VILNIUS, Sept 21, BNS — A special working group is to be established in the Lithuanian Government for dealing with the problems of the Jewish communities, Government Chancellor Alminas Mačiulis said.

This decision came last week during meetings with American Jewish Committee international affairs director Rabbi Andrew Baker to discuss emerging problems.

“We decided to create this entity, whatever we call it, a working group or commission, which would include institutions of the Jewish community, including Mr. Baker, and the Government. And step by step we will solve these problems,” Mačiulis said.

 Mačiulis said he will immediately propose to the prime minister to create this expert group. 

by Defending History Staff

Asuccessful and intensive one-day conference, exhibition and city plaque unveiling were all held today in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, to mark the 150th birth year of the celebrated and beloved Dr. Tsemakh Shabad (1864–1935), Vilna physician, public health advocate, benefactor, Yiddishist theoretician and builder of the Yivo institute and exemplary modern Yiddish schools, who was also a  representative in the city’s municipality. Shabad was a legend in his own time. When poor sick children in any shtetl of Vilna province, of whatever nationality or background, were in danger of imminent death from disease, there were no greater words of relief than “Dr. Shabad is on the way.”

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Moments from the events:

Lithuania is a land where nature comes to the forefront and time, occasionally, comes to a stop.

As the last European nation to abandon paganism – the Christianization of Lithuania took place only in 1387 – it’s not surprising to find that Lithuanians are great lovers of nature.

With over one-third of the country covered by forest, more than 6,000 natural lakes and only three million people in a territory around three times the size of Israel, Lithuania is certainly a land where nature comes to the forefront and time, occasionally, comes to a stop. And nowhere more so than at the traditional Lithuanian bath house – pirtis in Lithuanian.

Our group of five Israeli journalists visited the Angelu Malunas cabin (http://www.angelu-malunas.lt), situated on the edge of the Varniai Regional Park in the western part of the country. Built on the edge of a river, an old water mill has been turned into a bath house (don’t use the word “sauna” or you’ll really upset Richard, the owner), with a dining room above and some simple rooms for an overnight stay.

Thursday, September 11, Vilnius – President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to discuss bilateral relations and the Middle East peace process.

 The President has underlined that Lithuania and Israel are the countries not rich in natural resources, but they have hard-working, talented, highly educated and skilled people. Therefore, especially great potential for bilateral cooperation lies in the spheres of research and innovation.

 According to the President, consistently growing and strengthening economic ties with Israel bring wider benefits to Lithuanian business and people. The two countries intensively cooperate in high technologies, life sciences and investment. Israeli scientists and entrepreneurs are active participants in the Life Sciences Baltics forum. Investments in Lithuania’s IT and research sectors are increasing. Tech Startup WIX, a famous Israeli web development and design platform company, has launched its information technologies development center in Lithuania this year.

 Bilateral trade and collaboration in tourism is growing. After launching direct flights from Vilnius to Tel Aviv last October tourist flows have doubled. Lithuania is also interested in opportunities to expand exports of food products to Israel.

 The President noted that bilateral cooperation and people-to-people contacts between the two countries would be further enhanced by the Embassy of Israel planned to be opened in Vilnius next year.

 As the Memorial Day for the Genocide Victims of Lithuanian Jews and the 70th anniversary of Kaunas and Šiauliai ghetto liquidation are approaching, the President and the Foreign Minister talked about the preservation of historical memory, Holocaust education and promotion of tolerance.

The Middle East peace process was also discussed at the meeting.

Copyright – V. Skaraitis/BFL

Foreign Minister Liberman thanks the Vilnius government for its support at the UN during recent Gaza conflict 

oreign Minister Avigdor Liberman announced on Thursday that Israel would be opening an embassy in Lithuania, in what he called another indication of improving ties between the two countries.

“The ties between Israel and Lituania have grown much stronger in recent years and that is expressed, among other things, by the opening of a Tel Aviv-Lithuania air service, and the development of economic and business ties between the countries in high-tech, technology, and medicine,” Liberman was quoted by Ynet as saying.

The embassy is set to start operating at the beginning of next year in the capital Vilnius.

but fine (if of interest) to post/distribute their own link (where anyone can ask for a free copy of the entire paper edition….):

Yiddish is most definitely not a dead/dying language.

First and foremost, let’s debunk the biggest myth about Yiddish: that the language died along with the six million of the Holocaust. Although the Holocaust devastated traditional Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi society and hollowed out the shtetls and cities in which the language was spoken, Hitler did not succeed in removing Europe’s home-grown Jewish language from the earth. Yiddish survives, and not just in the form of colourful words that made their way into Hebrew and English, but as the full, natively-spoken language of hundreds of thousands of people, most notably Hasidic Jews in the USA and Israel (but also in many other Hasidic corners of the world, such as London’s Stamford Hill). As the native language of hundreds of thousands of souls within the Jewish world’s fastest-growing communities, Yiddish is very much alive and well. Eminent linguist Dovid Katz writes that Yiddish is ‘100% safe for centuries to come’ as a ‘virile written and spoken language’ in Hasidic communities, based on current sociolinguistic and demographic trends.

So, reports of the death of Yiddish have been greatly exaggerated. And as a great Yiddish writer reminds us, for two thousand years, Hebrew was called a dead language too.

2) Yiddish is not just broken German. Yiddish is not just broken Hebrew.

The Vilna Shul – Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture Newsleter , Fall 2014.