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Our Mission
Society for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Heritage in Lithuania promotes the protection, preservation and restoration of all Jewish Heritage in Lithuania. Lithuania had a sizeable Jewish presence for hundreds of years and was once the centre of Jewish religious and cultural life in Europe.
We promote Jewish religious life among the small Jewish community of Lithuania. Jewish religious practice is detailed, as in kosher food and Sabbath observance. Even though Lithuania was the centre of European Jewish life for centuries, at present, there is almost no Jewish religious infrastructure for Lithuania’s Jews or Jewish visitors. We are working with the local Jewish community to correct this.
There is approximately 500 Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust Mass Graves in Lithuania. We consider it a religious responsibility and obligation to protect, preserve and restore all of them, as Jewish beliefs include the eventual resurrection and all Jewish cemeteries were purchased as freehold property to be protected forever. Other significant Jewish Holy Sites in Lithuania that warrant protection is the site of the legendary Vilna Shulhoyf.
The Republic of Lithuania today has two crucial, completely untapped resources. Firstly, a community of over a million Jews who identify as Lithuanian-style (Litvish) orthodox Jews, based on the rich Lithuanian Jewish heritage of previous centuries, have a natural goodwill for Vilna and Lithuania. Engaging with them will benefit Lithuania's international relations and prosperity. Additionally, Lithuania has the largest concentration of Jewish Heritage and Holy Sites outside Israel, which has a massive potential for development and would establish Lithuania as a tourist powerhouse.
We seek to partner with Lithuanian entities to advance this agenda and to show others how it is done. We began with the Jewish cemetery in Vilkija, where we successfully partnered with the Kaunas Regional Municipality for its restoration.
We offer assistance and consulting to all Lithuanian Government and private sector levels to advance these goals. All projects would include substantial foreign capital investment, with 100% return benefiting Lithuania.
We promote Jewish religious life among the small Jewish community of Lithuania. Jewish religious practice is detailed, as in kosher food and Sabbath observance. Even though Lithuania was the centre of European Jewish life for centuries, at present, there is almost no Jewish religious infrastructure for Lithuania’s Jews or Jewish visitors. We are working with the local Jewish community to correct this.
There is approximately 500 Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust Mass Graves in Lithuania. We consider it a religious responsibility and obligation to protect, preserve and restore all of them, as Jewish beliefs include the eventual resurrection and all Jewish cemeteries were purchased as freehold property to be protected forever. Other significant Jewish Holy Sites in Lithuania that warrant protection is the site of the legendary Vilna Shulhoyf.
The Republic of Lithuania today has two crucial, completely untapped resources. Firstly, a community of over a million Jews who identify as Lithuanian-style (Litvish) orthodox Jews, based on the rich Lithuanian Jewish heritage of previous centuries, have a natural goodwill for Vilna and Lithuania. Engaging with them will benefit Lithuania's international relations and prosperity. Additionally, Lithuania has the largest concentration of Jewish Heritage and Holy Sites outside Israel, which has a massive potential for development and would establish Lithuania as a tourist powerhouse.
We seek to partner with Lithuanian entities to advance this agenda and to show others how it is done. We began with the Jewish cemetery in Vilkija, where we successfully partnered with the Kaunas Regional Municipality for its restoration.
We offer assistance and consulting to all Lithuanian Government and private sector levels to advance these goals. All projects would include substantial foreign capital investment, with 100% return benefiting Lithuania.
Rabbinic Advisory Board
Rabbi Mechel Gruss
Advisory Board
Rosh Yeshiva
Mayan HaTalmud
Lakewood, NJ
Rabbi Yissochor Herzka
Advisory Board
Rosh Kollel
Kollel Zichron Yaakov Yitzchok
Lakewood, NJ
Rabbi Dovid Kamenetsky
Advisory Board
Jerusalem, Israel.
Leading Authority on the Vilna Gaon's Torah Scholarship and Lithuanian Jewish Heritage. Author of many acclaimed Torah works, including a seminal treatise on Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzensky's Writings
Leading Authority on the Vilna Gaon's Torah Scholarship and Lithuanian Jewish Heritage. Author of many acclaimed Torah works, including a seminal treatise on Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzensky's Writings
Directors
Rabbi Baron
President
Rabbinical Emissary to Lithuania, formerly representing Bnei Berak Rabbinical Rabbi Elchonon Baron, raised in Montreal, Canada has represented the international rabbinate to preserve Jewish heritage in Lithuania for the past several years. A scion of a rabbinic family spanning the generations and the continents, his grandfather Rabbi Chaim Eliezer Samson, a product of the Lithuanian Yeshiva world, served as dean of Baltimore, Maryland’s Talmudical Academy, the first Yeshiva in the US outside of New York, from 1921-1972.
