Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
with roots in the territory of the former
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was Partitions of Poland, partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire, Habsburg Empire of ...
(covering present-day
Lithuania,
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
,
Latvia, the northeastern
Suwałki and
Białystok regions of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, as well as adjacent areas of modern-day
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
and
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
). The term is sometimes used to cover all
Haredi Jews who follow a "
Lithuanian" (
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
, non-
Hasidic) style of life and learning, whatever their ethnic background. The area where Lithuanian Jews lived is referred to in Yiddish as , hence the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
term ().
No other famous Jew is more closely linked to a specifically Lithuanian city than
Vilna Gaon (in
Yiddish, "the genius of
Vilna"). Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (1720–1797) to give his rarely used full name, helped make Vilna (modern-day Vilnius) a world center for Talmudic learning.
Chaim Grade (1910–1982) was born in Vilna, the city about which he would write.
The inter-war Republic of Lithuania was home to a large and influential Jewish community; its members either fled the country or were murdered during
the Holocaust in Lithuania
The Holocaust in Lithuania resulted in the near total destruction of Lithuanian (Litvaks) and Polish Jews, living in '' Generalbezirk Litauen'' of '' Reichskommissariat Ostland'' within the Nazi-controlled Lithuanian SSR. Out of approximately 2 ...
which began in 1941. Prior to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the Lithuanian Jewish population comprised some 160,000 people, or about 7% of the total population.
Vilnius had a
Jewish community of nearly 100,000, about 45% of the city's total population. There were over 110
synagogues and 10
yeshiva
A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy a ...
s in Vilnius alone. Census figures from 2005 recorded 4007 Jews in Lithuania – 0.12 percent of the country's total population
Vilna (Vilnius) was occupied by Nazi Germany in June 1941. Within a matter of months, this famous Jewish community had been devastated with over two-thirds of its population killed.
Based on data by Institute of Jewish Policy Research, as of 1 January 2016, the core Jewish population of Lithuania is estimated to be 2,700 (0.09% of the wider population), and the enlarged Jewish population was estimated at 6,500 (0.23% of the wider population). The Lithuanian Jewish population is concentrated in the capital, Vilnius, with smaller population centres including
Klaipėda and
Kaunas.
Etymology
The
Yiddish adjective means "Lithuanian": the noun for a Lithuanian Jew is . The term itself originates from , a
Polish term denoting "a man from Lithuania", which however went out of use before the 19th century, having been supplanted in this meaning by , only to be revived around 1880 in the narrower meaning of "a Lithuanian Jew". The "Lithuania" meant here is the territory of the former
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was Partitions of Poland, partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire, Habsburg Empire of ...
.
Of the main
Yiddish dialects in Europe, the
Litvishe Yiddish (
Lithuanian Yiddish
Yiddish dialects are variants of the Yiddish language and are divided according to the region in Europe where each developed its distinctiveness. Linguistically, Yiddish is divided in distinct Eastern and Western dialects. While the Western diale ...
) dialect was spoken by
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
in Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, Estonia and northeastern Poland, including Suwałki, Łomża, and Białystok.
However, following the dispute between the Hasidim and the
Misnagdim, in which the Lithuanian academies were the heartland of opposition to Hasidism, "Lithuanian" came to have the connotation of Misnagdic (non-Hasidic) Judaism generally, and to be used for all Jews who follow the traditions of the great Lithuanian yeshivot, whether or not their ancestors actually came from Lithuania. In modern Israel, (Lithuanians) is often used for all
Haredi Jews who are not
Hasidim (and not
Hardalim or
Sephardic Haredim). Other expressions used for this purpose are and . Both the words and are somewhat misleading, because there are also Hasidic Jews from greater
Lithuania and many Lithuanian Jews who are not Haredim. The term ("opponents") on the other hand is somewhat outdated, because the opposition between the two groups has lost much of its relevance. is also problematic because Hasidim now make use of
yeshivot as much as the Litvishe Jews.
Ethnicity, religious customs and heritage
The characteristically "Lithuanian" approach to
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...
was marked by a concentration on highly intellectual
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
study. Lithuania became the heartland of the traditionalist opposition to
Hasidism
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism ( Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of cont ...
. They named themselves "
misnagdim" (opposers) of the Hasidi. The Lithuanian traditionalists believed Hassidim represented a threat to Halachic observance due to certain Kabbalistic beliefs held by the Hassidim, that, if misinterpreted, could lead one to heresy as per the
Frankists
Frankism was a heretical Sabbatean Jewish religious movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, centered on the leadership of the Jewish Messiah claimant Jacob Frank, who lived from 1726 to 1791. Frank rejected religious norms and said that his fo ...
. Differences between the groups grew to the extent that in popular perception "Lithuanian" and "
misnagged" became virtually interchangeable terms. However, a sizable minority of Lithuanian Jews belong(ed) to
Hasidic groups, including
Chabad
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...
