PIRAMÓNT | OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER PROJECT | PAPER TRAIL | CEMETERIES
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Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites
New U.S. Video on Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery Features Prof. Shnayer Leiman and Malcolm Hoenlein
Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Sid (Shnayer) Leiman
Tagged Old Vilna Jewish cemetery, Piramont (Snipiskes), Snipiskes Jewish cemetery
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What Should be Done with the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery?
OPINION | PIRAMÓNT | OPPOSITION TO CONVENTION CENTER PROJECT | PAPER TRAIL | CEMETERIES
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by Shnayer Leiman
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What should be done with the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery (Piramónt, in the Šnipiškės district of modern Vilnius)? It should be restored. For this to happen, the Soviet ruin in its center should be taken down to ground level, with no further earthworks in the cemetery, ever. Let it forever remain a testimonial to the vibrancy of Jewish life in Vilna.
THIS ARTICLE IN LITHUANIAN TRANSLATION
Two of Vilna’s greatest photographers and artists, Juozapas Kamarauskas (d. 1946) and Jan Bulhak (d. 1950) were mesmerized by Vilna’s Jewish sites, and especially by the Old Jewish Cemetery. They left us with an abundance of photographs and sketches of the Old Jewish Cemetery. Jewish scholars of the 19th and 20th centuries, residents of Vilna, recorded and published for posterity meticulous transcriptions of the texts of hundreds of epitaphs inscribed on the tombstones of the Old Jewish Cemetery.
Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory, Sid (Shnayer) Leiman
Tagged Jan Bulhak, Juozapas Kamarauskas, Piramont Snipiskes cemetery, Shnayer Leiman, Vilnius Jewish cemetery
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Hon. Herbert Block’s Lithuanian Engagements and the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery
OPINION | PIRAMÓNT | OPPOSITION | USCPAHA (US COMMISSION FOR AMERICAN HERITAGE ABROAD) | CPJCE | ADMAS KODESH | PAPER TRAIL | CEMETERIES
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VILNIUS—The Hon. Herbert Block, a prominent and popular personality known to New Yorkers from his days as the highly successful Jewish affairs liaison for the campaign and administration of New York City mayor David Dinkins years ago has emerged as a major force at the confluence of Jewish-Hasidic, American and Lithuanian-government politics on issues in Lithuanian-Jewish affairs. There are conflicting views about his myriad, and some would say conflict-of-interest laden, entanglements that include a Satmar group in Monroe, New York intent on fulfilling the wishes of Vilnius builders for a convention center and annex in the heart of the old Jewish cemetery of Vilnius (allegedly for the financial benefit of their London followers in the CPJCE), a US taxpayer funded agency that exists to preserve Jewish cemeteries (but has yet to issue a word of protest at the “convention center in the Jewish cemetery” project) and the Lithuanian government’s “Good Will Foundation” that allocates monies deriving from the religious properties of the annihilated Jewish communities of Lithuania.
NEW SECTION ON MR. BLOCK’S LITHUANIAN INVOLVEMENTS
Posted in "Admas Kodesh", "Good Will Foundation" (Jewish Restitution in Lithuania), CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Herbert Block and Issues of Lithuanian Jewish Cemetery Preservation, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, United States, USCPAHA (US Commission for Preservation of the American Heritage Abroad)
Tagged Admas Kodesh (New York), CPJCE (London), GWF (Good Will Foundation, Herbert Block + American Zionist Movement (AZM), Herbert Block + Lithuania, Herbert Block + WJRO, Satmar (Aaron branch), USCPAHA (Commission for Preservation of Heritage Abroad), Vilnius, World Jewish Restitution Organization
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Vilnius Workshop, Monday 10 April, on Self-Identity & Fate of Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery
EVENTS | OLD VILNA JEWISH CEMETERY | CHRISTIAN-JEWISH RELATIONS | ANDRIUS KULIKAUSKAS
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VILNIUS—An invitation has been extended by the office of Dr. Andrius Kulikauskas to all interested colleagues to attend a seminar in Vilnius Old Town this Monday, 10 April 2017, from 1 to 5 PM (1300 to 1700) at the campus of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University on “Self-Identity and the Old Jewish Cemetery.” People who can only stop in for part of the event may come and go as needed.
