“A moment I waited for my whole life”

By Glen Berd3 Comments
“The Nazis occupied our village when I was only 12 years old. At first they didn’t realize we were Jewish. We looked like our neighbours. But then someone reported us. So our home was registered as a Jewish residence. We knew our days were numbered. Time was a ticking bomb. Then late one night a non-Jewish friend of ours showed up at our house. “Listen to me,” he told us with great urgency. “Dig a hole under your fence and crawl out two at a time. Someone will meet you at the other end and lead you to safety. Tomorrow all the Jews in town will be executed”. His name was Kazi Bitdayev. And he secretly took all 6 of us to the neighbouring village of Zheguta. He hid us there for 8 months, each week coming back for us and relocating us to a new basement or attic. He protected us. He fed us. He was our angel. After the war we searched...
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“Do the will of G-d, not of men”

By Glen Berd2 Comments
As we approach One Shabbat 2022 on Friday 9th September and Shabbat 10th September - it seems appropriate to recount the story below. ONE SHABBAT IS THE ANNUAL SHABBAT THAT CELEBRATES ALL THE SMALL JEWISH COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE UK Wherever you are, whoever you are…flying solo, located remotely, empty-nesters, with family, with community We will share the delight of shabbat all at the same time together This year St. Anne's Synagogue invites members and visitors to share Friday Night Dinner after the service, and a special kiddush on Shabbat. (Contact here if you've not yet booked for Friday night) 80 years ago, on August 30, 1942, pastor André Trocmé urged the congregants in his overflowing church to "Do the will of God, not of men". When the deportations began in France in summer 1942, he urged his congregation to give shelter to any Jew who should ask for it. "These people came here for help and for shelter. I am their shepherd. A shepherd does not forsake...
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Something to Celebrate

Something to Celebrate

By Glen BerdNo Comments
Something to Celebrate By Peter Beyfus for The Times of Israel ABOUT THE AUTHOR Peter John Beyfus is an historian, published author, poet, and a person who prides himself on “thinking outside the box”. I have written many essays on Jewish themes, published in various journals, including ‘Wessex Jewish News’ and ‘Westminster Quarterly’, the magazine of Westminster Synagogue, London. з днем незалежності україно! Today, albeit in a restrained way, the people of the Ukraine celebrate their independence day, and I am sure the Free World shares, vicariously, the spirit of  a proud people who have so courageously defied Russian imperialism, and, despite some setbacks, continue to vigorously oppose the aggressor.  The British prime minister has shown steadfast solidarity with the people of the Ukraine, and proudly walked with President Zelensky in the streets of Kyiv. It is fitting Johnson’s unequivocal support for the Ukraine should be recognized by being awarded the country’s highest honour for foreign nationals, The Order of Liberty. It is Britain’s support in...
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One Shabbat – Invitation to Dine on 9th/10th September

One Shabbat – Invitation to Dine on 9th/10th September

By Glen BerdNo Comments
We invite all our members and visitors to a 3 course *Friday Night Dinner* on 9th September,  AND a Special Kiddush after the service on Shabbat 10th September, in the Daniel Rose Hall, Orchard Road, St. Annes FY8 1PJ The events are kindly sponsored by The Lee Dribben Family Charity in honour of the late David Cohen. The Jewish Small Communities Network and St. Anne's Synagogue have joined together to unite small communities all across the UK in the One Shabbat Initiative over the weekend of 9th/10th September. FRIDAY EVENING 9th September Doors Close at 6.30pm Registration is essential (for catering purposes) and MUST BE BY Tuesday 30th August. Spaces are limited, so please don't delay in registering to avoid disappointment) (Note : there is NO CHARGE for this event). Vegetarian options available - please advise when registering. Email to  glenberd@gmail.com to register or phone to Sandra 01253 574467 SHABBAT 10th September. Service 9.30am with Kiddush immediately after the service.  ...
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The Next Exciting Event !

