All Topics  
Lithuanian Jews

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Lithuanian Jews
 
 
  Topics Lithuanian Jews Topic Home

Lithuanian Jews (known in Yiddish and Yeshivish
Yeshivish

Yeshivish refers to dialects spoken by those who are have attended a Yeshiva. Yeshivish is the primary vehicle of spoken communication in many Yeshivas...
 as Litvish (adjective) or Litvaks (noun)) are Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews

File:Juden 1881.JPGAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish ethnic divisions of the Rhineland in the west of Germany....
 with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until the 18th century. It was founded by Lithuanians, at the time one of the Lithuanian mythology Baltic tribes, whose initial lands covered Auk?taitija, the eastern part of present day Lithuania....
 (present-day Belarus
Belarus

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
, Lithuania
Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
, Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
 and the northeastern Suwalki
Suwalki

Suwalki is a town in northeastern Poland with 69,340 inhabitants . The Czarna Hancza river flows through the town.It is the capital of Suwalki County and one of the most important centres of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship....
 region of Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
).

Lithuania was historically home to a large and influential Jewish community that was almost entirely eliminated during the Holocaust
The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as , Churben is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler....
: see Holocaust in Lithuania. Before World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 there were over 110 synagogue
Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer.Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer , smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices....
s and 10 yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
s in Vilnius
Vilnius

Vilnius is the largest city and the Capital of Lithuania, with a population of 555,613 as of 2008. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Lithuanian Jews'
Start a new discussion about 'Lithuanian Jews'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Lithuanian Jews (known in Yiddish and Yeshivish
Yeshivish

Yeshivish refers to dialects spoken by those who are have attended a Yeshiva. Yeshivish is the primary vehicle of spoken communication in many Yeshivas...
 as Litvish (adjective) or Litvaks (noun)) are Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews

File:Juden 1881.JPGAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish ethnic divisions of the Rhineland in the west of Germany....
 with roots in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until the 18th century. It was founded by Lithuanians, at the time one of the Lithuanian mythology Baltic tribes, whose initial lands covered Auk?taitija, the eastern part of present day Lithuania....
 (present-day Belarus
Belarus

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
, Lithuania
Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
, Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
 and the northeastern Suwalki
Suwalki

Suwalki is a town in northeastern Poland with 69,340 inhabitants . The Czarna Hancza river flows through the town.It is the capital of Suwalki County and one of the most important centres of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship....
 region of Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
).

Lithuania was historically home to a large and influential Jewish community that was almost entirely eliminated during the Holocaust
The Holocaust

The Holocaust , also known as , Churben is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler....
: see Holocaust in Lithuania. Before World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 there were over 110 synagogue
Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer.Synagogues usually have a large hall for prayer , smaller rooms for study and sometimes a social hall and offices....
s and 10 yeshiva
Yeshiva

Yeshiva or yeshivah , or metivta or mesivta ) also frequently referred to as a Beth midrash, Talmudical Academy, Rabbinical Academy or Rabbinical School is an institution unique to classical Judaism for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and History of responsa....
s in Vilnius
Vilnius

Vilnius is the largest city and the Capital of Lithuania, with a population of 555,613 as of 2008. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality....
. Before World War II, the Lithuanian Jewish population was some 160,000, about 7% of the total population. Vilnius (then in Poland) had a Jewish community of nearly 100,000, about 45% of the city's total. About 4,000 Jews were counted in Lithuania during the 2005 census. There are still strong communities of Jews of Lithuanian descent around the world, especially in Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
, the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
, Zimbabwe and Australia.

Lithuanian State in 13 15th Centuries

Etymology

The word Litvish means "Lithuanian" in Yiddish
Yiddish language

Yiddish is a non-territorial High German languages of Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. Unlike other such languages, Yiddish is written with the Hebrew alphabet as opposed to a Latin alphabet....
. (Latvian Jews
History of the Jews in Latvia

The History of the Jews in Latvia dates back to the first Jewish colony established in Piltene in 1571. Jews contributed to Latvia's development until the Northern War , which decimated Latvia's population....
 were known as Lettishe). Of main Yiddish dialects
Yiddish dialects

Yiddish dialects are subsets of the major regional branches of the Yiddish language: Western Yiddish and Eastern Yiddish. Eastern Yiddish, the branch almost exclusively encountered in the contemporary speech community, includes three major dialects: Northeastern , Mideastern or Poylish , and Southeastern or Ukrainish ....
 in Europe, the Litvishe Yiddish (Lithuanian Yiddish) dialect was spoken by Jews in Lithuania, Latvia, and Belarus, and in the northeastern Suwalki region of Poland.

