Robert Schultz has done a Mitzvah, (blessing) in compiling a pleasing group of Jewish Holiday songs for Intermediate level students.

For Chanukah, which shares a table setting with Thanksgiving this year, (the menorah sits beside a fully dressed turkey), Schultz has included two particularly engaging selections:

“LICHVOD HACHANUKAH” (about baking potato latkes), and “S’VIVON” (Spinning the Dreydl) They’re both D-minor ear-catchers of contrasting mood/tempo making them a complementary pair:

Nearly all the arrangements have aesthetic appeal, and celebrate a good sampling of Jewish holidays: Passover, Rosh Hashonah/Yom Kippur, and Purim. As icing on the cake, Schultz includes Songs of Israel: “Hava Nagila,” “Hatikva,” “Artza Alinu,” “Jerusalem of Gold,” and much more.

A five-star collection worth its weight in gold, it’s a pleasure-giver, and repository for the development of a singing tone, supple wrist, staccato and legato touch, and wide range of dynamics.