Editing Vilnius (section)

===Judaism and Karaism===
{{see also|History of the Jews in Lithuania}}
[[File:Vilniaus sinagoga.jpg|thumb|alt=Large, cream-coloured synagogue|The [[Choral Synagogue (Vilnius)|Choral Synagogue]]]]
Known as "Yerushalayim D'Lita" (the Jerusalem of Lithuania), Vilnius had been a world centre for [[Torah]] study and had a large Jewish population since the 18th century. A major scholar of Judaism and the [[Kabbalah]] was Rabbi Eliyahu Kremer, known as the [[Vilna Gaon]], whose writings significantly influence Orthodox Jews. The [[Vilna Edition Shas|Vilna Shas]], the most widely used version of the [[Talmud]], was published in the city in 1886.<ref>{{cite web |title=Romm {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/romm |access-date=2022-01-02 |website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> Jewish life in Vilnius was destroyed during the Holocaust, and a memorial stone dedicated to victims of [[Nazism|Nazi]] genocide is in the centre of the former [[Vilna Ghetto|Jewish Ghetto]] on present-day Mėsinių Street. The [[Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History]] is dedicated to the history of Lithuanian Jewish life. The site of [[Great Synagogue of Vilna|Vilnius's largest synagogue]], built in the early 1630s, destroyed by Nazi Germany during its [[German occupation of Lithuania during World War II|occupation of Lithuania]] and later demolished by Soviet authorities, was found by [[ground-penetrating radar]] in June 2015.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.livescience.com/51713-great-synagogue-vilna-archaeology.html |title=Remains of Nazi-Destroyed Synagogue Found Using Radar |last=Geggel |first=Laura |date=1 August 2015 |publisher=[[Live Science]] |access-date=25 May 2018}}</ref> Archaeologists began excavating the site in 2016, and that work continues as of July 2024.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2024/07/28/lithuania-vilna-2024/ |title=Lithuania: this month’s excavations at the site of the destroyed Great Synagogue of Vilna yielded exciting discoveries including polychrome decoration |website=jewish-heritage-europe.eu |access-date=19 September 2024}}</ref>

The [[Karaite Judaism|Karaites]] are a Jewish sect who migrated to Lithuania from the Crimea. Small in numbers, they have become more prominent since Lithuanian independence and have restored their [[kenesa]]s (including the [[Vilnius Kenesa]]).<ref>{{cite book |last=Harviainen |first=Tapani |title=Ethnic encounter and cultural change : papers from the Third Nordic Conference on Middle Eastern Studies, Joensuu, 1995 |publisher=Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies |year=1997 |isbn=1850653119 |editor1=M'Hammed Sabour |location=Bergen |pages=72–83 |chapter=New Life in Karaim Communities |access-date=6 May 2009|editor-last2=Vikør|editor-first2=Knut S.|chapter-url=http://www.euronet.nl/users/sota/karaim22.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403142131/http://www.euronet.nl/users/sota/karaim22.htm |archive-date=3 April 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>