Winner of the coveted Peabody Award, Heritage - Civilization and the Jews is the monumental nine-part series spanning five millennia of Jewish history and culture. The series is hosted by former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Abba Eban, who describes it as "a celebration of our common humanistic and moral heritage, explored through the mysteries of preservation, renewal, and ...

Manufacturer: Homevision
Starring: Abba Eban
Directed By: Alan Rosenthal, Eugene Marner, Julian Krainin, Marc Siegel, Peter Rosen

Manufacturer: BTG Productions
Starring: Hope Edelman, Denise Chong, Bari Pearlman, Denise Chong
Directed By: Phyllis Heller;Bari Pearlman

The conflict in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors is given comprehensive treatment in this two-video set produced by PBS. Using archival footage and extensive interviews with participants, the production begins by explaining conditions in Palestine at the end of World War II and the crisis created by the exodus of European Jews who went to the Middle East after the Holocaust. The ...

Manufacturer: Pbs Home Video
Starring: Will Lyman
Directed By: Dai Richards, David Ash

In "Taking Root 1820-1880," the second installment of They Came for Good, a series that aired on PBS, the role of Jews in American history is examined in an informative and entertaining manner. In the early days of the new nation, 15,000 Jewish peddlers traveled the roads and were a main method of distribution for goods manufactured in the industrial northeast. As many of the peddlers ...

Manufacturer: Shanachie
Starring: Amram Nowak

The story of Jews in America is told in "Present at the Creation 1654-1820," the first installment of a series that was shown on PBS, They Came for Good. Beginning with the arrival of 23 Brazilian Jews who fled persecution and arrived unwelcome at the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam in 1654, the story involves a number of heroic figures who fought for the rights of Jews to own property ...

Manufacturer: Shanachie
Starring: Amram Nowak

Manufacturer: A & E Home Video

This documentary promises insights drawn from previously unseen material from the Diary of Anne Frank, but it suffers from an inherent lack of focus and never quite delivers. The central point is that when Anne Frank's father, Otto Frank, published his late daughter's diary following World War II, he had purposely left out several pages. Scholars eventually came into possession of the ...

Manufacturer: Homevision
Starring: Bernard Hammelburg

As baseball's first Jewish star, Hammerin' Hank Greenberg's career contains all the makings of a true American sucess story. An extraordinary ball player notorious for his hours of daily practice, Greenberg's career was an inspiration to all and captured the headlines and the admiration of sportswriters and fans alike. This is the story of how he became an American hero.

Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Starring: Rabbi Reeve Brenner, Hank Greenberg, Walter Matthau, Alan M. Dershowitz, Carl Levin
Directed By: Aviva Kempner

Manufacturer: First Run Features
Starring: Hankus Netsky
Directed By: Michal Goldman

Hasidic Jews seem alien, and even hostile, to those outside their culture, which frequently includes other Jews. They dress differently, don't mingle between the sexes, speak Yiddish, and wear side curls, all in an attempt to rigorously follow the commandments of the Torah. They tend to keep to themselves, shunning television and the media so outside influences cannot corrupt their values and ...

Manufacturer: First Run Features
Starring: Leonard Nimoy, Sarah Jessica Parker
Directed By: Oren Rudavsky, Menachem Daum