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Season 1 wrap-up. A look behind the scenes with interviews of the series creators: Executive Producer, Lance Tōland / Writer, Rick Stone / Producer-Director, Mark Simon / Audio Editor, Composer & Sound Designer, Dave Wilson / and a few of the Cast Members: Ian Russell (James Oglethorpe & multiple character voices) / Juan-Pablo Gamboa, (Dr. Diogo Nunes) / Jamie Treselyan (young-Benjamin Philips & multiple character voices) / Angelines Santaňa (Zipporah Nunez Mechado Jacobs) / Francois Clemenceau, The Grand Inquisitor, Daniel & multiple character voices.

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While they await the repairs on their ship, the Jews disembark and learn invaluable lessons about surviving in the American wilderness. While they labor away, Oglethorpe is faced with growing dissension among his settlers around issues of slavery and drinking rum and then faces an even bigger challenge as an epidemic threatens to wipe out the entire colony. When Samuel Nunes and the Jews finally arrive, Oglethorpe is faced with a major dilemma: accede to the verbal wishes of the Trustees to exclude Jews from the Colony or enlist the assistance of Dr. Nunes to fight the raging epidemic. His decision will have repercussions for decades to come. 

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Divisions begin to appear among the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews on their journey to America, while James Oglethorpe, with the help of Colonel Bull, selects Yamacraw Bluff for the new settlement. Oglethorpe also meets Mary Musgrove, a woman of English and Indian descent who is an invaluable partner in the years ahead as Oglethorpe navigates relations with the neighboring Creek Indians. The ship carrying the Jews faces its most trying challenge yet as severe storms threaten to crash it on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. 

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Michael Thurmond, the chief executive officer of DeKalb County, Georgia, is the author of James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia, Freedom: Georgia’s Antislavery Heritage, 1733–1865, and A Story Untold: Black Men and Women in Athens History. Thurmond explores the foundation of the Georgia Colony and Oglethorpe’s increasing resistance to the institution of slavery.

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Daniel and Moses become enamored with the idea of a clean start in America, an idea that their father, Samuel, rejects out of hand. When King George approves the new colony, the Trustees are faced with a thorny dilemma—what to do with the efforts of the richest Jews of England to send their fellow Jews to Georgia? Their debate and subsequent decision have unexpected consequences that will echo throughout the history of the fledgling colony even after Oglethorpe departs for America in November 1732 with 120 adventurous souls.

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James Oglethorpe sets out to win parliamentary approval to change the laws related to the incarceration of people for the mere crime of owing someone money. This move leads to his pursuit of an idealistic dream of creating a colony where the poor can have a fresh start and where slavery is prohibited. Oglethorpe’s dream becomes the perfect vehicle for the wealthy Jews of London to solve a problem of their own—ever-escalating charitable support for the growing number of refugees showing up on the doorsteps of Bevis Marks Synagogue.

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Dr. Roitman delves into the growing role of Jews in trade in Europe and the Caribbean and explores how economic pressures on the Jewish community of Amsterdam drove many Jews to depart, seeking their fortunes in the New World.

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Moses’s arrest for a gambling debt leads to his incarceration in Marshalsea Prison. Samuel’s quest to free him results in two significant encounters—one with Antony da Costa, one of the wealthiest Jews in England, and one with James Oglethorpe, who discovers that his best friend has died in the same prison after being thrown into a cell with forty other prisoners with smallpox. Both meetings foreshadow significant turns in the lives of all concerned.

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Samuel confronts the hard reality that his medical skills and reputation mean little within London’s physician community and is forced to open a practice serving mainly indigent refugees. Daniel and Moses continue to struggle to find meaningful employment, and tragedy strikes when Rebekah goes into labor prematurely, leading to a crisis in her commitment to the Jewish faith.

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Dr. Hessayon explores the economic, social, and religious forces that led to Oliver Cromwell's re-admitting Jews to England in 1656 and the dynamic political forces that followed his death and King Charles II’s taking back the throne, all of which could have easily led to a second expulsion of the Jews from England.

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Dr. Eliezer Papo is a senior lecturer of Hebrew Literature at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be’er Sheva, Israel. He serves as Chairman of the Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture and is the chief editor of El Prezente – Journal for Sephardic Studies.

We concluded the last episode by discussing the distinctions between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish traditions. This highlights an exciting development in our story of Samuel and Rebekah Nunes, formerly known in Portugal as Diogo and Gracia Nunez. We have two noteworthy things that transpired in our story. One is an Ashkenazi family from Prussia has immigrated to England to escape from mandates by the Prussian king who made it very difficult for Jews to earn a living. They came to England and were welcomed into Beavis Marks Synagogue, a Sephardic synagogue, one which traditionally served Spanish and Portuguese Jews. In this REVEALED episode, Dr. Papo speaks about how it was that an Ashkenazi Jew would end up finding refuge in a Sephardic synagogue. He also addresses the complex issues confronted by Conversos, who had great expectations coming to England with dreams of reverting to Judaism but confronted a reality that wasn’t nearly as welcoming as they expected.

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