Lithuanian Jewish Community

Lithuanian President Visits Israel to Consolidate “Best Relations Ever”

VILNIUS, October 19, BNS–Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė makes her first visit to Israel Monday, determined to give new momentum to bilateral relations with Israel, which she calls “the best ever in history.”

In Tel Aviv the Lithuanian president is scheduled to open the Global Lithuanian Economic Forum and the Global Litvak Forum. She is also to meet with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

The Lithuanian president’s visit to Israel takes place during a recent outbreak of violence in the region which has claimed dozens of lives.

2015-10-19

Alexander Macht Chess Tournament Final Results

Rank Name Rtg. FED points

1 Bieliauskas Marius 2165 LTU 8
2 Sutkevicius Juozas 2043 LTU 7½
3 Šimonis Karolis 2073 LTU 7
4 Dubrovin Daniel 1929 LTU 6
5 Cirtautas Saulius 1931 LTU 5½
6 Jasiunas Raimundas 1680 LTU 5½
7 Beinorius Antanas 1782 LTU 5½
8 Paliušis Rimantas 1452 LTU 5
9 Matulaitis Vidmantas 1621 LTU 5
10 Kraujunas Vladas 1888 LTU 5

Full statistics here.

2015-10-19

Useful Information Regarding the Current Situation in Israel

Friday, October 16, 2015 6:07 P.M.

Useful information regarding current situation in Israel prepared by the Israeli-Jewish Congress

Please find below an email circulated by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the current terror situation in Israel. It contains some very useful information, which can assist you in your community during these difficult times.

A copy of the PowerPoint presentation made by prime minister Netanyahu at a press conference for the foreign press yesterday which contains further useful information about the situation, in particular Palestinian incitement, which is at the root cause of this wave of terror:

http://gpo.gov.il/English/PressRoom/Documents/PRESS%20CONFERENCE%20-%20FINAL.pdf

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October 14, 2015

Incitement and Terrorism

Over the past two weeks, numerous terrorist attacks have been perpetrated against citizens across the country. Eight Israelis have been murdered and 15 of the wounded are still hospitalized.

Most of the terrorists are Palestinian youth under the age of 25 (the youngest attacker is 13 years old), incited to violence by a widespread Palestinian culture of hate.

For years, Palestinian youth has been indoctrinated in schools and on television to follow in the footsteps of arch-terrorists and to engage in indiscriminate violence against Jews. In recent years, this poisoning of children’s minds has been exacerbated by hate speech and calls for murder on the Palestinian social media, which are playing a critical role in the latest wave of terror.

The Palestinian Authority, as well as radical Islamist elements, are using inflammatory Islamic rhetoric to spread malicious lies against Israel:

The Truth: Israel guarantees freedom of worship in Jerusalem for members of all faiths and is fully committed to maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount, which protects the right of Muslims to pray on the Mount, as well as the freedom of all people to visit the Mount.

The Palestinian Lie: A false claim blaming Israel for seeking to alter the status quo on the Temple Mount. Given the high sensitivity of the issue, the fact that the Palestinian Authority propagates such lies amounts to official incitement to violence.

The Truth: A 13-year-old Palestinian teenager viciously attacked two Israelis on October 12, one of them a 13-year-old boy riding his bicycle. The Israeli boy was stabbed 15 times by the Palestinian boy and his cousin, and is hospitalized in critical condition. Police shot the attackers, wounding the Palestinian teenager, who is currently hospitalized in Hadassah University Hospital, and is stable and conscious. His cousin was killed.

The Palestinian Lie: According to Palestinian media, the Palestinian teenager was killed arbitrarily by Israeli security forces. This propaganda deliberately ignores the fact that the teenagers were filmed on a local security camera waving knives and running through the streets in a murderous killing spree. Moreover, the teenager is very much alive, receiving treatment in an Israeli hospital.

Israel is calling on Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders to stop incitement to violence and to call for calm. Palestinian youths deserve to receive an education that will lay the basis for a better future of peaceful coexistence and cooperation with their Israeli neighbors.

Israel is making every effort to restore calm. To this end, as well as in order to lower tensions on the Temple Mount, the prime minister instructed political leaders to refrain from visiting the Temple Mount, including Government ministers and members of the Knesset.

Israel expects the international community to condemn the recent terror attacks and to call for an end to the Palestinian incitement to violence.

Israel remains committed to dialogue with the Palestinian leadership and would like to see the renewal of direct peace talks as soon as possible.