,
Slonim,
Karlin-Stolin,
Karlin (Pinsk)
Karlin or Karalin ( be, Каралін; russian: Карлин; yi, קארלין) is a village outside Pinsk, Belarus. It was founded as an independent town in 1690 and was named after the village's founder, Jan Karol Dolski. By 1695, Dolski had b ...
,
Lechovitch,
Amdur and
Koidanov
Dzyarzhynsk or Dzerzhinsk, formerly Koidanova or Koydanava ( be, Дзяржы́нск, Dziaržynsk, formerly , ; russian: Дзержи́нск, Dzerzhinsk, formerly , ; pl, Kojdanów; yi, קוידאַנאָוו, Koydanov; lt, Kaidanava), in t ...
. With the spread of the
Enlightenment, many Lithuanian Jews became devotees of the ''
Haskala'' (Jewish Enlightenment) movement in
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
pressing for better integration into European society, and today, many leading academics, scientists, and philosophers are of Lithuanian Jewish descent.
The most famous Lithuanian institution of Jewish learning was
Volozhin yeshiva, which was the model for most later yeshivas. Twentieth century
"Lithuanian" yeshivas include
Ponevezh,
Telshe,
Mir,
Kelm, and
Slabodka, which bear the names of their Lithuanian forebears. American "offspring" of the Lithuanian yeshiva movement include
Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin,
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary,
Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yisrael Meir HaKohen ("Chofetz Chaim"), and
Beth Medrash Govoha ("Lakewood"), as well as numerous other yeshivas founded by students of Lakewood's founder, Rabbi
Aharon Kotler
Aharon Kotler (1892–1962) was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and a prominent leader of Orthodox Judaism in Lithuania and the United States; the latter being where he founded Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood Township, New Jersey.
Early life
Kotler w ...
.
In theoretical Talmud study, the leading Lithuanian authorities were
Chaim Soloveitchik and the
Brisker school; rival approaches were those of the Mir and Telshe yeshivas. In practical
halakha
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...
, the Lithuanians traditionally followed the
Aruch HaShulchan, though today, the "Lithuanian" yeshivas prefer the
Mishnah Berurah, which is regarded as both more analytic and more accessible.
In the 19th century, the Orthodox Ashkenazi residents of the Holy Land, broadly speaking, were divided into
Hasidim and
Perushim
The ''perushim'' ( he, פרושים) were Jewish disciples of the Vilna Gaon, Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, who left Lithuania at the beginning of the 19th century to settle in the Land of Israel, which was then part of Ottoman Syria under Ott ...
, who were Lithuanian Jews influenced by the
Vilna Gaon. For this reason, in modern-day Israeli
Haredi parlance the terms ''Litvak'' (noun) or ''Litvisher'' (adjective), or in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
''Litaim'', are often used loosely to include any non-
Hasidic Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
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 make-up and the religious traditions of the
misnagged communities are much more diverse.
Customs of Lithuanian non-Hasidic Jews consist of:
# Wearing of
tefillin
Tefillin (; Modern Hebrew language, Israeli Hebrew: / ; Ashkenazim, Ashkenazic pronunciation: ), or phylacteries, are a set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Te ...
during non-sabbath days of the intermediate days of the festival
chol hamoed.
# Variations in pronunciation (not practiced by most modern-day Litvaks)
#*The pronunciation of the
holam as "ei".
#* The "shin" being pronounced as a sloppy "S," making it difficult to differentiate from "sin".
History
Jews began living in Lithuania as early as the 13th century. In 1388, they were granted a charter by
Vytautas
Vytautas (c. 135027 October 1430), also known as Vytautas the Great ( Lithuanian: ', be, Вітаўт, ''Vitaŭt'', pl, Witold Kiejstutowicz, ''Witold Aleksander'' or ''Witold Wielki'' Ruthenian: ''Vitovt'', Latin: ''Alexander Vitoldus'', O ...
, under which they formed a class of freemen subject in all criminal cases directly to the jurisdiction of the grand duke and his official representatives, and in petty suits to the jurisdiction of local officials on an equal footing with the lesser nobles (''
szlachta''),
boyars, and other free citizens. As a result, the community prospered.
In 1495, they were expelled by
Alexander Jagiellon, but allowed to return in 1503. The Lithuanian statute of 1566 placed a number of restrictions on the Jews, and imposed
sumptuary laws, including the requirement that they wear
distinctive clothing, including yellow caps for men and yellow kerchiefs for women.
The
Khmelnytsky Uprising destroyed the existing Lithuanian Jewish institutions. Still, the Jewish population of Lithuania grew from an estimated 120,000 in 1569 to approximately 250,000 in 1792. After the 1793
Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Lithuanian Jews became subjects of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...
.
Lithuanian Jews in the Second World War
The Jewish Lithuanian population before
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
numbered around 160,000, or about 7% of the total population.
