The centuries-old Jewish Community of Vilnius was almost completely annihilated during the Nazi occupation between 1941-1944. After World War II under Soviet rule, the Great Synagogue was demolished, the Jewish cemeteries - destroyed, and the streets, which had been named for renovvned Jewish individuals, were renamed.

Today, many sites significant in Jewish history and culture are commemorated by plaques and monuments. They give voice to the silent walls of houses and the changed streets. However, mute witnesses of the past remain abundant.

Vilnius was a Jewish city in the traditional sense. From times of old, the community was renowned for its spiritual leaders. By the first half of the I 7th century, Vilnius already had 40 famous rabbis among its small population of 2,500 Jews. Shabbetay Ha-kohen, Moses Rivkes, Aaron Samuel Koidanover and others who lived there significantly before the time of the Gaon, brought Vilnius its reputation of the city of sages. But it was the Gaon Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (1720-1 797) who gave the city an entirely new status - with him it became the indisputable capital of Jewishness.

The name of Vilnius is spoken with respect and love by Jews in France and Russia, USA and South Africa, Argentina and Israel. Some may have very little knowledge of Vilnius itself, but they all know of the Vilnius Gaon, and will certainly have heard the oft repeated reference to Vilnius as Jerusalem of Lithuania. Most have their own notion of what this means, but they all connect the name of Vilnius with the holy name of Jerusalem.