The Story of the Jews

Drawing on a rich store of archaeological and historical sources, Simon Schama explores how a distinct Jewish identity began to emerge more than 3,000 years ago. Traveling to Israel, Egypt and Jordan, this fascinating history documentary traces the slow crystallization of a religion whose radical notion of a singular, faceless formless God was expressed in a radical artefact: the Hebrew Bible.

In medieval times, Jews struggled to survive in a world dominated by two rival religions: Christianity and Islam. Historian Simon Schama traces the history of the Jews from the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70AD to the ghetto in 17th century Venice. He explores how Jews adapted to life outside of Jerusalem, the city at the heart of their religion.

After centuries of being cast out of gentile society, the dawn of the Enlightenment promised the Jews a stake in nations where they had long been kept apart. Historian Simon Schama charts their struggles in this engrossing history documentary. From the late 18th century, many left ghettos and mingled with other communities. Their hope was to become fellow citizens, and finally treated as equals.

Traveling to Slovakia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine and America, historian Simon Schama explores the rich history of the Jews of Eastern Europe. In this vivid history documentary, he conjures up the unique culture of faith and ferment, poetry and music that was inspired by the struggle against oppression and how that rich culture found a new home with the mass Jewish emigration to America.

Two recent historical events, the Holocaust and the creation of Israel, have changed in profound ways what being Jewish means. Simon Schama attempts to place these two events in the broader sweep of the story of the Jews in this enlightening history documentary. The Hebrew Bible describes the 'Promised Land', the ideas of which continue in Israel, where around half the world’s Jews now live.