VILNIUS - In Your Pocket

For a complete guide to Jewish Vilnius see the website at
vilnius.inyourpocket.com.
Jewish life
Chabad Lubavitch Centre (Chabad Lubavitch
Žydų Religinė Bendruomenė) H-5, Bokšto 19/12,
tel. (+370) 615 838 44. This combined community
centre and synagogue is engaged in numerous religious
projects aimed at enlightening those who need enlightening
and restoring the spirit and sensibilities of religious
Jewish life. Led by the Boston-born Rabbi Sholom Ber
Krinsky, the only truly resident rabbi in Lithuania over the
last decade and a half, Chabad is especially known for its
festive Jewish holiday celebrations, at which everybody
is welcome. It also supplies visitors with kosher food and
needed religious items and services. QOpen 09:00 -
17:00. Closed Sat, Sun.
Choral Synagogue (Choralinė Sinagoga) H-4,
Pylimo 39, tel. (+370) 5 261 25 23. Built in a Moorish
style in 1903, this is the only one out of over 100 prewar
Jewish prayer houses that still functions. The term Choral
Synagogue relates to the inclusion of a choir section, a feature
considered by some a revolutionary form of modernisation
and assimilation at the time it was built. Rabbi Chaim Burstein,
who is here part of each month, officiates.
Jewish Community of Lithuania (Lietuvos Žydų
Bendruomenė) A-2, Pylimo 4, tel. (+370) 5 261 30
03, www.lzb.lt. This is the country’s primary address for
its living Jewish people, providing a wide range of cultural,
communal and social services from kindergarten through to
senior level. Led by the redoubtable Dr. Shimon Alperovich
(Simonas Alperavičius), legendary for standing up for Jewish
rights however and whenever the community comes under
challenge. Along with the two functioning houses of worship,
this is where you can meet the genuine Jewish locals. The
building also houses a youth club, Jewish Student Union,
Union of Former Ghetto and Concentration Camp Inmates and
the Union of WWII Jewish Veterans. QOpen 10:00 - 17:00.
Closed Sat, Sun. J
Museums
Holocaust Museum (Holokausto Muziejus) H-4,
Pamėnkalnio 12, tel. (+370) 5 262 07 30. The smallest
but most important and best known component of the
three addresses that collectively comprise the city’s Vilna
Gaon Jewish State Museum, the museum (also known
as the Green House) has been led for many years by the
indomitable champion of Holocaust truth-telling, Rachel
Kostanian. One of its founders, Dr. Rachel Margolis, now
in her late 80s, has been in the news for several years as
one of the Jewish anti-Nazi partisan veterans wanted for
questioning by Lithuanian prosecutors. Unable to return
to Lithuania from Israel, her cause has been taken up by
US congressmen, members of the British House of Lords
and others internationally. The museum is famous for its
unvarnished, accurate account of the Holocaust in Lithuania
and the massive local involvement in the actual killing. Its
modest, old-fashioned exhibits are far from high modern, but
the heartfelt creation of local Holocaust survivors. Outside
is a small monument to Japan’s pre-war Vice Consul to
Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara, who issued thousands of visas
against orders, saving many Jews from certain death. Find
it at the top of a steep driveway and invisible to anyone
simply walking along on the street below. QOpen 09:00
- 17:00, Fri 09:00 - 16:00, Sun 10:00 - 16:00. Closed Sat.
Admission 5/2Lt.
vilnius.inyourpocket.com
Jewish vilnius
Jewish tours
Professional guides lead tours in English and Hebrew
through the Baltics and Belarus.
Yulik Gurvitch Tel. (+370) 699 907 09
Ilya Lempertas Tel. (+370) 687 132 85
Regina Kopilevich Tel. (+370) 699 054 56
Justina Petrauskaitė Tel. (+370) 699 540 64
Daniel Gurevich Tel. (+370) 655 174 91.
Statues & Memorials
Jewish Cemetery (Žydų Kapinės) E-1, Sudervės
Kelias 28. By Soviet order, both old Jewish cemeteries
were destroyed after the war. With the help of foreign
diplomacy only a few graves of famous people such as
the Gaon of Vilna were moved here in a concession to
the community. This new Jewish cemetery was actually
opened just before the war and nowadays, especially on
Sundays, is a place where Jewish people visit the graves
of their beloved and you can meet interesting locals. The
Gaon’s grave attracts visitors from many countries who
leave notes of supplication by the graveside. To the left of
the entrance is a small office where maps of the cemetery
can be obtained if it’s open. Gravestones are covered in
the writing of many languages including Yiddish, Lithuanian,
Russian, Polish and English. To get there by public transport
from the centre, take bus Nº73 from the Lukiškės stop or
Nº43 from the station.
Map of the Ghetto (Geto Žemėlapis) B-5,
Rūdninkų 18. On the site of the former gate to the larger
of Vilnius’ two ghettos, find a map showing the size and
positioning of the area where the city’s Jewish population
were kept before liquidation commenced. J
Paneriai
Paneriai Memorial Museum (Panerių Memorialinis
Muziejus) Agrastų 17, tel. (+370) 680 812
78. Between July 1941, and August 1944, approximately
100,000 people of whom over half were Jewish were
murdered at this site by the Nazis and a hotpotch of willing
Lithuanians from such sinister organisations as the
Ypatingasis Būrys (Vilnius Special Squad). A traumatic
but necessary part of any Jewish-related visit to Lithuania,
find several monuments and the remains of the
pits where the victims were burned. The typical Sovietera
museum inside a small building on the murder site
features exhibits explained in a baffling and irregular mix
of languages including everything from stomach-churning
photography to the clothing worn by a man whose job it
was to sift the remains of the charred bodies for gold.
Not recommended for children. Paneriai (Ponar to the
Jews, Ponary to the Poles) is about 8km southwest of Old
Town. Catch a Trakai- or Kaunas-bound train, get off at
Paneriai and turn right on leaving the station. The site is
at the very end of the road. To get there by car, drive out
on Savanorių in the direction of Kaunas until you reach
the E28 highway, peel off here and look for the pitifully few
signs put up in order to help you get there. For a chilling,
eye-witness account of the events that took place here,
read Kazimierz Sakowicz’s extraordinary book Ponary
Diary, 1941-1943, published by Yale. Q Museum open
09:00 - 17:00. Fri, Sat by appointment. Admission free.
August - November 2012
67