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OPINION

by Dovid Katz

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Sometimes even the misnamed “Good Will Foundation” (GWF), a failed quango that has squandered millions on its own small circle of friends and family does a public good born of private designs. Even while wholly excluding the bona fide secular and democratic Vilnius Jewish Community and the thirty-two year old continuous-on-site religious community, in short—the actual Jewish people of Lithuania. Was the idea here to “do some archaeology and ship off the artefacts to some museum”? And then go and use the most prestigious site in the seven-hundred year history of Jewish Vilna (Yiddish Vílne) for a posh new executive office building built in modernist Scandinavian style? If the leaked photos of the plans are any guide, it also fits into the grace of Vilnius’s Old Town like, as we used to say in New York, a shammes in a pickle factory.

But things can go wrong with the best laid plans. First, the professional archaeological excavations of the remnants of the Great Vilna Synagogue—lovingly known as Di Vilner Greyse Shul in Litvish (Lithuanian Yiddish)—have been more successful than almost anyone imagined. The often unfriendly mainstream media has been coming out with the same gasps of awe and wonderment as visitors from around the globe who were lucky enough to be in town this summer. This amazing historical edifice, and the Great Synagogue Square around it (Der Vilner Shúlheyf in Lithuanian Yiddish), overnight became permanent treasures in Vilnius, a city where people from every corner of the earth feel good.

What else went wrong for the quango’s self-serving plan?

Well, some conscience-stricken foreign members of its nominally international boards leaked to the media photos and videos of what is afoot: when the archaeology-enchanted tourists go home, rush in to build a multimillion euro Nordic style modern executive office building for posh headquarters for the machers and bosses of the GWF and its sponsored “Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) Community” (LJC) themselves. There have already been announcements that it would also house the local chapter of a wealthy foreign secularist Jewish organization and a gourmet food project allegedly tied to inner or family circle persons standing to benefit with no public tenders to attract the best experienced professionals for well-compensated jobs.

The archaeology made clear that this is an international treasure that must be preserved onsite. The leaks made clear what is about to happen (see DH’s report).

Besides the unthinkable usurpation of a sacred site, this would cause permanent damage to the ambience of the one Jewish square in Vilnius’s Old Town. No doubt by now the famous part-Litvak-origin master architect Massimiliano Fuksas must be aware of how far his prestigious firm has been misled and misused (some of the star archaeologists might one day feel that too). No harm done (yet). The plans for the avant-garde office building can be realized with integrity outside of the Old Town, where they would not be destroying the one authentic Old Vilna relic of some six centuries of Jewish life before the Holocaust.

By pointing out that the archaeology has been more successful than almost anyone imagined, we were, of course, referring to the inspirational NGO Litvak World, which convened a major international academic conference on the Great Synagogue restoration project in 2017, followed by publication of the conference volume. That conference rapidly set in motion a chain of events that changed attitudes, led to the long-overdue demolition of the unsightly Soviet-built kindergarten, and brought a growing excitement over what may still lie buried in the heart of the Old Jewish Quarter, just a few steps from where the Gaon of Vilna composed works that remain central to Jewish learning. They continue to be studied by perhaps a million Orthodox Jews around the world who themselves identify with the Litvish tradition. But the rapacious quango jumped right in, using its wherewithal to “acquire the property” for its own new executive office building (and God knows what else down the road). Archaeology and architecture as backdrop and smokescreen for plans to plans to usurp the sacred site. Rightfully claiming credit for financing the archaeology while wrongfully plotting to acquire it as real estate premises for the quango and its circles.

It all goes well beyond religious sanctity. There is also the sanctity of culture, humanism, history and authenticity.

The Vilner Greyse Shul is a symbol of Old Jewish Vilna and of the city’s unique history, reflecting the extraordinary tolerance fostered by the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, going back to Gediminas, who founded the city a little over seven hundred years ago. It reflects, too, the power of a relatively small community to be disproportionately creative in the environment of enlightened national leaders. The aura of the Jerusalem of Lithuania helped make Vilna, in the nineteenth century, a birthplace of modern Hebrew poetry and philology, and, in the twentieth, the world address for modern Yiddish scholarship. Across vastly different movements, opinions and sharp clashes of ideas, the Great Synagogue retained its inspirational status as a symbol and cultural temple of Litvak Jewry of every stripe.

The Greyse Shul’s every stone seems to sparkle with the charm of Vilnius’s Old Town. What the archaeologists have uncovered this summer—with the Soviet eyesore thankfully gone at last—has elicited a rare crosscultural spirit of historical reflection and a solidarity of pan-human fascination. This place belongs not only to the annihilated Litvak Jewry, but also to today’s people of Lithuania, also to all the Litvak descendants worldwide so proud of their heritage.

