Private Jewish Guide Lithuania

12/04/2024

Currently, I don't do Jewish tours because I decided to fully focus on another passion of mine :-)

17/07/2022

What a special 2-day trip it was.

With my guests from Israel we started our tour in Vilna. Visiting Vilna Jewish quarter, the Jewish cemetry, Ponar forest.

And on the 2nd day we drove to Anykščiai (pronounced Anykst in Yiddish). We walked around Anykst Jewish quarter, had lunch at the Jewish Market Square, then drove to a very abandoned Jewish cemetry, and finished the day at the old Train station.

I was charmed by the cuteness of the Jewish quarter in Anykst. One of the old synagogues survived, so we had a chance to imagine how life must have been around it before World War II.

The trip was with an adventure. On the way to Anykst my car tire got flat, so we had to seek technical help. Which was a gift because on the way from Ukmergė we also visited a cute little village Kurkliai that used to be a shtetl, and a small synagogue still stands there.

These were very special 2 days, full of discoveries, stories, sad and jolly moments ❤️

20/04/2022

In case you're coming to Lithuania in May, there's a Litvak Congress taking place between May 23rd - 26th.

19/08/2021

They have discovered the floor of what once was The Vilna Great Synagogue. I can see what a beauty it once was ❤️

10/08/2021

01/08/2021

This is a great time to visit Vilna because Dr. Jon Seligman is proceeding with excavating the Great Vilna Synagogue. Very curious what the team will find this time around!

ONLY A WEEK TO GO – THE 2021 EXCAVATION OF THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE OF VILNA

Only one week to the start of a new season of work excavating the Great Synagogue of Vilna.

After the discovery of the inscription dedicated to the donation of a Torah reading table by followers of the Gaon of Vilna in 2019, who knows what this season will bring. The exciting goal this year is the full exposure of the Bimah and Aron Kodesh.

If you are in Vilnius between the 9th to 27th August 2021, you are welcome to come and view the excavation in progress or even volunteer to dig.

As we have limited institutional funding from the Good Will Foundation for this project, we are seeking help from you, those with a connection to Vilna, or with a Litvak family relationship and from the wider public. All help, of whatever amount, is appreciated.

16/07/2021

In Vilna there's only one active synagogue left. There used to be over 130 synagogues before WWII.

Today I was passing by another old synagogue that was abandoned for a long time.

It used to be called "the flower synagogue" because it's on Flower Street. Situated close to the railway station it used to be a very important and vibrant synagogue because many foreigners who were coming to Vilna to trade or to learn from the Gaon of Vilna, would visit this synagogue once they got out of the train on their way to the city.

Looks like it's being renewed, and I got a sneak peak through the window.

Hopefully soon Vilna will have two active synagogues 🙏

02/11/2020

The place of the old Vilna Jewish cemetery on top of which a concert hall was built in the Soviet times...

26/10/2020

Did you know that Jerome David Salinger, the author of the novel The Catcher in the Rye, roots are in the Lithuanian city Sudargas? Since this summer there's a monument there in his memory. Amazing how many talented people were rooted in this country, on this land I walk everyday...

21/10/2020

A sculpture of the Jewish water carrier was unveiled in the former Vilnius ghetto quarter. The author of the monument is Romas Kvintas, a well-known Lithuanian sculptor. This meaningful event complements the commemoration of the Year of the VilnaGaon2020 and the History of the Jews of Lithuania.

18/10/2020

On the way to see a friend, we came across what seems to be a very old Jewish cemetery by the city KAVARSKAS... Only a few graves, with no names on them, covered in moss...Turns out Kavarskas once was a prosperous shtetl, one of many... The shtetl that was...

12/10/2020

Spotted yesterday in Kovno. In memory of Leja Goldberg... A famous Litvak poet, a translator, and probably a beautiful soul ❤️ Kęstučio str. 16, Kaunas

27/02/2020

David Ben-Gurion visits Memel (Klaipeda), Lithuania in 1933. Then it was big Jewish and Zionist centre.

24/02/2020

My dad has been very sentimental lately, and has been sending me all these pictures from my childhood. In this one I'm in the center, my mom on the left and my older sister Maja on the right ❤️ Three happy Litvaks :) I think, it was still Soviet Union then.

16/02/2020

My grandpa from mom's side is on the left. Standing pround in his little shop in the shtetl of Telšiai (Telsh) ♥️

19/01/2020

My two grandpa's. Hirshe and Tevje. Both Litvaks, both Holocaust survivors. Those smiles on their faces because they're looking at me and my sister Maja ❤️

12/01/2020

As I'm travelling in Asia this winter and today I had to go to Cambodia to renew my visa, I found out that the Royal family in Cambodia is Jewish. Who knew :-)
I'll be back to giving Jewish tours in my beloved home-city Vilnius already this MARCH.
Looking forward to meeting new guests in Vilnius!

Elior Koroghli, the Jewish great-grandaughter of the late Cambodian King Monivong, celebrated her Bas Mitzvah surrounded by the royal family.

10/09/2019

I have been put forward as a nominee for the European Travel & Hospitality Awards 2020. www.thawards.com 😊😊