MONDAY 10 APRIL
Come and visit between 1 and 5 PM at Workshop on Self-Identity and the Old Jewish Cemetery, at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Traku Street 1, corner of Pylimo, entrance from Pylimo. Defending History’s section, opposition tracker, and paper trail.
EVERYBODY WELCOME
Posted in Andrius Kulikauskas, Bold Citizens Speak Out, Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok)
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Sign The Petition for the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery Today!
Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok)
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US Taxpayer-Funded Commission Mixed Up in Desecration of Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery is Reported to Senate Oversight Committee
“US COMMISSION FOR AMERICAN HERITAGE ABROAD” | PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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VILNIUS—A member of the United States Congress today provided to Defending History the PDF of the letter sent by Senator Ron Johnson, then (and current) chair of the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, to Ms. Lesley Weiss, then (and current) chair of the taxpayer-funded “United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad” (USCPAHA). The letter concerned scarcely believable levels of corruption and wastage of taxpayer money. The 12 page PDF follows below (note the page-turning arrows in the upper left hand corner).
Posted in "Admas Kodesh", Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Herbert Block and Issues of Lithuanian Jewish Cemetery Preservation, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), United States, USCPAHA (US Commission for Preservation of the American Heritage Abroad)
Tagged Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Federal agency corruption in Washington DC, Herbert Block + Lithuania, Herbert Block + USCPAHA, Lesley Weiss, Ron, United States Commission for the Preservation (USCPAHA)
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Vilnius Author of Piramónt Petition, Head of Kaunas Synagogue Present Petition’s 39,000 Signatures to Lithuanian Government
PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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VILNIUS—Ruta Bloshtein, author of the international petition to save the old Jewish cemetery in Vilnius from a massive convention center project, and Meyshe Bairak, director of the Choral Synagogue of Kaunas and chair of the city’s religious community, today presented a copy of Ms. Bloshtein’s petition in the Lithuanian translation of Julius Norwilla to Government House in central Vilnius. The large swath of paper, visible in the informal photograph, on the public counter, is the printout of the nearly 39,000 signatures from all over the world garnered to date. Ms. Bloshtein is a native of Vilnius, Mr. Bairak of Kaunas. Both are scions of old Litvak Jewish families of many centuries’ vintage in the depths of Lithuania. Most of their relatives perished in the Holocaust.
Posted in Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok)
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London Beth Din (Rabbinical Court) Issues Summons to Two Leaders of Lithuania’s Official Jewish Community
HUMAN RIGHTS | VILNIUS JEWISH LIFE | LITVAK AFFAIRS
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LONDON—Defending History has learned from reliable sources that The Judicial Division of the London Beth Din (Court of the Chief Rabbi) issued a summons on 27 February 2017 (1 Adar 5777 by the Hebrew calendar) calling upon Simas Levinas, chairperson of the Vilna Jewish Religious Community, and Faina Kukliansky, chairperson of the Lithuanian Jewish Community, to “agree to attend a hearing and sign a binding Arbitration Agreement, on receipt of which we will fix a hearing date for the mutual convenience of all parties.”
