Appreciation to Mickey Kantor 2022 — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

In June 2022, the members of the board of directors of the Association expressed their appreciation for the work of Mickey Kantor, the chair of the Association since 2015.

In the presence of the members of the Association who came to participate in the annual general meeting and in the presence of Mickey's children and grandchildren, the members surprised Mickey and greatly moved her by giving her a modest gift whose title is, in the words of Naomi Shemer: "Good people in the middle of the road, very good people, good people know the way and with them you can walk."

The following is the story of Mickey's activity:

Mickey Kantor is the chair of the Association of Jews from Vilna and Vicinity in Israel. She was born in 1948 in Israel to a couple of Holocaust survivors, Hanna Pessensohn from Vilna and Dan Glucksam from Austria. She is married to Rami Kantor, mother of 3, and grandmother of 4 grandchildren. She lives in Ramat Hasharon.

• She began her volunteer activity in the Association of Jews from Vilna and Vicinity in 2003 and served as the vice-chair of the Association until her election as chair in 2015.
• In addition to her activity as chair of the Association, Mickey works for the benefit of the dwindling Holocaust survivors and takes care of their well-being privately and personally. She dedicates her time to them and  maintains regular contact, visits, helps and supports them with every mental and physical problem that arises for them, all this in secret and without publicity. Her kindness and love for others accompany her and activate the Association in these areas.
• In the relationships she cultivates with the Lithuanian government, she contributes to a change in the approach to youth education and their awareness of Lithuanian Jewish history. Her success in her public relations work has contributed to some extent to the change in Lithuanian history curricula. Mickey initiates visits by representatives of the Lithuanian government to Beit Vilna, and each one becomes, after the visit, a kind of ambassador of Israel in Lithuania, where they no longer only settle for laying wreaths on the monuments on Holocaust Day and on the day of the liquidation of the ghettos, but in activities that bring the two peoples closer. Mickey initiated the Marches of the Living to the Ponar Killing area, when at first only Holocaust survivors and their families participated in them, and today marches are held jointly for Jews from all over the world together with Jews from Vilna and Lithuanian government institutions.
• The goal of the Association and Mickey Kantor as chair is to preserve Lithuanian Jewish culture, pass on the heritage and bring the next generation of Israelis and Lithuanian (non-Jewish) students closer to Holocaust survivors and the culture that was in the way of commemoration, passing on information and enriching areas that were not previously known to different populations.

• Examples:

1. The project of transferring Holocaust and heroism stories and commemorating the victims to students of a mixed (Jewish and Arab) special education class in Ironi Alef in Haifa and transferring information that would not pass through the regular education system. The students wrote research papers on the subject of the Holocaust and received scholarships from the Ghetto Fighters Organization. At the end of the activity, the students visited Yad Vashem together with members of the Association.
2. Taking care of the continuation of joint activities with the Navy Vessel Unit. Hundreds of Navy soldiers have passed and are passing through Beit Vilna in the last 12 years in activities and seminars specially designed for them. They are exposed to stories of the Holocaust and heroism and they in turn share with members of the Association stories of the heroism of the Navy. In the words of one of the commanders in the unit: "This is an educational and cultural project that includes 3 generations that have a large part in the establishment of the state of Israel, preserving its values and protecting its borders. A project that gives young soldiers a first-hand understanding of why we are here." The soldiers manage to internalize the topic and make the connection between the stories of the Holocaust and the stories of the heroism of the IDF. For years, the soldiers have been coming on their own initiative to the memorial service for the Jews of Vilna at the Kiryat Shaul cemetery and to the memorial service at Yad Vashem, which proves the emotional connection they feel towards the Association.
3. Lithuanian youth delegations in cooperation with the Israeli Embassy in Lithuania are hosted at Beit Vilna. The students undergo seminars on Judaism, Israel, and the Holocaust, as a preliminary part of a visit to Israel. In addition, educational activities are conducted for students in schools in Israel, when the goal is to pass on the subject of the Holocaust, heroism and culture to future generations.

• Mickey is an example of a person who cultivates values of giving to others, mutual responsibility, social involvement and love of man and country. In her unique personality, she manages to enlist people for the important and blessed activity, and to turn Beit Vilna into a real home for survivors and activists, and this voluntarily and with love for people. Under her leadership, Beit Vilna has become a home where the past meets the future with the help of creating and maintaining contact with the community in Vilna, organizing diverse cultural activities and cooperating with Yad Vashem.
• In the way of commemoration and accessibility to the public, both of Holocaust survivors and their families and of the tremendous culture that was destroyed in Lithuania and in Jerusalem of Lithuania, Beit Vilna under her leadership, encourages and hosts launches of memory books, seminars and conferences dealing with Lithuanian culture and recorded interviews of survivors and the second generation. The commemoration room, the library and the Beit Vilna website constitute a very important component in this activity and its accessibility to the public.