I spent four weeks backpacking through Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Belarus , and Poland after my Birthright trip a couple years ago so I know a bit about this ! As for traveling as a Jew I kept this to myself for the most part , and actually started leaving out that I ' d been to Israel earlier in the summer after a few awkward reactions . How much you tell people you meet is up to you , but it should ' t be an issue unless you make it one . As for Jewish sites in the Baltics the Holocaust memorial in Riga is powerful , but Lithuania is really where your our history will hit you hard . The Jewish quarter in Vilnius is incredibly erie , and largely preserved and deserted to this day . So much of modern Jewish thought and culture came from there in its prewar heyday , but today there is nothing left . There are plaques in Yiddish Lithuanian everywhere , and it ' s impossible not to feel the presence of those who once lived there . Check out the first YIVO headquarters , and the shoah museum if you have a chance . After spending some time in the Jewish quarter , I took a train out to the Panerai Forest , where 100 , 000 of Vilnius ' s Jews were murdered during the war by Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators . The experience shook me to my core , but it ' s important to go and see that place set a stone on the memorial . Finally , I wrapped up my time in Vilnius with a Shabbat dinner at the local Chabad House which was an awesome way to end a tough few days of sightseeing , and a chance to say kaddish for those who were lost . To see that Jewish life is still holding on there today was therapeutic , and the rabbi his wife are great . PM me if you want their details !