by Geoff Vasil

photos by Milda Jakulytė-Vasil

Volunteers in Vilnius none the worse for the wear after an afternoon spent in the cobwebs and gloom of the old ghetto library

 As Litvaks resident and formerly resident in Vilna well know, the Vilna ghetto had its own library.

 Located on what was then Strashun and now Žemaitijos street in the Vilna Old Town, the library, called the Mefítsey Haskóle (or Mefitsey Haskolo in Ashkenazic Hebrew), existed prior to the establishment of the ghetto near the historic Jewish quarter, from about 1921. The street name seems to have been a source of confusion because of the “real” Strashun library located within the Great Synagogue, whose collections were largely bequeathed by a Mr. Strashun.

 Most of what we know went on in the Vilna ghetto that doesn’t come from the very few survivors, we know from the scrupulous diary kept by the Vilna ghetto librarian, the Polish refugee Herman Kruk. Kruk’s diary is longer than DeFoe’s “Journal of the Plague Year” and just as gruesome, if not more so, since the agent of the great death was not the plague, but our fellow man. 

New York Times, USA  20 August 2014

By RONALD S. LAUDER

WHY is the world silent while Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East and Africa?

In Europe and in the United States, we have witnessed demonstrations over the tragic deaths of Palestinians who have been used as human shields by Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls Gaza. The United Nations has held inquiries and focuses its anger on Israel for defending itself against that same terrorist organization. But the barbarous slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Christians is met with relative indifference.

The Middle East and parts of central Africa are losing entire Christian communities that have lived in peace for centuries. The terrorist group Boko Haram has kidnapped and killed hundreds of Christians this year — ravaging the predominantly Christian town of Gwoza, in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria, two weeks ago. Half a million Christian Arabs have been driven out of Syria during the three-plus years of civil war there. Christians have been persecuted and killed in countries from Lebanon to Sudan.

BRUSSELS (EJP)— The European Union reiterated its call for ‘’all terrorist groups in Gaza to disarm and said the situation in the Gaza Strip ‘’has been unsustainable for many years and a return to the status quo prior to the latest conflict is not an option.’’

In conclusions on Gaza issued after a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels, the EU stressed that ‘’adurable ceasefire’must lead to a fundamental improvement in the living conditions for the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip through the lifting of the Gaza closure regime and it must end the threat to Israel posed by Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza as demonstrated by rocket attacks and tunnel construction’’.

‘’The EU is extremely concerned about the fragile situation on the ground following the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip,’’ it said.

The EU strongly welcomed the ceasefire which has been in place since 11 August and called on all the parties concerned ‘’to agree on and abide by a durable ceasefire’’.

More at ejpress.org

By Oren Kessler

Danish Jewish school bans Jewish religious attire

A Jewish school in Denmark has informed parents that its pupils are no longer allowed to wear religious symbols near school grounds.

The private Caroline School in Copenhagen informed parents of the policy in a recent letter. The letter said it was not permissible for students of the 7th, 8th and 9th grades to leave school premises if they are wearing visible Jewish symbols.

“If a boy wears a kippah, we will ask him to put in a cap so it is no longer visible,” principal Jan Hansen said.

Hansen said the measures were part of his schools “level of security, which is higher than in normal schools.” He added: “Unfortunately, it is the consequence of being a Jewish institution, but it something that we and the students are used to.”

Hansen also said the move was “pure preventative.” He added: “I know there has been an increase in the number of Jews who have been accosted over the summer in connection with the conflict in Gaza.”

More news

The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents reporters working in the Middle East, today blasted the terrorist group Hamas for threatening and intimidating reporters working in Gaza.

“The FPA protests in the strongest terms the blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox methods employed by the Hamas authorities and their representatives against visiting international journalists in Gaza over the past month,” the organization said in a statement. “The international media are not advocacy organisations and cannot be prevented from reporting by means of threats or pressure, thereby denying their readers and viewers an objective picture from the ground.”

In several cases, the group said, “foreign reporters working in Gaza have been harassed, threatened or questioned over stories or information they have reported through their news media or by means of social media.”