[Lithuania]
(updated June 20, 2014). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2015-04-14. At the beginning of the war, some 12,000 Jewish refugees fled into Lithuania from Poland;
[Levin, Dov (2010).]
Lithuania
. ''YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe''. Retrieved 2015-04-14. by 1941 the Jewish population of Lithuania had swelled to approximately 250,000, or 10% of the total population.
During the German invasion of June 1941, 141,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators. Notable execution locations were in the
Paneriai woods (see
Ponary massacre) and the
Ninth Fort
The Ninth Fort ( lt, Devintas Fortas) is a stronghold in the northern part of Šilainiai elderate, Kaunas, Lithuania. It is a part of the Kaunas Fortress, which was constructed in the late 19th century. During the occupation of Kaunas and the ...
.
Quoting the research done by
H. G. Adler into Poland during World War II called , there were "80,000 Jews conscripted into Poland's independent army prior to the German invasion who identified themselves as Lithuanian Jews". Using different sources Holocaust researchers claim there were between 60,000 and 65,000 Jewish soldiers in Poland's independent army who identified themselves as Lithuanian Jews.
Culture
Litvaks have an identifiable mode of pronouncing Hebrew and Yiddish; this is often used to determine the boundaries of Lita (area of settlement of Litvaks). Its most characteristic feature is the pronunciation of the vowel
holam 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, 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/
misnaged 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. 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 Line".
Genetics
The Lithuanian Jewish population may exhibit a genetic
founder effect. The utility of these variations has been the subject of debate. One variation, which is implicated in familial
hypercholesterolemia, has been dated to the 14th century, corresponding to the establishment of settlements in response to the
invitation extended by Gediminas in 1323, which encouraged
German Jews to settle in the newly established city of
Vilnius. A relatively high rate of early-onset
dystonia in the population has also been identified as possibly stemming from the founder effect.
See also
*
:People of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
*
Jewish cemeteries of Vilnius
*
Vilna Ghetto
*
History of the Jews in Lithuania
*
Timeline of Jewish history in Lithuania and Belarus
*
History of the Jews in Poland
*
History of the Jews in South Africa
The history of the Jews in South Africa began during the period of Portuguese exploration in the early modern era, though a permanent presence was not established until the beginning of Dutch colonisation in the region. During the period of ...
*
Israel–Lithuania relations
*
List of Lithuanian Jews
*
Minhag Polin
Notes
References
* ''Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture. Themes and Phenomena of the Jewish Diaspora, Volume 1''. Avrum M. Ehrlich, ABC-CLIO, 2009. .
Further reading
* Dov Levin, ''The Litvaks: A Short History of the Jews of Lithuania''; translated from the Hebrew by Adam Teller. New York: Berghahn Books, 2001,
* Alvydas Nikžentaitis, Stefan Schreiner, Darius Staliūnas, Leonidas Donskis, ''The Vanished World of Lithuanian Jews'', Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2004,
*
Dovid Katz
Dovid Katz (Yiddish: , also , Hirshe-Dovid Kats, , born 9 May 1956) is an American-born, Vilnius-based scholar, author and educator, specializing in Yiddish language and literature, Lithuanian Jewish culture, and the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. ...
, ''Lithuanian Jewish Culture''. Vilnius: Baltos lankos and Budapest: Central European University Press, 2010,
*
Dovid Katz
Dovid Katz (Yiddish: , also , Hirshe-Dovid Kats, , born 9 May 1956) is an American-born, Vilnius-based scholar, author and educator, specializing in Yiddish language and literature, Lithuanian Jewish culture, and the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. ...
,
Seven Kingdoms of the Litvaks'; Vilnius: International Cultural Program Center, 2009
*
* Nathan Shapiro
The Migration of Lithuanian Jews to the United States, 1880 – 1918, and the Decisions Involved in the Process, Exemplified by Five Individual Migration Stories *
*
External links
Official website of Jewish Community of Lithuania
Website of Jewish Chabad-Lubavitch Community
*
Dovid Katz
Dovid Katz (Yiddish: , also , Hirshe-Dovid Kats, , born 9 May 1956) is an American-born, Vilnius-based scholar, author and educator, specializing in Yiddish language and literature, Lithuanian Jewish culture, and the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. ...
studieson contemporary and historic Litvak culture and Litvish
*
Dovid Katz
Dovid Katz (Yiddish: , also , Hirshe-Dovid Kats, , born 9 May 1956) is an American-born, Vilnius-based scholar, author and educator, specializing in Yiddish language and literature, Lithuanian Jewish culture, and the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. ...
Reading listfor the proposed field of Litvak Studies
MACEVA: Lithuania Jewish Cemetery ProjectThe Story of the Jewish Community in Lithuania– on the
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...
website
{{Jews and Judaism
Jewish ethnic groups
*
Ashkenazi Jews topics