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In the Beginning

Episode 1 of 5

Simon Schama looks at the Jewish story, starting 3,000 years ago with the emergence of tribal people in contested land and a book to define them across millennia.

The story of the Jewish experience begins 3,000 years ago with the emergence of a tribal people in a contested land and their extraordinary book, the Hebrew Bible, a chronicle of their stormy relationship with a faceless, formless, jealous God. It was loyalty to this 'God of Words' that defined the distinct identity of the ancient Jews and preserved it despite all that history could throw their way - war, invasion, deportation, enslavement, exile and assimilation.

The story unfolds with a dazzling cast of historical characters: Sigmund Freud dying in exile in London; Victorian evangelicals and explorers following 'in the footsteps' of Moses; Jewish mercenaries living, prospering and intermarrying in the pagan land of Egypt; Messianic Jews dreaming of the Apocalypse; and a Jewish historian, Josephus, who witnessed first-hand the moment when the apocalypse finally came and the Romans destroyed the Jewish High Temple in Jerusalem.

1 hour

Last on

Fri 6 Apr 2018 02:30

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Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Simon Schama
Executive Producer Nicolas Kent
Director Tim Kirby
Series Producer Tim Kirby

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