More WJC news

Want something new? Then bring the kids to the new creative and educational children’s day camp called Anoye!

Group 1 is for kids aged 3-5, group 2 for 6 to 8-year-olds.Location: The Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street No. 4 in Vilnius.

The mini-camp will take place from 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. from August 18 to 22, with a special event called Ensemble for parents and kids on August 24.

The children will be taught new things and skills playing with professional educators from the preschool education institution Vaikystės sodas“ ( http://www.vaikystes-sodas.lt/ ) using the Kimochi method.Not only will your kids learn about Jewish arts and crafts, they’ll become true craftspeople for the entire week, including candle-makers, potters, weavers and braiders.

 Don’t miss this great opportunity to encounter new ways of learning! gistration is open until August 14.

If you’d like to take part in the camp, please fill out the electronic registration form at

http://form.jotformeu.com/form/42092291294354

For further information please contact Julija Lipšic by telephone at 8 659 52604 or Diana Cadovič at 8 652 10642.

Please note that space is limited and enrollment is on a first-come, first-serve basis.

 We strongly believe the mini-camp will help the children learn new things and skills, become better acquainted with Jewish arts and crafts and will be a lot of fun as well as a creative and meaningful way to pass the time.

Jerusalem Development Authority announces 20 million shekel project to open the Old City, Western Wall for tourists with disabilities.

Accessibility ramps and other improvements are being added throughout Jerusalem’s Old City, allowing the disabled easier access to the Western Wall 3,000 years after Solomon built his Temple there, the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA) announced Tuesday. 

A special project of the Jerusalem Development Authority, the Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Office, the Jerusalem Municipality and Social Security, the project will see ramps built in the Jewish Quarter, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the City of David – places that were previously inaccessible to the handicapped. The project will cost, in total, roughly 20 million shekel ($5.75 million). 

Improvements include installing sloping ramps over stairs to help wheelchairs maneuver comfortably, changing signs to accommodate visitors with vision problems, and other cues to help the handicapped find their way. 

More at iraelnationalnews.com

Former American Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is identifying anti-Semitism as an important motivation for the international criticism of Israel’s incursion in Gaza, according to a new interview.

“It is striking … that you have more than 170,000 people dead in Syria. … You have Russia massing battalions—Russia, that actually annexed and is occupying part of a UN member-state—and I fear that it will do even more to prevent the incremental success of the Ukrainian government to take back its own territory, other than Crimea. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Ukraine on both sides, not counting the [Malaysia Airlines] plane, and yet we do see this enormous international reaction against Israel, and Israel’s right to defend itself, and the way Israel has to defend itself,” RodhamClinton said in an August 10 interview with The Atlantic magazine. “This reaction is uncalled for and unfair.”

Clinton continued: “You can’t ever discount anti-Semitism, especially with what’s going on in Europe today. There are more demonstrations against Israel by an exponential amount than there are against Russia seizing part of Ukraine and shooting down a civilian airliner. So there’s something else at work here than what you see on TV.”

Read at www.worldjewishcongress.org

Code Red sirens pierce the air as Operation Protective Edge enters 33rd day of fighting; latest salvo comes after 10-hour lull; IAF strikes targets in Gaza overnight.

Residents of southern Israel awoke early Saturday morning to the piercing sound of code red rocket alerts, as a barrage of rockets from Gaza targeted their neighborhoods.

Militants in the Strip renewed fire just before 7:00 a.m. as sirens blared throughout communities in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council in the northwestern Negev, and in the Eshkol region, which borders Gaza.

A rocket landed in open territory in the Sha’ar Hanegev area, while four rockets exploded outside a community in the Eshkol Council. A second round of sirens were heard in the Eshkol area just before 9:00 a.m., as a rocket launched from the Strip hit a field just outside a community

The latest salvo comes after ten hours of quiet on the Gaza border. Over 50 rockets were fired on Friday towards Israel, as Hamas renewed its rocket fire at the end of a temporary,72-hour lull in fighting.