The Jewish Americans examines the struggle of a tiny minority to make its way into the American mainstream. While the story of Jewish life in America is emblematic of the American immigrant story, it is also a unique story of ongoing discrimination and stereotyping coupled with some of the most remarkable accomplishments in American history, the arts, commerce, science and academia. Beginning with the first Jews to arrive in New Amsterdam in the 17th century, the film offers a revealing portrait of a people who epitomize the immigrant experience. Even as they have faced bigotry and rejection, Jews have embraced American culture while keeping alive their traditions and heritage. The Jewish Americans goes on to tell the stories of Jews who have participated in major milestones and cultural phases of US history, including Judah P. Benjamin, who owned slaves and served as attorney general, secretary of war and secretary of state for the Confederacy; Marcus Spiegel, who fought and died for the Union and whose brother later founded the Spiegel Catalogue Company; Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish US Supreme Court justice; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only Jewish woman to serve on the US Supreme Court; Henry Morgenthau, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretary of the treasury, who pushed Roosevelt to save European Jews from the Nazi concentration camps; Carl Reiner, Sid Caesar, Jerry Stiller and other 'Borscht Bel' comedians who would define American humor in the second half of the 20th century; Jerry Siegel and Joel Shuster, creators of Superman; Bess Myerson, the first Jewish Miss America; Jewish Americans involved in the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s; Betty Friedan, a founder of the modern feminist movement; and Matisyahu, the popular Hasidic rapper who combines hip-hop music with traditional Jewish themes; as well as many others. The film examines the separation of church and state and how that opened up the door for Jewish immigrants to establish a home in w