The council of the Lithuanian Jewish Community  (LJC) has decided to organize a third World Litvak Congress in August 2009, as a natural continuation of the first (2001) and second (2004) world congresses.

One cannot erase and forget the tragic and honourable 700 year-old history of the Jews of Lithuania. During the past two centuries, the Lithuanian Jewish diaspora has spread throughout many countries of the world, but the Litvakes have not lost contact with the country where, for many centuries, their ancestors lived, and to which they dedicated their knowledge, energy, and work. The Jews of Lithuania suffered a gigantic loss during the time of the Second World War, when the Nazis and their local collaborators annihilated 95% of the country's Jewish population. But the Lithuanian Jewish community did not disappear. It has been reborn, and every year takes on an increasingly meaningful role in contemporary Lithuanian life.

As part of the Third World Litvak Congress, the LJC plans to summarize the results of its 20 years of activity, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the restoration of the Vilnius Sholom Aleichem Jewish School, the 20th anniversary of the “Jerusalem of Lithuania” newspaper, and to organize many other events.

The most important task of the Third World Litvak Congress is to develop and strengthen contact between Litvakes in the diaspora (Lithuania's Jewish emigrants and their descendants) and the Jews who live in Lithuania, to assist in their dialogue and debate on topical contemporary issues, and to encourage their participation in Lithuania's economic, cultural, and other spheres of life. The Congress will also host an international scientific conference entitled “Dissemination of Yiddish Culture".

The Congress will remind Vilnius residents and guests that traditionally the city was a centre of Jewish culture and life, one that merited the name Jerusalem of Lithuania. It was renowned for its sages – one of whom was the Vilna Gaon – and for its artists, scholars, philosophers, writers, and education system.

We anticipate that Litvakes acclaimed in their various spheres of activity, Nobel prize laureates, famous scholars and writers who have contributed a great deal to world and national Jewish culture, will be visiting Lithuania during the days of the Third World Litvak Congress.  

Congress participants will have the opportunity to become better acquainted with present-day life in Lithuania, and with the Jewish communities in Lithuania, including Vilnius and other cities, and to discover that despite the Holocaust and emigration, Lithuania still has a Jewish population that is endeavouring to successfully carry on the history of the Jewish diaspora in Lithuania.

Lithuanian Jewish Community Council
Source: Newspaper of the Jewish Community of Lithuania “Jerusalem  of Lithuania” 2007, № 9-10