Rabbi Baron's father, Rabbi Leib Baron, exemplified the Litvishe (Lithuanian tradition) Rosh Yeshiva. He was a prime disciple of Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman of Baranovich, a towering preeminent Rabbinic Jewish leader of pre-Holocaust Europe, murdered in the 7th Fort of Kovno, Lithuania. Rabbi Baron Sr escaped Soviet occupied White Russia to independent Lithuania, where he was fortunate to procure travel documents as well as a transit visa from Japanese vice-consul Chiune Sugihara to Japan, eventually spending the war years in Shanghai. He eventually emigrated to the USA and Canada, where he was influential in reestablishing the Lithuanian Yeshiva movement on American shores.
Rabbi Elchonon Baron studied under the great Lithuanian halachic authority Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, and in Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey, where he earned a Bachelor of Hebrew Letters. He also studied with Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch in South Africa, and at the world famous Brisker and Mirrer Yeshivas in Jerusalem, Israel, after which he received rabbinic ordination from leading rabbis. More recently, Rabbi Baron was privileged to study with the late profound thinker, Rabbi Moshe Shapiro.
Rabbi Baron has had a hand in founding and heading litvishe Torah institutions in Jerusalem since 1988, including a Yeshiva and post-graduate Kollel program. More recently he established a scholarly publishing house to disseminate the teachings of the Baranovich Yeshiva, where in addition he has authored several learned treatises and original scholarly works.
Since 2019, Rabbi Baron has been active in lobbying to protect Jewish cemeteries, mass graves and other holy sites in Lithuania, and in promoting authentic Lithuanian Jewish heritage. He is engaged with the Lithuanian government at the highest echelons, believing that the recently formed Lithuanian government presents a unique opportunity to breathe new life into the Lithuanian Jewish community. To this end, he is partnering with Lithuanian Jews to reinvigorate the community with their authentic heritage.
Read MoreRabbi Baron's father, Rabbi Leib Baron, exemplified the Litvishe (Lithuanian tradition) Rosh Yeshiva. He was a prime disciple of Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman of Baranovich, a towering preeminent Rabbinic Jewish leader of pre-Holocaust Europe, murdered in the 7th Fort of Kovno, Lithuania. Rabbi Baron Sr escaped Soviet occupied White Russia to independent Lithuania, where he was fortunate to procure travel documents as well as a transit visa from Japanese vice-consul Chiune Sugihara to Japan, eventually spending the war years in Shanghai. He eventually emigrated to the USA and Canada, where he was influential in reestablishing the Lithuanian Yeshiva movement on American shores.
Rabbi Elchonon Baron studied under the great Lithuanian halachic authority Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, and in Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, New Jersey, where he earned a Bachelor of Hebrew Letters. He also studied with Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch in South Africa, and at the world famous Brisker and Mirrer Yeshivas in Jerusalem, Israel, after which he received rabbinic ordination from leading rabbis. More recently, Rabbi Baron was privileged to study with the late profound thinker, Rabbi Moshe Shapiro.
Rabbi Baron has had a hand in founding and heading litvishe Torah institutions in Jerusalem since 1988, including a Yeshiva and post-graduate Kollel program. More recently he established a scholarly publishing house to disseminate the teachings of the Baranovich Yeshiva, where in addition he has authored several learned treatises and original scholarly works.
Since 2019, Rabbi Baron has been active in lobbying to protect Jewish cemeteries, mass graves and other holy sites in Lithuania, and in promoting authentic Lithuanian Jewish heritage. He is engaged with the Lithuanian government at the highest echelons, believing that the recently formed Lithuanian government presents a unique opportunity to breathe new life into the Lithuanian Jewish community. To this end, he is partnering with Lithuanian Jews to reinvigorate the community with their authentic heritage.
Jack Lyon
Vice President
Jack Lyon’s father was a real Litvak and a farmer from the Babtai and Vandžiogala area of Lithuania. When the Nazis invaded Lithuania, he fled to the forest with his brother, eventually joining the partisans. He was one of only several hundred Jews remaining alive when Lithuania was liberated from the Nazis in 1944. After the war, he emigrated to the United States, settling in Bridgeport, NY, where he farmed cattle.
Building on this farming heritage, Alex Lyon founded Alex Lyon and Son Auctioneers in 1950 as a livestock business focused on community support. When Jack Lyon joined the family business, it expanded to include farm equipment, growing while staying family-owned and operating from its original farmhouse headquarters.
Building on this farming heritage, Alex Lyon founded Alex Lyon and Son Auctioneers in 1950 as a livestock business focused on community support. When Jack Lyon joined the family business, it expanded to include farm equipment, growing while staying family-owned and operating from its original farmhouse headquarters.
Rabbi Eliyahu M Cohen
Treasurer
Rabbi Eliyahu M. Cohen is a scholar, Jewish historian, and librarian with over 35 years of experience as a researcher and rare book collector. A student of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and alumnus of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Israel, he earned ordination after 12 years of advanced study at Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, NJ, where he also served as Head Librarian. He later managed the Hebrew Books Division at Judaica Plaza in Lakewood. Specializing in Jewish Lithuanian history, Rabbi Cohen has visited Lithuania multiple times as a guide and serves as Treasurer of the Society for the Preservation and Promotion of Lithuanian Jewish Heritage.
Executive Committee
Avraham Moshe Muller
Executive Committee
CEO KosherWest
Lakewood NJ
