Lithuanian Jewish Community

Jewish Agency leaves government Diaspora initiative

Sharansky tells PM ’Meaningful dialogue’ with organized Jewry has been eliminated.

The Jewish Agency can no longer consider itself a part of the government’s multi-billion shekel effort to bolster Jewish identity in the Diaspora, chairman Natan Sharansky told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.

The program, as currently implemented, violates various agreements between the Jewish Agency and the government, Sharansky wrote in a Thursday letter to the premier that was obtained by The Jerusalem Post.

“Any and all meaningful dialogue with the organized Jewish community, as represented by the Jewish Federations of North America, Keren Hayesod, the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel, has been eliminated. Rather, this undertaking has transformed simply into a funding framework for programs to be conducted by a single government ministry,” Sharansky alleged, referring to increasing control of the government undertaking by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry headed by Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett.

2015-08-10

Lithuanian official denies deportation threat against chief rabbi

Rabbi Chaim Burshtein was detained at Vilnius airport’s passport control while leaving the country a day earlier and told he would not be able to return.

Lithuania’s interior ministry denied claims by the country’s chief rabbi that he was threatened with deportation over his objection to construction atop a Jewish cemetery.

Rabbi Chaim Burshtein, an Israeli citizen who divides his time between that country and Lithuania, told JTA Thursday that he was detained at Vilnius airport’s passport control while leaving the country a day earlier. He said a border police officer informed him he would not be allowed to return for overstaying his visa.
“They changed their minds when I threatened to turn this into an international scandal,” Burshtein said. He added the border police officer told him he had been flagged in her computer system, and advised him to “sort out the problem with the person who ordered the flag,” Burshtein said.

More at jpost.com

2015-08-09

Head of LJC Faina Kukliansky on articles in foreign press about Chaim Burshtein

Recently there has appeared in the world press an article and information that a rabbi has been deported from Lithuania and that this event is connected with plans by the Government to construct new buildings in the old Jewish cemetery in Shnipishok (Piramont) in Vilnius. The Lithuania Jewish Community denies these rumors.

According to LJC chair Faina Kukliansky, no one has deported Rabbi Chaim Buršein from Lithuania.

“He lives in Israel, not Lithuania. After purchasing a ticket Chaim Buršein left Lithuania for Israel for his own reasons. We have no information that his departure was connected in any way with the Congress Center project which the Government plans to implement to both refurbish and commemorate the territory of the Jewish cemetery in Snipishnok. This project has the blessings of members of the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe and all of the Lithuanian Government’s actions concerning this project are coordinated with it. No construction at all is taking place and the project is still under consideration. Rabbi Chaim Buršein is not a citizen of Lithuania and it is possible he does not have permanent residence in Lithuania. His family lives in Israel and therefore it is natural that the head of a family of many children spends the majority of his time there, with the performance of the duties of Rabbi in Lithuania taking second place and being somewhat sporadic.

2015-08-08

Vilnius Yiddish Institute Summer Course Students Celebrate Sabbath at Lithuanian Jewish Community

As in earlier years, this year’s crop of Yiddish summer course students were invited to celebrate Sabbath at the Lithuanian Jewish Community. The event scheduled for the Friday of July 31 was joined by the Union of Lithuanian Jewish Students and became a potluck rather than a hosted dinner.

A Lithuanian girl named Aistė served as greeter and hostess, directing people with dishes, tupperware and bottles of wine to the tables in front of the stage in the White Hall on the third floor of the Community building. Aistė said she was taking the summer course even though she had no Jewish heritage at all in her family, but is simply fascinated with the language and culture of Yiddish. There was some confusion as to the scheduled start of the evening, either 8:30 P.M. or 9, but in the end that lent to the informality of the evening.

The traditional Sabbath blessing was given by VYI summer course teacher professor Abraham Lichtenbaum from Argentina with program head professor Dov-Ber Kerler lending assistance, after which the traditional challa bread was broken and passed around.

2015-08-06

Lithuania’s Great Synagogue, demolished by Russians, draws archeological attention Read more: The Jewish Chronicle – Lithuania s Great Synagogue demolished by Russians draws archeological attention

The Great Synagogue in Vilnius, Lithuania was demolished by Russian troops just 55 years ago, but a local researcher from Duquesne University is already working on preserving its legacy.

Despite the synagogue’s relatively recent destruction, it is nonetheless the subject of an archeological project headed by a worldwide team of experts, including Philip Reeder, dean and professor of the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Duquesne.

