‘Looking for a nice Jewish husband’: marcher against antisemitism is on a mission

One of the placards at Sunday’s UK march against antisemitism showed a little more chutzpah than most: it had a mobile phone number below text that read: “Looking for a nice Jewish husband.”

The 31-year-old who held up the colourful sign lives in Marylebone is still looking for a first serious relationship.

Several hopefuls who approached on Sunday were disappointed. “We had to shoo a few men away,” said Ryan, the creator of the sign, who attended the march with his sister. “I think they thought I was holding it on her behalf.” His sister is married with two children so she is not on the market.

Ryan made the sign in a rush shortly before leaving for the protest, which was attended by more than 100,000 Jews and supporters, and while he thought it would be nice to have a funny message, he is also serious about looking for marriage.

When Jewish News telephoned to find out more about the romantic, who celebrated his barmitzvah in Israel, at the top of Masada – and to find out whether it could help to make a shidduch – Ryan was busy sifting through his messages.

“I got a few texts during the march,” he said. “Then Rob Rinder posted a photo on Twitter and after that there were a whole lot more.”

Ryan added that he has also received a text from a matchmaker in Edgware offering her services.

Having already helped to clinch one engagement, Jewish News would like to repeat the feat, so we asked him what he was looking for in a partner. “Someone who’s hygienic, who’s kind, funny and doesn’t take life too seriously,” he said. “And is culturally on top of things.”

Ryan was proud of the Jewish community for accepting same-sex relationships. “A lot of people said to me if you’d been holding that on the [pro-Palestinian] march yesterday you might have been harassed,” he said on Sunday evening. “But today everyone was happy with the message.”

The hope now is to go beyond happiness and find wedded bliss.