Ethnicity, religious customs and heritage


The characteristically "Lithuanian" approach to Judaism
Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
 was marked by a concentration on highly intellectual Talmud
Talmud

The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
 study. Lithuania became the heartland of the traditionalist opposition to Hasidism
Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism is a type of Orthodox Judaism or Haredi Judaism Orthodox Judaism religious movement. Some refer to Hasidic Judaism as Hasidism, and the adjective chasidic / hasidic applies....
, to the extent that in popular perception "Lithuanian" and "mitnagged
Misnagdim

Misnagdim or mitnagdim is a Hebrew language word meaning "opponents". It is the plural of Misnaged or Mitnaged. Most prominent among the misnagdim was Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman , commonly known as the Vilna Gaon or GRA....
" became virtually interchangeable terms. In fact, however, a sizable minority of Lithuanian Jews belong(ed) to Hasidic groups, including Chabad
Chabad

*Chabad is an acronym for Chochmah, Binah, and Da'at, the three levels of Sefirot related to cognition according to the Kabbalah.*Chabad-Strashelye, Strashelye is a branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism....
, Slonim
Slonim

Slonim is a city in Belarus in the Hrodna voblast and Slonim Rayon, located at the junction of the Shchara and Isa Rivers, 143 km southeast of Hrodna ....
, Karlin
Karlin (Hasidic Dynasty)

Karlin-Stolin is the name of a hasidic dynasty originating with Rebbe Aaron the Great of Karlin in present-day Belarus. Karlin was one of the first centres of chasidim to be set up in Lithuanian Jews ....
 (Pinsk
Pinsk

Pinsk , a town in Belarus, in the Polesia region, traversed by the river Pripyat River, at the confluence of the Strumen River and Pina rivers. The region is known as the Pinsk Marshes....
) and Koidanov. With the spread of the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century, in which rationalism was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority....
, many Lithuanian Jews became devotees of the Haskala movement in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
, and today many leading academics, scientists and philosophers are of Lithuanian Jewish descent.

The most famous Lithuanian institution of Jewish learning was Volozhin yeshiva
Volozhin yeshiva

The Volozhin Yeshiva, also known as Etz Chaim Yeshiva, was a yeshiva in the town of Volozhin , founded in 1803 by Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, a student of the Vilna Gaon....
, which was the model for most later yeshivas. "Lithuanian" yeshivas in existence today include Ponevezh
Ponevezh yeshiva

Ponevezh Yeshiva, often pronounced Ponevitch Yeshiva, is a world renowned yeshiva located in Bnei Brak, Israel. It was originally established in the town of Paneve?ys, Lithuania....
, Telshe
Telshe yeshiva

Telshe yeshiva was a famous Eastern European yeshiva founded in the Lithuanian town of Tel?iai. After World War II the yeshiva relocated to Wickliffe, Ohio in the United States and is currently known as the Rabbinical College of Telshe, It is one of the most prominent Haredi Judaism institutions of Torah study....
, Mir
Mir yeshiva (Poland)

The Mir yeshiva , commonly known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, was a Haredi Judaism yeshiva located in the Eastern European town of Mir, Belarus, Poland, currently in Belarus....
, Kelm
Kelm Talmud Torah

The Kelm Talmud Torah was a famous yeshiva in pre-holocaust Kelme, Lithuania. Unlike other yeshivas, the Talmud Torah focused primarily on the study of Mussar and self-improvement....
, and Slabodka
Slabodka yeshiva

Slabodka yeshiva, also known as Knesses Yisroel, and later as Hebron Yeshiva or Yeshivas Hevron, was known colloquially as the "mother of yeshivas" and was devoted to high level study of the Talmud....
. In theoretical Talmud study, the leading Lithuanian authorities were Chaim Soloveitchik
Chaim Soloveitchik

Chaim Soloveitchik , also known as Reb Chaim Brisker, was a rabbi and Talmudic scholar credited as the founder of the popular Brisker approach to Talmudic study within Judaism....
 and the Brisker school; rival approaches were those of the Mir and Telshe yeshivas. In practical halakha
Halakha

