from the New York Times...
…MR. COLEMAN'S first request was something by Josef Rosenblatt, the Ukrainian-born cantor who moved to New York in 1911 and became one of the city's most popular entertainers — as well as a symbol for not selling out your convictions. (He turned down a position with a Chicago opera company, but was persuaded to take a small role in Al Jolson's film "The Jazz Singer.") I brought some recordings from 1916 and we listened to "Tikanto Shabbos," a song from Sabbath services. Rosenblatt's voice came booming out, strong and clear at the bottom, with miraculous coloratura runs at the top.

"I was once in Chicago, about 20-some years ago," Mr. Coleman said. "A young man said, 'I'd like you to come by so I can play something for you.' I went down to his basement and he put on Josef Rosenblatt, and I started crying like a baby. The record he had was crying, singing and praying, all in the same breath. I said, wait a minute. You can't find those notes. Those are not 'notes.' They don't exist."

He listened some more. Rosenblatt was working with text, singing brilliant figures with it, then coming down on a resolving note, which was confirmed and stabilized by a pianist's chord. "I want to ask something," he said. "Is the language he's singing making the resolution? Not the melody. I mean, he's resolving. He's not singing a 'melody.' "

It could be that he's at least singing each little section in relation to a mode, I said.

"I think he's singing pure spiritual," he said. "He's making the sound of what he's experiencing as a human being, turning it into the quality of his voice, and what he's singing to is what he's singing about. We hear it as 'how he's singing.' But he's singing about something. I don't know what it is, but it's bad."

I wonder how much of it is really improvised, I said. Which up-and-down melodic shapes, and in which orders, were well practiced, and which weren't.

"Mm-hmm," he said. "I understand what you're saying. But it doesn't sound like it's going up and down; it sounds like it's going out. Which means it's coming from his soul."…

There was a time in my life
When I used to pick my nose.
I don't anymore.

There was a time in my life
When I would burp and not say "Excuse me".
I don't anymore.

There was a time in my life
When I got in trouble for saying a bad word.
I don't anymore.

There was a time in my life
When I would beg not to take a bath.
I don't take baths anymore.

There was a time in my life
When I was crazy about baseball.
I'm not anymore.

There was a time in my life
When I was scared to walk in the dark.
I wish I wasn't anymore.

There was a time in my life
When I wore diapers.
Sadly, I don't anymore.

There was a time in my life
When I thought that money came from the bank.
I don't anymore.

There was a time in my life
When I was interested in this poem.
I'm not anymore.

Sometimes you just want to do something but you don't know what that is.

You sometimes want to drink something but none of the drinks in the fridge look like the thing you want to drink.

Sometimes you want to sing a song but none of the songs you know are the song you want to sing.

Sometimes you want to write something on your blog but none of the ideas that are popping into your head feel right.

Sometimes.

