On September 13-15, 2017, the World Jewish Congress Yiddish Center organized a seminar in Vilnius for directors of local branches of the Jewish student organization "Hillel" in the former USSR. The group consisted of 15 people.

WJC YC was represented by its Academic Director, Dr. Mordechay Yushkovsky, as well as by Dr. Vilma Gradinskaitė and Dr. Lara Lempert.

Dr. Gradinskaitė, an expert of Eastern European Jewish art, spoke about shtetl and its inhabitants, reflected in visual art. Her lecture was illustrated with pictures.

Dr. Lempert talked about Jewish intellectual-artistic life in Lithuania during inter-war period, when Yiddish culture flourished in the Republic of Lithuania.

Dr. Yushkovsky provided 3 lectures and spoke about various aspects of Jewish culture, origin of Jewish humour, Yiddish literature during the Holocaust and others.

During the seminar 2 excursions have been conducted: one on foot guided by Elena Ribas, another one – by bus for general sightseeing of Vilnius including the visit to Ponary memorial guided by Raya Shapiro. Both tours received very favourable feedback and were crowned by applause of the participants.

We got a gratitude letter from the regional coordinator of educational programs of the International Jewish Student Organization "Hillel" in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, Mr. Aleksandr Stesin. He wrote:

"On behalf of the participants of the seminar for Hillel educators and activists I would like to thank you for your hospitality and excellent lecturers. We wish you further success in preservation and revival of Yiddish".

Most participants expressed their wish to organize similar seminars in their centers and to continue cooperation with WJC YC. They pointed out that this seminar was really knowledgeable and encouraged them to get deeper into Yiddish culture.