The history of Jews in Vilnius began in 1323 with the founding of the city, which ultimately became an international center of Jewish culture and learning. In fact, Vilnius was known worldwide as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania". The personality that best symbolized the supremacy of Torah learning within Vilnius was that of Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, the Vilna Gaon, one of the most noted thinkers of the 18th century.

During the Nazi occupation of Lithuania from 1941 to 1944, approximately 94 percent of Lithuania's prewar Jewish community of 240,000 died in the Holocaust.

Today, however, Lithuanian Jewry is gradually rebuilding itself as a full-fledged, functioning Jewish community.

The Sholom Aleichem Jewish Day School and The Jewish Kindergarten
The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation currently supports The Sholom Aleichem Jewish Day School in Vilnius, Lithuania, which currently has an enrollment of 222. A Science Lab for the Upper School was donated and funding was provided for Hebrew and Art teachers for the 30 children of the Jewish Kindergarten. The Foundation also makes a grant to Jerusalem of Lithuania, the newspaper of the Lithuanian Jewish Community.

In addition, The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation enables children from Vilnius to spend two weeks at The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation/American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee International Summer Camp in Szarvas, Hungary.

The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation salutes the valiant efforts of the Jews of the Baltic States.

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