Nehemiah Persoff credited as playing...
Reb Mendel 'Papa'
- Yentl: Why is it that every book I buy, every bookseller has the same old argument?
- Yentl's Father: You know why.
- Yentl: I envy them.
- Yentl's Father: The booksellers?
- Yentl: No, not the booksellers, the students. Talking about life, the mysteries of the universe and I'm learning how to tell a herring from a carp.
- Yentl's Father: Yentl, for the thousandth time, men and women..."
- Yentl: [cuts him off] have different obligations, I know, but...
- Yentl's Father: [cuts her off] and don't ask why.
- Yentl's Father: [sees her disappointment] Go on, get the book.
- Yentl: Thank you, papa!
- Yentl's Father: The shutters, darling.
- Yentl: We don't have to hide my studying from God, then why the neighbors?
- Yentl's Father: Why? Because I trust God will understand. I'm not so sure about the neighbors.