Archaeological work undertaken to preserve or reconstruct history does not necessarily have to focus on ancient structures dating back thousands or even hundreds of years, according to Reeder. Rather, he said, archaeology is about “uncovering any history that is potentially lost, even if it 55 years old.”

2015-08-06

Concert of Klezmer Klangen – invitation

You are invited to attend a concert by klezmer musicians to take place at 5:30 P.M., Thursday, August 6.

Klezmer Klangen is a group performing traditional Jewish klezmer music and songs in Yiddish inspired by the ineffable beauty of Jewish ethnic music. Professional musicians who make a living from their musical performances and teaching activities make up the band, a group united by more than just music: in real life they’re a family:

Dainius the father on clarinet;

Rasa the mother, vocals, contrabass, piano;

Saulė, daughter, violin, vocals;

Ramunė, daughter, violin, vocals;

Dovydas, son, vocals, percussion;

Jovita, aunt, accordion, vocals

2015-08-04

Outdoor painting workshop dedicated to Litvak artists invites Lithuanian art lovers to attend

PRESS RELEASE

August 4, 2015

The Lithuanian Jewish Community for the first time in our country’s history is holding an “en plein air” outdoor painting and arts workshop called “Litvak Artists: The L’école de Paris Period” from August 10 to 14. The goal of the workshop is to remember the rich legacy of Litvak artists and their contributions to art history and to fortify and celebrate the memory of this unique cultural heritage in the consciousness of Lithuanian Jews and the broader Lithuanian society.

“The heritage of Litvak artists is a unique phenomenon in the context of Lithuanian as well as global art history. The Litvak artists include people such as Arbit Blat, Marc Chagall, Chaïm Soutine, Lasar Segall and Jacques Lipchitz. It is exactly the desire to share the rich history of the Litvak artistic legacy and to gather art-lovers and the like-minded together which have given stimulus to undertaking this educational project,” Junona Berznitski, the initiator and coordinator of this educational plein air event, said.

2015-08-04

Jerusalem chief rabbi visits victims of gay pride parade stabbing spree

Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Aryeh Stern on Friday visited the victims of the stabbing attack at the capital’s gay pride march, denouncing the assault as “totally contrary to the Torah.”

“This is a day for prayer for the injured and for unity,” Stern said at Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem where the victims of Thursday’s attack are being treated.

“The person that committed this sinful act is a criminal in every way, and his intention to kill Jews is something that is terrifying. Differences of opinion and dispute are legitimate and will continue, but raising one’s hand against one’s fellow is forbidden,” he said.

Stern added that the religious community “does not and will not tolerate such acts,” and that “people who believe in the fear of Heaven are very distant from these deeds.”

Senior United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni also spoke out strongly against the attacker, Yishai Schlissel.

Read and watch more

2015-08-03

Democrats say Iran deal all but secure in Congress

Congressional Democrats are increasingly confident that they will have the one-third votes in either chamber to defend a presidential veto against any legislative bid to overturn the Iran nuclear deal.

Republicans in the House and Senate are expected to push through a “resolution disapproval,” effectively keeping the US out of the nuclear deal negotiated with Iran by a US-led group of six world powers.

But President Barack Obama has promised to veto such a bill, forcing Congress to produce a two-thirds majority in both houses to override the veto.

File photo: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, December 5, 2014 (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

2015-08-03

Lithuanian Makabi Athletes off to a Good Start in Berlin

The swimming competition at the European Maccabi Games in Berlin has ended in which Lithuanian Makabi swimmers made a very good showing. The competition took place in an open swimming pool. Conditions for the athletes were quite complicated because of the low air temperature, varying from 11 degrees in the morning to 18 during the day. The Lithuanian team withstood all the challenges and came away with 16 medals. Each of the four members of Lithuanian Makabi competed in from 4 to 8 swimming styles over the length of the pool. Andrej Fadajev reaped a heavy harvest taking 3 gold and 5 silver medals. Veteran swimmer Ela Pavinskienė won three bronze, as did the young Ekaterina Gampe, while young Artiom Perepelica took two bronze. The home team won another three medals in one-on-one swim-offs with swimmers from other countries, Ekaterina Gamper taking a gold medal and Artiom Perepelica a silver.

Badminton player Alanas Plavinas won two European championship gold medals, one by himself and the other together with Estonian badminton player Semion Bremer.

The Lithuanian Makabi football team faced a tougher course. The team includes Gercas Žakas as coach, Matvejus Fišmanas as head of the team and Arturas Sobolis as team captain. Within the division the Lithuanian Makabi team won against the Netherlands 6:3, against Turkey 7:3 and tied with Spain’s Macabbeans at 3:3, to take first place within the division. There are a total of 15 teams competing, divided into 4 subgroups. Lithuanian Makabi are to face the powerful Israeli team Sunday, August 2, in the semichampionship.

