I’m one of those people who has a hard time picking favorites. I’m an indecisive sort, and what tickles my fancy one day might do so less on another. Even my favorite foods and colors tend to vary, depending on my mood. One thing that doesn’t change much, though, is my favorite music. And while I have many, many songs I love, one that I’ve listened to regularly over the years and seems to stand out above the rest is “A Piece of Sky” from the musical film “Yentl.”

I like Barbra Streisand, though I’m not a huge fan. She has a lovely voice, and a dynamic stage presence. I thought she did a wonderful job in the movie, even though sometimes I wondered how she could pass for a boy while wearing that much makeup. I don’t mean to criticize the movie–once I suspended my disbelief in that regard, I loved it, and thought all the actors did an excellent job. Not just Streisand’s delivery, which is beautiful, but the message in the movie and song is what makes”A Piece of Sky” my favorite.

In the movie, Barbra Streisand plays Yentl, a young Jewish woman who reads, studies the Talmud, and above all, thinks for herself. Her father has taught her since she was small, but he’s done in it private because the prevailing belief then was that only the men needed to be educated; the women were suitable only as wives and mothers. Yentl’s father dies, and rather than give up on her dreams she pretends to be a young man named Anshel, and goes off to the yeshiva to study the Talmud and get a man’s education.

The rest of the plot really isn’t important, but of course by the end her identity is revealed to those whom it might matter, and she must leave. “A Piece of Sky” is the last song in the film, sung by Yentl, not in despair of discovery and the defeat of having to go home and live a traditional woman’s life of marriage and child-bearing, but it’s sung in triumph. Yentl is on the boat that’s taking her to America, where she can take advantage of opportunities that women in her country don’t even dare dream about. Opportunities that she’s been dreaming of since her father first began teaching her behind closed curtains.

The song pulls in elements from the other major songs in the film in a poignant and moving way. It’s a song of freedom, of risk, of learning things “no man can take away,” of daring to be everything you can no matter what other people expect of you. The whole film, this song included, speaks of the power of women, the power of belief, education and thought, and the power of fighting for what you are–or you should be–entitled to.

In the end of the song she sings, “Why should I settle for just a piece of sky… Papa, watch me fly.” Those last notes never fail to bring tears to my eyes, or raise goosebumps on my arm. I find myself cheering for Yentl, wanting her to fly, and I think in a way cheering on myself to try something I didn’t think I could do or that maybe others doubt in me, as well. It speaks to me, not just because of my gender. I think it connects most deeply with the dreamer in me–the one we all have inside ourselves, who would take off and fly if we’d just take that first, frightened step off the edge.

Shelley Ontis lives in Illinois, surrounded by corn, cows and pick-up trucks. She claims it’s not nearly as exciting as it sounds.