(You don't have to read this if you don't want to.)
If there is one thing that makes me mad, it's the arrogance of people. Particularly the people in the airline industry...>..>
If you want to get from New York to California, you basically have one option; to fly. And the people at the airlines know this. What they don't seem to realize is that when someone pays that amount of money to buy a ticket to fly away somewhere, chances are that fellow needs to be somewhere in that certain region. They seem to think that you have all day, that if worse comes to worser you'll just get on a plane to somewhere else, who cares.
But that's not the case. When I go online and book a ticket, I am assuming that the times stated on the airline website are correct (maybe because the numbers are so specific - 8:52 or something like that.)
So, for instance, I have a wedding to attend in Colorado. But I'm a busy man. What do I do. I book a ticket to Colorado that arrives at 3 or 4 o'clock.
Perfect!
WRONG!!
"Sorry, we have a slight delay. The crew that is going to fly this aircraft is coming in on a flight from Dallas and that flight is running a little late. We should be leaving about fifteen (15) minutes late, so anyone with a connecting flight, you're OK."
What's the matter? Are there no pilots here? Is this some sort of joke? You're all out of pilots?
"Well this is the crew that was assigned this flight."
Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to mess with the big old Airline Rule thing. You know, the thing when they say, "Sorry, that's our policy." Your policy? Doesn't it say anything on your policy about getting to where I paid you 300 dollars to get me to?
I once showed up less then a half hour before my flight. "Sorry, we can't allow you to get on board." But I am not checking any bags. "Sorry, that's our policy. You came late." OK, then maybe you can put me on a later flight? Something that gets in before Shabbos, preferably. "Our next flight gets in at 6:15." That's too late for me. Do you have something maybe out of Laguardia? "We have a flight that lands at 2:35." That's perfect. Is there a shuttle that I can take. "Sir, there's a $200 airport changing fee." What? "Sorry, that's our policy." Ma'am, why don't you let me just go to my flight? I'm a six minute walk to it and it doesn't leave for another 20 minutes. "Sorry, I can't let you." Lady, what's gonna happen if you pick up that phone and tell the gate you have one more coming over? What are they gonna say? They're gonna say 'OK, tell him to hurry.' What is your problem? "Sorry, but that's our policy." Forget the policy, lady!! Why don't you take your brain out of you book bag and think for a second. I need to be somewhere tonight. If I didn't need to be there I WOULDN'T BE FLYING THERE! Your stupid policies first stop me from getting on a flight that I easily could have made, and then stop me from getting on a different flight. Just let me go. ..>..>
There's nobody home. Try and fight with their policy.
Needless to say, the fifteen minute delay turns into an hour delay and I miss the connecting flight. I come to my gate in Chicago and there's nobody there. So I walk around in circles for a minute and then start running, trying to find a costumer service desk.
"OK, we can get you on the next flight out. It arrives at 9:00 tonight. Will that be Ok?" No, lady. It will not be Ok. If that was Ok why would I have booked the flight that lands earlier? "We can get you on a flight Wyoming that lands at 1:00 and it's only a 2 hour drive from there. Would that be Ok?" Are you gonna pay for my rental car? "No, sorry." Why not? I paid you money to get me somewhere at a certain time and you're screwing up. Take responsibility! "Sorry, that's not our policy." Say that once again and I will throw my used barf bag in your face! Your flight came in late! Don't you realize the severity of that offence? Why, once I needed to get home in time for a special shabbos, but I came late so I was not allowed onto the plane. You guys are very strict about getting punished for coming late. All of the sudden you're late and we all just will have to understand that?
More to come...

You don't ever call me.
That's the problem.
That's why you think the way you do.
I read your piece in Stars of David, where you say that marrying a Jew isn't that important to you. You don't just say this, you also give a reason. You say that your favorite thing about Judaism is that you can break any law to save a human life. From there you derive that humans are more important then Judaism or being Jewish.
But Natalie, you don't understand. Your conclusion is based on two basic flaws. First, the law isn't that you can break any law to save a human life. The law says you can break almost any law to save a Jewish life. So the conclusion should be that a Jewish life is more important then Judaism, not just any life.
Secondly, you fail to mention that the permission given to break Torah law in order to save a life is itself a Torah law, and if it weren't a law in the Torah, one would not be allowed to break a law to save a life. Torah is the source for any and all morality, not a reflection of some guy's feelings on the matter. We respect human life because G-d says to. We don't murder because G-d says not to. And if that's not why one doesn't murder, then he is in fact immoral. As we see in real life that people who don't kill because "Ooh, I love humanity," or something like that, fail to kill when it is called for, and as a result of their arrogant "morality" innocent people are sent to their deaths and guilty people walk with freedom. ..>..>
It has been said time and time again, that we can have differences, we can have disagreements about religion, about G-d, about observance, about who's parking space it is, but we cannot have two moralities. That has to come from above. And when it comes from above, then the prohibition against murder and the prohibition against marrying outside of you Jewish faith are equal, and if one means nothing to you, the other is worth nothing. And the worst thing to do is something that, when you turn eighty, you look back upon and say, "I should've married a Jew, and have good Jewish children," instead of bringing children into a confusing world where it would be impossible for them to believe that there is something truly special about being Jewish. I mean, after all, my Daddy isn't Jewish.
Being Jewish is special.
You were given this gift.
Don't throw it away.
Don't call it silly, or out-dated.
Do these things for G-d, because, L-rd knows, He does a whole lot for you.