Joël Lion
Director
Public & Academic Affairs Dept.,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem

2015-10-16

Israel’s Anti-Terror Strategy is Ineffectual. It’s Also Vital

The ‘breathing closure’ of East Jerusalem hasn’t stopped the attackers, and IDF reinforcements are negligible, but for panic-stricken Israelis, every little bit helps.

The IDF will provide an additional 300 soldiers to assist police in Jerusalem next week, the Army said on Thursday. Six companies of cadets amounting to several hundred soldiers in officer training have already been sent to reinforce police in cities around the country.

Some of the soldiers already in place, and additional forces joining them next week, come from non-infantry units, predominantly the Military Police and the Homefront Command, an outfit which provides search-and-rescue and emergency response services in war-time, the police and IDF said.

It is the latest in a number of measures paraded by the security cabinet in response to the stabbing attacks which have rocked Israel in recent weeks and sent the population into a panic. Another notable and even more dramatic move by the cabinet earlier this week was to put in place a so-called breathing closure around East Jerusalem neighborhoods, setting up checkpoints at entrances and exits but leaving to the resident population a level of mobility.

2015-10-15

Lithuanian President: Best Relations Ever between Israel and Lithuania

Vilnius, October 15, BNS–Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė says Lithuania and Israel are enjoying their best relations ever as she prepares for her upcoming trip to Israel.

“I think we are able to say we are enjoying the best relations with Israel now compared to the entire post-war history,” Grybauskaitė said in an interview on Lithuanian National Radio Thursday.

The Lithuanian president leaves for Israel Sunday and plans to stay there until Thursday, October 22. Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius, economics minister Evaldas Gustas and energy minister Rokas Masiulis will accompany her.

Dalia Grybauskaitė said Lithuania and Israel share concerns and interests in the fields of defense, internet security and trade, and added her visit to Israel could cause controversy “because of the great tension and conflict we see in the region at the current time.”

The head of Lithuanian state plans to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders during her trip.

“The region is now a major hot-spot globally, and both sides should seek a peaceful resolution. We are here during this tense and difficult time to make a contribution and show our concern, and to show that even Lithuania, tiny Lithuania, can contribute to peace,” Grybauskaitė said.

A new wave of violence has broken out over the last few weeks in the West Bank and Jerusalem, raising fears of a third Palestinian intifada.

Lithuania has supported Israel in the EU and the UN. In 2011 Lithuania was one of fourteen countries to vote against Palestinian membership in UNESCO, the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In September of 2015 Lithuania voted against a resolution to allow the Palestinian flag to be flown at the organization’s headquarters, although the measure was adopted with 119 votes in favor, eight against and forty-five abstentions.

BNS

2015-10-15

Gains, Losses, Looking Ahead

This past month saw both the start and the completion of several Jewish heritage restoration projects. Among them, restoration work has begun in Jewish cemeteries in Kaunas and Vilnius, Lithuania. In Kazan, Russia, the century-old synagogue was rededicated with a festive ceremony. And the synagogue in Nowy Sącz, Poland, which long housed a museum, is being used again for services and is slated for renovation.

Read the newsletter

2015-10-15

Taboo against Death

New book entitled Price of Concord/Memoirs;Portraits of Artists; Interactions of Cultures by prof. Markas Petuchauskas („Versus aureus“ Publishers, 2015; www.versus.lt; info@versus.lt) is available to the readers.

Please find the extracts about prominent Litvak artists from the book.

Samuel Bak, with whom I keep corresponding, told me that he had seen a mono-performance by Chaje Rozental’s daughter Naava Piatka dedicated to her mother. He liked the performance. I thought then that the transference of the performance to the stage in Vilnius might be a good idea. I started corresponding with Naava Piatka. We discussed the questions pertaining to her arrival to the land of her parents as well as those concerning the preparation of the performance. Both in the States and in London, Naava performed in English. It took me a long time to talk her into rehearsing the performance in Yiddish, a language posing difficulties for the actress. Eventually I managed to convince her that on the stage of the Vilnius Ghetto Theatre one must use Yiddish. On the 24^th of September 2003, I organized the first night of the play dedicated to Chaje Rozental entitled Better Don’t Talk. By extending the Art Days dedicated to the commemoration of the 60^th anniversary of the Vilnius Ghetto theatre, we also marked the 60^th anniversary of this phenomenon of Lithuanian Jerusalem and the destruction of the Vilnius ghetto.