Posted in "Good Will Foundation" (Jewish Restitution in Lithuania), Chabad in Vilnius, CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Human Rights, Lithuania, Lithuania: Textbook Case of East European Restitution (for Lost Jewish Assets) Abused to Dismantle a Vibrant Jewish Community, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, United Kingdom
Tagged Faina Kukliansky, Lithuania, London Beth Din + Vilnius, Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, Simas Levinas
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Ethical & Cultural Level of “Admas Kodesh” (/CPJCE) that is Underpinned by Taxpayer-Supported USCPAHA
PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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FROM A 5 JULY 2016 TWEET FROM THE OFFICIAL ADMAS KODESH ACCOUNT:
The reference in the tweet is to the outstanding 24 June 2016 essay by the eminent Professor Bernard Fryshman in Yated Ne’eman. Professor Fryshman’s critical role in a landmark 2014 United States Congress law protecting vulnerable cemeteries of minorities internationally was explicitly recognized in the applicable Congressional Resolution. Why would a taxpayer supported agency, USPACHA, now be engaged in repeatedly honoring the Satmar-Aaronite sect’s de facto unit for trading away other people’s graves that publicly libels Professor Fryshman and any others who seek to defend the sanctity of human burial grounds around the world?
Posted in "Admas Kodesh", CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Herbert Block and Issues of Lithuanian Jewish Cemetery Preservation, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), United States, USCPAHA (US Commission for Preservation of the American Heritage Abroad)
Tagged Admas Kodesh, Benzion Shalom Eliezer Freshwater, Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage, CPJCE, federal agency corruption, Herbert Block, Lesley Weiss, Piramont Snipiskes cemetery, US gov corruption, USCPAHA corruption, Vilnius Jewisih cemetery
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London CPJCE Spokesman Proclaims a Soviet Ruin in Vilnius to be Lithuania’s “Tower of London” and its “Statue of Liberty”
OPINION | PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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MORE ON THE CPJCE. OUR OPEN LETTER TO THEM. Exposés by Wikileaks, Jerusalem Post, JTA, and DH.
UPDATE: THIS ARTICLE WAS REPUBLISHED IN THE FIVE TOWNS JEWISH TIMES
In a remarkable interview cited today in the highly respected Five Towns Jewish Times, an Orthodox publication based in Inwood, Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, and Hewlett, all in Nassau County, Queens, New York, Rabbi Abraham Ginsberg, the PR specialist for the London-based CPJCE (“Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe”) is quoted as explaining why, in his estimation, the Lithuanian state feels the burning national-priority need to build a convention center and annex in the heart of Vilna’s historic Jewish cemetery that dates to the 15th century and continues to hold the remains of thousands of Vilna Jewish citizens whose families duly bought their plots over the centuries:
“I asked the rabbi why we are accepting the fact that this excavation and construction that will potentially unearth more bones and destroy many more graves must go forward.
“The rabbi explained that the location is important to Lithuanians because it was in this stadium now in disrepair and rotting that the Lithuanians declared their independence in the aftermath of the collapse of Communism in 1990. ‘This location is Lithuania’s London Tower and Statue of Liberty; they are not letting it go anytime soon,’ Rabbi Ginsberg said.
“He’s a little upset at the American rabbis who met with the Lithuanian ambassador in Washington last week.”
Excerpt from Larry Gordon’s report, “A Grave Matter in Vilna” in the Five Towns Jewish Times, 23 February 2017
Posted in "Admas Kodesh", Chabad in Vilnius, CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Dovid Katz, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion
Tagged 5 Towns Jewish Times, Aaron branch of Satmar alleged corruption, Andrius Kulikauskas, Antanas Guoga, Benzion Shalom Eliezer Freshwater, Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries, CPJCE, Diana Vylite, Larry Gordon (5 Towns Jewish Times, Lina Saulenaite, Lithuanian prime minister Butkevicius, Lithuanian-Jewish affairs, N.Y., Old Vilnius Jewish cemetery, Piramont Snipiskes cemetery, Rabbi Abraham Ginsberg (CPJCE), Rabbi David Niederman, Rimvydas Valatka, Satmar Hasidim alleged corruption, Satmar in Monsey, United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg
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A Year & One Month Since US Commission on Heritage Abroad (USCPAHA) “Reported to Satmar Rebba” in Monroe, N.Y.
