The Jewish Americans is an epic three-part 2008 PBS documentary covering about 350 years of Jewish American history in the United States.

My Jewish identity makes me who I am. I just happen to also be an American, making me a Jewish American. Others prefer to identify as an American. When one includes all the other intersectional identities, I am an Orthodox Jewish transgender American. Yeah, I know it’s a handful. But anyway, my Jewish identity is a key reason why I’ve tripled down on my Jewish pride this year, opting to cover Jewish film festivals over other film festivals. Those are the film festivals that have taken on greater meaning and importance right now. Those are the films that I know need to find an audience and it takes film critics like myself writing about them so as to introduce them to others.

I was one of the first film critics to cover Bad Shabbos last year, a comedy that piqued my interest before I finished reading the synopsis. Lo and behold, it won an audience award at Tribeca and the rest is history. I’m not going to get into where a film like Bad Shabbos sits in the tradition of the great Jewish comedies but it’s a hysterical film that I can’t watch enough! But anyway, that film doesn’t happen without the first Jews setting foot in the US in the 1600s and Jews being a part of the American Revolution. It hasn’t been an easy ride but we’re still here and we’re still standing, even as people are doing everything they can to drive us away again.

There are plenty of documentaries about Jewish Americans and others covering certain aspects of Jewish life in America–however, The Jewish Americans is as epic as it gets as far as the overall Jewish American experience is concerned.

They Came to Stay

The clip from Gentleman’s Agreement really speaks for itself. There’s a history in this country of excluding Jewish Americans. Playwright Tony Kushner recalls being asked as to the whereabouts of his horns. That’s antisemitic conspiracies in a nutshell.

It wasn’t until arriving in America that Jews began to see opportunities that were never given to us before. Some identify as American before they identify as Jew. Others identify as a Jewish American. When this three-part documentary series was produced, there were some 6 million Jews living in the United States.

Congregation Shearith Israel was the first Jewish shul established in the US. The shul has since moved locations but it is still an active shul today. The Sephardic shul dates back to the first Jewish settlers arriving from Spain and Portugal in the 1600s. These Jews were able to mix easily with others in the colonial American society. That’s not to say that it was always easy because it wasn’t. But should a family member decide to marry outside of the Jewish people, they were just as quickly cut off. That’s what Abigail Franks did when her daughter married a non-Jew. Most of the next generation of Franks children married non-Jews.

Many Jews supported independence from Great Britain. One of those Jews? Haym Salomon, a financier of the American Revolution. Naturally, it segued into Justice Ginsburg discussing the First Amendment. But even with the freedom of religion, Jews were still viewed as outsiders and not particularly welcome as elected officials. If one were to ride by Rhode Island’s Touro Synagogue, they might not know it were a shul by viewing the outside. It looks a basic colonial building. In any event, President George Washington eased Jewish congregants with a letter. It was the nation’s first president who gave Jews permission to practice religion and flourish in the US.

America welcomed even more Jewish immigrants in the 1800s as the railroad began to link the country together. Jews established communities in Cincinatti, St. Louis, Chicago, Des Moines, and San Francisco. The Jewish Americans notes that every American state would soon be home to a Jewish community.

During the Gold Rush, Swiss immigrant Meyer Guggenheim made his money through mining and smelting business ventures. He is the patriarch of the Guggenheim family. Bavarian immigrant Levi Strauss made a fortune outfitting miners and then took out a patent for pants with rivets. He subsequently made a fortune from selling blue jeans. Strauss is covered in Jews of the Wild West. Funny enough, Strauss had lived in Louisville, Ky. for some time.

During the Civil War, Col. Marcus Spiegel fought for the Union Army. Spiegel was a German immigrant and became a peddler upon immigrating to America. He grew successful enough to own his own store and when the time came, he volunteered his services for the Union Army. Spiegel perished during the Red River Campaign in 1864. An interesting aside to Spiegel’s story is that his younger brother, Joseph, founded the Spiegel Catalog. Meanwhile, The Jewish Americans doesn’t ignore those Jews who lived in the South and enslaved Blacks. Among them, Judah P. Benjamin. I won’t get into his story.

Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise introduced a number of concepts to Judaism in America, separating Reform Judaism from traditional Judaism. Among the concepts he introduced were counting women, mixed seating in family pews, getting rid of the mechitza, etc.

Joseph Seligman played a role in helping finance the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1877, he suffered an antisemitic incident upon trying to check into the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. At a time when Jews thought they were being accepted into American life, reality threw its own roadblock. It was the first type of antisemitic incident that received any kind of widespread notoriety.

It is not an understatement to say that The Jewish Americans packs so much into its narrative. As we reach the 1-hour mark, we’re just beginning to learn about Lithuanian-born editor Abraham Cahan’s story. He would become of the founders of The Forward and a prominent leader in the Socialist Party of America. He truly lived the American dream.

A World of Their Own

During the wave of immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s, many Jewish families were packed into New York’s Lower East Side like sardines. A number of interview subjects discuss their parents or grandparents, who were among the first generation in their family to settle in America. How do centuries of Jewish tradition adapt to modern-world America? That’s where Abraham Cahan enters the picture again–many Jews immigrating to America would depend on The Forward for news and other opportunities. Cahan used the paper as a way of Americanizing Jews moving to the country.

Where Jews became peddlers upon immigrating, they would begin working in the garment industry. Sid Caesar mentions how his grandfather was a tailor and that’s how he got his name. There was plenty of child labor during this time. Working conditions weren’t great and Jewish Americans joined the labor movement to better their lives. In 1910, many Jews were among both the owners and workers. A strike at The Triangle Waist Company was one of the strikes mentioned but not much had changed upon resuming work. In 1911, a fire broke out, causing the deadliest industrial disaster in New York City with 146 garment workers perishing.

The Lower East Side’s underworld consisted of both Jews and Italians. Among the most notable names were Arnold Rothstein, best known for fixing the 1919 World Series.

Jacob Schiff, who lived uptown, was the greatest known Jewish philanthropist of his day. This segues into a discussion about the importance of philanthropy. Bernie Marcus shares some of the lessons imparted onto him by his mother. But back to Schiff, he was involved with so many causes, including the Henry Street Settlement and Visiting Nurse Service of New York.

On the other side of the coin are the religious Jews. Many of which saw America as being dangerous for religious Jews immigrating. Most immigrants didn’t belong to any of the shuls in the Lower East Side. There were many challenges when it came to being observant. A number of Jews would take a job on Sunday and be fired on Friday because they wouldn’t work over Shabbos. But despite this, Jews found no shortage of culture, whether it be magazines, music, books, poetry, or theater. Yiddish theaters depended on the personality of the big stars according to Michael Tilson Thomas. Tilson Thomas is the grandson of Yiddish theaters stars Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky.

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Detroit Tigers slugger Hank Greenberg had a decision to make as the 1935 season inched towards the end. Would he play or sit out? A rabbi consulted the Talmud and Greenberg found his answer. He hit two home runs but didn’t get cleared for Yom Kippur. Greenberg spent the day in shul and was back in the lineup the next day, leading the Tigers to the American League pennant.

During World War I, many Jews would fight for the country. One such soldier was songwriter Irving Berlin. The Russian immigrant loved America with a passion. Name change or not, the shtetl was still very prominent in his music. Take “Blue Skies,” for instance. Berlin’s father was a cantor so it’s no surprise that he found his calling in music. Berlin’s daughter, Linda, discusses the musician’s life. He wasn’t afraid to compose songs that were arguably antisemitic.

Berlin’s career was started almost at the same time that the music business was becoming popular. Tin Pan Alley was low class but one of the prime opportunities for Jewish composers at the time. He didn’t or sing or write in Yiddish as he wanted to become known for being American. It shows through his work and he was already iconic by the time he turned 30 years old.

