Vilna's Jewish Cemetary, the Burial Place of the Vilna Gaon, Threatened by Commercial Construction

LITHUANIAN CONSTRUCTION AT JEWISH SNIPISKES CEMETERY ONGOING

The Jewish Snipiskes cemetary in Vilna, Lithuania, the site of many thousands of Jewish graves, including the grave of the Torah Giant, the Vilna Gaon, is threatened by the ongoing construction of apartment buildings over the Jewish cemetery. The United States House of Representatives has already chastised the Lithuanian government for not stopping construction over the Jewish cemetery and a bill against the construction has fifty co-sponsors and is to be added to the Houses Foreign Affairs calendar.

Despite pressure from the United States, the construction continues and the Lithuanian government seems to not be taking any concrete actions to stop the construction.

THE LITHUANIAN GOVERNMENT CLAIMS TO CARE ABOUT THE VILNA GAON, BUT HASN'T STOPPED CONSTRUCTION AT THE CEMETERY IN WHICH HE IS BURIED

At the around the 200th yartzheit of the Vilna Gaon, the Lithuanian government did the following in commemoration of the Vilna Gaon:

"Amid much fanfare, the commemorative activities ranged from the issuing of a Lithuanian first-day cover with the Gaon’s portrait to the erection of a bust of the Gaon at the site of his former klaus. At ceremonies attended by the President of Lithuania and members of the Lithuanian parliament, and accompanied by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Gaon was praised repeatedly for "his intellectual openness; his humanistic values; his tolerance..."

Apparently, if the Lithuanian government cares so much that the leaders of the Lithuanian government show the Vilna Gaon's life so much honor, they should at the very least be consistent and defend his burial site and the entire Jewish cemetery. One might even suggest that they display even a fraction of the tolerance concerning which they praised the Vilna Gaon to work to defend the Jewish cemetery.

IMPORTANT LINKS:

1) For more information, click here - Shema Yisrael or here - Ha'aretz.

2) Contact applicable government officials in America and Lithuania.