Jewish Vilkaviskis

04/10/2025

There is a wonderful teacher and educator in Vilkaviskis, Vaida Kriščiūnienė she sent me these pictures from her class on 23rd of September, Lithuanian Holocaust Remembrance Day. Taken at the Holocaust site in Vilkaviskis. Thank you, Vaida, for never forgetting.

01/10/2025

2025 Holocaust Memorial Day in Vilkaviskis and surroundings.

"On September 23, as every year, the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day was commemorated in the Vilkaviškis district. This day is dedicated to remembering and honoring the memory of Lithuanian Jews murdered during the Holocaust. As we know, on this day, in 1943, the Vilnius Jewish Ghetto was liquidated. To commemorate this terrible date, the tragedy of the Lithuanian Jewish community and the genocide was remembered with memorial stones and lit candles not only in Vilkaviškis, but also in Kybartai, Virbalis, Vištytis, Paražniai Forest and Žyniai village. A few days earlier, the tragedy of the Jews of Pilviškiai was remembered in the village of Baltrušiai. The stones and candles in the hands of schoolchildren and adults connected everyone in the district into one chain of memory. A chain that reminds and, as if, commands - this cannot be. And it will not be." Vitas thank you for remembering.

19/09/2025

ANNUAL MEMORIAL CEREMONY IN BALTRUŠIAI TO HONOR VICTIMS OF THE HOLOCAUST 🕯
On September 17, the Lithuanian Jewish Genocide Remembrance Day was celebrated at the Baltrušiai Jewish Cemetery. The annual event brings together the community to honor the memory of Holocaust victims by lighting candles and placing stones at their graves.
This year, the commemoration was attended by Deputy Ambassador and Consul Mr. Shimon Pesach, a supporter of the project to renovate the sites of Holocaust victims in Baltrušiai and the grandson of Rabbi Reznik Avraham Abba, Rami Reznik, the vice-mayor of the Šakiai District Municipality, Gintautė Didžbalienė, the elder of the Pilviškiai eldership of the Vilkaviškis District Municipality Administration, Vytautas Judickas, and the elder of Barzdai, Jurgita Didžiulienė.
We thank all participants and sponsors for the meaningful fellowship, fostering historical memory and respect for the victims of the Holocaust.

02/09/2025

So what's new in Jewish Vilkaviskis ?
Below are pictures of the statue of the ballerina in honor of Sara Gaskel. In Vistytis the Elder continues the work of clearing the fence around the New Jewish Cemetery there. In Virbalis there is a new fence around the Jewish Cemetery as well as the discovery of many new gravestones.

21/06/2025

Vilkaviskis after World War 1

During World War I, the city was captured by German forces and held until 1918, when the place became part of independent Lithuania. An American-Lithuanian wrote of his observations when returning …

21/06/2025

I have posted 2 posts about Napoleon in Vilkaviskis https://salingerblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/20/where-did-emperor-napoleon-live-in-vilkaviskis/ and https://salingerblog.wordpress.com/2025/06/21/napoleons-roads-through-the-city-of-vilkaviskis/
Hope you find it interesting, Ralph

Now more from the Vilkavishkis Tourism site. At the beginning of the 19th century, the rumor about the Vilkaviškis region reached even the farthest corners of Europe, as Napoleon Bonaparte stayed h…

31/05/2025

Here is the link to the Wordpress article

Below is an article written by Dr. Vytautas Ivaškevičius that appeared in the Vilkaviskis newspaper SANTAKA this week. “Quite by chance, in the digitized archives of the Warsaw Old Acts Archi…

31/05/2025

More about the map of Vilkaviskis from 1816. I will be adding an interesting article about this map on my Jewish Vilkaviskis Wordpress site. If you are not subscribed please drop me a line.

31/05/2025

Recently painted the polytechnic hospital that part of it was the Jewish Old Age home [built in 1909]

06/05/2025

Through the kindness of Dr. Ruth Leiserowitz . Dr. Leiserowitz was kind enough to send me a copy of a document she found. Its the The Responsa of Dayan Jacob Reinowitz, 1818—1893. In the 1865 Religious Tax Payees Lists of Vilkaviskis he listed as cantor. If you would like a copy please drop me a line at [email protected],il Thank you Ruth.

14/04/2025

Recently found in Vilkaviskis
Thank you Regimantas Starkevičius for your detailed explanation

It looks like a magical/Hebrew seal, made of green wax, with Hebrew writing in the center. Up close, it looks like one of those Kabbalistic sigils or "temple seals". They are often used for protection, magical rituals or meditation.
What is written?
I can't translate it 100% for sure, because some of the letters are blurry and not all are clearly legible, but at the top it says something like:
"שדי" (Shaddai) is one of the names of God in Judaism, used for protection.
At the bottom there are some symbols that resemble fish or the fish symbol used in Kabbalism (a sign of protection against the evil eye).
In the middle it looks like something like "Elohim" or "Adonai", other divine names.
What is this thing?
It is most likely a protective seal used in magic or Kabbalah, often placed on amulets, letters, or even the body to "seal" protection from evil forces. It could also be a mystical artifact from modern esoteric circles (some even make these things on Etsy and similar sites).
In short, this is not just any sticker, but a religious/magical symbol, most likely Hebrew, for protection or spiritual power. If you found this somewhere, it could be that someone wanted to "lock" the place from evil or "charge" it with energy.

Keile Yudas added
There are three lines of Hebrew characters:
1st line נשש
2nd line: בר יצחק son of Yitzhak, 3rd line: זל May his memory be a blessing

If you have any more thoughts please let me know.

31/03/2025

After 10 years + I feel its time to rebuild my Jewish Vilkaviskis web site https://www.jewishvilkaviskis.org/ If you havve any suggestions please can you drop line at salinger@kfar-ruppin,org.il or leave a comment below. Many thanks Ralph