“US COMMISSION FOR AMERICAN HERITAGE ABROAD” | PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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VILNIUS—Today marks one calendar year-and-a-month since “Admas Kodesh,” the American affiliate of the London “grave trading unit” called CPJCE (Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe) boasted on Twitter that Herbert Block, a prominent member of the State Department linked Commission for Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad (USCPAHA), came to Monroe, New York to “report to the Satmar Rebba”… Thirteen months later, there has still not been a single public word from the taxpayer-funded commission urging the Lithuanian government to move its convention center project away from the old Jewish cemetery, as now called for by a petition signed by 38,000 people including, in its first moments online in December, the official chief rabbi of Lithuania. The “Admas Kodesh” group had previously, in August 2015, posted triumphant photo-ops with the commission’s chairperson, Ms. Lesley Weiss. Earlier that month, they posted photos of USCPAHA’s Jules Fleischer thanking (!) the Lithuanian Consul General in New York for preserving the cemetery. The same “Admas Kodesh” group so dear to the US taxpayer-funded USPACAHA regularly attacks major Jewish scholars with whom it disagrees, particularly on the Vilna cemetery. One infamous July 2016 tweet refers to the esteemed Professor Bernard Fryshman, who played a major role in the US Congress’s passing of a 2014 law on preservation of cemeteries of minorities, as “Lying Professor Bernard Fryshman” for holding a different point of view on CPJCE / Admas Kodesh role in the Vilnius scandal.
See earlier summary of USCPAHA’s Vilnius cemetery record and DH’s USCPAHA section (best to scroll to bottom and peruse chronologically)
TWEET FROM 20 JAN. 2016: “STATE DEPT COMMISSION’S MR. HERBERT BLOCK REPORTING TO SATMAR REBBA” Mr. Block brought his sons along for the photo-op. One of those pictured is Mr. Gary Schlesinger, author of defamatory tweets (see sample, bottom of page) against Professor Bernard Fryshman and others who have opposed desecrating the old Vilna Jewish cemetery.
Posted in "Admas Kodesh", "Good Will Foundation" (Jewish Restitution in Lithuania), CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Dovid Katz, Herbert Block and Issues of Lithuanian Jewish Cemetery Preservation, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Politics of Memory, United States, US State Dept Manipulated?, USCPAHA (US Commission for Preservation of the American Heritage Abroad)
Tagged Commission for Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe, CPJCE, Herbert Block, Lesley Weiss, Paul Berger, Piramont (Snipiskes), USCPAHA, Vilna Jewish cemetery, Vilnius Jewish cemetery
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Professor Shnayer Leiman’s Letter to the Editor of “Ami”
PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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The following Letter to the Editor (see middle column) from Professor Shnayer Leiman appeared in today’s edition of Ami, following upon the 18 January 2017 feature article by Riva Pomerantz, “Guardian of the Cemetery.”
Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Sid (Shnayer) Leiman
Tagged Ami magazine, Jewish cemetery in Vilnius, Lithuanian-Jewish affairs, Piramont Snipiskes cemetery, Riva Pomerantz, Shnayer (Sid) Leiman
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“Weekly of Vilnius” is First to Cover Bloshtein Petition in Lithuanian Media
PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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VILNIUS—The prestigious Weekly of Vilnius, which provides a digest and interpretation in English of news concerning Lithuania, especially for the diplomatic, governmental, business, academic, arts, cultural and international affairs communities, became the first publication, in its 5 February issue, to break the ostensible wall of silence in the Lithuanian media on the international petition by Vilnius native and resident Ruta Bloshtein. Her petition, concerning the fate of the old Jewish cemetery at Piramónt in the Šnipiškės (Shnípishok) district of Vilnius, the nation’s capital, has to date garnered close to 38,000 signatures, making it the largest Litvak effort since the Holocaust. The petition calls on Lithuania’s president, prime minister, chancellor, the mayor of Vilnius and the European Commission’s president to move the project of a new national convention center away from the old cemetery. It comes after years of local and international opposition to the project. The Weekly of Vilnius, edited by the widely admired Nehro Khalil, has been known on more than one occasion to breach walls of silence concerning “the second opinion” on an array of issues and topics.
Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Politics of Memory, Ruta (Reyzke) Bloshtein
Tagged Antanas Guoga, Commission for the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad, Nehro Khalil, Old Vilna Jewish cemetery, Piramont (Snipiskes), The Weekly of Vilnius, USCPAHA
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Rabbi S. J. Feffer, Authority on Gaon of Vilna, Issues Ruling on Old Jewish Cemetery
PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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VILNIUS—Rabbi Shmuel Jacob Feffer, who has edited many volumes of the works of the Gaon of Vilna (Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, 1720-1797) under the imprint of Machon HaGra, today released the following statement concerning the old Vilna Jewish Cemetery and the current plans to erect a convention center within it. It is also available in PDF format. In the format below, please click on the arrow in the upper left hand corner to turn the page forward or backward. Earlier versions of the ruling are available in the original rabbinic Hebrew, in the author’s manuscript, and digitally.
Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Rabbi S. J. Feffer
Tagged CPJCE, Jewish cemetery in Lithuania, Rabbi S. J. Feffer (Vilnius), Snipiskes or Piramont Jewish Cemetery, Vilnius Old Jewish Cemetery
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CPJCE’S American Affiliate Calls 34,000 Petition Signers “Evil People”
PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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MONROE, NEW YORK—Ignoring the unanimous views of the world’s leading rabbinic authorities in opposition to the project to plonk a 34 million euro convention center in the heart of Vilna’s old Jewish cemetery, surrounded by thousands of graves on all four sides, “Admas Kodesh,” the American Satmar (Aaronites) affiliate of the London-based CPJCE issued a tweet today condemning as “evil people trying to undermine progress” the 34,000 people, including the chief rabbi of Lithuania, who signed Vilnius resident Ruta Bloshtein’s petition calling on the Lithuanian government to find an alternative venue for the convention center.
Posted in "Admas Kodesh", Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Human Rights, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Politics of Memory
Tagged Admas Kodesh, CPJCE, Piramont Snipiskes cemetery, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, Rabbi Hershel Gluck
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A Reply to London’s Rabbi Herschel Gluck OBE
PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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LONDON—The world’s greatest rabbinic authorities are unanimously opposed to the project to construct a 34 million euro convention center in the heart of Vilna’s old Jewish cemetery, surrounded by thousands of graves on all four sides. And now, 34,000 people around the world have also spoken up in a new international petition. Nevertheless, one group of London rabbis, the “CPJCE” (Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe [italics added]) continues to campaign for the convention center in close cooperation with the local business interests and politicians. Its Rabbi Herschel (Hershel) Gluck OBE has spoken out in the London Jewish Chronicle, trashing the petition of a Vilnius born Orthodox Jewish woman, Ruta Bloshtein.
Neither Rabbi Gluck nor the Jewish Chronicle mention that his “CPJCE” was allegedly exposed in Wikileaks (reports in the Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, DH) for demanding money for their “supervision”. Rabbi Gluck told the London Jewish Chronicle:
Posted in "Admas Kodesh", CPJCE (London), Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Media Watch, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Politics of Memory, United Kingdom
Tagged Arab-Jewish Forum, B.S.E. Freshwater, Benzion Shalom Eliezer Freshwater, British-Lithuanian affairs, CPJCE (London), Herschel Gluck + Wikileaks, London Jewish establishment, London Orthodox Jewish community, Muslim-Jewish Forum, Piramont (Snipiskes), Rabbi Avrohom Pinter (London), Rabbi Herschel Gluck OBE, Rabbi Hershel Gluck OBE, Shomrim (Stamford Hill), Vilnius Jewish cemetery
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Defending History’s 2017 People of the Year
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As 2017 gets underway, Defending History is proud to honor three Vilnius personalities, this year all from its Orthodox Jewish community, who have stood up for cherished principles against powerful forces. In all cases, the principles defended pertain also to human rights more generally. Their courage and determination can serve as an example to all who defend human rights and history even when it is inconvenient and draws the ire of power-invested institutions that are often associated with state-supported entities.