The Next Exciting Event !

By Glen BerdNo Comments
Our next event is coming - on the 4th September in the afternoon Starting at 1pm, The Ladies Circle is serving a sumptuous lunch followed by a Murder Mystery play by the North Cheshire B'Nei Brith Players. Each 8 player table will form a team, and the winning table will be suitably rewarded ! Please register for your place as soon as possible, for both catering purposes, and because when we're full, we wont be able to accommodate any further bookings ! Registration and payment details are on the flyer below : ...
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Tea M’Lady ?

By Glen BerdNo Comments
The local branch of the League of Jewish Women (Fylde Group) held their Annual Summer Afternoon Tea on Wednesday 17th August. The event was hosted in the Daniel Rose Hall of the St. Anne's Synagogue and catered by the Ladies Circle The Summer Afternoon Teas are very popular with visitors from out of town using the opportunity to take in the sights, our sea air and a bit of shopping. This year (the first event post Covid) was no exception and upwards of 70 people attended for sandwiches, scones jam and cream, mini trifles, and an assortment of cakes - all handmade by the Ladies Circle. Along with the Chairman's speech, the entertainment, a table fun quiz and a raffle - it seemed everyone had a jolly good time ! ...
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Hedy Lamarr – not only one of the great actresses of all time

By Glen Berd1 Comment
Hedy Lamarr, often proclaimed “the most beautiful woman in the world.”   Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress and inventor who pioneered the technology that would one day form the basis for today's WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth communication systems. Hedy Lamarr born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler; (November 9, 1914– January 19, 2000) was an Austrian-born American film actress and inventor,  She has been described as one of the great movie actresses of all time The 26-yr-old Lamarr was thriving in Hollywood when, in September 1940, Nazi U-boats hunted down & sank a cruise ship trying to evacuate 90 British schoolchildren to Canada. 77 drowned in the bleak north Atlantic.     Lamarr, a Jewish immigrant from Nazi-occupied Austria, who had been making America her home since 1938, was outraged. She fought back by applying her engineering skills to development of a sonar sub-locator used in the Atlantic for the benefit of the Allies. At the beginning of World War II, she and avant-garde composer George Antheil developed a radio guidance...
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Families of Sir Nicholas Winton’s kinder invited to recreate TV history

By Glen BerdNo Comments
Families of Sir Nicholas Winton’s kinder invited to recreate TV history Makers of a film about the Holocaust hero are set to recreate the BBC1 scene where he came face to face with those he helped rescue – inviting their relatives to take part. Courtesy Jewish News February 1988: This was the audience that cheated death. This was the audience who as infants were marked for Auschwitz or Theresienstadt or Belsen. These were the mothers, fathers and grandparents of more than 6,000 people alive today thanks to the unassuming man in the front row of a television studio, looking slightly embarrassed by all the fuss.     The makers of a film about Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton are set to recreate the television scene where he came face to face with dozens of children he helped to rescue – and are inviting their relatives to take part. The 1988 episode of That’s Life! in which Esther Rantzen asked anyone in the audience who was among the...
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I don’t know why God spared my life that day

By Glen BerdNo Comments
I came across this post on social media ...   21 years ago today, I was in Israel on a work trip and decided to meet a friend for lunch in Jerusalem. I had grown up with non-kosher @sbarro_in at home and going to Israel and eating the kosher versions of my non-kosher favourite foods from my youth was always fun. We must have met at the restaurant around 1:50. We walked up to the counter, perused what was fresh, and for whatever reason decided the food that day there didn’t seem appealing. Thank God, the food didn’t seem appealing that day. So instead of our original plan of having a Sbarro’s lunch, we left the restaurant and headed down Jaffa road to find another place to eat. That decision saved our lives. For as we were walking down the road, we heard a loud “boom!” When you hear a “boom” in Jerusalem, you immediately know what it is. What we didn’t know was if there...
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