President Woodrow Wilson wanted to appoint Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court. Brandeis faced antisemitism but was confirmed. Another justice, Clark McReynolds, was antisemitic and would routinely leave the room. His antisemitism is a key reason why there wasn’t a photo of the Court during one of their years together. Brandeis was late to his Jewish identity as Jewishness didn’t have much meaning in his family. He was 49 when he first spoke in public about Judaism. Brandeis also became a Zionist in 1912–it was a time when Zionism divided Jews in America.

“Justice Thou Shalt Pursue” was a Torah passage that resonated with Brandeis with the American idea that every citizen is guaranteed equal justice under the law. At the same time, justice for Jewish Americans had faced uncertainty. Leo Frank was lynched in Atlanta for a crime he didn’t commit, leading to the formation of the Anti-Defamation League. When I watched the documentary series in 2008, it was the first time that I had ever heard about Leo Frank being lynched.

Many colleges imposed quotas during the 1920s and 1930s, limiting enrollment for Jewish students. RBG and other interviewees discuss the antisemitism that they faced during college. A number of Jews changed their names so as to try and escape the antisemitism.

Country clubs limited their membership to white Christians. Sid Caesar describes his experience of playing a club in Cincinnati.

The Jewish Americans explores Kaplan and his founding of Reconstructionism. Some of Kaplan’s ideas were not as obvious back then.

The Jewish Americans would have been doing a big disservice if it didn’t cover the Borscht Belt and the Catskills. Vacations were a novelty and the Catskills offered a dream come true. It allowed Jewish comedians to craft their material.

One of Hollywood’s hits was Andy Hardy. Hardy was portrayed by Mickey Rooney and the character lived out Louis B. Mayer’s fantasies according to Liev Schreiber’s narration. This brings us to the many Jews who dominated and ran the Hollywood movie studios. Many moguls lived the American dream in that they went from nothing to the top of the world. Some were not as observant or religious but assimilated into being Americans. One downside of this was largely making sure that Judaic themes were erased from motion pictures. Many Jewish changed their names to appeal to American audiences.

The Great Depression was a “dual misery” with many Americans blaming the Jews, including the antisemitic Father Charles Coughlin and Charles Lindbergh. Henry Ford was a vile antisemite as well–The Jewish Americans also introduced me to just how antisemitic he was. Many Nazi-style organizations were against Jews. Meanwhile, Jews supported Franklin D. Roosevelt and became involved with the labor movement.

Superman was created by a pair of Jews, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. Many Jews played a prominent role in creating superheroes. Superman, much like Jews, was an outsider. He hid his true identity under the guise of Clark Kent. Superman battled Hitler in 1940 in the comics, which was–sadly–a fantasy.

In the real world, Hitler rolled through Europe while Jews watched helplessly from the US. Unfortunately, European Jews were largely turned away from the US as America closed its doors. There were strict quotas in place. If someone didn’t have luck or a determined sponsor, they weren’t getting admitted to America. Rabbi Stephen Wise was among Jewish leaders urging action. The mass murders had already begun by the summer of 1941 with the Final Solution reports reaching America for a year. By that point, America had already entered the war.

As many Jews as were in the FDR administration, it wasn’t enough to take action. Roosevelt was more focused on the war, less so on liberating the camps. Was this a facade for doing nothing? Perhaps. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. was the only Jew in the administration, even if he wasn’t practicing. Henry Morgenthau III describes a time when he asked his mom how to respond when a classmate asked about his religion. Meanwhile, Secretary Morgenthau Jr. never forgave the Germans for what they did. Paul Steinfeld mentions that he will not step foot in Germany. Elsewhere, Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis founded the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. It was his way to recognize those Christians who saved Jews during the Holocaust.

