MUT – Über 36 bedeutende jüdische Frauen + YENTL

Book Presentation with Danielle Spera and Erika Freeman

In weekly meetings, journalist and former director of the Jewish Museum Vienna, Danielle Spera, and Austrian-American psychoanalyst Erika Freeman have engaged in dialogues about their life experiences and the self-perception of Jewish women. In their new book, "Mut" (Courage), they present 36 portraits of remarkable Jewish women from both the past and the present. The number 36 was chosen deliberately: in Judaism, it symbolically represents the 36 "hidden righteous ones" who sustain the balance of the world.

Following the presentation, there will be a screening of the Barbra Streisand classic "Yentl".
Set in Poland at the beginning of the 20th century, the story follows a young woman named Yentl who, defying the conventions of her community, dedicates herself to the study of the Talmud—a pursuit traditionally reserved for men. To do so, she disguises herself as a man, enrolls in a yeshiva, and eventually falls in love with a fellow student… That this film was a true labor of love for Barbra Streisand is evident: she served as co-writer and co-producer, played the lead role, and became the first woman to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. According to Erika Freeman—a psychoanalyst born in Vienna who fled to the U.S. to escape the Nazis—her own mother served as the real-life inspiration for the story, which was originally written by Isaac Bashevis Singer. (Bianca Jasmina Rauch)