2015-10-15

The Precedent of the Binkis Family

Please find the extracts about prominent Litvak artists from the book.

I had already written a review about the play Dress Rehearsal by Kazys Binkis. It was stage director Henrikas Vancevičius who for the first time dared to save that play from complete forgetfulness by staging it. By publishing my article in the newspaper Tiesa, run by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, I wanted to support Binkis’ European level play, which was a new word in our dramaturgy. That was the play which, unused, had been lying in the drawer for a very long time, and which had given lots of doubts to our men in power.

When I proof-read the text, prepared by the publishing house, I felt sick. The main emphases of the review had been changed for another text, underlining the professional limitations of the play and of its production as well. The emphasis was laid on Binkis’ inability to differentiate between the right kind of wars and the wrong ones. All of that had been flavoured with usual Soviet phraseology. I was enraged, and I told them I was retrieving my article, because the present text was reversing my review and was putting it from head to foot.

2015-10-15

Alexander Macht Chess Tournament at Lithuanian Jewish Community Sunday

The Alexander Macht Chess Tournament will be held at the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street No. 4 at 6:00 P.M. on Sunday, October 18. The tournament was organized by the LJC and the elite chess and checkers clubs Rositsan and Maccabi.

Boris Rositsan gave the LJC website a small interview in the run-up to the tournament where, he said, at least 30 people are planning to play. Special medals have been ordered for this competition.

What does the name Alexander Macht signify?

Boris Rositsan: Alexander Macht is an historical figure and a very important person in the history of Lithuanian chess as well as Jewish. We cannot forget this sort of person, so we are continuing the tradition of tournaments. In interwar Lithuania he was Lithuanian champion seven times over. Macht lived in Kaunas and was director of the Jewish People’s Bank. He went to Israel in 1935 and directed the famous Bank Leumi there. No one wrote, said or remembered anything at all about this great chess player during the Soviet period. We have prepared a program dedicated to Litvak chess players. After we presented our book “Žydai Lietuvos šachmatų istorijoje” [“Jews in Lithuanian Chess History”] at the beginning of this year, LJC chairwoman Faina Kukliansky asked us why weren’t continuing that history. I would like to say that we are preparing to do just that in cooperation with the community. We are holding two tournaments, this is for adults, but if strong young chess players come forward, we will include them. On October 31st there will be a tournament dedicated to the memory of Itzhak Vistinietzki [Isakas Vistaneckis] and children will play in that. We are inviting children aged five and over to come and learn to play chess. We have student groups at the community for the ages of 5, 6, 7… and 13 years old. Also, elderly and retired LJC members are coming to us. Fishman is helping me with the training. Serious work is taking place, non-commercial, I really love chess and I want to revive the LJC chess movement.

2015-10-15

Statement Issued by the World Jewish Restitution Organization

European Parliamentarians From 18 Countries Join To Call for Holocaust-era Restitution

BRUSSELS, Belgium, October 14 – Lawmakers from 18 nations today urged European Parliament President Martin Schulz to increase the body’s attention to the restitution of Holocaust-era property, noting the need for resolution seven decades after the end of World War II.

Thirty-six MEPs signed the letter supporting Holocaust survivors, stressing that European parliamentarians “bear a particular moral responsibility to promote the restitution of property unjustly taken during the Holocaust and its aftermath, as well as to advocate for the social welfare of aging survivors and the enduring remembrance of the Holocaust.”

The newly formed coalition of members of the European Parliament, the legislative arm of the European Union, is known as the European Alliance for Holocaust Survivors.

“We appreciate the wide-ranging European support for an increased focus on unresolved Holocaust-era issues,” said Gideon Taylor, World Jewish Restitution Organization chair of operations. “We look forward to seeing an ongoing leadership role and meaningful outcomes by the MEPs comprising the European Alliance for Holocaust Survivors.”

2015-10-14

Israeli Embassy in Berlin Blasts German Media for Slanted Terror Coverage

Writing a commentary on its blog titled “Journalism against all rules,” the embassy accused certain media outlets of failing to identify victims and perpetrators.

BERLIN – Israel’s embassy took German-language media organizations to task on Monday for shoddy reports on the Palestinian terrorism sweeping across Israel.

Writing a commentary on its blog titled “Journalism against all rules,” the embassy accused certain media outlets of failing to identify victims and perpetrators.

