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.

After the advent of the written word, the masses who could not - or were not permitted to - read, were given sermons by the few who could.

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

Although I am deeply grateful to a great many people, I forgo the temptation of naming them for fear that I might slight any by omission.

What moves me is neither ethnocentric pride nor sectarian arrogance. I make no claim that Jewish culture is superior to other cultures. But it is mine.

But there is a difference here: When Jewish children are murdered, Arabs celebrate the deed. The death of an Arab child is no cause for celebration in Israel.

I always sang, I always acted, I always played.