European Day of Jewish Culture Events in Vilnius, September 3
September 3rd is coming. The first Sunday in autumn, the day the Lithuanian Jewish Community will again celebrate the European Day of Jewish Culture, a day the Community has celebrated for a decade now. As in previous years, all events across Europe to celebrate the day are modeled on a general theme. This year it’s memory. This topic is like a bridge leading to the Jewish cultural legacy which remains to a great extent unknown by the wider population. #Atmintis or Memory doesn’t end on the first Sunday in September, of course, and in September and October the Lithuanian Jewish Community will hold and coordinate events throughout Lithuania..
Below you’ll find the events program for September 3, all of which are free and open to everyone.
Register here: https://bit.ly/459c4nZ
#EŽKD2023 #EDJC2023 #Atmintis #AEPJ #LietuvosŽydų(litvakų)Bendruomenė #CviParkas #BeigeliųKrautuvėlė Kultūros Paveldo Departamentas Tautinių mažumų departamentas prie Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybės #mūsųbendruomenės #OurCommunities

Choral Synagogue, Pylimo street no. 39

11:00 A.M. – 12:00 noon Yiddish lesson with Simas Levinas, synagogue kitchen: Yiddish lesson with Simas Levinas, chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish Religious Community, in the synagogue’s kitchen space. This is a good opportunity to get acquainted with the Litvak “mama loshen” (mother tongue) as well as to visit the kitchen area, which is rarely open to the public.

12:00 noon – 1:00 P.M. First Hebrew lesson with Ruth Reches, PhD. Everyone who has considered studying the ancient language of the Torah and the language of Israel but never dared start is invited. Reches will soon announce as well new Hebrew language classes.

1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M. The autumnal High Holy Days with Natalja Cheifec and Choral Synagogue cantor Shmeul Yatom: pomegranates, round challa and sacred songs. This will include a tour of the Choral Synagogue, Jewish New Year treats, prayers sung by the cantor and many interesting secrets about the building. Concert by Jewish song and dance ensemble Fayerlakh

Petras Cvirka Park, across the street from the Bagel Shop Café and the Lithuanian Jewish Community, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

12:00 noon – 1:00 P.M. Welcome speech, healthy food according to the Torah, let’s play sports with Lithuanian Makabi and presentation by students from Sholem Aleichem ORT Gymnasium.

12:00 noon – 4:00 P.M. Lunch at the CVI Park Israeli street food kiosk and outdoor café. Rosh Hashana plein-air outdoor painting workshop with Raimondas Savickas.

1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M. Concert by Jewish song and dance ensemble Fayerlakh.

4:00 P.M. Greetings on the European Day of Jewish Culture! Prayer sung by cantor.

5:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M. Musical program at Petras Cvirka Park:

J. Achron’s “Wiegenlied” (“Duettissimo” variation for violin and cello)
Performers: Dalia Dėdinskaitė (violin), Gleb Pyšniak (cello)

A. Šenderovas’s “Iš užmirštos knygos” [“From the Forgotten Book”]
Performers: Rafailas Karpis (tenor), Darius Mažintas (piano), Dalia Dėdinskaitė (violin) and Gleb Pyšniak (cello)

“…as the sun will always rise…”
Performer: Marta Finkelštein
The “…as the sun will always rise…” program originated from the longing the performer felt for beauty. It is woven together from passages from the piano works of Šenderovas, Čiurlionis, Aglinskas and Digimas (with Mekas’s text and Sakellariou’s voice) and fragments of works by Sakomoto. The melancholy shared by these artists working in the Lithuanian landscape, accompanied by the musical phrases of the composer from the Land of the Rising Sun, remind us that, no matter what might happen, the sun will nonetheless rise tomorrow.

Live concert “Malda” [“Prayer”]
Soloist Rafailas Karpis (tenor) and pianist Darius Mažintas perform works in concert with improvisations by virtuoso saxophonist Petras Vyšniauskas and percussionist Arkadijus Gotesmanas. The quartet present an impressive musical and spatial event where Yiddish melodies ring out as a prayer inviting us to higher things.

7:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M. Music and light show “From Generation to Generation,” R. and S. Gimelstein

Vilnius Old Town
11:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. Viljamas Žitkauskas leads walking tour of Jewish Vilnius. Participants are to meet at the bell tower by the Vilnius Cathedral at 11:00 A.M., from there passing by the Presidential Palace, entering the mediaeval Jewish Quarter, touring the big and small ghettos set up by the Nazis and concluding at the Choral Synagogue in time to attend the lesson on the High Holy Days (see above).

Bagel Shop Café, Pylimo street no. 4, Vilnius

11:00 A.M. – 12:00 noon Challa-making workshop, family preparations for celebrating the Jewish New Year 5784.

1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M. Vilnius at Seven Hundred Bagels! #BeigeliaiJungiaBendruomenes

2:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. Where Did the Goat Go? Meet author, artist, illustrator and animator Ilja Bereznickas, author of a book about a Jewish goat, including a goat-hunt.