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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Event to Re-Open Former Synagogue in Žemaičių Naumiestis

Event to Re-Open Former Synagogue in Žemaičių Naumiestis

The town of Žemaičių Naumiestis is inviting the public to attend an event reopening the former synagogue there as a cultural and performance space, reintegrating it into the municipal landscape.

In the past the synagogue was used as a storage space and as a Soviet Palace of Culture, and for a time as a sports gymnasium. It has been empty and abandoned for years now.

The organizers of the upcoming festival called “Bridges of Michael” hope to extend a bridge between the past and present through art.

Ot begins at 5:00 P.M. on September 23 with an exhibit of works by Ilja Bereznickas including screenings of his animated films. At 6:00 P.M. an installation with live music opens featuring pianist Darius Mažintas, with video by Andrius Seliuta von Rath and Dali Rust. Organizers of the event invite visitors to photograph and film as much as they like, and to share their recordings on social media.

The event is free and open to the public but seating is limited, so attendees are asked to register by sending an email to mykolotiltai25@gmail.com or by clicking here.

There will be a party afterwards at the Pas Virgą café and ffor that registration is strictly required by clicking the same link indicated above.

Comedy in Jewish Poetry

Comedy in Jewish Poetry

Miglė Anušauskaitė, a noted Lithuanian cartoonist as well as translator and Judaica scholar, will give a presentation in Lithuanian on humor in Jewish poetry at the Lithuanian National Library at 6:00 P.M. on Thursday, August 4. This is the first installment in a series of events and lectures dedicated to an exhibit of works by Tania Mouraud, the French artist. The Mourand exhibition runs till November 9 at the Lithuanian National Art Museum, Gostauto street no. 1, Vilnius, and is titled “In Honor of Revived Pain” [loose translation].

International Yiddish Courses a Success

International Yiddish Courses a Success

The two-week International Yiddish Courses hosted by the Lithuanian Jewish Community and the Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium brought students together from around the world with Yiddish song, excerpts from classical texts, comedy and the lore of Jewish Vilne.

“I would like to thank all the organizers who helped us hold the annual courses. We are so happy that Jewish students from Lithuania and from abroad are studying Yiddish, that they are interested in it as a language, but also as a tradition, partially religious, including food and songs. All this together constitutes Jewish culture which we strive to preserve,” Lithuanian Hewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky commented.

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News from Šiauliai

News from Šiauliai

Visitors from Germany visited the Šiauliai Jewish Community last week. In the company of Šiauliai Jewish Community members they visited the Šeduva Lost Shtetl Jewish Museum whuch they said left a deep impression on them. The visitors said they’d like to visit the museum again.

The guests from Germany attended a Sabbath celebration with the Šiauliai Jewish Community.

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Condolences

Ilya Arkhangorodsky (Ilja Archangorodskis) has passed away. He was born in 1931. He was a member of the Lithuanian Jewish Community and a client of the Saul Kagan Welfare Center. We extend our deepest condolences to his friends and family.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 8:18 P.M. on Friday, August 29, and concludes at 9:13 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 8:00 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:18 P.M. Monday is Labor Day in the United States and Canada, and the first day of school in Lithuania.

EJC Joins Ten Leading Jewish Orgs to Support EC Anti-Semitism Coordinator

EJC Joins Ten Leading Jewish Orgs to Support EC Anti-Semitism Coordinator

The European Jewish Congress along with ten of its associate members in Europe including the Lithuanian Jewish Community is expressing support and gratitude to Katharina von Schnurbein, coordinator for fighting anti0Semitism for the European Communission.

Signatories also included Jewish youth groups throughout Europe.

The letter to the EC president and EC commissioner for internal affairs comes in response to criticism of von Schnurbein claiming she’s biased.The signatories claim she is being criticized for doing too much real work to fight anti-Semitism and foster Jewish life in the EU.

A copy of the letter can be found below.

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Australia Points Finger at Iran for Melbourne Synagogue Arson

Australia Points Finger at Iran for Melbourne Synagogue Arson

Speaking at press conference Tuesday morning local time, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian intelligence service ASIO had determined Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard was responsible got at least two terrorist attacks on Australian Jews.

ASIO director Mike Burgess told the press conference Revolutionary Guard agents used cut-outs and proxies to effect the attacks on the Addas Israel Synagogue in Melbourne and the Louis Continental Kitchen and Curly Lewis Brewery at Bndin Beach in Sydney. Addas was firebombed in December, 2024, and the Jewish restaurant were subject to arson attack in October, 2024.

Albanese and foreign minister Penny Wong said Australia expelled the Iranian ambassador and three Iranian embassy officials un response, eddectively shuttering the Iranian embassy in Australia opened in 1968. The PM said Australian embassy staff in Tehran had been removed to a safe third country. Albanese and Wong said they would maintain skeleton diplomatic relations with Iran through a third party, likely the Swiss embassy.

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Great Synagogue Topic of Interest on Morning Radio

Great Synagogue Topic of Interest on Morning Radio

The Ryto Allegro [Mornin Allegro] program on Lithuanian state radio’s classical music channel asked about plans to rebuild the Great Synagogue in Vilnius last week, following the announcement the Vilnius municipality began removal of a Soviet0era brick school house on top of the remains of the Great Synagogue on August 18.

Lithuanian Jewish Community chairwoman Faina Kukliansky told the interviewer, “Rebuilding the synagogue as a house of prayer doesn’t make sense because there are not enough Jews who want to pray to support that.”

