About this talk

Lithuania became home to an Ashkenazi Jewish community over seven hundred years ago, and its members came to be known as Litvaks. Why? When? What did the term mean then, and what does it mean today?

Vilnius emerged as an outstanding religious center, with Rav Eliyahu of Vilna—the Vilna Gaon—as its central spiritual figure. Later, the city became a hub of the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) movement, gradually transforming into a center of social and political leadership.

In this talk, I will use my personal and family stories to illustrate the past and present of Vilnius and Lithuania, while explaining how the word Litvak evolved and why Vilnius holds such an important place in the Jewish world.

I will also present the main highlights of a Jewish tour of Vilnius. To do so, we will watch some of my own recorded material, including footage created specifically for this talk. I hope you will join me on this virtual journey.

About Daniel

Daniel Gurevich was born in Vilnius in 1979 and made Aliyah to Israel in 1997, before returning to Lithuania and becoming an expert in the travel industry.

Today, he is the General Manager of his family business, the travel agency Jerulita. His tours are conducted in Hebrew, English, Russian, and Lithuanian, and focus on Jewish heritage, religion, history, and culture in the Baltic States. The Holocaust and relations between Jews and local communities are subjects of particular interest to him, and he conducts personal research in these fields. Architecture, especially Art Nouveau, is one of his specialties.

He enjoys working with people, and each tour gives him new energy for the next.