reported killing of Lebanese militant leader Samir Kuntar, who was responsible for murdering the Haran family in 1979 as part of a PLO operation and who later joined Hezbollah following his release from Israeli prison.
Reports that Kuntar was killed emerged Sunday morning after Syrian government loyalists on social media claimed that a number of rockets hit a building in the Damascus district of Jaramana.
Full story here.
Thank You!
Now that the Mini Limmud 2015 educational conference on Judaism has ended, I would like to thank with all my heart all the supporters, speakers, partners and colleagues for their priceless help and good advice in preparing the conference.
A huge “thank you” goes out to:
The European Jewish Fund
The Goodwill Fund
The Lithuanian Jewish Community
Faina Kukliansky, Maša Grodnikienė, Simas Levinas, Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon, Feliksas Puzemskis, Gercas Žakas, Josif Burštein, Junona Berznitski, Irina and Arkadijus Goldinas, Lara Lempertienė, Julija Lipšic, Artūras Navickas, Monika Antanaitytė, Lauras Sabonis, Michail Segal, Irina Frišman, Genė Nachumovienė, Rašelė Šeraitė, Diana Paškovaitė, Irina Slucker, Emanuelis Ryklys, Elina Nolan, Uri Zer, Regina Pats, Markas Babot, Rabbi Kalev Krelin, Rabbi Efraim Prijampolski, Devora Prijampolski, Anna Keinan, Saulius Šaltenis,Giedrius Jokūbauskas, Kama Ginkas, Anna Avidan, Galina and Sergejus Libenštein, Jurijus Tabak, Daumantas Todesas, Eugenijus Bunka, Ala Segal, Ruth Reches, Adelina Nalivaikaitė, Alina Azukaitis, Samuelis Garas, Valdis Liakas, Valentinas Solomiak, Pavel Guliakov and the entire team of wonderful Lithuanian Jewish Community youth counselors, the West Express company and Avital Maizel, Nira Koltun, Gdalij Reches, Daina Vrubliauskienė, the Conti Hotel and Semionas Ceitlinas, the Rishon Restaurant and Aleksandras Arončikas, Grimo Akademija and Eglė Pališkienė, Margarita Gurevičienė, the Vilnius Grand Resort Hotel and Ekskomisarų Biuras.
Žana Skudovičienė, Mini Limmud coordinator
Sholem Aleichem Gymnasium Principal Awarded St. Christopher Statue
December 17 is the day the annual ceremony to award the Lithuanian capital city’s highest honor, statues of the city’s patron saint St. Christopher, take place at the Old Town Hall. This year 10 Vilnius residents were awarded for contributions to art, education, environmental protection, health care, science and other fields. Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius presented the awards. Aligirdas Kaušpėdas, architect, honorary citizen of Vilnius and member of the awards committee, began the ceremony saying a total of 55 nominations had been received and it took three sittings of the committee to choose the winners.
“The committee studied carefully each candidate and discussions went on until there was consensus. We try to include many fields, but we don’t award the prize where there are not really worthy candidates,” Kaušpėdas explained.
Award winners this year included photographer Algimantas Kunčius, composer and musician Kipras Mašanauskas, Vilnius Sholem Aleichem Gymnasium principal Miša Jakobas, Lithuanian Association of Prisoners’ Care Milda Bliumenzonienė, environmental protection specialist Pranas Baltrėnas, architect Gintaras Čaikauskas, cardiologist Pranas Šerpytis, academic Virginijus Šikšnys, businessperson Robertas Dargis and New Idea Chamber Orchestra NIKO artistic director Gediminas Gelgotas.
Joel Elkes Dead at 101
Joel Elkes, whose father was Dr. Elkhanan Elkes, the reluctant chairman of the Kaunas ghetto Ältestenrat, or council of elders, died at the age of 101 on October 30 in Sarasota, Florida. Joel Elkes made major contributions to modern psychiatry. His wife Sally Lucke Elkes reported the cause of death was kidney failure.
Dr. Joel Elkes helped shape
treatment for schizophrenia.
Photo: New York Times
Lithuanian Jewish Student Union Celebrates Hanukkah
Lithuanian Jewish Community Student Union director Amit Belaitė furnished the following information and responses from facebook.
