Tag Archives: Good Will Foundation

Vilnius’s Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky Issues Response to Official ‘State Restitution’ Community’s Statement on Violent Attack at Synagogue Gate



“GOOD WILL FOUNDATION” | GWF’s CAMPAIGN AGAINST VILNIUS’S ONE RESIDENT RABBI | US & ISRAELI MEMBERS OF THE BOARD PROVIDING LEGITIMIZATION [ARCHIVED] | LITHUANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY ISSUES | TEXTBOOK CASE OF FAILURE OF RESTITUTION FOR VALUE OF PREWAR JEWISH RELIGIOUS PROPERTIES | STOLEN ELECTION SAGA | AJC MISADVENTURES IN LITHUANIA | CHABAD IN LITHUANIA | LITVAK AFFAIRS

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Sept. 14 photos at gates of Vilnius Synagogue and in nearby hospital emergency room by Moshe Diamant, one of the visiting tourists who witnessed violent attack on Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky by a security guard.

VILNIUS—The following statement was circulated via email today by the office of Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, who has been a full-time resident rabbi in Vilnius for thirty-two years. It comes in the wake of the shocking violent attack on him, perpetrated on 14 September at the  gates of the city’s one functioning synagogue, the Choral Synagogue at Pylimo Street 39, where he has been the only officiating rabbi for years. The syngagogue security guard who attacked him, in the view of witnesses who photographed the incident and then issued written statements, is an employee of the Good Will Foundation  (GWF).

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Posted in Chabad in Vilnius, 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, Quango Called 'Good Will Foundation' (GWF): Has it Been Using Jewish Restitution Funds for Bitter, Sometimes Violent Campaign against Chabad Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky?, Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Vilnius’s Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky Issues Response to Official ‘State Restitution’ Community’s Statement on Violent Attack at Synagogue Gate

When Will ‘Made in Vilnius’ Start Reporting ‘Both Sides of the Story’?



MEDIA WATCH | “GOOD WILL FOUNDATION” | GWF’s CAMPAIGN AGAINST VILNIUS’S ONE RESIDENT RABBI | US & ISRAELI MEMBERS OF THE BOARD PROVIDING LEGITIMIZATION [ARCHIVED] | LITHUANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY ISSUES | TEXTBOOK CASE OF FAILURE OF RESTITUTION FOR VALUE OF PREWAR JEWISH RELIGIOUS PROPERTIES | STOLEN ELECTION SAGA | AJC MISADVENTURES IN LITHUANIA | CHABAD IN LITHUANIA | LITVAK AFFAIRS

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OPINION

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VILNIUS—The excellent and informative web journal Made in Vilnius has once again made the serious error of presenting only one side of a controversial story. A deeply disturbing incident took place in Vilnius on Monday morning, when the city’s resident rabbi of thirty-two years was attacked and injured at the gates of its sole functioning synagogue by a security guard allegedly employed by entities funded by Lithuania’s most notorious quango, the Orwellian-named “Good Will Foundation.” It is the same quango that funds the state-supported “official Jewish community.”

A free press seeks out the opposing views of matters in conflict.

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Posted in Chabad in Vilnius, 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, Media Watch, News & Views, Opinion, Quango Called 'Good Will Foundation' (GWF): Has it Been Using Jewish Restitution Funds for Bitter, Sometimes Violent Campaign against Chabad Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky?, Vilnius | Tagged , , | Comments Off on When Will ‘Made in Vilnius’ Start Reporting ‘Both Sides of the Story’?

Vilnius’s Resident Rabbi for Last 30 Years is Called ‘Mr. Krinsky’ in Latest Hate Piece from State-Restitution-fueled ‘Official’ Jewish Community


[2 May 2025 update at end of post]

OPINION | DOCUMENTS | LITHUANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITY AFFAIRS | A STOLEN ELECTION | CHABAD IN VILNIUS | HUMAN RIGHTS

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OPINION

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VILNIUS—Even people who “thought they had seen everything” were taken aback a week ago, when without prior warning Vilnius’s only functioning synagogue was closed down on the occasion of the first seyder night of Passover, one of the most sacred Jewish calendar days of the year. The “explanation” did come shortly thereafter in the form of an official 13 April 2025 statement on the official website of the restitution fueled “Jewish (Litvak) Community of Lithuania” (the “LJC” as is it is still known from the long time title “Lithuanian Jewish Community”, LZB in Lithuanian). That is the “community” that disenfranchised virtually all the remaining few thousand Jewish people in Lithuania, by changing the system of voting (in the middle of an election campaign season!) from choice by community members to that of “associations” mostly benefiting from restitution funds. This transpired during the allegedly rigged 2017 community elections. See also the contemporary JTA reports (here and here). The official community has received tens of millions of dollars from the government in restitution.

