Student summer school courses were held in Vilnius during Aug. 15-21 under the direction of  Moscow scholars and the "Sefer" (Book) Judaica teaching center; the topic - History and Culture of Lithuanian Jewry. Viktorija MOˆIALOVA, the director of "Sefer", talks about the aims and goals of the summer schools.

"Sefer" was founded in 1994, and connectss scholars and Judaica teachers. Our structure was established to help young people in the so-called post-Soviet environment - in the capitals or in the provinces - to make their way towards a study, if their talent lies therein, of Jewish heritage, and to become high class experts in this field.

The center organizes conferences and seminars, sends lecturers to various cities, publishes scientific literature, etc. - it supports research in and teaching of Jewish disciplines in universities.

Last year, "Sefer" significantly expanded its student programs. Since 1996 we have been organizing one scientific conference a year dealing with the question of research on Jewry; it is attended by students from Russia and elsewhere, including Lithuania and Latvia.

Now, in addition to the conferences we have summer and winter Judaica schools for students and graduates. The number of these schools is growing every year. We gather together students from the CIS and Baltic countries and organize a mini university for them: we invite lecturers from Israel, the Jewish University in Jerusalem, Bar Ilan, and we make use of local possibilities.

This year we had several summer schools: one in Baku on "Mountain Jewry"; an archaeological type of school in Charkov, where students were involved in digs being carried out in a territory occupied by the Khazars; a theoretical school, with study of the Bible and Talmud in Moscow, which has little in the way of monuments of Jewish culture; an ethnographic school in Tulchin, which has a compact and active Jewish community of over 200 people, and where the students interviewed the residents and processed and systemized their notes into material which we are hoping to publish.

About 30 students, graduates, young scholars from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Riga and Kaliningrad, and a large audience from Lithuania (priority was given to this region) attended the school here in Jerusholaim d'Lite.

An elite group of lecturers gathered in Vilnius: literature expert and known Yiddish poet Dr. Velvl Chernin (Bar Ilan); Judaica experts Dr. Ilya Lurye and Dr. Semion Goldin (Israel); Vasilisa Shklovskaja-Kordi, who graduated from the Jewish University in Moscow, repatriated to Israel, and now participates in many of our programmes. We are very pleased to be working together with our Vilnius lecturers Dr. Lara Lempertien« and Dr. Judita Verbickien«. We heard interesting presentations from Lithuanian scholars Darius Staliënas and Andîej Pukàto. Moscow scholars are represented by an expert in Karaime history, Dr. Rashid Muradovich Kaplanov. My field is the history of Lithuanian Jewry prior to the division of the Lithuanian-Polish commonwealth. Students had an opportunity to be involved with lecturers from various countries and schools of study.

Lectures were held in two sections, and students could choose either an historical or cultural aspect.

In the evenings there were "round tables" with lively discussions on topics such as "Does Lithuanian Jewry exist as a cultural and historical community, and research object?", "Jewish political activity in Lithuania in the first half of the 20th century", "Lithuanian-Jewish relations in the context of Jewish relations with their East European neighbours", etc.

The Vilnius school was unique in that some of the activities took place "on wheels" - in the form of excursions with lectures, discussions, and a practical introduction to historical places.

The students discovered Jewish cultural objects in Vilnius and environs via excursions by bus and on foot, including to žieîmariai, which has one surviving wooden synagogue (there were once 13), to the historical center of the Old Town of Kaunas, which once had a large Jewish population, to Slabada, once famous for its yeshiva. Excursions to Ukmerg« and K«dainiai, which had strong Jewish communities before the Second World War, left a deep impression...

All of our programmes are organized in close collaboration with the Chais Center at the Jewish University in Jerusalem. Representative from this center Dr. S.Goldin was involved in developing the academic part of this programme, and was present in Vilnius as lecturer.

Our achievements depend on our sponsors. We always receive support from the Jewish "Sochnut" agency. The summer school program in the Crimea was assisted by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. Thanks to Leonid Nevzlin we were able to open two centers for studies in East European Jewish history and culture - in Moscow and in Vilnius. Sponsors give stipends to scholars, and grants for completing theses, for publications and for travel to scientific conferences. L.Nevzlin understands the importance of knowledge and education, and carries out mitzvah in the Jewish tradition. In Moscow, Mark Shabad and his partner Grigorij Stulberg founded an association of friends of the Jewish University in Jerusalem, and its members pay for people to study in Israel for one or two semesters.

History and Culture of Lithuanian Jewry at the Vilnius summer school was a success thanks to the Chais Center at the Jewish University in Jerusalem, the East European Jewish culture and study center in Vilnius, the Lithuanian Jewish Community, the Baltic division of "Sochnut", JDC, and the Avi Hai Foundation.

On behalf of "Sefer" I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of these organizations.

Newspaper of the Jewish Community of Lithuania “Jerusalem of Lithuania” 2005.