Talmud Class: Tuning Our Six Strings

Please do yourself a favor. Listen to the commencement address that country star Eric Church recently gave at the University of North Carolina. It’s 18 minutes—and very much worth our time.

Church offers that there are what he calls "six strings" to a life well lived. If all six strings are properly tuned, our life can be a beautiful song. If any one of those strings is not properly tuned, the song of our life is off.  We can hear it. The people in our life can hear it, too. Take a good look at the list. What strings of ours need tuning? 

Church observes that the need to tune our strings is never-ending. At every age and stage some string or strings needs our attention. Which makes sense. Faith is an important string, but events like illness, death, and loss rock our faith. Family is an important string, but families are ever-changing. Loved ones die, loved ones are born, people grow up and out. Marriage is an important string, but every marriage has its different chapters. And so on for all the strings.

On Shabbat morning we are going to look at three Jewish values—listening (shema), focusing (kavanah), and returning (teshuvah)—that can bring our strings into attunement.

Church’s commencement address has gone viral because it is artful and true. Matching his six strings with our three Jewish values will add beauty and meaning to our song and our life.