Monthly Archives: June 2015
Rabbi Shmuel Jacob Feffer: Rabbinic Judgment on the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery (Manuscript)
Rabbi Shmuel Jacob Feffer: Rabbinic Judgment on the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery
O P I N I O N
by Rabbi Shmuel Jacob Feffer
Editor’s note: The author is president of the World HaGró (Gaon of Vilna) Center in Israel, and co-editor of the Center’s seventy published volumes of the Gaon of Vilna’s works. He has been based in Vilnius around twenty-five years. The original handwritten document, with the rabbi’s signature and personal stamp, is available here. For background on the issue, see here. For the paper trail to date, see here. A registry of the mounting international agreement with Rabbi Feffer’s position is here.
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בס″ד ח′ תמוז התשע″ה לפ″ק פה ווילנא
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זעקת קודש
למען אוהביך שוכני עפר בבית העלמין הישן דווילנא
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אני הרב הדר בעיר הזאת זה קרוב ל-25 שנה ומכיר היטב תהלוכותי′ה ובעיותי′ה, וחרד לעתידה היהודי ועל זכרון עברה הק′ והחשוב כידוע לכל, ועתה ראיתי חובה גדולה בנפשי לצאת בגלוי ולהסיר הלוט בעניין הנשגב דלהלן, ולפרסם האמת ללא צל ספק – העובדות הברורות כשמש בצהרים ולעמוד בפרץ ולא לתת למשחיתים לבוא ולנגוף ח″ו, ואדרבה ביתר תוקף ועוז דקדושה לעמוד איתן על משמרת הקודש למען ה′ ותורתו הק′ והאמונה הטהורה.
Šokiai ant Vilniaus žydų kapų
Pinchos Fridberg (Times of Israel)
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NOTE: The following Lithuanian translation of Professor Pinchos Fridberg’s Yiddish article on the fate of the old Jewish cemetery in Vilnius was prepared by Julius Norwilla. The English version, “Dancing on Jewish Graves in Vilna” appeared in today’s Times of Israel.
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Išgyvenau holokaustą. Gimiau čia, Vilniuje (Jidiš: Vilnė), mieste, kuris dabar yra Lietuvos sostinė, kuris amžinai bus žinomas kaip „Lietuvos Jeruzalė“ dėl čia šimtmečiais klestėjusios žydiškosios religinės ir pasaulietinės kultūros. Mes, holokaustą išgyvenusieji žydai, dabar esame vos keleto tūkstančių žmonių bendruomenė, kurioje esame aktyvūs ir, kaip įprasta, mūsų nuomonės nebūtinai visuomet sutampa. Tačiau dabar turime klausimą, atsakymas į kurį reikalauja pažvelgti į gyvenimą iš esmės.
Rewriting History in Latvia
B O O K S / L A T V I A
by Roland Binet (Braine-l’Alleud/Belgium)
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Since I became interested in the fate of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust in Latvia, rather late (2009), I never failed to buy books when I visited that country, first and foremost written by Jewish survivors of these terrible times, but, also, some books written by non-Jewish Latvians in order to see how they perceived these tragic events, how they related to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and how they presented the history of the German occupation and the mass slaughter of more than 95% of the Jewish population of their country (using the figures of Jews on site at the time of the Nazi invasion as the basis for historians’ estimates).
Why Was Richard Maullin, Head of California ISO, Honored by the Foreign Minister of Lithuania?
O P I N I O N
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LOS ANGELES—Richard A. Maullin, elected less than a year ago as the chair of the California Independent System Operator (ISO) Board, was lavishly honored here on May 31st by both the Lithuanian ambassador to the United States and the Foreign Minister of Lithuania. The latter, in the tradition of royalty, meticulously placed the Lithuanian Diplomatic Star around the neck of Dr. Maullin, a major American pollster and principal of the LA polling and public policy research firm FM3, often still known by its older name Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates.
In Defense of Transparency at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
O P I N I O N / M U S I C
by Ronald C. Kent
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In January 2012 I became aware of a then-upcoming performance of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Since I knew that Carl Orff was a Nazi-approved composer, who created this work in 1936, I wrote a letter to Maestro Andreas Delfs and Music Director Edo de Waart, requesting that they place the biography of Orff during the Nazi period in the program, in the interest of enlightenment, transparency, and full disclosure, thereby situating “Carmina Burana” in its historical context for listeners.
