JW3 shows the Israel connection
THE HELP Jewish Care provides to a dementia sufferer and her husband is showcased in the charity’s Pesach appeal.
Lorice attends the memory café at Jewish Centre’s Sam Beckman Centre in Friern Barnet. Maurice, who is his wife’s carer, receives support and guidance from members of the dedicated carer team.
“Her memory loss started around eight years ago,” Maurice told the JC. “We started with Jewish Care two or three years ago.
“It’s great to see how much Lorice loves being there [at Sam Beckman] and seeing friends. She really enjoys the music sessions and the singing. And the staff and volunteers are brilliant with her. This year we’re looking forward to going to the mock Seder.”
The time Lorice is at the centre frees up Maurice to do his grocery shopping and clean the house. “I’m slowly getting quite good at it.”
He values the support of the charity’s carers. “It’s nice to talk to somebody in confidence who is not part of your family,” he said.
“I can say whatever is bothering me and they are very good with it.
“They always call to see how I’m doing. They’re full of advice about looking after Lorice. I don’t know where we’d be without the support from Jewish Care.”
Jewish Care needs £1.1 million annually to keep its dementia day centres open.
AN EXHIBITION documenting Jews’ historic connection to the land of Israel will be displayed at the JW3 community centre in Finchley Road until Pesach.
Produced by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, People, Book, Land was shown at the House of Commons last month and will go on to cathedrals in Manchester and Liverpool after its JW3 exhibit.
It was created three years ago to counter Palestinian efforts at Unesco to obliterate Jewish links to the land of Israel.
Only last year, Unesco passed a resolution omitting any reference to the importance to Judaism of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
“We annually lobby against the theft of our ID,” said Shimon Samuels, international director of the Wiesenthal centre, the only Jewish organisation affiliated to Unesco’s World Heritage Committee.
Board of Deputies president Jonathan Arkush said the exhibition was “part of the answer to the campaign of misinformation and deliberate deception which is aimed at the Jewish people — and severing its connection with the state of Israel”.