It's a full flight, and so the idea of davenning in the multi faith prayer room at Luton rather than "the back of the plane" was clearly the better one.
The plane is full of Latvians who all clap as the plane touches down. Obviously they're aware Vilnius was also known as "Northern Jerusalem". We do not clap. This is not actually Jerusalem.
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| At Vilnius Cemetery |
We make a decision to stop off at the Jewish cemetery en route. This was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but as it's on the way it makes more sense. It's also a beautifully bright and sunny day and we can't guarantee what the weather will do.
It's clear as we step into the cemetery that this is very different from the cemeteries we've visited on previous Missions in Warsaw and Kracow. This one is a living cemetery.
Not only is it still in use; as we listen to the explanation of the key kevorim given by Rabbi Lewis and our guide Regina, a chap with a yarmulke pass by with his daughter. It's a Sunday and they're coming to visited a passed relative.
The chappie explains he is part of the community in Vilnius and also that he is in touch with Central Synagogue to bring a choir over to his shul.
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| At Vilnius Cemetery |
Then another guy in a black yarmulke passes - he explains his name is Soloveichik and is coming to visit his forebears. Then another - a woman who has come to place tulips on ther grave. She is clearly moved, as Rabbi Lewis reads out the inscription on the grave and explains this is the resting place of a good and kind man.
We're not used to going into a Jewish cemetery in eastern Europe and experiencing this (and the pictures of the deceased on the graves and the flowers are also unusual to us).
But all this is a marker that here in Vilnius we are not simply coming to see the
Judiasm that was and was lost but also the community that today very much is.
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