A year and a half of negotiations have borne fruit, and an Israeli delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior will depart for Lithuania tomorrow. Its goal: the rescue of 300 religious artifacts from the synagogue of the Gaon of Vilna, the 18th-century Rabbi Elijah of Vilna. The objects include Torah scrolls, Megillot, prayerbooks, and more. The Lithuanian government does not want to lose the valuable items, and has therefore agreed only to transfer them \"for deposit\" in the country that serves as the \"spiritual center of the Jewish People,\" Israel. They will be checked for Kashrut (ritual acceptability) and repaired where necessary. The items were saved by non-Jews while most of the Jews of Lithuania were being annihilated during the Holocaust. The artifacts were later found in the basement of the Lithuanian National Library.