“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof … ”
Jews are a tiny percentage of the American population, but they have nonetheless exerted a massive influence on American life. Adherents to Judaism make up less than 3% of the American population, although ethnic Jews are more numerous than practicing religious Jews. But even these tiny percentages represent several millions of Americans. The United States has welcomed Jews more than any other country in the world, with the possible exception of the state of Israel. As this documentary shows, they were not free of Antisemitism even here, but the persecution that they faced in the Old World seems to have been far greater than anything that they faced here. Escaping such persecution was indeed one of the primary reasons that they came to America, and they generally succeeded in finding a safe haven in the New World.
David Grubin, the maker of this documentary
The three great themes of this program:
As I have noted elsewhere, I am a great fan of David Grubin, who is the director of this film. I do not know if Grubin himself is Jewish, although I do know that the film’s narrator (Liev Schreiber) is. I have watched several other films that David Grubin has made, including his five presidential biographies. He has identified three major themes in his own series, which it might be worthwhile to note here. One is the contributions of Jewish Americans to American life. Another is the tension between cultural assimilation and staying true to their Jewish heritage, a dilemma not limited to their experiences in the United States. And the last is Antisemitism, which I will cover later. I will spend some time talking about each of these three themes in this post.
Liev Schreiber, the Jewish American narrator of this documentary
1) The contributions of Jewish Americans to American life
Again, the first theme is the contributions of Jewish Americans to American life. These contributions are so massive that it’s hard for me to do justice to them here. They show up in everything from the comic books to the comedy world, where Jewish humor has been enormously influential. Jews gave us the characters of Batman and Superman (among others), and a number of Yiddish words and phrases that have entered the English language. This film talks somewhat about Yiddish-language theater in the United States, and its later appeal to a wider market when it was eventually translated into English. They talk about Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” and many other cultural currents from Jewish Americans. They talk about Jewish contributions going back into colonial times, since Jewish folks first arrived in this country in the seventeenth century. But in covering Jewish contributions, they do not attempt to pretend that Jews are perfect. Some ethnic histories feel it necessary to ignore any imperfections in their subjects, feeling that it would be “bigotry” to do otherwise. But they acknowledge that some Jews in the American South were actually slaveholders, and actively celebrated the liberation of Jewish slaves during Passover while oppressing African American slaves of their own. During the Civil War, about 7,000 Jews fought for the Union, while about 3,000 Jews fought for the Confederacy (if memory serves). One Jewish man was even a member of Jefferson Davis’s Cabinet. Nonetheless, there is a much greater focus on their contributions, and this is as it should be. While it doesn’t cover all of these contributions (no television series could), it is a reasonably good primer on the topic, and deserves great credit for bringing these contributions to a larger television audience.
Mel Brooks, a Jewish American noted for his comedy films
2) The tension between being Jewish and being American
They also cover the tension between cultural assimilation and their Jewish heritage. Some Jews have abandoned their Jewish heritage to make themselves more popular with their neighbors. Others have been noticeably different from their neighbors, even when this makes them seem strange to the surrounding majorities. Most Jews have assimilated enough to learn the English language, at least, although you can certainly find the Hebrew and Yiddish languages spoken in parts of this country’s Jewish communities. Jews were the majority in some parts of New York City, such as Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Nonetheless, they have been a tiny minority in most areas of the United States. This inevitably confronts them with the old dilemma of the “Old World”: balancing their Jewishness with their efforts to fit in, which in this case means becoming more “American.” Different Jews have navigated this problem differently. Some have stuck closer to their traditional heritage than others.
Interior of Eldridge Street Synagogue – Manhattan, New York City
3) Antisemitism …
The last theme is Antisemitism. This film seems to cover it in a fairly unbiased way. On the one hand, they show that there has indeed been Antisemitism here, with some states having a history of barring Jews from political office (although thankfully, such is no longer the case today). The United States Constitution prohibited “religious test[s]” at the federal level, but said nothing about religious tests at the state and local levels. Thus, these tests were unfortunately allowed to persist for some time after their enactment. Some colleges and universities actually had quotas on the maximum number of Jewish and Catholic students that they were allowed to have. Of course, Jews were not the only targets of such quotas, since many had quotas of zero on African Americans and other non-White minorities. But Jews were a disproportionate share of the applicants for these positions, and thus were among the most visible victims of these kinds of policies. Our country has been far from perfect in its treatment of the Jews.
Starving prisoners at Mauthausen concentration camp - Holocaust, 1945
Comments on this film’s coverage of the Holocaust, and of the Zionist movement
Nonetheless, the first Jewish person to be appointed to the Supreme Court was back during the Woodrow Wilson administration, in 1916, long before the appointment of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by President Bill Clinton (although Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman). As mentioned earlier, this country has welcomed Jews more than any other country in the world, with the possible exception of the state of Israel. Many Jews supported the state of Israel, particularly after the Holocaust took its terrible toll on the Jewish populations of Europe. This film covers the Holocaust somewhat, and the unfortunate reluctance of the American government to rescue Jews from Nazi persecution. A few got out as a result of later interventions by the Americans, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to the millions who died in the concentration camps. It was certainly the worst Anti-Semitic persecution of the twentieth century, and may be the most notorious of all time. Perhaps partially because of this, this film sympathetically portrays the Zionist movement, despite its unpopularity in some liberal circles today. They also pull no punches about the Antisemitism of the Soviet Union, which restricted the freedom of its Jewish population to emigrate elsewhere, far more than it restricted the freedom of other groups to thus emigrate. They even criticize Anti-Semitic rhetoric in the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, where many Blacks identified Jews with their White oppressors (some even considering them worse than other Whites). As this film notes, the alliance between the two groups did not last for long, although it has since been repaired somewhat.
David Ben-Gurion publicly pronouncing the Israeli Declaration of Independence – 14 May 1948
Comments on Antisemitism today, and where it is sometimes found
Ironically, Antisemitism has now found its new home in the Democratic Party – something that this documentary does not note. Opposition to Israel and Zionism often has strong undertones of Antisemitism today, which is brazen in its openness and unapologetic about its prejudice. This documentary says that America “no longer tolerates Antisemitism” (or words to that effect), and this is mostly true. Nonetheless, Antisemitism still persists here, and in ironic places (as noted earlier). This is one of the sad facts of modern life, as is the degree to which the left has tolerated such Antisemitism today. Apparently, the Democratic concern for victims extends only so far.
Conclusion: This is a great primer on Jewish American history
Nonetheless, this documentary is a great film despite this omission. It is a great primer on the experiences of Jews in this country, and their attempts to balance their “Jewishness” with their “American-ness.” It is a great primer on American Antisemitism, as well as the contributions of Jewish Americans to this country’s history. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the subject, or in ethnic history more generally, or in the broader history of the Jewish people.
“ … no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
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