Search - They Came for Good - A History of the Jews in the United States - Present at the Creation, 1654-1820 on DVD

A historical documentary worth seeing.

Dr Abdelfattah Toukan | Amman,Jordan | 04/27/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A documentary of the Jewish history during and after the creation of the United states of America.It speaks about the role of the Jews in the American life and history.Whether during the constitution or civil war they were always there as American Jews. Soldiers ,philosphers ,lawyers and economists .A worth watching tape."

A video history of Jews in the U.S. (part 1 of 2)

Kim Boykin | New York, NY | 03/03/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This hour-long video is the first part of a two-disc series on the history of Jews in the United States. This part covers the period from 1654, when the first Jews arrived in North America, to 1820, the beginning of the massive wave of Jewish immigration from Germany and Central Europe. (The second part, "Taking Root," covers the period from 1820 to 1880.) Both parts are informative and interesting.

One complaint: Like another reviewer, I found it strange that the film refers to North America prior to European colonization as "empty" and "unexplored." Also, one commentator in the film says that "there was very little anti-slavery sentiment in the colonies," but I imagine there was plenty of anti-slavery sentiment among the slaves, who constituted something like fifteen percent of the population by the time of the Revolution.

Chapter titles:
- 23 Brazilian Jews land on Manhattan
- Asher Levy fights for equal rights
- First Jewish synagogue built in 1720
- Rhode Island welcomes Jewish settlers
- Jews and the Revolutionary War
- Influence of Mordecai Manuel Noah
- Rebecca Gratz's life of public service
- Uriah Levy versus the U.S. Navy
- Next exodus of European Jews begins

Another good video on Judaism in the U.S. is "A Life Apart: Hasidism in America." And an excellent book on the history of Judaism in the U.S. is Jonathan Sarna's "American Judaism: A History.""