This year we began celebrating Hanukkah at the Vilnius Choral Synagogue. Then we went to Roshon, the only kosher restaurant in Vilnius. It was great to see several dozen happy faces and that Rabbi Samuel Daniel Izakson joined our group. Before we began to eat dinner, we lit menorahs. Michaelis Frišmanas, who recently started his own beautiful family, led the getting-acquainted game in which we all shared our hopes and dreams. Hanukkah is inconceivable without playing the dreidel game. We decided to play in an unusual way, a true competition! Five players made it to the finalists’ table and the winners were Michaelis Frišmanas’s wife Gintarė and Rachmilas Garberis. The restaurant surprised us with a fantastic dessert: small kosher doughnuts in the shape of a dreidel! We would like to thank the staff of the Rishon restaurant very much, and especially Aleksandras Arončikas, for performing a Hanukkah miracle and helping us hold the celebration. We would also like to thank Lithuanian Jewish Community program coordinator Julija Lipšic, and the LJC for financial support. Now we know for sure that miracles really do happen during Hanukkah!
Opening of Exhibition of Litvak Art Accompanied by Music Performed by Levickis
The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum unveiled a new art exhibit December 16 called “Shalom Israel! Litvak Artists.” The show includes 37 works by 24 Litvak artists from the museum’s collections, the Lewben Art Foundation, the Lithuanian Exiles Art Fund, the attorney’s office Valiunas Ellex and other private collections. One of the more surprising items at the opening was a musical presentation by Martynas Levickis, accordion player and one of Lithuania’s most famous virtuosos. Levickis performed works by Paganini, Rossini and Vivaldi.
Deputy museum director Dr. Kamilė Rupeikaitė welcomed guests to the event and Valiunas Ellex director Rolandas Valiūnas, Lewben Art Foundation director Indrė Tubinienė and Lithuanian MP Emanuelis Zingeris spoke. Zingeris said Litvak artists kept putting Lithuania on the map even when the country was occupied and acted as Lithuanian ambassadors to the world. He said their Lithuanian origins were indicated next to their works at the most famous galleries everywhere.
Art history expert and curator Dr. Vilma Gradinskaitė presented the idea behind the exhibit and pointed out that almost all of the works on exhibit were being shown publicly for the first time. Two contemporary artists, R. Savickas and A. Jacovskytė, even created works especially for this exhibition. Dr. Gradinskaitė said: “Some of the paintings and graphics works, drawing and medals executed in various styles reveal a dual process in the development of Jewish art and demonstrate how Litvak artists shaped Israeli art, as well as how Israel’s natural environment and local folk-art traditions affected the artistic expression of Litvak artists, including scenery, manner of painting, color palette and mood.”
Lithuanian Jewish Community Student Union Invites You to a Quiz
You’re invited to a quiz moderated by Rachmilas Garberis at 6:00 P.M. on Sunday, December 20 at the Lithuanian Jewish Community located at Pylimo street No. 4 in Vilnius. Good company and prizes are promised! Each contestant should register individually and teams will be formed at the event. No need to worry about language, either, the questions will be mainly musical and visual, and there will be plenty of people on hand fluent in a variety of languages.
Please register by sending an email to amit.belaite@gmail.com
See you there!
Vilnius Yiddish Institute Announces Summer Program for 2016
The Vilnius Yiddish Institute at the Vilnius University announces the Vilnius Yiddish Summer Program for 2016 to take place from July 17 to August 12, 2016, and offering four levels of intensive language instruction for beginners, intermediate, higher intermediate and advanced students.
For more information please contact Indrė Joffytė, program coordinator: info@judaicvilnius.com
http://judaicvilnius.com/
Vilnius Yiddish Institute
Universiteto g. 7
Vilnius 01513
Lithuania
Sugihara Film Second Only to the New James Bond in Japan
Name-recognition of Lithuania’s second city Kaunas is growing like mushrooms after a heavy spring rain in far-off Japan. The Japanese premiere of the new film about the Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, “Persona non Grata: The Chiune Sugihara Story,” took place in early December and has achieved huge success.
Lithuanian ambassador to Japan Egidijus Meilūnas said the film is currently being shown at over 300 theaters in Japan and is second only to the new James Bond film in terms of popularity. Brochures about Kaunas are also being provided to the public at the movie theaters and other public spaces. Japan seems to be buzzing about the film, with many television programs discussing it and broadcasting images of Lithuania and Kaunas.
“Kaunas is being advertised very heavily right now,” ambassador Meilūnas said.
Full story in Lithuanian here.
Film trailer here.
Official film site page in Japanese on Sugihara, Kaunas and Lithuania here.