2015-08-02

Scholar: Iran Deal Fuels ‘World’s Leading Exponent of Anti-Jewish Racism’

Dubbing Iran “the world’s leading exponent of anti-Jewish racism,” a former professor of comparative literature and Yiddish at Harvard decried the nuclear deal with Iran touted by President Barack Obama, saying it would fuel “racism on a global scale.”

“Iran’s frank genocidal ambition dwarfs [Nazi Germany]. Whereas Adolf Hitler and Reinhard Heydrich had to plot the ‘Final Solution’ in secrecy, using euphemisms for their intended annihilation of the Jews of Europe, Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweets that Israel ‘has no cure but to be annihilated,’” wrote Ruth R. Wisse.

She wrote that until Iran has a nuclear bomb — though the nuclear deal aims to curb Iran’s ability to do just that — it will continue to commit violence against the Jewish state through Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Lebanese Hezbollah and other regional proxies.

Wisse charged Obama with acting out a double standard on racism; Obama “leaped to the defense” of Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. and Trayvon Martin, but apparently ignores “the world’s most widespread and ideologically driven racism” by forging a deal with the “fanatical anti-Jewish regime in Tehran, despite what he calls Iran’s ‘bad behavior.’”

She argued that Obama’s environment has long been tainted with anti-Jewish beliefs, whether growing up in Indonesia or worshiping in Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, which apparently practices an “animus against Jews and Israel.”

Wisse concluded that “Americans intent on stopping Iran are not against the president but in favor of the hope he once embodied for an end to racism.”

Algemeiner

2015-08-02

Israeli Ambassador Visits Šiauliai

“It is very important to me to get out of Vilnius and see other parts of Lithuania, to get to known them and at the same time to represent Jewish culture,” Israeli ambassador to Lithaunia Amir Maimon is quoted as saying on the Šiauliai municipality’s website.

Maimon with Šiauliai Jewish Community chair Josif Burštein met mayor Artūras Visockas, deputy mayor Stasys Tumėnas, administration director Eduardas Bivainis and deputy administration directors Martynas Šiurkus and Giedrė Mendoza-Herrera at city hall. City leaders showed the ambassador around Šiauliai’s Free Economic Zone and the adjacent area where human remains from the Holocaust era were recently uncovered during construction work. Jewish and Lithuanian leaders quickly reached an understanding earlier that the remains would not be touched or exhumed since they are most like Jewish Holocaust victims and Jewish law forbids moving buried bodies.

2015-07-31

Post-Doctoral Research Continues on Jewish Conversion in Lithuania

Dr. Elena Keidošiūtė who successfully defended her doctoral thesis on Catholic missionary activities among Jews and trends in conversions by Jews in Lithuania has been awarded a Prins Foundation post-doctoral fellowship for 10 months at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. She will be a visiting scholar at New York University concurrently.

According to the Vilnius University webpage, Dr. Keidošiūtė said she felt the fellowship would serve not only to deepen by also assess anew as well as contextualize her research. “I will develop further the research begun during doctoral studies on conversions by Lithuanian Jews to Catholicism in the Russian Empire, interwar Lithuania and the Vilnius region, but more importantly I will have an opportunity to make use of the source materials conserved in the archive of the YIVO, the Jewish research institute. I hope to take part in the discussion with the center and university colleagues as well as researchers visiting these institutions,” she said.

2015-07-31

Letters to the Editor: Lithuanian Group Rejects Charges of Naziism

In an open letter to the editor of the newspaper and website Lietuvos Žinios [Lithuanian News] published July 27, the Union of Freedom Fighters of Lithuania called upon Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašis and director of the Center for the Study of the Genocide and the Resistance of the Residents of Lithuania Teresė Birutė Burauskaitė to allow a memorial plaque commemorating Jonas Noreika, also known by his post-war partisan appellation as General Vėtra, to remain in place upon the wall of the library of the Academy of Sciences building in Vilnius. The call was made seemingly as a result of a recent editorial by Lithuanian veteran of journalism and opinion-maker Rimvydas Valatka in which he recounted Noreika’s Holocaust crimes and deconstructed his image as national hero on multiple fronts. Here is the text of the open letter by the Noreika supporters:

2015-07-31

Letter to mayor of Šiauliai

Read the whole letter there: Scan854-signed

2015-07-31

Condolences

The Lithuanian Jewish Community mourns the loss of one of the founders of the WIZO women’s organization and active community member Fenia Zibuc (January 3, 1921-July 28, 2015).