“We find again new examples of bias in the German- language media. Many angry readers in these days sent the Israeli Embassy in Berlin examples,” the diplomats wrote in Berlin.

2015-10-14

First Chairwoman of Švenčionys Jewish Community Remembered

A memorial plaque has gone up on the building at Vilniaus street No. 5 in Bluma Katz’s hometown of Švenčionys. Bluma Katz was the first chairwoman of the Švenčionys Region Jewish Community. City and regional administration leaders, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, deputy Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Yehuda Gidron and local residents gathered to remember her at the ceremony to unveil the new plaque.

Katzs was born in Švenčionys in 1913, studied at a Jewish gymnasium and continued her education in Vilnius where she was an active participant in Jewish life. Her teachers included well-known Jewish scholars and writers such as Max Weinreich and Zalman Reyzen, among others. She moved to Russia with her future husband Sh. Yavich. They were both arrested there in 1937, with Bluma Katz sentenced to ten years at a Stalinist gulag in Kolyma. She returned, remarried to her second husband Segalovich, to her hometown, Švenčionys, in 1947. She completed nursing courses and worked for the next 42 years at the city hospital. After Lithuanian independence Katz formed and led the Švenčionys Jewish Community and was noted for her sincere and personal concern for every member of the community. Katz’s memoirs have been published in Lithuania and the West and she always consented cheerfully to meet students from around the world coming to Vilnius to study Yiddish. Katz also attended Yiddish workshops at Oxford University in Great Britain.

2015-10-14

When Will Lithuania Improve Its Holocaust Reputation?

October 11, 2015. The Švenčionys Jewish Community commemorated Holocaust victims at the Menorah statue. Švenčionys city leaders, Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky, Vilnius Religious Jewish Community chairman Simas Levinas, deputy Israeli ambassador Yehuda Gidron, Dr. Dovid Katz and local residents all attended the sad ceremony. Švenčionys Jewish Community chairman Moisiejus Šapiro thanked everyone for coming despite the cold weather to remember those who were murdered. Kaunas ghetto inmate Moisiejus Preisas and Vilnius ghetto prisoner Fania Brancovskaja laid flowers next to the statue. A representative from the local Nalšia regional history museum spoke about the history of the city of Švenčionys, contributions made by Jews to the growth of the city and the tragedy of the Holocaust.

The ceremony to commemorate the dead continued at a mass murder site where eight thousand Jews were murdered in the Švenčionys Forest. Deputy Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Gidron, after hearing eight thousand Jews were murdered at the site, and that six million in total were murdered over a few years, said it is difficult to comprehend those numbers. “I am glad the Švenčionys municipality is planning to erect a memorial plaque with the names of the Jews murdered next to the Menorah statue in the former ghetto territory. This is important not just for each of us, but also for everyone who lives in Švenčionys,” he said.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky said: “We should remember not just the names of those who were murdered, but the names of those who murdered as well. This is necessary not just for condemnation or revenge, because those who are some still alive are very old, while others have passed on and stand in the court of the Almighty. I think it is necessary for all of us, their inheritors, so that our neighbors might know by whose hand the most horrific crime of the 20th century was committed. Because only when everyone whose hands were sullied with the blood of innocent victims is named and condemned, even if only in our thoughts, only then can we start to hope Lithuania might rid itself of its shameful title as a ‘nation of Jew-shooters’,” she said.

Vilnius Choral Synagogue cantor Shmuel Yatom said Kaddish for the dead.

2015-10-14

Monument to Jews of Šeduva Unveiled

Lithuanian prime minister Algirdas Butkevičius, representatives of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, foreign ambassadors to Lithuania, Radviliškis regional administration representatives and Jews from all over the world as well as local residents attended a ceremony to commemorate the murdered Jews of Šeduva, Lithuania, and a ceremony to kick off the Lost Shtetl Šeduva Jewish memorial project.

More photos here

They visited the restored Jewish cemetery and three mass murder sites as well as attending the ceremony for the unveiling of a monument to the Jews of Šeduva in the town center. Under private initiatives architectural compositions by the sculptor Romuoldas Kvintas now greet visitors to two mass murder sites in the Liaudiškiai forest and one in the Pakuteniai forest.

2015-10-13

Analysis: Speech More about Diplomacy than Terror

Netanyahu stresses that in the battle against the threats from Iran and Islamic extremists, Israel is on the “front with Egypt and Jordan, and with many other Arab nations in the region.”

