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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Panevežys Jewish Community Conference Report

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Principal Aida Adiklienė opened the conference “The History of the Holocaust: A Bridge from the Past to the Future,” financed by the Goodwill Fund and held on November 25 at the Rožynas Pre-Gymnasium in Panevežys, Lithuania. She emphasized the institution she heads supports the recognition of human rights. In consideration of that, the gymnasium constantly emphasizes local history, including local Jewish history. “It says in the Universal Charter of Human Rights that everyone is born free and equal, with intelligence and conscience,” the principal said. “When we talk about the Holocaust, we are truly talking about our own history. We need to be glad that we have addressed this topic for more than ten years now at the gymnasium.” Adiklienė said the Holocaust is one of the most complicated topics and not all schools want to deal with it. She was disappointed that even now not all people accept people of other religions and ethnicities. She said there were clear signs of intolerance at work in our society.

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Friday Prayer Breakfast Guests: An Imam from Bordeaux, a Rabbi from Paris

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania is hosting the 15th National Prayer Breakfast with the theme “Do Religions Cause Conflicts and Wars?” on November 27 in Vilnius.

“All the great world religions teach us to work for peace, to love our neighbors, to respect human rights and to respect the dignity of the individual. These values unite all the peoples and people of the world. We cannot now stand by and watch attempts by terrorists to veil their crimes in religious convictions and set people of different faiths at odds,” Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius said.

Rabbi Levi Matusof of Paris and imam Tareq Oubrou of Bordeaux were scheduled to speak at the event, among others.

Bernardinai.lt

Full story here.

IDF Chief Visits Brussels to Set Up New Security Arrangements

Prompted by security fears in Europe, Eisenkot made the unpublicized visit earlier in the week where he met with both Belgium and American security officials.

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Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff lieutenant general Gadi Eisenkot appears at a hearing of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (photo: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)

Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff lieutenant general Gadi Eisenkot went to Brussels earlier this week to meet Belgian security officials less than one month after the Paris terror attacks, the Jerusalem Post’s Hebrew-language sister publication Ma’ariv reported Friday.

The purpose of the trip was to help establish new security arrangements between Belgium and Israel in light of new fears in Europe.

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Israel Might Be Winning in Cyberspace

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Israel advocacy group StandWithUs executive director says the group’s goal is to ‘humanize’ the Israeli image.

NEW YORK—In the midst of escalating tensions and stabbing attacks, thousands of pro-Israel internet users have taken up the fight to tell Israel’s side of the story in the social media.

Last week the organization StandWithUs, which has close to 800,000 followers on facebook and describes itself as a grassroots education movement dedicated to informing the public about Israel, achieved a combined post reach of 100 million on its page.

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Lecture Series

Litvak Resettlement in the Novorossiysk Area of Krasnodarsk Region in the First Half of the 19th Century, by G. Baranova

12 noon, Sunday, November 29

Hanukkah Celebration at Vilnius Grand Resort Hotel

You’re invited to a special Hanukkah celebration at the Vilnius Grand Resort Hotel
at 6:00 P.M. on December 12, 2015.

A warm Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony and a wonderful evening of celebration await you! Musical guests from Israel Uri Zer and Gala and Sergei Libenstein will perform a special program.

Tickets: 15 euros for adults, 10 euros for children 15 and under.

Tickets can be bought workdays from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. in the White Hall of the Lithuanian Jewish Community from November 26 till December 7.

For further information call 8 678 81514

Lithuanian Jewish Community Welcomes New Youth Programs Coordinator

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The LJC welcomes to our staff Pavel Guliakov, the new coordinator of youth programs for the community.

The son of members of the community, former Sholem Aleichem Gymnasium student and college student graduated with honors, Pavel is now our coordinator of youth programs and assistant to Valentin Solomiak. His bachelor’s work, not coincidentally, focused on the history of Jewish Vilna. Many of us already know him since he has worked as a volunteer at youth clubs for about a decade now. Pavel has the true calling of a teacher and likes working with children. Currently the work schedule of the coordinator is filled with meetings and lessons at the regional communities. Events will be held in Šiauliai and Kaunas in the near future. Last week Pavel attended the seminars held by the JDC for Jewish communities aimed at providing greater academic qualifications called “Project Organization, Problem Solving.” The new coordinator says he learned a lot of useful things he will apply in his main work with the Ilan, Knafaim and Students Clubs.

We wish him all the success in the world in his new post, coordinating the very future of the Community.

Israel Gave Intelligence to Germany about Imminent Attack

Germany received intelligence regarding an imminent terror attack against a packed soccer stadium from Israeli intel services less than two weeks ago, the German magazine Der Stern reported Wednesday.

Israeli intelligence provided information which lead German authorities to cancel a friendly soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands at Hannover Stadium on November 17.

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Lithuanian Jewish Community Student Activities

Last Sunday the weekly lecture in the lecture series was dedicated to European Jewish youth life. Amit Belaitė, elected this year to the board of the European Union of Jewish Students, shared her impressions of this organization. Attendees had the opportunity to speak directly with three guests who attended via telephone and shared information about the life of youth in their countries. These were Viktoriya Grodnik from Ukraine, European Union of Jewish Students president Benjamin Fisher and Natan Pollak, a Litvak born in South Africa and former head of the Jewish student union whose great-grandparents came from Lithuania.