Halakha ? also Hebrew transliteration Halocho and Halacha ? is the collective body of Judaism religious law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions....
 the Lithuanians traditionally followed the Aruch HaShulchan
Aruch HaShulchan

Aruch HaShulchan is a work of Jewish scholarship, written by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein. The title "Aruch HaShulchan" is a clear allusion to the Shulchan Aruch , the authoritative work of halacha on which it draws....
, though today the "Lithuanian" yeshivas prefer the Mishnah Berurah
Mishnah Berurah

Mishnah Berurah is a work of halakha by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, better known as The Yisrael Meir Kagan . It is a commentary on Orach Chayim, the first section of the Shulchan Aruch , summarizing the opinions of the Acharonim on that work....
, which is regarded as both more analytic and more accessible.

In the nineteenth century, the Orthodox Ashkenazi residents of the Holy Land was broadly speaking divided into Hasidim
Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism is a type of Orthodox Judaism or Haredi Judaism Orthodox Judaism religious movement. Some refer to Hasidic Judaism as Hasidism, and the adjective chasidic / hasidic applies....
 and Perushim
Perushim

The Perushim were disciples of the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Vilna Gaon, who left Lithuania at the beginning of the nineteenth century to settle in the Land of Israel, then under Ottoman Empire....
, who were Lithuanian Jews influenced by the Vilna Gaon
Vilna Gaon

Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew language acronym Gra , , was an exceptional Talmud, Halakha, Kabbalah, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic world Jewry of the past few centuries....
. For this reason, in modern day Israeli Haredi parlance the terms Litvak (noun) or Litvisher (adjective), or in Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
 Litaim, are often used loosely to include any non-Hasidic Ashkenazi Haredi individual or institution. Another reason for this broadening of the term is the fact that many of the leading Israeli Haredi yeshivas (outside the Hasidic camp) are successor bodies to the famous yeshivot of Lithuania, though their present-day members may or may not be descended from Lithuanian Jewry. In reality, both the ethnic makeup and the religious traditions of the mitnagged
Misnagdim

Misnagdim or mitnagdim is a Hebrew language word meaning "opponents". It is the plural of Misnaged or Mitnaged. Most prominent among the misnagdim was Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman , commonly known as the Vilna Gaon or GRA....
 communities are much more diverse.

The Vilna Gaon

Vilna Gaon Portrait
Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman
Vilna Gaon

Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew language acronym Gra , , was an exceptional Talmud, Halakha, Kabbalah, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic world Jewry of the past few centuries....
 of Vilna
Vilnius

Vilnius is the largest city and the Capital of Lithuania, with a population of 555,613 as of 2008. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality....
 ZT"L
Honorifics in Judaism

There are a number of honorifics in Judaism that vary depending on the status of and the relationship to the person to whom one is referring....
 was one of the most influential Rabbinic authorities of all time and is the most widely recognized Jewish spiritual leader associated with Lithuania. "The Vilna Gaon" was born in Vilnius and his place of burial is there as well. He led the fight against Hasidism at its inception, believing it to be a pseudo-Messianic personality cult which threatened traditional Torah learning. Though he did not succeed in crushing the movement, his influence greatly tempered its more extreme forms, so that he is ironically described by many as the real founder of the Hasidic movement.

Culture

Litvaks have an identifiable mode of pronouncing Hebrew and Yiddish which is often used to determine the boundaries of Lita. Its most characteristic feature is the pronunciation of the vowel holam
Niqqud

In Hebrew language orthography, niqqud or nikkud is the system of diacritical signs used to represent vowels or distinguish between alternative pronunciations of consonants of the Hebrew alphabet....
 as (as against Sephardic [], Germanic and Polish ).

In the popular perception, Litvaks were considered to be more intellectual and stoic than their rivals, the Galitzianers
Galician Jews

File:Juden 1881.JPGGalician Jews or Galitzianer Jews are a subdivision of the Ashkenazim geographically originating from Galicia , from western Ukraine and from the south-eastern corner of Poland ....
, who thought of them as cold fish. They, in turn, disdained Galitzianers as irrational and uneducated. Ira Steingroot's "Yiddish Knowledge Cards" devote a card to this "Ashkenazi version of the Hatfields and McCoys." This difference is of course connected with the Hasidic/mitnagged debate, Hasidism being considered the more emotional and spontaneous form of religious expression.

