Author: Glen Berd

Lytham St Annes Beach Huts are like gold dust this summer - here's what you get Essentially it's a hut at the side of the beach, but it's not any old hut St Annes Beach Huts at Lytham St Annes (Image: St Annes Beach Huts and Apartments) If you've been to Lytham St Anne's over the last few years you'll have seen the beach huts lined up on the seafront. Chances are you'll have seen how busy they are too, particularly in the warmer weather. So much so in fact that you'll struggle to get your hands on one even if you want to this summer, as the only ones available between now and September are cancellations.   But what makes a small hut at the side of the beach so special? The M.E.N's Manchester Family went along to find out. Each hut comes with a small ship's table, bench seating and four folding chairs, to use inside or outside. (Image: St Annes Beach Huts and Apartments) So what do you get? You get...

A major Jewish communal survey is taking place right now, designed to gather data about the impact of COVID-19. Conducted by our friends at the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR), the survey is exploring the thoughts and experiences of Jews living in the UK who are aged 16 and over. If that applies to you and you haven’t already been asked to participate, we would like to invite you to sign up to their research panel and complete the survey.   Join Panel ...

Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images   Men wanted to sleep with her and women wanted to be her, but all Marilyn Monroe desired was a sense of belonging. Distilled to the public as a “blonde bombshell,” Monroe’s legacy continues to be defined by the demons (childhood trauma, drug addiction) that led to her demise. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, Monroe died tragically at age 36 in 1962. And yet, she remains an icon today, forever remembered as Hollywood’s loneliest seductress. It’s no question that Monroe’s private life was troubled — up to and during the height of her fame — but the one thing that gave her comfort was her Judaism. Yup, you read that correctly: Marilyn Monroe was Jewish. An integral aspect of her identity, Monroe’s Judaism is often overlooked in favour of her scandalous relationships with the Kennedys, her drug use, and her nude photos that launched Playboy magazine’s success — and that’s a shande. This month marks the 59th anniversary of her mysterious death — her body...

  In Sweden, there is a fascinating statue of a woman named Danuta Danielsson who became a hero in 1985 when she used her purse to clobber a white Nazi supremacist while he marched in a right-wing rally. What makes her statue unique among hero statues is that it captures her performing the heroic act of swinging her purse. It’s entirely an action-shot, a big departure from the universal practice of constructing hero statues intended to portray individuals as heroes. Danielsson’s statue isn’t about her as a person; it’s about her one specific act of courage that day. Heroism, it could be argued, describes an action, not a person. All around the world, and especially in the United States, statues of slave traders, warriors, and profiteers are toppling to the ground. Once revered as heroes, these statued individuals have been exposed as villainous human rights violators. With this in mind, Danuta Danielsson’s statue should be one that remains uncontroversial. Her statue portrays a heroic act...

Lady Kitty, here's what to expect from your middle-aged Jewish man Mazeltov to Lady Kitty Spencer and Michael Lewis who wed last week - but does the aristocrat know the quirks of an older Jewish man? Angela Epstein is here to help Lady Kitty Spencer and Michael Lewis after their wedding (Photo: Instagram) So it’s a huge mazel tov to Michael Lewis — the 62-year-old Jewish businessman who has just tied the knot with Kitty Spencer in a lavish three-day Italian wedding. As the eldest daughter of Charles “blood family” Spencer, and niece of the late Princess Diana, there is now an aristocrat — noch — in the Lewis fold. He meanwhile is the second Jewish person to join the Royal mispoche — following Sophie Winkleman, married to Lord Frederick Windsor. As we digest the fag end of the simcha, via breathless coverage in Hello! magazine, perhaps it’s time the former Lady Spencer was given a steer on what to expect from marriage to a Middle-aged Jewish...

Marcel Marceau was known worldwide as a master of silence. The world-famous mime delighted audiences for decades as “Bip,” a tragicomic figure who encountered the world without words. But during World War II, his skills as a mime came in handy for another reason: He used them to save Jewish children during the Holocaust. Marceau was recruited to help the French Resistance by his cousin, Georges Loinger, a commander in the secret unit who was part of the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants, a Jewish relief group that smuggled Jewish children from occupied France to neutral countries. Loinger, who was credited with saving around 350 children, died on December 28, 2018 at the age of 108. Marcel Marceau, circa 1950. Abraham Pisarek/ullstein bild/Getty Images Their mission was to evacuate Jewish children who had been hiding in a French orphanage and get them to the Swiss border, where they would sneak to safety. But travelling with large groups of children was anything but easy. Marceau had a secret weapon: His...

The smile of an 8 year old boy holding a suitcase tight, ready to go: direction Israel. He was the youngest survivor of the Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp. He called himself Lolik but his real name is Meir Lau. He became chief rabbi of Netanya, chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, chief rabbi of Israel, and today he is the chairman of the Jerusalem Shoah museum committee. The Holocaust was one of the darkest periods in our history but miracles occurred. This story is living proof of this.  ...

Sanz-Klausenberger Rebbe Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam (January 10, 1905 – June 18, 1994) was an Orthodox rabbi and the founding Rebbe of the Sanz-Klausenburg Hasidic dynasty. Halberstam became one of the youngest rebbes in Europe, leading thousands of followers in the town of Klausenburg, Romania, before World War II. His wife, eleven children and most of his followers were murdered by the Nazis while he was incarcerated in several concentration camps. After the war, he moved to the United States and later to Israel, rebuilt Jewish communal life in the displaced persons camps of Western Europe, re-established his dynasty in the United States and Israel, founded a Haredi neighbourhood in Israel and a Sanz community in the United States, established a hospital in Israel run according to Jewish law, and rebuilt his own family with a second marriage and the birth of seven more children. Yekutiel Yehudah Halberstam (1905-1994) was born to a Hasidic family of the Sanz dynasty in the small Jewish town of Rudnik, Poland. At just 14, he lost his father, and replaced him as the town rabbi. At the age...

The new Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire, Andrew Pratt, has emailed our President, Robert Pinkus to invite us to input thoughts and comments on our needs, as the Jewish Community, into the survey (link) below.       Dear Robert, I'm writing to you in your role as President of the Synagogue. I'm into my second day as the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire. The very important work at the moment is a crime plan, which we are currently in the process of consultation. This plan sets the direction for the Constabulary for the next four years and the means by which the police are held to account. It sets the priorities. There is a real need for the plan to reflect the views and needs of as many people as possible. I do not want the significant Jewish community of Lancashire to miss out. Is there any chance that this could be circulated within the congregation or I am always happy to come and speak. https://www.lancashire-pcc.gov.uk/community/surveys/ Here's...