Who, What & Where: The Patient, Seeing Auschwitz, Camp Simcha and a very special candle
Our roundup of what's on
On the Couch
If only TV shows such as The Patient were made in the UK. Our population numbers are too inconsequential to warrant dramas laced with Yiddishkeit, hence Ridley Road with all its inaccuracies being the only light on the small screen in the past few years. But don’t despair, especially if you subscribe to the Disney platform, because that’s where you can see writers/producers Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields’ darkest of dark Jewish thrillers. In The Patient, Steve Carell plays renowned Jewish psychotherapist Alexander Strauss, who is being held captive by his patient – serial killer Sam Fortner (Domhall Gleason) – so Strauss can help him stop his homicidal urges. With a neo-Orthodox convert for a son and a happy-clappy Reform cantor for a wife, the series also features grace after meals and scenes from Auschwitz, all in the name of entertainment with a powerful underlying message. It is partly inspired by creators Fields’ and Weisberg’s relationships with their own Jewish parents — particularly Fields, whose father was a Reform rabbi. Children of UK rabbis with a desire to write take note and good luck. The Patient is on Disney+
Back of the net
There may not be many of us on the pitch, but the man who yells “Gooooool!” after a score in football is Jewish. Andrés Cantor is the Argentine-American sportscaster and pundit who is famous for the signature bellowing that forces volume reduction when watching the World Cup. Born in Buenos Aires with a mother of Romanian Jewish descent, Cantor’s first English-language assignment was the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he called both men’s and women’s football for NBC, complete with his signature call of “Goooool!” Let’s hope we hear him on Sunday when the Lions score.
We’ve mentioned this before, but now that we’ve been we feel the need to mention it again, especially as it’s only on until the end of January. Seeing Auschwitz is unlike any other Holocaust-related exhibition. It is a collection of 100 photographs taken at the camp with an audioguide that explains what you see before you in great detail, encouraging you to look closely and think carefully. It is an extremely powerful and moving experience as the the images, mostly taken by SS guards but also by victims and liberators, provide unsettling perspective and stark evidence of mass murder, but also show the humanity of the people who perished.
Seeing Auschwitz is at 81 Old Brompton Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 3LD. www.seeingauschwitz.com
Kids everywhere will be opening gifts when Chanukah arrives and those in hospital will be getting an extra one thanks to Camp Simcha’s annual Toy Drive. More than 10,000 new toys, arts, crafts, board games and much more have been donated. More than 80 schools, nurseries, cheders and synagogues in London and Manchester held collections over the past month, with individuals and businesses also donating. Camp Simcha provides direct support to UK Jewish families with seriously ill children, but also reaches some 12,000 children of all denominations and none through its hospital outreach. This year’s Toy Drive has seen more requests than ever from hospitals. “As always the community has stepped up,” says Joanne Woolich, Camp Simcha’s hospital liaison officer. “These provide a big boost to the children on the wards when they get a gift at their bedside, but also to the play teams as it enables them to continue their paediatric play provision.” www.campsimcha.org.uk
The Ormonde Jayne candle but it is a truly special example of illumination in a jar. Nothing smells quite as fabulous as the perfumes and candles made at the artisan perfumier in London’s The Royal Arcade and owner Linda Pilkington has become Jewish by default because the female sector of our community are fans of her fragrance, particularly the gender-free scents in The Signature Collection. The bottles are refillable and Great Ormond Street Hospital’s charity receives a 10% donation for every bottle sold. Buy eight of the Maison Royal candles to light for Chanukah and your house becomes a garden of jasmine and rose. www.ormondejayne.com
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