The three honorees are, in alphabetical order, Ruta Bloshtein, Rabbi Kalev Krelin, and Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky. On Facebook. See from previous years the Prophet Amos Human Rights Awards and the 2014 Person of the Year.
Posted in "Good Will Foundation" (Jewish Restitution in Lithuania), Bold Citizens Speak Out, Chabad in Vilnius, Defending History's Person of the Year, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Human Rights, Lithuania, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Opinion, Persons of the Year, Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky
Tagged Chabad Lithuania, Commission for the Preservation of the American Heritage Abroad., Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe, CPJCE (London), Good Will Foundation (Lithuania), Jacob Piliansky, Jewish Restitution (Lithuania), Jews in Lithuania, Leon Kaplan, Lithuanian Jewish, Lithuanian Jewish Community, Ms Ruta Bloshtein, Rabbi Chaim Burshtein, Rabbi Kalev Krelin, Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, USCPAHA, Vilnius Jewish cemetery
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Vilnius Resident Launches Petition on City’s Old Jewish Cemetery
PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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VILNIUS—Ruta Bloshtein, a native and resident of the Lithuanian capital, and stalwart of its small Orthodox community, has launched an international petition via Change.org asking the leaders of Lithuania to move the project for a national convention center away from the old Jewish cemetery at Piramónt where many thousands of the city’s Jewish citizens were buried from the 15th to the 19th centuries. It is one of East European Jewry’s most sacred sites. Many of its gravestones were lovingly preserved or renewed right up to the Holocaust, in which around 99% of Vilna’s Jewish community perished.
Posted in Chabad in Vilnius, Christian-Jewish Issues, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok), Politics of Memory
Tagged Jewish heritage in Lithuania, Piramont Shnipishok cemetery, Rabbi Kalev Krelin, Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, Snipiskes Jewish cemetery
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Media and Debate on Malát (Molėtai) Holocaust Remembrance Project
[UPDATED]
A Selection for English Readers
Project’s Facebook Page; Website
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22 November 2016. ISGAP Flashpoint: ‘Antisemitism in the 21st century shtetl’ by Dovid Katz.
22 September 2016. Tablet: ‘Holocaust commemorations planned throughout Lithuania this weekend’ by Anna Rudnistky.
9 September 2016. Defending History: ‘My take on Malát’ by Julius Norwilla [Norvila].
8 September 2016. En.Delfi.lt: ‘The day Lithuania became a culture of We’ by Alexandra Kudukis.
8 September 2016. Jewish Community of Lithuania website: ‘Molėtai Holocaust procession draws record crowd’ [unsigned article presumably representing the chairperson’s views].
Posted in Commemorations for Destroyed Communities, Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, Malát (Molėtai), Media Watch, News & Views
Tagged Holocaust in Lithuania, Holocaust in Malat (Moletai), Lithuanian shtetl, Malat (Moletai) memorial
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World Famous Litvak Rabbi Condemns Plans for Congress Center in Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery
PIRAMÓNT | PAPER TRAIL | OPPOSITION | CEMETERIES
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Rabbi Tzvi Rotberg, One of the world’s top Litvak rabbis and head of the world-famous yeshiva (rabbinical academy) Beth Meir, in Bnei-Brak, Israel, issued a public letter, in rabbinic Hebrew, on 25 September 2016 pleading with Lithuanian state authorities to intervene to stop the building of a planned National Congress Center atop the graves of some of the greatest Lithuanian rabbis of the last thousand years. He refers metaphorically to the “outcry of those that lie in the dust from the previous generations who were righteous and pure” and condemns plans for celebrations and unholy events on top of their remains. Rabbi Rotberg is the grandson of the fabled Rabbi Tuvia Rotberg, a close disciple and associate of the Chofetz Chaim (Yiroel-Meir of Radin).
Posted in Defense of Old Jewish Cemeteries and Mass Grave Sites, Israel, Lithuania, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery at Piramónt (in Šnipiškės / Shnípishok)
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