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Posted in "Good Will Foundation" (Jewish Restitution in Lithuania), Chabad in Vilnius, Documents, Human Rights, Lithuania, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Quango Called 'Good Will Foundation' (GWF): Has it Been Using Jewish Restitution Funds for Bitter, Sometimes Violent Campaign against Chabad Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky?, Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Vilnius’s Resident Rabbi for Last 30 Years is Called ‘Mr. Krinsky’ in Latest Hate Piece from State-Restitution-fueled ‘Official’ Jewish Community

‘Morbid Memorandum’ (of AJC+LJC+GWF+Vilnius Mayor) Says Jews in Lithuania ‘Dying Out Altogether’ — While Allocating Millions for New ‘Community Center’ Building on Sacred ‘Great Synagogue Square’



OPINION | VILNA GREAT SYNAGOGUE  |  VILNIUS JEWISH LIFE

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VILNIUS—In the days following publication by Defending History of a report reacting to press releases about a (secret?) “memorandum” signed by the heads of the official “Lithuanian Jewish community” (LJC), the head of international affairs for the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the “Good Will Foundation” (GWF) and the Mayor of Vilnius, a number of conscience-stricken employees at LJC have been sending around copies of various versions of the memorandum, signed on 25 May, during the recent “Fifth Litvak Congress” here in Vilnius.

Update of 13 June 2022: One day following publication of this report, the “Good Will Foundation” published the signed English memorandum, using the wording “is now dying out altogether” to refer to today’s Jewish community in Lithuania, its hopes, and its dreams.

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Posted in "Good Will Foundation" (Jewish Restitution in Lithuania), Lithuania, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Vilna's Great Synagogue & its Courtyard (Shúlheyf) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on ‘Morbid Memorandum’ (of AJC+LJC+GWF+Vilnius Mayor) Says Jews in Lithuania ‘Dying Out Altogether’ — While Allocating Millions for New ‘Community Center’ Building on Sacred ‘Great Synagogue Square’

After “Blissful United Congregation” on Sabbath, Some Leaders of “Official” Community Again Take Aim at Rabbi Krinsky



 HUMAN RIGHTS  |  VILNIUS JEWISH LIFE  |  LITVAK AFFAIRS

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by Dovid Katz (Vilnius)

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VILNIUS—Since the Vilnius Choral Synagogue, the only one to survive the war as an in-use synagogue (there were around 160 in town before the Holocaust), was reopened for “one and all” several weeks ago by the controlling “Religious Jewish Community,” on Monday 13 February, services have been blissful and harmonious. On Friday night and Saturday morning services, more Litvak handshakes accompanied by Gut-Shábes and A gútn Shábes were echoed up on high than in many a moon. And, as a kind of special blessing for a demographically challenged post-Holocaust post-Soviet community, attendance has been growing, reaching the largest number in years last weekend (not counting visits by organized tourist groups). Cantor Shmuel Yusem had everyone transfixed with his magnificent cantorial talents. Both rabbis in town this past weekend, Rabbi Sholem Ber Krinsky, the Chabad rabbi who has lived here 22 years, and the community’s official junior rabbi, Samson Daniel Izakson, who arrived just over one year ago, gave excellent brief sermons at their usual junctures in the service (each has their traditional slot in the service for the Dvar-Tóyre, or Dvar Torah).

UPDATES: JTA REPORT OF 27 FEB; DEFENDING HISTORY REPORT AND NEW VIDEO OF 28 FEB

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Posted in "Good Will Foundation" (Jewish Restitution in Lithuania), Chabad in Vilnius, Human Rights, Lithuania, Lithuania's Jewish Community Issues, Litvak Affairs, News & Views, Opinion, Quango Called 'Good Will Foundation' (GWF): Has it Been Using Jewish Restitution Funds for Bitter, Sometimes Violent Campaign against Chabad Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky?, Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on After “Blissful United Congregation” on Sabbath, Some Leaders of “Official” Community Again Take Aim at Rabbi Krinsky