Home

World War II came to an end in 1945 and this was really the moment when Jews started living in the same neighborhoods as non-Jews. Come 1946, Bess Myerson was crowned as the first Jewish Miss America.

Jewish Americans actively supported the creation of a Jewish state.

Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks performed their 200-Year-Old Man Act for private audiences during the 1950s. George Burns asked them if they had an album. They subsequently released an album and it became a hit. Sid Caesar and Carl Reiner both discuss their experiences on Your Show of Shows. There were Jewish laughs and bigger laughs would always cover those.

Conservative Judaism began to grow a following in the suburbs. This denomination provided a path between Reform and Orthodox Judaism. The suburbs didn’t really make it possible to walk to shul, although major cities find ways to make this possible. Bar Mitzvahs soon became popular along with the American Jewish invention, the Bat Mitzvah. These celebrations are celebrated with parties and gifts.

Most Jews were not Communists but many were shocked by what happened with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. They were viewed as being representative of Jews, for better or worse. The Rosenberg scandal was taking place at the same time as McCarthyism. The argument over the Rosenbergs has gone on for decades. What we now know is that Julius Rosenberg was definitely guilty. As for Ethel, the case wasn’t as clear when The Jewish Americans aired in 2008.

Jews took part in the Civil Rights Movement, marching with Black Americans. Amy Guttman described it as unthinkable that the country would not take the next step in giving rights to Black Americans. The only Jewish leader to speak at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was Rabbi Joachim Prinz. Former Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) chair Jacqueline Levine notes how Rabbi Prinz came from Berlin and had been jailed there. Rabbi Prinz had warned his fellow Jews to get out of Germany at the time. The Jewish and Black communities have been allied for decades.

It isn’t just that Jews joined Blacks in marching for civil rights. Jews traveled to the South to register Black voters and in some instances, it cost them their lives in Mississippi. Freedom Summer was risky but that didn’t stop people from wanting to do the right thing. As years progressed, the relationship became fragile. Julius Lester and Rev. Herbert C. Oliver discussed the anger coming from the Black community, saying the issue wasn’t antisemitism but racism. I suppose one can say that this was around the time when white-passing Jews became fully assimilated across the board. What makes Lester’s story so fascinating is that he ended up converting to Judaism in the 1980s!

Across the pond, the Six-Day War of 1967 took place. Jewish Americans took mortgages to do their part in supporting Israel. Many Jews did what they could to support their fellow Jews in Israels. Jewish Americans viewed the victory as a “sense of pride” per the narration.

The Jewish Americans doesn’t shy away from Jews disagreeing with each other regarding Israel. As Schreiber’s narration points out, Jews have “found it difficult to debate Israeli policies publicly even though nearly every Jewish American supports Israel’s right to exist.”

“I’m a strong defender of the State of Israel, but if I criticize publicly, the Israeli government, it could be used by enemies of Israel,” says Amb. Amy Guttman, who served as the 8th president of University of Pennsylvania during 2004-2022 and most recently served as the United States Ambassador to Germany.

But after 1967, Jews were focused on issues at home while affirming their Jewish identity. Jewish women were among those who marched for women’s rights. Betty Friedan was one of the Jews playing a prominent leadership in feminist activism at the time. She wasn’t religious at all but one can say that it came from within her being.

Many customs and rituals excluded women. The baby naming ceremony is one of the ceremonies that started as a result. Reform Judaism began ordaining female rabbis for the first time in the 1970s. Conservative Judaism also ordained female rabbis. Orthodox Judaism was slow when it came to any kind of ordination for female rabbis. The Drisha Institute was the first Jewish educational programs that allowed women to formally study the Talmud. It was only while rewatching The Jewish Americans in April 2025 that I noticed a friend appear during this segment of the documentary series. It wasn’t until over a half year after first watching in which I met them. Small world!

