Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the Jewish heritages of actor Jeff Goldblum, radio host Terry Gross and comedian Marc Maron, uncovering previously unknown stories that show each shares much more with their ancestors than a religious tradition.
Jewish
FINDING YOUR ROOTS
FINDING YOUR ROOTS
Slave Trade
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. journeys with film director Ava DuVernay, actor S. Epatha Merkerson and musician Questlove to the unexpected places where their ancestors were scattered by slavery, upending their notions of African American history.
FINDING YOUR ROOTS
Secrets and Lies
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps actors Sigourney Weaver, Justina Machado and Amy Ryan unearth surprising revelations about their family histories, forever altering how they see themselves.
INDEPENDENT LENS
Supergirl
Meet Naomi, a seemingly ordinary Orthodox Jewish preteen from New Jersey whose extraordinary talent – breaking world powerlifting records – turns her into an international phenomenon in this unique coming-of-age story.
SHAKESPEARE UNCOVERED
The Merchant of Venice with F. Murray Abraham
Three centuries before The Merchant of Venice was written, England became the first country in medieval Europe to expel its Jewish population. Comparing Shylock to the stock Jewish villain of the day, the episode looks at the efforts over the years, for better or worse, to treat him more as a victim – and rescue Shakespeare from any taint of anti-Semitism.
Preview
HANUKKAH:
A Festival of Delights
Explore the evolution of Hanukkah from a small holiday within Judaism to prominence in American culture. William Shatner, Lainie Kazan, authors, rabbis and others share historical background and personal memories.
Preview
BARE FEET IN NYC WITH MICKELA MALLOZZI
Jewish Roots
From Israeli folk dance at the 92Y to eating knishes in the Lower East Side, Mickela gets a taste of this culturally, ethnically, and religiously rich group that is iconic to New York City.
POV
93Queen
Set in the Hasidic enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn, 93Queen follows a group of tenacious Hasidic women who are smashing the patriarchy in their community by creating the first all-female volunteer ambulance corps in New York City. With unprecedented—and insider—access, 93Queen offers up a unique portrayal of a group of religious women who are taking matters into their own hands to change their own community from within.
NOVA
Holocaust Escape Tunnel
For centuries, the Lithuanian city of Vilna was one of the most important Jewish centers in the world, earning the title “Jerusalem of the North” until World War II, when the Nazis murdered about 95% of its Jewish population and reduced its synagogues and cultural institutions to ruins. The Soviets finished the job, paving over the remnants of Vilna’s famous Great Synagogue so thoroughly that few today know it ever existed. Now, an international team of archaeologists is trying to rediscover this forgotten world, excavating the remains of its Great Synagogue and searching for proof of one of Vilna’s greatest secrets: a lost escape tunnel dug by Jewish prisoners inside a horrific Nazi execution site.
WE’LL MEET AGAIN
Children of WWII
Join Ann Curry for the dramatic reunions of people separated by WWII. A Japanese American woman sent to an internment camp hopes to find a childhood friend, and a survivor from a Jewish ghetto searches for the child of the couple who befriended him.