Maoz Tzur Sung in Perth Heard in Keidan

Just think of this – when was the last time Maoz Tzur was heard in Keidan, Lithuania, sung by a Jewish kid? Maybe 75 years ago!

When Laima Ardaviciene, the English teacher at Atzalyno Gymnazija in Kedainiai Lithunia, asked whether I could give a talk on Chanukah via Skype to her students,  I would normally have sourced one of the many brilliant articles by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and shared this with them, speaking from my home.

As I only live a minute’s drive from our CHABAD Shul in Noranda, I came up with the idea of enlisting the assistance of Rabbi Shalom White and doing it at the Shul. I also asked a young and talented friend,  Dylan Kotkis, to join us. Dylan has a friendly and outgoing personality together with a beautiful singing voice. He is a 15 year old student at Carmel School, Perth’s Jewish Day School.

Due to the 7 hour time difference between Perth and Kedainiai, 1pm (7pm here) was the best time for Laima and her students, so we held the meeting in the Shul’s library.  A minyan was taking place in the sanctuary at the same time.

Here are some photos and video clips taken  both from the Kedainiai and from the Perth ends.  I synchronised and edited the videos and combined the footage taken by Laima and myself.

Rabbi White, Dylan and I  spoke about the festival and Dylan took the Lithuanian students on a tour of the shul. Dylan sang Maoz Tzur for them.

Photos taken at Atzalyno Gimnazija

Photos taken on the Perth side

Screenshots and photos of  the signs the Lithuanian students presented.

Seta – Jonava – Vandziogala – Kedainiai

I travelled with my friend, Laima Ardaviciene, the English teacher at Kedainiai High School, to Seta, Jonava, Vandizogala and back to Kedainiai

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Šėta

Lithuania

Quick facts

Šėta is a small town in Kaunas County in central Lithuania. In 2001 it had a population of 1025.Wikipedia
  • Population:
    • 1,025 (2001)

 

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Jonava

Quick facts

Jonava is the ninth largest city in Lithuania with a population of ca 30,000. It is located in Kaunas County in central Lithuania, 30 km north east of Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. It is served by Kaunas International Airport.Wikipedia
  • Municipality:
    • Jonava District Municipality
  • Area:
    • 13.67 km²

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Jewish buildings, including the former synagogue. Information posters on the buildings.

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Former synagogue

The Jewish Cemetery

The amphitheatre and holiday entertainment

 

Vandžiogala

Quick facts

Vandžiogala is a small town in Kaunas County, Kaunas district municipality in central Lithuania. It is located 29 km north of Kaunas next to Urka brook. A Holy Trinity church was built in Vandžiogala in 1830.Wikipedia
  • Population:
    • 946 (2001)

The Holocaust site on the outskirts of the town.

 

 

Kėdainiai

Quick facts

Kėdainiai is one of the oldest cities in Lithuania. It is located 51 km north of Kaunas on the banks of the Nevėžis River. First mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, its population as of 2008 was 30,214.Wikipedia
  • Municipality:
    • Kėdainiai District Municipality
  • Population:
    • 26,080 (2013)
  • Area:
    • 4.4 km²

A cultural festival and concert hosted by Rimantas Zirgulis

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A walk around Kedainiai

 

My bond with Atzalyno Gimnazija, a school in Kedainiai

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The students take me on a multicultural tour of Kedainai, the last stop being the two former synagogue complex, one of only a handful in Lithuania. The centre is run by Rimantas Zirgulis, director of the Museum and includes a permanent Jewish display, one of the first towns in Lithuania to do so.

The video report on a Lithuanian TV channel with a synopsis in English by two of the students: Juste & Julija

Kedainiu Zinios 7:21 – 9:55 – meeting at our school
The English teacher Laima Ardavičienė surprises her students every single lesson. She is diversifying her lessons with various tasks and even guests.
Laima says, „ Last year I was working on a project and the main idea was to introduce different cultures to students. I found a video of Jewish weddings which reflected Jewish traditions. After watching this video, I asked the author if I was able to use it and I got shocked when he replied „ Laima, you can use it. By the way, you can be really surprised, but I‘m rooted in Kėdainiai“. The author of the video was our guest Eli Rabinowitz. It‘s the second time Eli Rabinowitz is visiting our school. Last year he was a participant in our project too, while students were learning about different communities in Kėdainiai. Meetings like this never end. We keep in touch via skype and have skype meetings with students.