Ukrainian Hitlerist Icons Celebrated in Weston-on-Trent in Derbyshire, England
O P I N I O N / U K / U K R A I N E
by J. North
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Earlier this month, the Ukrainian Youth Association (CYM Great Britain) held a remembrance day at the Tarasivka camp at Weston-on-Trent in Derbyshire. They advertised the event on their website (http://cym.org/uk) and with a poster replete with (ultra)nationalist imagery.
Herbert Block’s Clarification on Participation in Lithuanian Government’s New Heritage Commission
NEW YORK—Herbert Block’s office today issued the following statement which in effect modifies the Lithuanian government’s published list of members of its new commission on the Lithuanian Jewish heritage. This clarification is now linked at relevant points in Defending History’s recent report on the cemetery saga in Vilnius.
Herbert Block has informed Defending History that, while he was appointed to the new Commission by the Government of Lithuania without prior notice, and was honored by the designation, he formally resigned this position. As a Member of the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, a US federal government agency, Mr. Block is not permitted to serve on any body appointed by a foreign government.
Mr. Block attended the May 7, 2015 meeting in Vilnius only as an Observer on behalf of the US Commission.
High Intrigue Over the Fate of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery
by Dovid Katz
Updates in [brackets] to 12 July 2015
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VILNIUS—According to Lithuanian media sources, including the highly respected English-language Lithuania Tribune (now merged with Delfi.lt), the government, working in concert with property developers, plans to declare the controversial project of a huge convention and entertainment center in the heart of the old Vilna Jewish cemetery site as a “project of national importance.” The move enables an application to the European Union for a grant of 13 million euros (14.64 million US dollars at current rates) as part of a grand-total (for now) of 22.8 million euros (25.67 million US dollars) for the new complex. The nation’s prime minister has told Lithuanian media that “after the modern congress center is completed, private investors could build a hotel, parking lots and other infrastructure,” eliciting fears that all of the old Jewish cemetery is becoming a cash cow slated for developers for years to come. The Lithuania Tribune / Delfi.lt report concludes with an estimate of “110 million euros in economic and social benefits over 15 years” in addition to “600,000 foreign tourists and 2.2 million local tourists to Vilnius over that time period, with their spending estimated at 183 million and 60 million euros, respectively,” in other words, with profits from the old Jewish cemetery exceeding the equivalent of 250 million dollars, apart from the millions to be had from the building projects per se. Some estimates are provided in Baltic Course.
Evaldas Balčiūnas at Vilnius County Court Next Monday 15 June 2015
VILNIUS THIS MONDAY:
FRIENDS OF HUMAN RIGHTS, FREE SPEECH AND DEFENDING HISTORY INVITED TO COME OBSERVE / SUPPORT OUR WRITER
Evaldas Balčiūnas
New Conflict Over Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery, As New Heritage Commission Gets Underway
Updates on the new conflict over the old Vilna Jewish cemetery site at Piramónt (now part of the Šnipiškės [Yiddish: Shnípishok] district), and the related issues surrounding a concurrently established new commission on Jewish heritage will be added here as they become available.
THE PAGE IS HERE
Would this Building Project be Pursued if the Cemetery Were the Resting Place of Christians?
O P I N I O N / C H R I S T I A N – J E W I S H R E L A T I O N S / C E M E T E R I E S
by Pastor Michael Maass
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I would like to make an observation concerning the use of Jewish cemeteries for building projects, as this has come to be a major issue of controversy in Lithuania, and in other nations as well.
I would like to pose a question: Would these building projects be pursued if the cemeteries in question were the resting places of Catholics, Protestant Christians, or other non-Jewish people?
Legacy of Rūta Vanagaitė’s 17 April 2015 Conference at Vilnius City Hall
[updated]
Tomas Venclova addresses Ruta Vanagaite’s conference at Vilnius City Hall on April 17, 2015. Photo: Julius Norwilla.
Lithuania’s President and Entourage Lay Wreaths at Ponár on May 8th…
VIDEO
Dovid Katz in Times of Israel (11 May)
Efraim Zuroff in i24 (12 May)
“Equally” at Monuments for Jewish, Lithuanian and Polish Victims, but Skipping the Stone Commemorating the 7,514 Red Army Prisoners of Various Nationalities Starved and Murdered at the Site.
Dictionary of Lithuanian-Jewish Relations (in progress)
Antisemitism Conferences or Studies = Events guaranteed to exclude any mention of contemporary local antisemitism at the point of production, but will feature excellent glossy brochures on the past and on intolerance in faraway lands
Blizzard = Obfuspeak for when Estonia opts out of Obfuscationist documents and inches away from the expected Baltic positions