The Sabbath begins at 9:07 P.M. on Friday, July 29, and concludes at 10:36 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Wooden Synagogue in Alanta Renovated
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Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Lithuania
Sabbath Times
Israeli Ambassador Yossi Avni-Levy Leaving
Israeli ambassador to Lithuania Yossi Avni-Levy’s diplomatic posting came to an end today. We are grateful to him for these several years of friendship and wish him the greatest success in his future postings.
Emannuel Levinas’s Grandson Thinks This Time Best since World War II
Although the war in the Ukraine continues, David Hansel, the grandson of French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas with Lithuanian roots, currently visiting Kaunas, thinks things have never been so peaceful as now. He rejects claims of genocide in the Ukraine by either side in the conflict. In an interview with Lithuanian state radio and television, he shared his ideas about the country of Lithuania, where his family members were murdered in the Holocaust. He attended a five-day series of events about his grandfather held in Kaunas by the Emmanuel Levinas Center of the Lithuanian Health Sciences University and by other faculties at that university and a French organization. Although he says he isn’t a philosopher, he felt the duty to protect his grandfather’s legacy. He said he is a practicing Jew, but that it’s based on what he learned from his grandfather.
Full interview in Lithuanian here.
Thank You to Faina Kukliansky
Dear chairwoman,
I am sincerely grateful to be part of the program “Support for Rescuers of Jews during World War II.” I would like to give a big thank you to senior coordinator Ema Jakobienė, social programs department director Michail Segal and to your entire wonderful collective, thanks to whom I am receiving material and financial support.
My parents, Stasė and Pranas Karalevičiai, rescued 19 citizens of Jewish ethnicity during the war. As a six-year-old I also contributed to this honorable activity to the extent that I could. I was awarded the Life-Saver’s Cross which was presented by president Valdas Adamkus.
Respectfully,
Elena Čepanonienė
Semeliškės, Lithuania
Limmud in the Woods 2022
Lithuanian Makabi Athletes Happy with Showing at World Maccabiah Games
from lrytas.lt
Athletes from the Lithuanian Makabi Athletics Club have concluded competition at the 21st World Maccabiah Games in Israel which ran from July 12 to July 26 with around 10,000 athletes from over 60 countries. Lithuanian Makabi athletes won 6 medals, making these games among the most successful since Lithuanian Makabi was reconstituted. Table tennis player Gerda Šišanovaitė won a gold medal in singles competition and Ignas Šišanovas took silver also in singles matches. Swimmer Michailas Trusovas is coming home with silver in 50-meter freestyle competition. The youngest member of the delegation, 13-year-old Eduardas Šeras, won silver in heated chess matches in the 16- to 18-year-old category.
Condolences
With deep sadness we report Jakovas Mendelevskis passed away at the age of 91 on July 26. He had been deported from Lithuania by the Soviets and was a member of the minyan at the Choral Synagogue in Vilnius.
Russia Kicks Jewish Agency Out over Alleged Violation of Privacy Laws
Israel will send a delegation to Moscow next week in response to Russia’s escalation on the matter, Times of Israel reported.
Russia’s Justice Ministry filed suit on July 21 officially calling for the Jewish Agency for Israel to be dissolved.
Earlier in July the ministry issued a series of demands to the agency which would be difficult to implement. Jerusalem Post has reported the Russian ministry is alleging that the agency unlawfully collected personal data on Russian citizens, though the Post noted it’s not unusual for organizations like the agency to “collect information about people who apply for aliyah or who participate in their activities.”
Lithuanian Makabi Athletes Earn Medals at World Maccabiah
Congratulations to Rafael Gimelstein who took silver in tennis competitions at the World Maccabiah Games taking place in Israel, and to his proud mother Faina Kukliansky. Congratulations also to Alan Rinkevič who won silver in fencing on the international team along with athletes from France and Sweden, and a hearty congratulations to all our other Lithuanian Makabi athletes and trainers who are making such an excellent showing in so many sports.
Condolences
Jelena Levina passed away July 19 at the age of 94. She was born in 1927. She was a long-standing member and volunteer. She will be missed by all of us.