Sje moted the final death knell for the Great Synagogue came in the Soviet era. Although it was heavily damaged by bombardment in World War II, the Soviets sought to erase religion from daily life, and billdozed the parts of the synagogue which were still stamding..

“The Community’s main goal is to revivify the neighborgood which for many years was known as the Jewish Quarter. Many interesting artifacts were discovered during archaeological digs which the story of the Jews who lived here, and these should be memorialized and shown to the public,” Kukliansky told the radio audience.

The interviewer asked whether it was realistic to expect the site to become a Jewish community center. Kukliansky said that possibility shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.

“I don’t want to say too much while plans haven’t been finalized, but there is a team with world-renowned architect Massimiliano Fuksas to create a modern center which included creating an attractive space for young people to learn about the Vilna Gaon, Jewish history and the former Great Synagogue,” Kukliansky commented.

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Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 8:34 P.M. on Friday, August 22, and concludes at 9:32 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 8:16 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:34 P.M.

Australian-Israeli Relations on the Brink

Australian-Israeli Relations on the Brink

by Geoff Vasil

The Australian media, former Australian ambassador to Australia Dave Sharma, Jewish community leader Alex Ryvchin and a series of Australian politicians on both sides of the aisle are saying Israeli-Australian relations are at an all-time low.

This followed a tweet by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling Australian PM Anthony Albanese a weak leader who has failed to protect Australian Jews.

Albanese appeared to brush off the criticism and told the press he tries to deal with international leaders respectfully.

Shortly after a letter Netanyahu had sent Albanese several days earlier leaked in the media. The letter accused Albo of pouring fuel on the fire of anti-Semitism in Australia and called him a coward in so many words for appeasing Hamas with recognition of Palestinian statehood.

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Cvi Park Israeli Street Food Kiosk to Hold Musical Picnic with Free Pizza

Cvi Park Israeli Street Food Kiosk to Hold Musical Picnic with Free Pizza

Cvi Park was chosen as a pop0-up location for the Augalyn series of vegetarian picnics and food samplings. Rumor has it Cvi will be offering gree pizza at the event. Organizers are also promising musical accompaniment. It all happens this Friday, August 22, at the park across the street from the Lithuanian Jewish Community at Pylimo street no. 4 in Vilnius, starting at 4:00 P.M.

More information available here.

Trump Sanctions ICC Officials for Targeting Americans, Israelis

Trump Sanctions ICC Officials for Targeting Americans, Israelis

by Rachel Wolf, FOX News, August 20, 2025

Four additional International Criminal Court (ICC) officials are facing U.S. sanctions over actions targeting Americans and Israelis. The State Department cited president Donald Trump’s executive order titled “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court” as its reasoning for issuing the sanctions.

Those named are ICC judge Kimberly Prost (Canada), ICC jJudge Nicolas Yann Guillou (France) and ICC deputy prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan (Fiji) and Mame Mandiaye Niang (Senegal).

“These individuals are foreign persons who directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation,” secretary of state Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Full story here.

Snapshots from the Journey the Kaunas Jewish Community Made to Germany

Snapshots from the Journey the Kaunas Jewish Community Made to Germany

A delegation from the Kaunas Jewish Community recently returned from a trip to Germany where they visited Dachau and other sites. Kaunas Jewish Community chairman Žakas Gercas’s uncle and father were imprisoned at Dachau.

The delegation also visited Wrocłaq in Poland, two castles in Germanym the city of Munich, the quaint town of Regensburg.and Nürnberg (Nuremberg). They stopped in Krempną in Poland on the way home.

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Makabi Summer Sporting Event on Sunday

Makabi Summer Sporting Event on Sunday

The Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club invites you to come participate in light competition at the swimming hole in the Žirmūnai neighborhood in Vilnius August 24. Members, friends and anyone who wants will play volleyball, basketball, chess, disc golf, spike ball and a Makabi Challenge tournament with lots of other diversions. The event will conclude with a picnic. This is an all ages event. Attendance is free and open to everyone but space is limited. Register here.

Time: 11:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M., Sunday, August 24
Place: https://maps.app.goo.gl/3UeyRQoUpanKpW2U7

Natalja Cheifec on the Holy Land, Part 3

Natalja Cheifec on the Holy Land, Part 3

Natalja Cheifec continues here discussion of the Holy Land and its people in a third installment as part of her internet discussion club Thursday. To receive zoom credentials, click here.

Time: 6:00 P.M., Thursday, August 21
Place: internet

School House on Great Synagogue Site to be Demolished

School House on Great Synagogue Site to be Demolished

The Vilnius news website madeinvilnius.lt reports work to remove a brick building, a former school, above the subterranean remains of the Great Synagogue in Vilnius is set to begin August 18. The city municipality says the removal is necessary to both provide access to and protect the archaeological site which includes the Great Synagogue and adjacent mikvot.

Full story in Lithuanian here.

Sabbath Times

Sabbath Times

The Sabbath begins at 8:51 P.M. on Friday, August 15, and concludes at 9:81 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region. Sabbath candles should be lit at 8:33 P.M. and completed before sunset at 8:51 P.M. Friday is VJ Day, this year marking 80 years since the Allies forced the unconditional surrender of the fascist Empire of Japan (August 15 in the eastern USSR, China and Australia, August 14 in the United States. September 2 is also celebrated as VJ Day marking the formal surrender tjrpigh the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender by the Japanese foreign minister representing emperor Hirohito and the “Big Six” powers on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay)..