Soviet Jewry wanted to immigrate but requesting visas led to losing jobs or being exiled to Siberia. Jewish Americans traveled to Russia to offer their support. Many Jews took to the National Mall to march for Soviet Jewry’s freedom. It would be the biggest gathering of Jews on the National Mall until 2023’s March for Israel. The activism led Russia to relax its policies and allow Soviet Jewry to immigrate.

It’s amazing to see just how much has changed for Jews as the 20th century gave way to the 21st century. People found new ways to celebrate their Jewishness. Amichai Lau-Lavie argues that things that appeal to a Jew in their 20s will not appeal to their grandparents.

It’s been so long since watching The Jewish Americans that I completely forgot it includes a bit on The Hebrew Hammer. As Schreiber’s narration reminds us:

“Today in popular culture, young Jewish Americans are also breaking out, upending old conventions, echoing old traditions of irreverent satire. When The Hebrew Hammer, a feature film by a Jewish director, opened in movie theaters across the country, it left most old Jewish Americans perplexed, if not offended.”

The Jonathan Kesselman comedy only played in eight theaters at its widest back in late 2003 and into early 2004! For much of its run, it was only playing in 2 theaters. The film’s biggest audience would have been all of the people who tuned in to watch its Comedy Central premiere, including myself.

As far as Orthodox Judaism, there are sects that have separated themselves from the overall American populace. At the same time, there are other parts of the Orthodox Jewish population that have managed to join in with American society. Matisyahu was a popular Chasidic Jewish rapper when The Jewish Americans first aired in January 2008. But at some point, he shaved off his beard. Despite this, he has stayed religious.

The closing montage includes Sen. Joe Lieberman, Shawn Green, Stephen Spielberg, and many other prominent Jewish Americans.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: David Grubin
NARRATOR: Liev Schrieber
VOICE CAST: Blair Brown, Kasey Fechtor, Eno Freedman-Brodmann
FEATURING: Amy Gutmann, Tony Kushner, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Shoshana S. Cardin, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Hasia Diner, Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, Arleen Cirlin, Alfred Uhry, Jacob Harris, Aaron Bisman, Rabbi Laura Geller, Edgar J. Nathan III, Deborah Dash Moore, Rabbi Rachel Cowan, Sara E. Nathan, Joseph L. Andrews, James Polshek, Amb. John L. Loeb Jr., Eli N. Evans, Jonathan D. Sarna, Ann Ramenofsky, Rabbi David Ellenson, Shuly Rubin Schwartz, Fyvush Finkel, Joyce Mendelsohn, Nathan Glazer, J.J. Goldberg, Pauline Phillips, Sid Caesar, Steven Diner, Bruce Raynor, Carl Reiner, David Von Drehle, Amy Kolen, Ron Arons, Lee Meyerhoff Hendler, Bernie Marcus, Andrew Schiff, Rabbi Saul Berman, Michael Tilson Thomas, J. Hoberman, Mandy Patinkin, Linda Emmet, Jack Gottlieb, Robert A. Burt, Paul Steinfeld, Daniel Cirlin, Freddie Roman, Joyce Antler, Jules Feiffer, Rabbi Joy Levitt, Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Gail Gever Weinstein, Alice Lotvin Birney, Jerry Stiller, Sherry Lansing, Arthur Goren, Richard Greenstein, John Morton Blum, Henry Morgenthau III, Robert Morgenthau, Bethamie Horowitz, Alan Moskin, James Farmer, Jacqueline Levine, Dorothy Height, Rev. Herbert C. Oliver, Dorothy Zellner, Jack Salzman, Fred Nauman, Julius Lester, Rabbi David Silber, Rabbi Mordechai Swiatycki, Rabba Sara Hurwitz, Gwen Goodman, Lara Vapnyar, Rabbi Irwin Kula, Amichai Lau-Lavie, Matisyahu

PBS aired The Jewish Americans in weekly installments in January 2008. Grade: 5/5

Please subscribe to Solzy on Buttondown and visit Dugout Dirt.