The two groups differed not only in their attitudes and their pronunciation, but also in their cuisine
Jewish cuisine

Jewish cuisine is a collection of international cookery traditions linked by Jewish dietary laws and Jewish holiday traditions. Certain foods, notably pork and shellfish, are forbidden; meat and dairy may not be combined, and meat must be Ritual slaughter and salted to remove all traces of blood....
. The Galitzianers were known for rich, heavily sweetened dishes in contrast to the plainer, more savory Litvisher versions, with the boundary known as the "Gefilte Fish
Gefilte fish

Gefilte fish are Poaching fish patties or balls made from a mixture of ground deboned fish, mostly common carp or pike. They are popular in the Ashkenazi Jews Jewish community....
 Line."

Jews in Lithuania today


Interest among descendants of Lithuanian Jews has spurred tourism and a renewal in research and preservation of the community's historic resources and possessions. Increasing numbers of Lithuanian Jews are interested in learning and practising the use of Yiddish.

The beginning of the 21st century was marked by conflicts between members of Chabad-Lubavitch and secular leaders. In 2005, Chief Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky was physically removed from the Synagogue by two men hired by the community's secular leader Mr. Alperovich, who then declared a new Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi

Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities....
. For more detail, see Chabad-Lubavitch related controversies: Lithuania
Chabad-Lubavitch related controversies

Chabad-Lubavitch is a branch of Hasidic Judaism. Its founder Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi was twice arrested by the Russians on trumped-up charges, and later opposed Napoleon's emancipation of the Jews; one of his sons is alleged to have converted to Christianity....
.

Among notable contemporary Lithuanian Jews are the brothers Emanuelis Zingeris
Emanuelis Zingeris

Emanuelis Zingeris is a philologist, museum director, politician, and signatory of the 1990 Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania....
 (a member of the Lithuanian Seimas
Seimas

The Seimas is the Lithuanian parliament. It has 141 members that are elected for a four-year term. About half of the members of this legislative body are elected in individual constituencies , and the other half are elected by nationwide vote according to proportional representation....
) and Markas Zingeris (writer), Arkadijus Vinokuras (actor, publicist), Gercas Žakas (football referee), Bilas (Gidonas Šapiro) (pop-singer from ŽAS
Žas

?AS is a Lithuanian musical group which mostly performs pop music. The group was gathered in 1993 as a gangsta rap group, the group also created rock and techno music....
), Dovydas Bluvšteinas (music producer), Leonidas Donskis
Leonidas Donskis

Leonidas Donskis is a Lithuanian philosopher, essayist, cultural critic and activist.He currently serves as Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, Director of the Political Science and Diplomacy School at Vytautas Magnus University, and Docent at the Helsinki University....
 (philosopher, essayist), Icchokas Meras
Icchokas Meras

Icchokas Meras is a Jewish writer born in Lithuania....
 (writer), Grigorijus Kanovicius (writer), Aleksas Lemanas (singer), Rafailas Karpis (opera singer, tenor).

Current leaders of the Haredi "Lithuanian" community

The following rabbinical leaders are of Lithuanian ancestry or are associated with Lithuanian-style yeshivas:
  • Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv
    Yosef Sholom Eliashiv

    Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv is a Haredi Judaism rabbi and posek who lives in Jerusalem, Israel.Presently well into his nineties, he is active and remains the paramount leader of Israel's Lithuanian Jews non-Hasidic Judaism Haredi Ashkenazi Jews who regard him as the posek ha-dor , the contemporary leading authority on halakha, o...
  • Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman
  • Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky
  • Rabbi Nissim Karelitz
    Nissim Karelitz

    Rabbi Nissim Karelitz is the chairman of the beis din tzedek of Bnei Brak.He is one of the most highly respected Orthodox rabbis in the world and one of the most important leaders of the Haredi world, together with Rabbi Yosef Sholom Eliashiv and Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Wosner....
  • Rabbi Aharon Schechter
  • Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg
    Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg

    Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg is a Polish-born rabbi and rosh yeshiva, currently living in Israel. He heads the yeshiva Torah Ore in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Mattersdorf....
  • Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz
    Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz

