Emphasis Preaching Journal

In the movie Yentl, Barbra Streisand not only was the star, she also was the producer and director. It is a story of a young Jewish girl growing up in Eastern Europe around the turn of the century. The girl is very devoted to her father, and he to her. The father has a great knowledge of the Talmud, which all rabbis must know to interpret the law. Girls or women were not permitted to study the Talmud at that time and in that place. Knowing Yentl`s search for knowledge, her father used to close the shutte
of the window of his study each afternoon and secretly study the Talmud with his daughter. The father is pleased with her progress, but then he dies suddenly.
Heartbroken and bewildered at first, Yentl does not know what to do at the loss of her father. Then she decides to continue her study of the Talmud at a rabbinical school in another city. In order to gain entrance she disguises herself as a boy. It is then the story really becomes interesting.
At the close of the movie as the musical score continues and the credits are given, at the very end the following words appear on the screen: "Dedicated to my father and to all the fathers of the world.
Barbra always felt that some part of her father was alive in her, doing what he wanted her to do.
- Hasler