The students of the Lithuanian Jewish Community began a photographic project which will tell the stories of Lithuanian Jews. The first interview should be forthcoming immediately. If you’d like to take part in the project and tell your story, please write or call Amit Belaitė at amit.belaite@gmail.com or 869227326

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YIVO Exhibit at Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Department

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As part of celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the YIVO institute for Jewish research in Vilnius, the Lithuanian Jewish Community and YIVO organized a moveable museum exhibit called “YIVO 1925-2015” which is currently being hosted by the Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Department on the first floor of their building at Šnipiškių street No. 3 in Vilnius.

The bi-lingual exhibit presents the story of the YIVO institute from its inception, presenting the founders, operations in pre-war Vilnius, the war years and operations in New York, where founder Max Weinreich relocated YIVO in 1939.

All of the texts, archival documents and photographs in the exhibit come from YIVO’s collections in New York. Currently YIVO conserves over 385,000 books and periodicals and about 24 million more documents, photographs and audio and video recordings. The curator of the exhibit is Eddy Portnoy and the designer was JUDVI. The Lithuanian Martynas Mažvydas National Lbirary and the Lithuanian Central State Archives also contributed to the exhibit.

The exhibit will be on public display until January 5, 2016 at the Cultural Heritage Department.

A Message from the Author Ellen Cassedy

This is our history, our memory

“This is our history, our memory. When one whispers the names and professions of the people who lived here, one can no longer forget.”

A project called “Vardai” (“Names”) is giving Lithuanians an opportunity to touch the nearly-vanished Jewish world, to remember, to mourn, and to connect.

Facing History in Lithuania, my article in Na’amat magazine, tells the story of how Lithuanians are engaging with Jewish heritage through educational curricula, museum exhibitions, plaques, and cultural events. These initiatives help people reflect on questions like these:

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Chief Rabbi of Brussels: No Future for Jews in Europe

Synagogues in Belgian capital closed on Shabbat for the first time since World War Two, Rabbi Avraham Gigi tells Israel’s radio 103 FM.

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Belgian soldiers and a police officer control the documents of a woman in a shopping street in central Brussels, November 21, 2015. (photo credit: REUTERS)

In the shadow of the Paris terror attacks that killed 130 people and as Belgian police sweep the country for terror suspects, the Chief Rabbi of Brussels said Monday that there is no future for Jews in Europe.

Rabbi Avraham Gigi spoke to Israeli radio station 103 FM about the atmosphere of fear in the Belgian capital that has been in a state of near martial law for the past three days.

“There is a sense of fear in the streets, the Belgians understand that they too are targets of terror. Jews now pray in their homes and some of them are planning on emigrating,” Gigi said.

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Legendary Japanese Diplomat Honored at Lithuanian Embassy in Tokyo

“If you save one life, you save a whole world,” so was the event called held at the Lithuanian embassy in Tokyo to honor Japan’s consul in Lithuania Chiune Sugihara, who issued “visas for life” to Jews fleeing the Holocaust 75 years ago.

“Time cannot erase from our memory the suffering of millions of people, the tragedy of the Holocaust. It is thanks to Chiune Sugihara, recognized as a Righteous Gentile, that our future generations will be able to understand that even under the worst circumstances one person, an individual, can achieve so much,” Lithuanian ambassador to Japan Egidijus Meilūnas said at the event.

The Lithuanian ambassador also quoted the words Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius spoke during Diplomat Day: “This year we dedicate a lot of attention to the memory of Chiune Sugihara who worked in Lithuania. His basic modus operandi was to help people. This should be the most important symbol of the profession of diplomat, and because of that we may and do take pride in our profession.”

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Blogger Focuses on Litvak Architecture, Cemetery Protection

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Among the 60 or so experts from more than a dozen countries at the multi-disciplinary conference on Jewish cemeteries in Europe organized by the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe and hosted by the Lithuanian Jewish community on October 25-28 in Vilnius, Lithuania, was Samuel Gruber. Gruber is a cultural heritage consultant who has consulted in the drafting of various documents, scientific research, conservation, exhibition and educational projects in the USA and Europe. He is an historian of architecture and an archaeologist, and an expert on Jewish artistic, architectural and historical sites. He is also a prolific blogger. His blog contains copious posts on Jewish sites, commemorative monuments and issues in Lithuania.

Some of his more recent postings include:

Lithuania: Test Excavations (2011) and Ground Radar Survey (2015) of Great Synagogue and Shulhoyf point to More Archaeology in 2016

Lithuania: The Pakruojis Jewish Cemetery as an Example Where Historic Boundaries Have been Diminished

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Social Center Takes Children to See Play

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On November 21 the Lithuanian Jewish Community Social Center’s program the Jewish Family Service took children and parents to the formerly Jewish theater to watch a fun performance of the Three Little Pigs. Twenty-six people turned out for the event. We would like to thank the Goodwill Fund which made it possible for us to attend. It was a lot of fun for everyone.

The coordinator of the program is planning more such cultural events for families to allow children and their parents to have a good time together during the dark and chilly days of fall.

Congratulations!

Congratulations, Ilja Bereznickas, we’re proud of you!

The Lithuanian Jewish Community congratulates Ilja Bereznickas on receiving the important Golden Gunnar Award at the Fredrikstad Animation Festival 2015 in Norway. Ilja Bereznickas received the award for lifetime achievements and contributions to the Nordic and Baltic animation industry.

Ilja, we’re proud of you! We wish you much inspiration and success! Mazl tov!

Lecture Series

European and Lithuanian Jewish Youth (Work, Projects, Vision)
Amit Belaitė

Participation in a photo project about Jews living in Lithuania now. If you have an interesting historical photograph or an item important to you, bring it along (but not more than three items, please).

12 noon, Sunday, November 22 in the Jascha Heifetz Hall on the 3rd floor of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo No. 4, Vilnius