    File:Rabbi Lefkowitz.jpgRabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz is a Haredi Judaism leader living in Bnei Brak, Israel. He is one of the heads of the Ponevezh yeshiva and is a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Degel HaTorah....
  • Rabbi Malkiel Kotler


Famous Jews with Lithuanian origin or parentage

  • Roman Abramovich
    Roman Abramovich

    Roman Abramovich is a Russian Jewish billionaire and the main owner of private investment company Millhouse LLC. According to Forbes magazine, as of 5 March 2008, he has had a net worth of US$23.5 billion, ranking him as the fifteenth richest person in the world....
    , Oligarch and owner of Chelsea F.C.
  • Moshe Arens
    Moshe Arens

    Professor Moshe Arens is a former Israeli politician. He was a member of the Likud party, and served as Defense Minister of Israel three times....
    , former Israeli defence minister and foreign minister
  • Aharon Barak
    Aharon Barak

    Aharon Barak is a professor of law at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and a lecturer in law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a lecturer in law at the Yale Law School and the University of Toronto Faculty of Law....
    , President of the Supreme Court of Israel from 1995-2006
  • Ehud Barak
    Ehud Barak

    Ehud Barak is an Israeli politician, former Prime Minister of Israel, and current Defense Minister of Israel, Deputy leaders of Israel#Deputy Prime Minister and leader of Israel's Labor Party ....
    , Israeli Chief of Staff, foreign minister, prime minister, defence minister and Labour leader
  • Erran Baron Cohen
    Erran Baron Cohen

    Erran Baron Cohen is a British composer and trumpet player. He is also the brother of the actor Sacha Baron Cohen....
    , English-born trumpeter and composer (great grandfather born in Kaunas
    Kaunas

    Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania and a Temporary capital of Lithuania. It is served by the freeways European route E67 and A1 highway ....
    )
  • Sacha Baron Cohen
    Sacha Baron Cohen

    Sacha Noam Baron Cohen is a UK comedian, writer and Golden Globe-winning actor most noted for his comic characters Ali G , Borat Sagdiyev , and Bruno ....
    , English-born entertainer (great grandfather born in Kaunas)
  • Isidore Barron, South African businessman
  • Menachem Begin
    Menachem Begin

    was the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. Before the establishment of the state, he was the leader of the Irgun, playing a central role in Jewish resistance to the British Mandate of Palestine....
    , Israeli Prime Minister from Brest-Litovsk
  • Dan Bern
    Dan Bern

    Dan Bern is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, novelist and painter. His music is often compared to that of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Ochs and Elvis Costello....
    , American folk singer, poet, painter
  • Sydney Brenner
    Sydney Brenner

    Sydney Brenner, Order of the Companions of Honour Royal Society is a South African biologist and the 2002 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine co-laureate....
    , biochemist, Nobel laureate 2002
  • Marc Chagall
    Marc Chagall

    Marc Chagall ; [shuh-GAHL] , was a Jewish Russians artist, born in Belarus and naturalized France in 1937, associated with several key art movements and was one of the most successful artists of the twentieth century....
    , Russian-born French painter
  • Leonard Cohen
    Leonard Cohen

    Leonard Norman Cohen, Order of Canada, National Order of Quebec is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963....
    , Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist
  • Aaron Copland
    Aaron Copland

    Aaron Copland was an American classical music composer of concert and film music, as well as an accomplished pianist. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, he was widely known as "the dean of American composers." Copland's music achieved a balance between modernism music and American folk styles....
    , U.S. composer, original family name was Kaplan
  • Irwin Cotler
    Irwin Cotler

    Irwin Cotler, Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Order of Canada, 39th Canadian parliament was Canada's Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003 until the Liberal Party of Canada government of Paul Martin lost power following the Canadian federal election, 2006....
    , Canadian Minister of Justice and Attorney General from 2003-2006, and international human rights lawyer
  • Bob Dylan, U.S. singer-songwriter, author, musician and poet
  • Romain Gary
    Romain Gary

    Romain Gary was a France novelist, film director, World War II aviator and diplomat....
    , French writer
  • Philip Glass
    Philip Glass

    Philip Glass is an American music composer. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the late-20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public ....
    , U.S. minimalist composer
  • Leopold Godowsky
    Leopold Godowsky

