While we all could agree that the Zionist ideal is alive and well, there is serious doubt whether the Zionist movement can be said to be an ongoing proposition, fragmented as its components are in ideology and in practice.

I remain convinced that I can be a true universalist only when I am a better Jew.

We live in a world of guns, bombs and terror. To conquer hate seems a nigh-impossible task.

No heirloom of humankind captures the past as do art and language.

I prefer to make common cause with those whose weapons are guitars, banjos, fiddles and words.

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

By showing hunger, deprivation, starvation and brutality, as well as endurance and nobility, documentaries inform, prod our memories, even stir us to action. Such films do battle for our very soul.