US State Department Travel Advisory for Israel
Citing a “complex” security environment, the US State Department re-issued a travel warning Wednesday night for US citizens planning to travel in Israel, and for Jerusalem in particular. It urged US citizens and diplomatic personnel to avoid the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and certain areas of Area A in the West Bank.
“The security environment remains complex in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza,” the State Department said. “US citizens need to be aware of the continuing risks of travel to areas…where there are heightened tensions and security risks.” The advisory warned that even though Israel and the Palestinian Authority take precautions to secure popular tourist sites, “these efforts are not 100 percent effective.” American citizens in Gaza were urged to leave as soon as possible and the advisory reminded US government employees they are not allowed to travel to the Gaza Strip for business or personal reasons. Government employees are also forbidden from taking public transportation and need prior approval to travel near the Sea of Galilee, on Highway 98 in the Golan Heights and anywhere south of Beersheba. The advisory replaces prior guidelines issued on February 18.
Last month Massachusetts native Ezra Schwartz was killed in an attack by a Palestinian gunman in the Gush Etzion cluster of Jewish settlements between Jerusalem and Hebron.
Full story here.
Jewish Cultural Tourism Route Association Established
The Jewish Cultural Route Association was officially established at a meeting at the Lithuanian Economics Ministry on December 5, 2015. The group is tasked with drafting and developing a Jewish cultural tourism program with a consistent itinerary of sites in Lithuania.
The meeting at the ministry was called at the initiative of the Cultural Heritage Department. Department director Diana Varnaitė presented the plan there and State Tourism Department director Jurgita Kazlauskienė presented the idea of a Lithuanian Jewish cultural tourism program as a competitive product in the market.
Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky spoke at the meeting and said it wouldn’t have been possible to achieve the results achieved so far without the participation of all the various institutions involved. “I would like to thank you for the efforts made to preserve our cultural heritage and to present it to the world. Synagogues and Jewish cemeteries are today being renovated and put in order. There is still some suspicion in talk about us, characterizing relations with Jews as ‘us and them,’ but I would disagree with that sort of attitude,” she said.
Wooden Synagogues as Tourist Attractions
The Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Department under the Ministry of Culture has posted a PDF file on their website about wooden synagogues in Lithuania and their potential as tourist attractions called “Road of Wooden Synagogues”:
The Road of Wooden Synagogues
The 16th and the 17th centuries were a period of rapid growth and expansion for Jewish communities in Lithuania. These communities could not exist without a synagogue which was their socio-economic, administrative and spiritual centre. The synagogue was where members of the community prayed, studied Torah, and dealt with the problems of the entire community or those of individual members. The synagogue was the first building which a newly established Jewish community would construct as soon as possible to fulfill their vital needs, and thus, of course, they would use the most widespread and cheapest material for constructing the building. The material that served this purpose in the territory of Lithuania was wood which was also used widely in Lithuanian folk architecture. Later, after becoming economically stronger, the Jewish community would build a stone synagogue right next to the wooden one thus forming a courtyard of synagogues. The importance of wooden synagogues would then decrease slightly. Jewish people gathered in wooden synagogues during holidays. Due to the risk of fire, these synagogues would in most cases not be heated therefore they acquired the name cold synagogues (in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.)
A Disappearing Legacy: The Architecture of Wooden Synagogues
The Jewish Culture and Information Center’s Shofar Gallery (Mėsinių g. 3a/5, Vilnius) will host an exhibition of three-dimensional architectural models called “A Disappearing Legacy: The Architecture of Wooden Synagogues” opening at 6:00 P.M. on Friday, December 18, 2015.
The cultural heritage educational project was the unique idea of the architect Aurimas Širvys. Protection and adaptation of wooden synagogues is one of the most urgent problems in wooden-building heritage protection. This project will attempt to bring public attention to the documentation of wooden heritage using the latest computer modeling tools and to present non-invasive techniques for restoring damaged heritage sites.