    Leopold Godowsky , was a famed Poland-United States pianist, composer, and teacher. He has sometimes been described as the "Pianist of Pianists"....
    , composer and pianist
  • Emma Goldman
    Emma Goldman

    Emma Goldman was an anarchism known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
    , anarchist
  • Nadine Gordimer
    Nadine Gordimer

    Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer, political activist and Nobel laureate.Her writing has long dealt with moral and racial issues, particularly apartheid in South Africa....
    , 1991 Nobel Prize for literature
  • Aron Gurwitsch
    Aron Gurwitsch

    Aron Gurwitsch was a Lithuanian-born Jewish United States philosopher working in the field of Phenomenology . He wrote on the relations between phenomenology and Gestalt psychology....
    , philosopher in the field of phenomenology
  • Laurence Harvey
    Laurence Harvey

    Laurence Harvey was an Academy Award-nominated Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in United Kingdom and United States films....
    , British actor
  • Jascha Heifetz
    Jascha Heifetz

    Jascha Heifetz was a Jewish violin virtuoso born in Lithuania . He is hailed as the greatest violinist of the 20th century.Early life ...
    , acclaimed 20th century violinist born in Vilnius
    Vilnius

    Vilnius is the largest city and the Capital of Lithuania, with a population of 555,613 as of 2008. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality....
  • Seymour Hersh
    Seymour Hersh

    Seymour Myron Hersh is an American Pulitzer Prize winning Investigative journalism journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters....
    , American journalist
  • Moe Howard
    Moe Howard

    Moe Howard was an United States comedian, best known as the leader of the Three Stooges, the slapstick comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades....
     (born Harry Moses Horwitz), Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz) and Curly Howard
    Curly Howard

    Curly Howard was an American comedian and vaudeville, best known as a member of the American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges, along with his older brothers Moe Howard and Shemp Howard, and actor Larry Fine....
     (born Jerome Lester Horwitz) of the Three Stooges
    Three Stooges

    The Three Stooges was an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid?20th century best known for their numerous short subject films....
    , a U.S. comedy trio
  • Al Jolson
    Al Jolson

    Al Jolson , born in Lithuania, Russian Empire, was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian, and actor, and, according to PBS, the "first openly Jewish man to become an entertainment star in America." His career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950, during which time he was commonly dubbed "the world's greatest entertainer.? Numerous...
    , singer-songwriter, dancer, entertainer
  • Ronnie Kasrils
    Ronnie Kasrils

    Ronald Kasrils is a South African politician. He was South African Ministry of Intelligence Services from 27 April 2004 to 25 September 2008. He was a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress from 1987 to 2007 as well as a member of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party from Decemb...
    , South African communist leader, minister of Intelligence Services
  • Joseph Klausner
    Joseph Klausner

    Joseph Gedaliah Klausner , also known as Yosef Klauzner was a Jewish scholar born in Olkeniki, Lithuanian Jews who emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1919, and died in Israel....
    , scholar of modern Hebrew literature and former Israeli presidential candidate
  • Aaron Klug
    Aaron Klug

    Sir Aaron Klug, Order of Merit, President of the Royal Society is a Lithuanian-born United Kingdom chemist and biophysicist, and winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of electron crystallography and his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes....
    , biophysicist, Nobel laureate 1982.
  • Hillel Kook
    Hillel Kook

    Hillel Kook , also known as Peter Bergson , was a Revisionist Zionism activist, politician, and prominent member of the Irgun....
    , Revisionist Zionist activist, politician, and prominent member of the Irgun
  • Tony Leon
    Tony Leon

    Anthony James Leon is a South African politician and the former leader of the Democratic Alliance , South Africa's main opposition party and former Leader of the Opposition ....
    , South African former opposition leader
  • Bernard Levin
    Bernard Levin

    Henry Bernard Levin Order of the British Empire was an England journalist, author and Presenter....
    , journalist
  • Emmanuel Levinas
    Emmanuel Lévinas

    Emmanuel Levinas was a France philosopher and Talmudic commentator....
    , philosopher
  • Peggy Lipton
    Peggy Lipton

    Peggy Lipton, also known as Peggy Lipton Jones is a United States actress. She is best known for her portrayal of hip young detective Julie Barnes in the late 1960s early 1970s television show The Mod Squad and conflicted waitress Norma Jennings from the 1990s television drama Twin Peaks on American Broadcasting Company....
    , U.S. actress
  • Jacques Lipchitz
    Jacques Lipchitz