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:19 P.M. on Friday, July 22, and concludes at 10:53 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Happy Birthday to Gennady Kofman
The entire Lithuanian Jewish Community wishes Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman a terrific milestone birthday. He has done so much to collect and share information about the city’s once numerous Jewish community, and always finds the time and energy to meet and help travellers looking for their roots and to teach school children and the wider community about the Holocaust. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Condolences
Richard Freund passed away in Charlottesville, Virginia, on July 14 due to complications involving a bone-marrow transplant he received 18 years ago. He was 67. Freund was a frequent visitor to Vilnius and a friend of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. Besides annual summer digs at the Great Synagogue site in Vilnius, revealing many new facts and the existence of surviving elements and a few surprises at that site, he also headed the non-invasive investigation of the escape tunnel dug by the brenner kommando at Ponar, Jews who were forced to exhume corpses, burn the flesh and crush the bones, who themselves were slated for death upon completion of their task aimed at hiding Holocaust crimes. The rediscovery of the tunnel was featured in an hour-long documentary by NOVA on the American public television network PBS. Freund also led the effort to map the lost Jewish shtetl of Rumshishok (Rumšiškės) just outside Kaunas flooded in the post-war period to create a hydroelectric generation station, and worked on a number of other Jewish sites in Lithuania. He also used non-invasive techniques to investigate the Warsaw ghetto in 2021.
Freund always found the time in the middle of his work to explain his finds to interested on-lookers, and presented his findings to the Lithuanian Jewish Community in a series of presentations in Vilnius.
We mourn his loss and extend our deepest condolences to his widow Eliane, his three children Eli, Ethan, and Yoni and his many other family members and friends at the University of Hartford and around the world.
Happy Birthday, Emanuelis
We wish Emanuelis Zingeris a very happy milestone birthday this July 16. Mazl tov. Bis 120!
Lithuanian Team at Maccabiah World Games Opening Ceremony
The Lithuanian Makabi delegation along with 10,000 other participants marched in the opening ceremonies for the 21st Maccabiah World Games in Israel.
We are very proud of our athletes who this year are the sole representatives of the Baltic states at the Jewish Olympics. Good luck!
Ping-Pong Camp
Children and young people are invited to attend a ping-pong day camp from August 1 to August 25 at the Simonas Daukantas pre-gymnasium in Vilnius from from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Monday to Friday. The workshop will include intensive training, public tournaments and weekly competitions with prizes. The trainers are Neta and Hen Alon with partners Šimonas Lukša and Rafael Gimelshtein who are currently representing Lithuania at the Maccabiah Games. Professional athletes Maja Bliumin and Urtė and Orinta Ramonaitė will also be participating.
Those wishing to attend may choose 1, 2. 3 or all 4 weeks, or the days they are able to attend. The workshop is open to LJC members and friends and students from Sholem Aleichem school. For more information, contact trainer Hen Alon by telephone at 861375124. To register, send a letter to stalotenisoklubas@yahoo.com
Sabbath Times
The Sabbath begins at 9:29 P.M. on Friday, July 15, and concludes at 11:06 P.M. on Saturday in the Vilnius region.
Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Roma
The Roma Social Center invites you join them in marking the Day of Genocide of Lithuanian Roma, August 2.
The commemoration starts at 12 noon at the Ponar Memorial Complex outside Vilnius. On August 3 at 6:00 P.M. the one-man digital play “Samudaripen, I Am King” starring Marius Jampolskis will be performed at the Museum of Modern Art in central Vilnius, located at Pylimo street no. 17.
Roma Social Center facebook announcement here.
Condolences
We are sad to report the death of our volunteer, medical doctor and otorhinolaryngologist (head and neck medicine) Valentina Barsukaitė on July 13. She was born in 1938. We extend our deepest condolences to her daughter, Veronika, and her many friends and colleagues.
Who Are the Degenerates Now?
Grant Gochin
In a study by the UN titled ”History under Attack,” António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, stated: “Understanding the history of the Holocaust is crucial to safeguarding our future. This is particularly crucial as we see some seeking to rewrite history or to whitewash and rehabilitate those who committed crimes against humanity. If we fail to identify and confront the lies and inhumanity that fueled past atrocities, we are ill-prepared to prevent them in the future.” This article borrows heavily from this UN study.
UN Findings
The UN finds that Holocaust distortion is just as pernicious as Holocaust denial. Holocaust distortion depends upon and spreads antisemitism. It threatens the ability to remember and learn from the past by misrepresenting the historical record. It is an attack on truth and knowledge. It feeds on and spreads antisemitic tropes and prejudices, and threatens our understanding of one of the most tragic and violent histories–the genocide of six million Jews.