I am determined to give the Yiddish language a fighting chance to survive.

You don't really need modernity in order to exist totally and fully. You need a mixture of modernity and tradition.

Throughout my life I have cared as deeply about the songs of all peoples as I have about the rights of all peoples.

We Jews have a special attachment to the Book. The study of page after page in tomes yellowing with age was obligatory.

On the stage you're there, it's live. There's a beginning, a middle, an end. When something is funny you hear it right away.

Retiring' - within that word is 'tiring,' and I'm not tired. I don't believe in retirement, really.

I prefer to choose which traditions to keep and which to let go.