    Jacques Lipchitz was a Cubism sculptor.Jacques Lipchitz was born Chaim Jacob Lipchitz, son of a Jewish building contractor in Druskininkai, Lithuania, then within the Russian Empire....
    , sculptor
  • Emmanuel Lubezki
    Emmanuel Lubezki

    Emmanuel Lubezki, A.S.C., A.M.C. is an award-winning Mexico cinematographer, known for his groundbreaking techniques and characteristic style. His nickname is "Chivo"....
    , 3 time Academy Award nominee, cinematographer
  • Sergio Lubezky, Latin American photographer
  • Michael Marks
    Michael Marks

    Michael Marks, , was one of the two co-founders of the retail chain Marks and Spencer....
    , founder of retail network Marks and Spencer
  • George Marcus
    George Marcus

    George Marcus is an American anthropologist, founder of the journal and editor of the series.Since the 1980s, Marcus has helped transform the way social and cultural anthropologists think, research and write about their work....
    , anthropologist
  • Gideon Mer
    Gideon Mer

    Gideon Mer was an Israel physician and scientist whose work was mostly concerned with the eradication of malaria.Gideon Mer was born in Lithuania, then part of Imperial Russia....
    , Israeli scientist who worked on malaria research
  • Hermann Minkowski
    Hermann Minkowski

    Hermann Minkowski was a Germans mathematician of Jewish and Poles descent, who created and developed the geometry of numbers and who used geometrical methods to solve difficult problems in number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity....
    , mathematician (born in Kaunas
    Kaunas

    Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania and a Temporary capital of Lithuania. It is served by the freeways European route E67 and A1 highway ....
    )
  • Benjamin Netanyahu
    Benjamin Netanyahu

    Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the new Prime Minister-Designate of Israel. He is Chairman of the conservative Likud Party and was previously the 9th Prime Minister of Israel from June 1996 to July 1999....
    , Israeli Prime Minister, original family name was Milikowsky
  • Amos Oz
    Amos Oz

    Amos Oz is an Israeli writer, novelist, and journalist. He is also a professor of literature at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva. Since 1967, he has been a prominent advocate of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict....
    , Israeli writer, novelist and journalist
  • Fanny Mikey, Colombian theatre impresario, daughter of a Lithuanian immigrant to Argentina
  • Pink, (Alecia Moore), U.S. musician, mother is of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry
  • Maury Povich
    Maury Povich

    Maurice Richard "Maury" Povich is an United States television talk show personality, who currently hosts his self-titled talk show Maury . He is married to journalist Connie Chung....
    , U.S. talk-show host
  • Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport, author and Jewish folklorist who under the pseudonym, S. Ansky
    S. Ansky

    Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport , better known by the pseudonym S. Ansky , was a scholar who documented Jewish folklore and mystical beliefs.He was born in Vitebsk, Belarus, then a part of the Russian Empire, but travelled around much of the western part of the Russian Empire....
     wrote the play, The Dybbuk
  • Willy Ronis
    Willy Ronis

    Willy Ronis is a French photographer, the best-known of whose work shows life in post-war Paris and Provence....
    , photographer
  • Joe Slovo
    Joe Slovo

    For Joe Slovo Informal Settlement in Cape Town, see: Joe Slovo .Joe Slovo was a South African politician, long-time leader of the South African Communist Party , and leading member of the African National Congress....
    , South African Communist and MK leader, minister of construction in Nelson Mandela's government
  • Chaďm Soutine
    Chaim Soutine

    Cha?m Soutine was a Jewish expressionist Painting from Belarus. He has been interpreted as both a forerunner of Abstract Expressionism and as a proponent of painting in the European tradition exemplified by the works of Rembrandt, Jean-Baptiste-Sim?on Chardin, and Courbet....
    , painter
  • Moshe/Michael Tchaban Lithuanian born singer-songwriter
  • Vilna Gaon
    Vilna Gaon

    Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew language acronym Gra , , was an exceptional Talmud, Halakha, Kabbalah, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic world Jewry of the past few centuries....
    , preeminent religious leader and Talmud
    Talmud

    The Talmud is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Halakha, Jewish ethics, customs, and history. It is a central text of mainstream Judaism....
    ist
  • Meir Vilner
    Meir Vilner

