Simon Schama opens his five-part The Story of the Jews with a question: “What, if anything, do all Jews have in common?” It’s not ethnicity, the British historian concludes, but “a story of suffering and resilience, endurance, and creativity” that stretches back 3,000 years. Schama opens the series with idiosyncratic, riveting exploration of Jewish identity that taps source materials ranging from the writings of Sigmund Freud to a 1st-century account of the destruction of the Second Temple. Popular history doesn’t get much better. Tuesday, March 25, at 8 p.m., PBS; check local listings
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