I am working hard to prepare a demo CD to use for audition purposes for synagogues in the US in an attempt to secure a position performing the High Holy Day services at either a Conservative or an Orthodox synagogue. Working on the pieces for the CD is a heave load, and I am now having 4 classes a week instead of 2 in order to prepare. For those of you who know the service, the primary pieces that will be on the CD are:

• Hin’ni
• Un’tane Tokef
• BeRosh Hashanah
• Kol Nidre

There will, of course, be other pieces on the CD as well. A couple of these are Areshet and Avot. I am expecting to record for the CD on 6 June. Once that is done, the work of learning all the rest of the services continues.

The weather here in Jerusalem is finally warming up (and has been for the last couple weeks). There is definitely no need for a heater at night, and I am even running the fan during the day. That means that I have re-started my daily walks. One of the results of this is that I have a few new pictures to share with you from my walks over the last couple days.

All of the pictures below are local foliage except for the last one. The last is a picture of the new “street cars” that are going to be in use soon. They are in testing now. This picture was taken on a section of Jaffa Street, which has been completely closed to all automotive traffic (including buses).