It was obvious from the start that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the opening of the winter Knesset session would focus on the terrorism raging on the streets.

Netanyahu spoke of the 16 border police units which have been mobilized to deal with the violence and the stiffer penalties his government approved for those arrested throwing rocks, firebombs and firecrackers.
He stressed once again that Israel had no intention of altering the status quo on the Temple Mount.

2015-10-13

New Reports on Combating Racism and Intolerance: Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) today published monitoring reports on Austria, the Czech Republic and Estonia.

Austria: ECRI reports, among the main problems, antipathy towards migrants and online hate speech at worrying levels, despite integration policies and awareness raising. [English] [French] [German]

Czech Republic: ECRI expresses serious concern over the lack of progress in eradicating segregation of Roma children in schools and the prevalence of anti-Roma hate speech in political discourse.

[English] [French] [Czech]

Estonia: Concerns remain, such as higher unemployment in regions which are predominantly Russian-speaking, and the unsatisfactory implementation of the new linguistic policy at upper secondary schools. [English] [French] [Estonian]

2015-10-13

Litvak Life before the Holocaust: An Exhibit of the Personal Collection of Michailas Duškesas

The Antanas Žmuidzinavičius Museum of Works and Collections in Kaunas (Vlado Putvinskio street No. 64) is hosting an exhibit of original documents from the personal collection of Michailas Duškesas on Jewish life in Lithuania before the Holocaust.

This unique exhibit is being shown for the first time in Kaunas. It is dedicated to the Jews of Lithuania who were murdered in the Holocaust. A wide range of archival material, photographs, original documents and postcards show Jewish life in Kaunas and throughout Lithuania at the end of the 19th and early 20th century. Jewish activity is presented under the principles of mutual aid, sponsorship and welfare. The exhibit features notable personalities, religious organizations, banks, agencies and credit unions.

2015-10-13

Gercas Žakas Re-Elected Chair of Kaunas Jewish Community

Members of the Kaunas Jewish Community met October 11, 2015 to hear an accounting of the community’s activities and hold elections. At the start of the meeting chairman Gercas Žakas called for a minute of silence to remember community members lost over the last four years since the last general election meeting, most of them active members of the community. He then turned the floor over to Michailas Duškesas, who moderated the rest of the meeting. Žakas provided an overview of his activities and those of the board of the community over the last four years, achievements as well as failings, problems which arose and solutions arrived at, and discussed future plans. After statements and discussion voting on the post of chairman and members of the executive board began. In total 176 ballots were cast. Gercas Žakas received a total of 98% of votes cast for the next chairman over the coming four years. Thirteen people were elected to the executive board as well.

2015-10-13

Lithuanian Ministry of Culture Awards Composer Anatolijus Šenderovas

BNS, Vilnius, October 10–The Lithuanian Ministry of Culture has awarded the composer Anatolijus Šenderovas the medal “Carry Your Light and Believe.” Lithuanian cultural minister Šarūnas Birutis awarded the composer celebrating his 70th birthday this year the award “for significant contribution and extraordinary merit to Lithuanian culture and art, for initiatives inspiring the community to positive activities and for personal responsibility in creating the cultural and spiritual environment,” according to the ministry. The award was presented Saturday during Šenderovas’s birthday concert at the National Philharmonic in Vilnius.

Anatolijus Šenderovas is one of the best known modern Lithuanian composers. He’s participated at more than thirty international music festivals, staged the ballets “Mergaitė ir Mirtis,“ “Marija Stuart“ and “Dezdemona,” wrote music for three symphonies, two concerts for bass, a concert for guitar and chamber orchestra, and other works. In 1996 the composer received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas and in 2006 the award the Officer’s Cross of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas “For Merit to Lithuania.” He won the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art in 1997.

BNS

2015-10-11

Hamas Leader Declares ‘Intifada’ in the West Bank

Hamas’s chief in Gaza on Friday called violence that has hit Israel and the West Bank in recent days an “intifada” and urged further unrest.

“Gaza will fulfill its role in the Jerusalem intifada and it is more than ready for confrontation,” he added.

The Islamic terror movement Hamas rules Gaza, the Palestinian enclave squeezed between Egypt and Israel and separated from the West Bank.

Gaza has been the site of three wars with Israel since 2008, but it has remained mostly calm amid recent unrest in Israel and the West Bank.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania

On the War in Israel and the Situation in Lithuania