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VILNIUS—This evening’s rally dedicated to reconstruction of the ruin of the old and hated Soviet “Sports Palace” built in the middle of the Old Vilna Jewish Cemetery, entailing de facto permanent desecration of the five hundred year old cemetery, was shaken by a powerful one minute address by Rabbi Elchonon Baron, scion of Lithuanian heads-of-yeshiva who heads Jewish Heritage in Lita, in his imitable and unforgettable classic Litvak style.

Video. Report (with video). The rally. The saga.

The rally, surprisingly hosted by Lithuania’s prestigious Academy of Sciences, was a cause of great pain to those who honor the rights of the deceased of minority communities to rest in peace. He was introduced by Daniel Lupshitz, a board member of the Vilnius Jewish Community, Rabbi Baron spoke for precisely one minute.

In response, one of the rally organizers bitterly said: “But we paid the London rabbis very good money!” in an apparent reference to large sums charged over the decades by the London CPJCE for permissions to in effect destroy Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe. They were initially exposed by Wikileaks.

The video of Rabbi Baron’s historic words, and his introduction b Mr. Lupshitz, appears with the report on the news portal Ekspertai.eu.

For many, his bold minute of supreme moral clarity right in the “lion’s den” speaking truth to power contrasts dramatically with the years of antics, obfuscations, politics and games ensnaring a host of major Jewish entities over the years, including the AJC, CER, CPJCE, GWF, LJC, as well as the US taxpayer funded USCPAHA.