    Meir Vilner was an Israeli Communism politician and Jewish leader of the Maki , which consisted primarily of Israeli Arabs. He was the youngest and longest surviving signatory of the Declaration of Independence in 1948....
    , Israeli communist leader, the last of the signatories of Israel's declaration of independence to pass away
  • Mary Louise Weller
    Mary Louise Weller

    Mary Louise Weller is an United States actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Mandy Pepperidge in the popular 1978 in film film Animal House....
    , U.S. actress and model
  • L.L. Zamenhof, founder of the Esperanto language
  • Paul Zukofsky
    Paul Zukofsky

    Paul Zukofsky is an American violinist and conductor known for his work in the field of contemporary classical music.Zukofsky was born to the Objectivist poets poet Louis Zukofsky and Celia Thaew Zukofsky, and is of Lithuanian Jews heritage through his father....
    , violinist and conductor from New York


The following people have roots in Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
:
  • Isaiah Berlin
    Isaiah Berlin

    Sir Isaiah Berlin, Order of Merit was a philosopher and historian of ideas, regarded as one of the leading liberal thinkers of the twentieth century....
    , philosopher
  • Chaim Bermant
    Chaim Bermant

    Chaim Icyk Bermant was a prominent Anglo-Jewish journalist, author and wit. Born in Latvia, he spent much of his childhood in Scotland. He was educated at Queen's Park Secondary School in Glasgow, Glasgow University, where he graduated in economics, and the London School of Economics....
    , novelist and journalist
  • Sergei Eisenstein
    Sergei Eisenstein

    Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a revolutionary Soviet Union Russian people film director and Film theory noted in particular for his silent films Strike , The Battleship Potemkin and October: Ten Days That Shook the World, as well as Historical movie Epic film Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible ....
    , Soviet film director
  • Abraham Zevi Idelsohn
    Abraham Zevi Idelsohn

    Abraham Zevi Idelsohn was a prominent Jewish ethnology and musicology, who conducted several comprehensive studies of Jewish music around the world....
    , musicologist
  • Abraham Isaac Kook
    Abraham Isaac Kook

    File:Abraham Isaac Kook 1924.jpgAbraham Isaac Kook was the first Ashkenazi Jews chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionism Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halacha, Kabbalah and a renowned Torah scholar....
    , Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi
    Chief Rabbi

    Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities....
     of Mandate Palestine
    Palestine

    Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It is derived from a name used already much earlier for a narrower geographical region, mainly along the coastal region....
  • Bernard Levin
    Bernard Levin

    Henry Bernard Levin Order of the British Empire was an England journalist, author and Presenter....
    , journalist
  • Max Weinreich
    Max Weinreich

    Max Weinreich was a linguistics, specializing in Yiddish language, and the father of the linguist Uriel Weinreich.Weinreich founded the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in Vilnius in 1925, and was its director from 1925 to 1939....
    , Yiddishist
  • Ruth Vinn Hendler Lack, Holocaust survivor, community activist, Fmr Dir of Houston Holocaust Museum


Footnotes

Lauren Grant, modern dancer, Mark Morris Dance Group. Maternal grandfather from Lithuania, circa 1900.

See also

  • History of the Jews in Lithuania
    History of the Jews in Lithuania

    The History of the Jews in Lithuania spans the period from the eighth century to the present day. There is still a small community in that country, as well as an extensive Lithuanian Jewish diaspora in Israel, the United States and other countries....
  • List of Lithuanian Jews
    List of North European Jews

    Before the Holocaust, Jews were a significant part of the population in Lithuania where they numbered around 240,000, including approximately 100,000 in Vilnius, or about 45% of that city's pre-WWII population ....
  • Israel–Lithuania relations
    Israel–Lithuania relations

    Israel-Lithuania relations are foreign relations between Israel and Lithuania. Israel recognized Lithuania?s independence in 1991. Both countries established diplomatic relation in 1992....


External links



Further reading

  • Dov Levin, Adam Teller, The Litvaks: A Short History of the Jews of Lithuania, Berghahn Books, 2001, ISBN 9653080849
  • Alvydas Nikžentaitis, Stefan Schreiner, Darius Staliunas, Leonidas Donskis, The Vanished World of Lithuanian Jews, Rodopi, 2004, ISBN 9042008504