An article in the Lithuanian press:

Anglų kalbos pamokos kitaip
Iš arčiau 2015/05/29 by Vilija Mockuvienė
Vieni „Atžalyno“ gimnazijos mokiniai mokytojos Laimos Ardavičienės anglų kalbos pamokų laukia su baime, kiti – su džiaugsmu. Gimnazistai žino, kad šios patyrusios pedagogės pamokose nebus nei nuobodulio, nei tuščio laiko leidimo.
Paįvairindama pamokas „Atžalyno“ gimnazijos mokytoja Laima Ardavičienė į Kėdainius pakvietė Australijoje gyvenantį žydą E. Rabinovičių, kuris turi sąsajų su šiuo miestu ir mielai bendrauja su jaunimu.

For further see:
http://muge.eu/anglu-kalbos-pamokos-kitaip/

My images are supplemented with some provided by Vilius, a delightfully engaging student, who would like one day, to have sports photography business, possibly in South Africa!

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The Jews Of Krakes School Project

One day last May,  I visited two schools in Lithuania, one in Kedainiai, the other in nearby Krakes.

I was able to see the outstanding work two teachers have been doing in educating young Lithuanian students on the Jewish history of their towns.

I have previously written about my special morning in Kedainiai with the students of Atzalyno Gimnazija.

Click below for my report:

Later that day, Atzalyno’s English teacher, Laima Ardaviciene and I visited the small town of Krakes.

We met the history teacher, Robertas Dubinka at the Krakes Community Centre where he spoke about the Jews of Krakes and the school project he had led.

In 2002 Robertas and his students at the Mikalojaus Katkaus Gimnazija undertook a project in which they interviewed some Jewish residents of Krakes, who have since passed away. This project was translated into English and submitted to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Centre in Jerusalem. Robertas went to Jerusalem to make the presentation.

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Laima and Robertas outside the Krakes Community Centre

A short video of Robertas talking about the Jews of Krakes

Buildings of Krakes

 

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Mikalojaus Katkaus Gimnazija


Some pages from the 2002 project

Robertas with some pages from the report

The Jewish houses on the map of Krakes

More about the Jewish aspects of Krakes

My post on my Virtual Heritage Tour on JewishGen.org:

Mikalojaus Katkaus Gimnazija’s website:

[iframe src=”http://www.katkaus.kedainiai.lm.lt/index3.php?site=miestelio_istorija_EN” width=”100%” height=”1100″]

 

My bond with Atzalyno Gimnazija, a school in Kedainiai

pizap.com14326572232231

The students take me on a multicultural tour of Kedainai, the last stop being the two former synagogue complex, one of only a handful in Lithuania. The centre is run by Rimantas Zirgulis, director of the Museum and includes a permanent Jewish display, one of the first towns in Lithuania to do so.

The video report on a Lithuanian TV channel with a synopsis in English by two of the students: Juste & Julija

Kedainiu Zinios 7:21 – 9:55 – meeting at our school
The English teacher Laima Ardavičienė surprises her students every single lesson. She is diversifying her lessons with various tasks and even guests.
Laima says, „ Last year I was working on a project and the main idea was to introduce different cultures to students. I found a video of Jewish weddings which reflected Jewish traditions. After watching this video, I asked the author if I was able to use it and I got shocked when he replied „ Laima, you can use it. By the way, you can be really surprised, but I‘m rooted in Kėdainiai“. The author of the video was our guest Eli Rabinowitz. It‘s the second time Eli Rabinowitz is visiting our school. Last year he was a participant in our project too, while students were learning about different communities in Kėdainiai. Meetings like this never end. We keep in touch via skype and have skype meetings with students.

An article in the Lithuanian press:

Anglų kalbos pamokos kitaip
Iš arčiau 2015/05/29 by Vilija Mockuvienė
Vieni „Atžalyno“ gimnazijos mokiniai mokytojos Laimos Ardavičienės anglų kalbos pamokų laukia su baime, kiti – su džiaugsmu. Gimnazistai žino, kad šios patyrusios pedagogės pamokose nebus nei nuobodulio, nei tuščio laiko leidimo.
Paįvairindama pamokas „Atžalyno“ gimnazijos mokytoja Laima Ardavičienė į Kėdainius pakvietė Australijoje gyvenantį žydą E. Rabinovičių, kuris turi sąsajų su šiuo miestu ir mielai bendrauja su jaunimu.

For further see:
http://muge.eu/anglu-kalbos-pamokos-kitaip/

My images are supplemented with some provided by Vilius, a delightfully engaging student, who would like one day, to have sports photography business, possibly in South Africa!

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