Once upon a time Vilnius was the Jerusalem of Lithuania & the Baltics. Susan Kone : FAVORITE SIMCHAT TORAH VIDEO - THE MAN FROM VILNA https://youtube/watch?v=BZSAJ31sis4 This video has a very personal meaning to me. My great grandfather, Rabbi Joseph Kone was blessed to immigrate to the United States from Vilna four decades prior to the Holocaust. I will always feel a connection to that Jewish Community and a responsibility for their survival and their legacy. I will always feel a connection to oppressed communities and peoples around the globe. Vilna had been a thriving and dynamic center of Jewish thought and culture - aptly named “The Jerusalem of Lithuania”. Prior the the Holocaust, Vilnius Jewish population was nearly 100,000, about forty-five percent of the citys total. The country was strewn with some two hundred Jewish communities sustaining the lives and livelihoods of about 240,000 people. Vilnius had 105 synagogues and prayer houses. There were six daily Jewish newspapers. Yiddish was the language of choice. Indeed, the city was aptly named The Jerusalem of Lithuania. The post-war numbers are horrifying: Only 24,000 Jews survived. Or, shall it be said, that 90 percent of the Jews had been murdered. Vilnius Jewish population today is 5,000, a mere five percent of what it once was. The country is home to but 6,500 Jews, some 200 of whom are Holocaust survivors. Most of the two hundred pre-war communities were decimated, wiped off the map entirely. There is only one Jewish newspaper. Few people speak Yiddish anymore. Today, there remains exactly one synagogue in Vilnius. And yet - Am Yisrael Chai - The Jewish people will live on….
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 21:59:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015