The Jewish Americans

Originally broadcast on PBS, The Jewish Americans covers 350 years in the lives of members of the Jewish faith, who have struggled to maintain their religious identity while also being fully accepted as Americans. Beginning with 23 Jewish exiles seeking safe haven in New Amsterdam in 1654, writer-director David Grubin does an admirable job of charting the often rocky and treacherous "tug of war between being American and being a Jew." Carl Reiner, Mandy Patinkin, Sid Caesar, Jules Feiffer, playwright Tony Kushner, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are among the more recognizable personalities who offer illuminating commentary and bittersweet reminiscences. But Grubin presents what he calls in a bonus "making-of" featurette" an ensemble of voices" rather than "a star-studded parade," with authors, historians, sociologists, academics, and rabbis contributing personal and cultural history. Narrated by Liev Schreiber, The Jewish Americans is comprised of three two-hour episodes, "They Came to Stay," "The Best of Times, the Worst of Times," and "Home"—each a richly textured tapestry of talking heads, still photos, archival footage, and audio and film clips (including the inevitable Gentleman's Agreement) that illustrate the Jewish influence on American life. Songwriter Irving Berlin wrote "God Bless America," as well as the holiday classics "White Christmas" and "Easter Parade." Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster created Superman. Gertrude Berg—as Molly Goldberg of the Bronx—offered sage advice and homespun wisdom on radio, television, and in the movies. One illuminating segment points out how assimilated movie mogul Louis B. Mayer's Andy Hardy films, with their "fairy tale visions of small town life," were the "American fantasies of a Jewish immigrant." Antisemitism rears its ugly head throughout the series, ranging from the hysteria surrounding the 1915 murder trial of Georgia factory worker Leo Frank, who was falsely convicted in the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, and subsequently lynched by a homicidal mob, to American indifference towards Hitler's "Final Solution.” An ambitious and profoundly moved by documentary miniseries, this is highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (D. Liebenson)