Author: Glen Berd

“This year Manchester UJIA is again hosting the national online memorial service for Yom Hazikaron.  It will be a moving ceremony with special guests including Colonel Tidhar Dar and Chief Rabbi Mirvis.” They will interview Anat Farkas, the mother of an air-force soldier killed in the second Lebanon war. She has an incredible story and is a real inspiration.   CLICK HERE TO REGISTER :   https://ujia.org/event/yom-hazikaron-ceremony/   ...

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Fiddler On The Roof at 50: A celebration with the original cast Exclusive: To celebrate the film’s half-century, Jewish News chats to cast members and Topol’s family about its unique journey – and their lives since. Fiddler at 50: A Reunion Celebration of Fiddler on the Roof! Join us for a world exclusive reunion of the iconic film’s cast to celebrate Fiddler on the Roof’s big birthday. Click the link below to book! https://jw3.org.uk/whats-on/fiddler-50-reunion-celebration-fiddler-roof           When the film adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof opened, revered critic Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars and said director Norman Jewison “has made as good a film as can be made from the material”. Ebert, now deceased, thought the storyline was “quite simply boring”, which decried the work of its original author, Sholem Aleichem, and raised doubts about Ebert’s Pulitzer Prize for criticism.  With global acclaim from almost all other reviewers, three Oscars, multiple nominations (including Best Actor for Chaim Topol) and a cumulative $83.3 million at the...

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Did you know there's a living legend among us ? (Well, when I say legend, it's a bit of a stretch (a lot actually) but living and amongst us is true). The artist formerly known as Stanley Bird, now known as Spencer (his middle name) Berd since he retired from the heady heights of stardom that was his pop career.  When I say career,  I may have stretched again, I'm afraid, (and I use the term 'stardom' loosely), but No. 15 in the Hit Parade was nothing to be sniffed at, way way back in the mists of time that was the 196o's. The vintage photo here, at age 19, shows the former Stanley on the left and twin Jeffrey on the right. They were two hit wonders, making two double sided 'singles' Click on the links below to go back in time  ...... Johnny at the Crossroads : The Bird Twins https://youtu.be/hENps4PJy5o Betty Betty Go Steady with Me : The Bird Twins Banned in Boston : The Bird...

“This elegant lady of 95 walked in to the seder tonight in a beautiful rich blue sweater.   When I commented on how lovely it was, she was quick to tell me its story.   Helena survived three concentration camps and when the last one was liberated she was flown by the Red Cross to a hospital in Sweden. She was 5'4" and weighed 52 lbs. Her roommate in the hospital, a fellow survivor, knitted the sweater for her while they were there.   It was 1945.   She told me she has worn that sweater every Passover since then.   Everyone has a story but very few have the power of that blue sweater.”  ...

Did you know that world-famous mime artist Marcel Marceau saved the lives of Jewish children during WWII?   Marcel (né Mangel) was born 98 years ago, March 22, 1923, to a Jewish family in Strasbourg, France.  His father, Charles Mangel, was a kosher butcher originally from Będzin, Poland. His mother, Anne Werzberg, came from Yabluniv, present-day Ukraine. Through his mother's family, he was a cousin of Israeli singer Yardena Arazi. When Marcel was four years old, the family moved to Lille, but they later returned to Strasbourg.  He was schooled in the Paris suburbs at the home of Yvonne Hagnauer, while pretending to be a worker at the school she directed; Hagnauer would later receive the honour of Righteous Among the Nations from Yad Vashem. In 1944 Marcel's father was captured by the Gestapo and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was killed. Marcel's mother survived.  He and his brother Alain joined the French Resistance and changed their last name to Marceau to hide their Jewish identity.   According to Marceau, when he was...

The surprising viral hit on t'internet of The Sea Shanty encourages the inevitable parodies during lockdown. Sometimes you get a surprising and delightful Passover parody that you totally should have seen coming. After the explosive popularity of sea shanties on TikTok this year, it only makes sense that a Jewish a cappella group would pick up on the trend for a parody medley. Sea shanties were absolutely made for a cappella music. Jews have a long history of piracy! And no, I’m not talking about the online type (though, yes, that too). There are mentions of Jewish pirates as far back as the Hasmonean dynasty (that’s 140 BCE to 37 BCE for those in need of some historic navigation). In more modern times, a lot of Jewish pirates were actually Sephardi Jews expelled from Spain. Some of them, including one pirate known as The Great Jew, actually attacked and looted ships of the Catholic Empire. Anyway, back to this absolute joy of a Jew-y sea shanty. There...

10 of the best Jewish tweets about the pre-Passover Suez Canal blockage The Suez Canal has been blocked for days by a giant container ship, causing big problems for the global shipping industry and starting a torrent of social media memes. But what’s Jewish about it? A handout picture released by the Suez Canal Authority on March 24, 2021 shows a part of the Taiwan-owned MV Ever Given (Evergreen), a 400-meter-long and 59-meter wide vessel, lodged sideways and impeding all traffic across the waterway of Egypt's Suez Canal. (photo credit: SUEZ CANAL AUTHORITY/HANDOUT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)) We know what you’re thinking. The Suez Canal has been blocked for days by a giant container ship, causing big problems for the global shipping industry and starting a torrent of social media memes. But what’s Jewish about it? The answer is: nothing, on the surface. However, Passover is approaching, and the holiday’s biblical story remembers when the Jews left Egyptian slavery. Part of that liberation story involved Moses splitting...