Our deepest condolences to her surviving son Izaok Zibuc, daughter Marina Vildžiūnienė, her grandchildren and all her other relatives and those who loved her.

2015-07-31

Israeli Ambassador to Lithuania Visits Linava Transport Association

Ambassador of the State of Israel to Lithuania Amir Maimon visited the Lithuanian truckers association Linava and met with association president Erlandas Mikėnas and secretary general Vidmantas Adomaitis in the second half of July. They discusses possible avenues of cooperation between Lithuanian and Israeli transport companies and preparations for the World Lithuanian Economic Forum planned for this fall in Tel Aviv.

The Israeli ambassador wanted to talk about specific tasks of cooperation during the meeting, according to the Linava website. The website reported ambassador Maimon said: “There can be competition on price, quality, reputation and reliability. Israeli companies need to understand why it is beneficial to work with you.” The comments were reportedly in the context of how Lithuanian automobile carriers could form new partnerships with Israeli companies which have existing agreements with other European transporters.

The association website noted the association president also spoke about the extended economic sanctions against Russia and increasing competition among truckers in Western Europe leading to the search for new markets.

The Israeli ambassador reminded Linava officials Lithuanian prime minister Algirdas Butkevičius is planning an official visit to Israel this fall and the Lithuanian president is scheduled to attend the World Lithuanian Economic Forum being held in Tel Aviv on October 19 to 22. He told Linava representatives they should try to attend these events as a venue for making their aspirations known.

For the full story in Lithuanian

2015-07-31

What’s Lithuania Trying To Prove By Accusing Jews?

With horror, I read recently about the Lithuanian state’s attempt to hide its history of Nazi collaboration — by accusing Jewish partisans who fought against the Germans (and their Lithuanian collaborators) of ill-defined, ill-documented “war crimes.” It’s not the first time such an effort has been made, but it’s still maddening to read the charges brought against the now-elderly heroes of Lithuanian Jewry .

As the grandson of a Holocaust survivor and nephew of a victim, I was offended: here were folks fighting in self-defense against murderous invaders, and you try them! But as someone who had been to Lithuania, studied Lithuanian history, and continues to navigate Lithuania’s labyrinthine bureaucracy, I also knew there was a reason for this sickening development. Lithuania’s government and its nationalists have something to prove.

2015-07-31

City of Kaišiadorys Adopts Žiežmariai Synagogue

At a meeting Thursday, July 30 of the Kaišiadorys City Council with mayor Vytenis Tomkus and Lithuanian Jewish Community chairperson Faina Kukliansky as well as the LJC’s heritage protection expert Martynas Užpelkis attending, the council considered what to do about the wooden synagogue falling into ruin in Žiežmariai. The LJC presented a plan for renovating the synagogue and the meeting was marked by a friendly atmosphere of cooperation. The council resolved to take on the synagogue with an exploitation agreement and to apply to EU structural funds for its renovation. After renovation and in addition to serving as commemoration of the lives of the Jews of Kaišiadorys and surrounding areas, the synagogue is to be used for the cultural needs of the people of the district. The council invited city and regional residents to take part in a clean-up of the Žiežmariai Jewish Cemetery on August 21.

LJC chair Faina Kukliansky thanked the Kaišiadorys City Council on behalf of the Lithuanian Jewish Community for their good will and understanding in adopting the important decision and called upon the Lithuanian Jewish community to join in the clean-up of the cemetery once used by the local Jewish community which no longer exists.

There are examples in Lithuania of how restored synagogues have been made available for the cultural needs and public use by the local community in Kėdainiai, Pakruojas and Joniškis. Currently a plan is being drafted to restore the Kalvarija synagogue complex as well.

Kaišiadorys and Žiežmariai are located almost right next to each other along the main Kaunas-Vilnius highway.

2015-07-30

Elvis Presley’s Jewish Roots Highlighted on his 35th Yahrtzheit

On the 35th anniversary of his death Thursday, Tablet magazine highlighted something about Elvis Presley that even his die-hard fans probably don’t know: he’s Jewish!

According to Talmudic law, whereby one is considered a Jew by matrilineal descent, then Elvis Aron Presley is indeed a member of the tribe by virtue of his mother.

Tablet points out that when Elvis’ eligibility to be nominated to the Jewish American Hall of Fame was highlighted along with other Jewish celebrities, the organization cited historian and biographer Elaine Dundy’s book “Elvis and Gladys” as evidence of the rock legend’s Jewish heritage:

2015-07-30

Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania

On the War in Israel and the Situation in Lithuania