The Jewish Americans: A Critical Review

I recently viewed what is described here. "THE JEWISH AMERICANS is a three-night documentary that explores 350 years of Jewish American history. Written and directed by award-winning filmmaker David Grubin, THE JEWISH AMERICANS is a journey through time, from the first settlement in 1654 to the present." Go to PBS website for more detail. The new documentary kept my interest over the three day period that I watched. The perspectives were mostly presented by well known Jewish persons or by eyewitness accounts of historic moments in Jewish life in America or at least moments that very much affected Jewish life in America i.e. period of immigration to our shores and the Holocaust. At the end of the film, I found myself feeling unsatisfied knowing something was missing.

There was a segment on the influence and participation of Jewish young people in the civil rights and in the rise of feminism in the USA. There was discussion of the later period in the civil rights struggle when white people; consequently many Jews, were forced to leave their form of activism when Black activists were pursuing the concept of Black Power and Black control of their own communities. It was as if the Jewish activists left and never returned to activism again. Instead we moved on to a new segment that talked about the modern Orthodox movement, the rise of Jewish Orthodoxy in general, and the rise of women in participating in former Orthodox Jewish tradition i.e. studying The Talmud even if done separately from the men. I thought it would have been much stronger if some of the current day Rabbi activists and other Jewish community organizers working in diverse communities all over this country had been incorporated into the documentary. I am referring to Peace Now groups, to, for example, a Rabbi such as Haim Beliak who leads a congregation in Whittier California that has young Latino families that are in the process of converting to Conservative Judaism, to Jews throughout this country who work in the Green Movement. Otherwise, one is left with the notion that Jewish activists and coalition types of activism died in the sixties. (By the way, Haim Beliak also leads an important website along with Jane Hunter titled Jews on First which deals with first amendment rights from a Jewish Perspective.)

A group that was left out under the topic of feminism was Jewish Lesbians. Just as so many of the early feminists were Jewish, many of the early "out" and early movement Lesbians (early Gay Liberation 1968- early 1970's) who participated in the feminist movement were Jewish. It was being Jewish that helped these women see the importance of being oneself and the significance of not staying in the closet. In this documentary Jewish Lesbians were not mentioned so in essence once again placed in the closet I suspect out of a fear of what others might say or think about Jewish woman who find Lesbianism. Surely it was not a matter of "not having enough time to cover everything" which would be a big copout. Perhaps, the documentary makers were just plain ignorant of the information and did not feel on top of the subject, if so they should have asked for help from those in the know-Jewish Lesbians.

I also felt there was more of a tilt toward recognizing the Jewish men who had succeeded with only a nod toward the Jewish women makers and shakers who came to American and changed their worlds and were changed by them. Molly Picon, the great Yiddish actress was the only woman of that period mentioned. Fanny Brice, the famous radio comedienne who came later was not mentioned. I am sure there were others whose names I have forgotten or whose names I do not know. As I said, there was a dependence on affirmation from the great ones, a Supreme Court Justice, a University President, A Military Hero. The little and more radical voices were more or less left out. Yes the film said there were Jews who were Communists and those who were not but all the people from fellow travelers, to anarchists, to right wing zealots were left out. Actually I am glad the right winger were left out but still....I did like the emphasis on the importance of the Rosenberg Trial on the Jewish community during that period. The effects of that trial are still felt today by many who lived through it.

The discussion of how most Southern Jews as well as the Jewish merchants of the South felt during the civil rights period was interesting but a bit defensive pointing out a way of thinking that feared reprisal maybe even death. I think many of these Southern Jews were not just fearful but many also may have believed in the inferiority of Black people. That was not said straight out. They were simply brainwashed like other Southerners and had trouble seeing the contradictions. These Jews also benefited from this kind of thinking. They thought like their neighbors thus they might be more accepted though they were not really accepted.

The segment about the Jewish manager who was accused of sexual abuse and murder of a young woman and who was lynched left me wondering. I never knew it was this man's employee, an older Black man, a janitor, who was also an early suspect who pointed his fingers at his boss thus diverting attention from himself. I wonder what happened to him. The implication was he was the guilty one not the Jew. Is it possible neither one was guilty? The segment on the New York African American fellow, grandson of a man named Altshul, who read an anti-Semitic piece on the radio shortly after the NY City teachers' strike and then who later converted to Judaism, became a kind of Cantor was very moving. The early history was educational but again as I felt the film throughout stressed the upper class or at least the upper middle class Jewish viewpoint.

In the end, I was left to think Jews today were becoming more religious and more into conversion and inclusiveness than ever before. Jews are on a journey to find what it means to be Jew. Rabbi Shulweis says and I am only paraphrasing that our Grandfather went to Shul because he was a Jew. Today we go to Temple because we want to become Jews. This leaves me unsettled thinking I am the odd one out. I am a Jew and I don't go and I don't believe. But guess what! I know I am a Jew. I don't care who thinks I need saving or that I need to go on a quest to delve into my Judaism. I am a Jew with a rich heritage and no one can take that away from me or make me feel less than or empty of something I need. I am what I Yam.

My final comment is that this documentary is worth watching given the fact that there is not enough Jewish history shown to the general public. It is a good start. I hope there is much more to come on the topic of Jews in America.

Sharon Raphael