Text: Yehuda Amichai’s poem “B’terem”
Music and arrangement: Cantor Alan Weiner
Violin: Nicole McKenzie
Violin: Marie Hebert
Viola: Sean Lyons
Cello: Jeness Johnson

This is the most sonically challenging songs on this album, intentionally so. It is a reminder that the Layered Path that we walk upon is far from comfortable all the time. There are many moments of dissonance. The thought that our mortality beckons is not always soothing. This poem and it’s musical setting reminds us that there is much to do before our time is done. When it is, we ask that we be blessed with peace.

Our journey into illness, healing and eventually passage to the World to Come is often circuitous and multi-layered. The songs on this album were assembled according to their messages of hope, strength, recovery, resolution, and oneness with our Creator. Many of these songs are original commissions by Congregation B’nai B’rith of Santa Barbara, CA, which I am proud to spotlight. Collaborating with my son, David, has been an intergenerational joy that would have made my mother Myrna Childs, to whom I dedicate this album, overflow with love
If these songs provide you or your loved ones with even a moment of respite and comfort as you travel your layered path, then I’ve achieved my goal.
Cantor Mark Childs
Spring, 2021