President of Israel Visits the Museum

Today we are honored to welcome the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, and the First Lady to the museum. President Herzog, a descendant of Šeduva’s Jewish community, affixed a mezuzah to the doorframe of the main entrance of the Lost Shtetl Museum. He was accompanied on the tour by the museum’s architect, Rainer Mahlamäki, the representatives of the museum exhibit design by Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA), and filmmaker Roberta Grossman, who directed the documentary films presented in the museum.

The Lost Shtetl Museum is dedicated to preserving the unique way of life and the memory of those who once lived in the shtetls. It is symbolic that this mezuzah became the museum’s final exhibit. Before the Holocaust, similar mezuzahs adorned and protected hundreds of Jewish homes in Šeduva, and tens of thousands more in shtetls across Lithuania. Today, none remain.

We are proud that the entrance to the Lost Shtetl Museum will now be protected by a mezuzah – a powerful symbol of Jewish culture.