Following up our March 2023 discussion of Neil Diamond’s 1980 film The Jazz Singer, we keep it musical with this Golden Globe and Oscar-winning adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s short story “Yentl the Yeshiva Boy.”

IMPORTANT: Watch this film on MAX or rent on your own before our meeting.

Barbra Streisand stars in this story about a girl in a 1904 Poland shtetl who disguises herself as a man so she can study Talmud at an all-male Yeshiva school. 

·       Streisand, Mandy Patinkin and Amy Irving comprise a unique and ground-breaking love triangle complicated by Yentl’s defiance of social expectations, religious boundaries, and traditional gender roles.

·       Barbra Streisand became the first woman to be nominated and receive a Golden Globe for Best Director for the film, and Yentl also won the award for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy.  Yentl also won an Academy Award for Best Adaptation Score and Amy Irving was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Watch Yentl on MAX or rent it for as little as $1.99 on Amazon. Also available on Google Play, YouTube, Apple TV and other streamers.