The Jews and Lithuanians lived in peace and in harmony. They are both very ancient nations, both in numerical minorities among their neighbors and both oppressed for centuries. The Lithuanian language, which is, according to I. Taylor and W. Dwight, the primitive Aryan tongue, challenges the archaity of the Hebrew. Many scholars claim that the Lithuanians are descendants of the Biblical Hittites, who, together with the Pelasgians, gave birth to Hellenic culture. The evidence submitted is very plausible. The friendship between the Lithuanians and the Jews is four thousand years old, for it was Abraham who was a sojourner in the land of the Hittites and it was in their ancient city Hebron that he bought a burying place for his family.

The mystetchko of Komai, in the government of Kovno, can be taken as the typical Lithuanian town. The Jew and the Lithuanian were brolai (brothers) to each other. They shared their liudimas (sorrow) and dziaugsmas (joy). In the weekly turviete (market) days the farmer visited his Jewish draugas (friend) to discuss business and family affairs at a glass of hot arbata (tea) or cold alus (beer). The Jewish daktaras of Komai cured their ailments, the Jewish skrybelius (hatter), kurpius (shoe-maker) and kraucis (tailor) furnished them with their holiday attire. The old kalvis (smith) was kept continuously busy with a gentile clientele. When Simhat Torah came many a Lithuanian jaunikaitis (boy) and mergina (girl) filled up the side benches of the old synagogue, gleefully and in astonishment watching the Hakafot, the songs and the fantastic candelabra with their self-propelling parchment-hoods.