These past week has been a difficult one for the Jewish community of France and around the world, where we came to mourn the murder of 4 French Jews in the horrific terror attack on a Paris kosher supermarket.

 As The Israeli-Jewish Congress, one of our primary goals is to act as a bridge, to strengthen relations between the State of Israel and the Diaspora, especially the Jewish communities of Europe. This has never been more urgent than today, with increasing terror attacks and rising anti-Semitism across Europe.

Thursday, January 22nd, at 09:00 am (NY time) IJC will participate in the historic Special Session of the UN General Assembly that will address Global Anti-Semitism. The session, to be held under the auspices of the UN General Assembly, has been called for by 37 countries, including Israel, United States, Canada, Australia and all members of the EU. IJC will press for immediate action in Europe, not merely words, to address the ever-growing scourge of anti-Semitism in Europe. At the top of our agenda, we will request that Europe appoint a Special Commissioner to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism (as per the initiative of the Belgian Jewish Community) and for a European-wide definition of anti-Semitism, as well as a range of other initiatives, including legislation against hate speech and Holocaust denial (attached updated IJC Blueprint to be presented during the session).

Please see link to all the info about this special session: http://www.un.org/pga/220115_informal-meeting-anti-semitism

The entire program will be webcast live: http://webtv.un.org/live-now/watch/general-assembly-informal-meeting-of-the-general-assembly-to-address-concerns-of-a-rise-in-anti-semitic-violence-worldwide/1705520925001.

The above link also includes timetable of events and some of the official speaker info. Countries participating will include Israel, U.S., Canada, Australia and all EU Member States, plus some others. In total 37 states are expected to participate.

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister thanked the Israeli diplomatic representative, who resides in Riga, for a very active and constructive cooperation in developing bilateral relations with Lithuania, and for maintaining constant focus on the Jewish Community of Lithuania.

During the conversation, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister thanked the Ambassador for her personal contribution towards strengthening Lithuania-Israel relations and adopting the decision by the Government of Israel to establish its Embassy in Vilnius.

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister highlighted excellent bilateral and political cooperation, especially in the field of culture, and for successful development of relations in the fields of research and life sciences. According to the head of Lithuania’s diplomacy, it is meaningful to continue to boost economic partnership, including through promoting bilateral trade and attracting more Israeli investments.

The Embassy of Israel will be opened at the end of this January in Vilnius. Amir Maimon was appointed as the Ambassador of Israel in Vilnius. Prior to this appointment, A.Maimon served as the Director of the East European Division of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

More at urm.lt

Valerie Braham, who lost her husband, Philippe, in Friday’s terror siege at a Paris kosher market, told Israel’s Ch. 2 News on Sunday that her first inkling of the carnage taking place was when her cellphone text message to him went unanswered, moments after she learned of the attack.

“I started to worry, I sent him a message and I felt that something was wrong,” she recounted.

After taking the couple’s children to school, Philippe Braham, 40, headed over to the HyperCacher, arriving around the same time as Amedy Coulibaly, the Islamist terrorist who seized the market in a bid to assist the escape of Cherif and Said Kouachi, the brothers who were cornered by police in a simultaneous siege northeast of Paris, after they fled the scene of the massacre they carried out at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.

Valerie Braham explained that her husband had gone to the market to collect a few items for their Friday night meal.

“’Lehitraot’ – see you this evening,” were her last words to him.

A short time later, word quickly spread through the Jewish community of a hostage incident at the HyperCacher. As the minutes passed, her stomach knotted.

“At about 1:20, I was at the school to pick up my kids, and I heard about it, and I said, ‘Oh, I know that Philip had to do some shopping for me,’” she recounted.

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A million anticipated to gather at 4 p.m. event in Republic Square; Jews killed in supermarket siege to be buried in Israel; Hollande calls Paris ‘capital of the world’

Over a million are expected to gather in Paris this afternoon for a rally in support of the victims of recent terrorist attacks in the French capital, who include four Jews murdered by an Islamist gunman in a kosher market Friday. Stay tuned to The Times of Israel liveblog for breaking developments

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Polina Pailis, an incredible guardian of bona fide Litvak culture here in Vilnius, with her 96th (!) consecutive monthly exhibition at the premises of the Jewish Community of Lithuania at Pylimo 4. On a completely voluntary basis (her day job is at the National Library), Polina, on the last working day each month, sets up the new month’s exhibition.

The mini-exhibits are bilingual (Yiddish and Lithuanian) and each month focused on a different aspect of Litvak and Yiddish culture. The modest, straightforward, low-tech presentation on simple shelves, with high caliber culturally authentic content, is the classic synthesis of a Litvak who doesn’t let a day, or a month go by without studying something new, with little time for low-content high-tech razzmatazz. We must think of how to celebrate the project’s 100th exhibition coming up this spring. . .

(Reuters) – Scenes from Jerusalem and 1920s Paris are among the rare works showcasing Lithuania's Jewish artists from the last century that are going on show as a collection abroad for the first time.

Lithuania, whose borders before World War 1 included parts of modern Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Russia and Latvia, was a major heartland of European Jewry, famed for its talmudical academies and bookish Jews known as Litvaks.

Looking to leave their traditional surroundings and soak up the creative atmosphere, many Litvak artists, including world-renowned painter Marc Chagall, converged on Paris at that time.

The result was a unique series of works, which became known as the Ecole de Paris, embracing multiple styles including post-impressionism, cubism and futurism. The Litvak artists also fused romantic and melancholic visions of their former Jewish small towns, known as Shtetls, into their work.