YENTL- THE YESHIVA BOY

BOOK VERSUS FILM

 SUMMARY
“ In a time
when the
world of study
belonged only
to men, there
lived a girl
called
Serious books for men ... picture
books for women"
“ Yentl- you have
the soul of a
man.”
“So why was I
born a woman?”
“Even Heaven
makes
mistakes.”
(P. 148)
F

“Forgive me, Papa…”

Anshel Hădărău (Buia) Loredana
The Yeshiva group
“I want you to
marry Hadass.”
“What good would
that do to you?”
“ Better you than a
total stranger.”
“ You’ d become
my enemy.”
“ Never.”
(p.153)
Once you say “A”, you must say “B”.
Thoughts
“ She was
already
deeply in
love with
Anshel.”
( p.161)
“The longer Anshel talked,the
less Avigdor understood. All
Anshel’ s explanations seemed
to point to one thing: she had
the soul of a man and the body
of a woman. Anshel said she
had married Hadass only to be
near Avigdor. “You could have
married me,” Avigdor said. “ I
wanted to study the Gemara
and Commentaries with you,
not darn your socks!”(p.165)
“Avigdor
stood up
suddenly but
then sat
down, I
won’t be able
to forget you.
Ever…”(p.164)
No, Avigdor. It wasn’t destined to be.(p.167)
 THEMES: MORAL ITY
GENDER ISSUES
Morality the quality of being in accord with standards of
right or good conduct.
a system of ideas of right and wrong conduct.

Although, Yentl wants to study the Scriptural

writings, her guise as a man is a LIE!

Gender Issues she disguises herself as a man,
only
to have the opportunity of studying.
 COUPLES
Anshel Hadass Avigdor Peshe

Divorce Divorce
A marriage between two A marriage between a
women Immorality widow and a Yeshiva man
No requited love but a Morality, but no love or
“illusory hapiness” happiness.
Yentl was aware of her Avigdor loved Hadass.
wrong facts.
Hădărău (Buia) Loredana
QUOTES
Q1. “Many times each day Anshel warned herself that
she was about to do sinful, mad, an act of utter
depravity. She was entangling both Hadass and herself
in a chain of deception and committing so many
transgressions that she would never be able to do
penance. One lie followed another. Repeatedly Anshel
made up her mind to flee Bechev in time, to put an end
to this weird comedy that was more the work of an imp
than a human being. But she was in the grip of the
power she could not resist. She grew more and more
attached to Avigdor, and could not bring herself to
destroy Hadass’s illusory hapiness. (p.160)
Hădărău (Buia) Loredana
For Yentl...
The wish to study ˃what is right to do

The love for Avigdor ˃ the wish to cancel

her weeding with
Hadass.
The wish to study and freedom˃ The love
for
Avigdor
“ Do you love her that much?”
“ She’ s engraved in my heart” (p.159)
Avigdor Yentl

Love but no marriage

They sacrifice their love to fulfill their wishes.

Hădărău (Buia) Loredana

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOOK AND FILM
 The book ….  The film ….
begins after the death of her Starts before her father dies.
father .
Anshel is the name of his
Anshel is the name of his late brother.
uncle.
-
Avidgor marries a
materialistic widow called
Peshe, and he is unhappy. In contrast, here Yentl
In the end, Yentl refusses refuses and leaves for
Avigdor proposal and America to study without a
dissapeares, we don’ t know gender disguise.
if she remains disguised or
not.
Singer is dissatisfied with the film for these
reasons:
 The film adaption into a musical
 The rejection of the film script
 Streisand’s monopolizing the screen

 The altered ending

 The film is unfaithful to the original story

 Singer's principal motif is traditional life in

the vanished world of Eastern European Jews
BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Napolin, L & Singer, I. B. (1977). Yentl.: A Play based
on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s short story “Yentl the
Yeshiva Boy.” New York: Samuel French.
 Singer, I. B. (1953). “Yentl the Yeshiva Boy.” Isaac
Bashevis Singer: The Collected Stories. Farrar: The
Noonday Press.
 Singer, I. B. (1992). “I.B. Singer Talks to I. B. Singer
about the Movie Yentl.”
 Yentl: A film with music. (1983). Dir. Streisand, B.
Perf. Streisand, B., Patinkin, M., Irving, A., Persoff, N.,
Hill, S., Corduner, A. and Margolye, M., United Artists.