Jewish Cultural Heritage in Lithuania
The Cultural Heritage Department under the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture has posted a PDF document called Jewish Cultural Heritage in Lithuania:
Jewish Cultural Heritage in Lithuania
Jews settled in the territory of historic Lithuania during the rule of Grand Duke Gediminas in the first half of the 14th century. Economic and historic conditions in the Lithuanian lands proved to be conducive for the emergence of a unique community of Lithuanian Jews, which later became known as the Litvaks. The growing Lithuanian Jewish communities attracted rabbis, who were knowledgeable and experienced in the field of education. Jewish quarters were formed in each town, with a synagogue and a synagogue yard as a prayer house and schooling and administrative centre of the local community. As the authority of Lithuania-based rabbis grew and the Lithuanian Jewish communities prospered, yeshivas, Jewish spiritual high schools, were founded in various Lithuanian towns. From the end of the 19th century, and with yet greater intensity after World War I, a network of secular educational institutions developed in the Republic of Lithuania, in Vilnius, and in the surrounding areas, offering instruction in the Yiddish and Hebrew languages. Local printing houses produced sacred and secular books needed for the educational process. All this collectively created a solid foundation for the Jewish press and high culture—theatre, art and literature—to grow and flourish. The Lithuanian Jewry, like Jewish people everywhere else in Europe, was subjected to the horrors of the Holocaust in 1941–1945. Their cultural heritage fell victim to the destruction alongside its creators. In present day Lithuania, the quiet witnesses of this formerly glorious culture can be encountered in various Lithuanian towns and villages.
ISIS-Inspired Terror Plot Targets Israeli Embassy in Berlin
Two charged in Berlin with “planning a massive act of violence.”
BERLIN–The public prosecutor in Berlin charged two men, both believed inspired by the Islamic State group, with conspiracy to attack the Israeli embassy or another Israeli institution between December, 2014 and July, 2015, Tobiah Kaehni, a spokesman for Berlin’s Criminal Court, told Jerusalem Post Wednesday.
Both men are Berlin-born with Palestinian roots.
The prosecution in Berlin opened its case Tuesday against Mohamed el-N. and Ali el-I., both 21. The men were charged with “planning a massive act of violence.”
Lithuanian Community in Israel Attend Hanukkah and Christmas Event
Holiday jazz rang out at the Felicja Blumenthal Music Center in Tel Aviv on December 11, in celebration of Hanukkah and anticipation of Christmas. The Nerija Lithuanian community in Israel invited compatriots and their family members, and all people with an artistic bent, to attend the second musical event called “Sounds of December: From Hanukkah to Christmas.” Lithuania’s ambassador to Israel Edminas Bagdonas and cultural attaché Saulius Pilinkus honored the community with their presence.
“Jazz is the universal language of the soul and freedom, it has no borders,” community member Ilona Sakalauskaitė, who ended up acting as hostess at the event, said. She invited the public to come hear one of Lithuania’s most talented saxophonists, Danielius Praspaliauskis. The pieces performed by him and Gary Libson, originally from Kaunas and resident in Israel now, received sustained applause. When the audience heard the duet had only formed several hours before the concert, they were amazed. “If this is what they can do after practicing together only once, just imagine what they could with more time!” ambassador Bagdonas exclaimed.
Full story in Lithuanian here.
A Happy Hanukkah for the Children of Panevėžys and Ukmergė
It has become something of a tradition for the Panevėžys and Ukmergė Jewish communities to celebrate Hanukkah together. This year Hanukkah was celebrated at the Vakarinė Žara restaurant with a program drafted by both communities. About 100 members turned out for the holiday celebration including children and adults. Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Amir Maimon also attended with his wife Tal, as did Panevėžys mayor Rytis Račkauskas, members of the Panevėžys city council, Ukmergė regional administration Culture Department deputy director Julius Zareckas, Ukmergė Regional History Museum director Vaidutė Sakolnikienė, Ukmergė Tolerance Center director Vida Pulkauninkienė and other honored guests. The ceremony began with the lighting of the menorah. Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon lit the shamash candle and as Hanukkah music played lit the eight candles held by children.
The ambassador’s wife Tal Maimon lit the main menorah with mayor Račkauskas, Julius Zareckas, city council member Petrauskas, Panevėžys Jewish Community board of directors member Jurij Grafman, alderman Michail Grafman, Artūras Taicas and Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman. The room was filled with warmth and light, appropriate to Hanukkah, the festival of lights. Everyone danced to Hava Nagila.
Ambassador Maimon briefly told the story of Hanukkah and greeted all the participants with Hanukkah greetings. Panevėžys mayor Račkuskas also gave a greeting and wished for understanding, light and peace for all those present. Artūras Taicas passed on the greetings of Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky. Chairman Gennady Kofman explained the holiday foods, what the pancakes and doughnuts symbolize, and told of the three miracles which occurred 2,160 years ago. Toasts were made and celebrants tried the pancakes and doughnuts. Halfway through the celebration gifts were presented to the children, the children improvised a concert, Jewish music was played and the children played dreidl.
