[on having an African coming-of-age ceremony instead of a Bar Mitzvah at thirteen] There was a big Guinean African drumming community in Woodstock, New York... I was doing this drumming with them every day, and it was clashing with my Hebrew studies, but my parents could see how much I loved it... They said 'we know people who have had a barmitzvah in their 80s, so you'll do it eventually'... So I had this ceremony, when I was 13, which involved a lot singing and celebrating life... In the actual ceremony you're supposed to survive in the jungle for three days, but we skipped that part and just celebrated as if I had done that.