This is a precious opportunity for Vilnius to think big—and to look around the world.

There is the archaeological excavation beneath and beside the Acropolis Museum in Athens, where ancient remains are preserved in situ and made visible by walkways and glass. The ancient church at Laodicea in Turkey, whose excavated sacred spaces remain legible beneath protective cover. The medieval Hamar Cathedral ruins in Norway, protected beneath glass rather than reconstructed. The Magdala Archaeological Park by the Sea of Galilee in Israel, where an ancient synagogue is preserved separately from modern religious and visitor facilities. The MiQua Jewish Museum and Archaeological Zone in Cologne, where the authentic remains of the medieval Jewish quarter and synagogue are themselves treated as central museum objects. Other archaeological sites—from Jerusalem to London—show how ancient footprints come alive for new generations through paths, protective structures, walkways and viewing surfaces, careful lighting and outdoor historical interpretation. Nearer to home is the open-air Riga Ghetto Museum founded by Rabbi Menachem Barkahan. His own strict Orthodox practice is in blessed peace with his equally hearty welcome to people of every background, while being an educational treasure for Latvians, especially young Latvians, every day of the year.

There is no reason why the Great Synagogue remnants could not be conserved in situ, with walkways allowing visitors to move around and, where appropriate, above them without touching the archaeology. The most vulnerable parts could be protected by glass. Where the Vilnius climate requires a roof, there is no law of nature dictating some jarringly modernist architectural statement. A graceful, open-sided glazed roof—perhaps gently rounded, in the spirit of an old European market pavilion, conservatory or railway canopy—could protect the archaeology while leaving it visually and physically part of the open city.

Historical signs would tell the story in Lithuanian, Yiddish, English and other languages. Discreet lighting could make the surviving walls and footprint visible after dark. The site could become one of Vilnius’s grand outdoor historical landmarks, visually accessible even when any adjoining museum building is closed.

The key to a better future can be found in a recent Jewish Telegraphic Agency report on the current controversy. The most inspiring words in that report come from Anna Avidan, founding director of Jerusalem of the North, whose years of research, conferences, publications, planning and patient gentle diplomacy helped lead to the removal of the Soviet eyesore and the current round of successful archaeology.

Avidan told JTA: “It would be selfish to build a center exclusively for the Lithuanian Jewish Community, since such spaces are closed to the public, partly for security reasons. We are still working on how to include Jewish history in Lithuanian history. Approaching the site as a site of Lithuanian history, that would promote this harmony and understanding.”

That harmonizes gracefully with the simple solution proposed on these pages: preserve the remains using the finest professional expertise available, and keep the site freely accessible to the public, day and night, in perpetuity—for Lithuanians and for visitors from around the globe.

There is no contradiction whatsoever between that vision and the separate need for a petite Jewish prayer house outside the historic perimeter, equipped with the religious requisites needed by Orthodox Jewish pilgrims, who could one day flock to the site in large numbers. The two purposes are in a cosmic accord. No affront to Jewish law. No limit to visitors of all faiths and none. Open day and night to the people of Lithuania as part and parcel of their own grand heritage, a testament to the historic capital in which the Jerusalem of Lithuania—and, in a sense, of Jewish Eastern Europe—was able to emerge over centuries of remarkable coexistence and creativity enabled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

A solution that would enhance, not ruin, the inimitable ambience of the historic Jewish Quarter of Vilnius Old Town.

The first urgent step is to halt the cultural vandalism of “the quango’s high-security HQ” replacing the Great Synagogue to “the Great Synagogue Remnants preserved and open to everyone all the time.” Most people think that Pylimo 4, with its own proud more-than-a-century-old Jewish cultural history, is a fine address for the restitution-fueled official community and the GWF. But if they are able to use state funds for a desired new Nordic modernist headquarters, that has to be somewhere else in town. Not on top of the Great Vilna Synagogue. And it will not help them, for the critical eye of history, to repeat that they brought in foreign “Litvak archaeologists” and “Litvak architects” to make the whole sham look a little more kosher. Time will tell if the archaeologists and architects will speak out.

As soon as the modern Scandinavian state-of-the-art project (if needed at all) finds its home elsewhere, and the principled decision is made to preserve on site and in perpetuity the remnants of the Great Synagogue and the Great Synagogue Square (Vilner Gréyse Shul and Vilner Shúlheyf), detailed solutions would readily emerge in an unpressured spirit of common purpose and common sense. Beautiful, modern, democratic Vilnius deserves nothing less.