We were both well-known, teaching, working at our professions and having a good standard of living. But then life got very violent.

JIAS helped us find our way when we got here, bought us our beds and mattresses, which we really appreciated.

We didn't want to leave our home. I never felt anti-Semitism there or anything like that, but we were living in fear: You would go out and didn't know if you would come home again. So we decided it was worthwhile living a safer life, a quieter life, even though we would have to sacrifice a lot to be here. We came with only our bags, nothing else.

But I had a hard time finding anyone to integrate with culturally or even to speak to at first, and our real contacts came from outside the Montreal Jewish community.

I had assumed that all Tibetan lamas were just like the Dalai Lama, teaching that they were nonviolent people living simple lives, and they did not engage in politics. But I was wrong.

Your success story is a bigger story than whatever you're trying to say on stage. . . . Success makes life easier. It doesn't make living easier.