Shabbat Talmud Study: The End of King David’s Life, Two Very Different Reads

About everyone of us, at the end of our lives, two things will be true.

We will be in the middle of our story. There will be unfinished work we wanted to do, or we wanted to see our children, grandchildren or great grandchildren do.

There will be layers of complexity, blessings for which we are so grateful, and challenges and unanswered prayers that walk with us until our last breath.

If that is true for each of us, it is even more true for the epic life of King David. Tomorrow morning, our last Talmud class for 2018, we will encounter two different reads of King David’s end, the biblical account (which furnishes two Haftarot, including the Haftarah for tomorrow morning) and that of the great writer of historical fiction Geraldine Brooks in her biography of King David entitled The Secret Chord.

What do we learn from the end of King David’s life, through these two lenses, that teaches us how we should live our life now?

Begin with the end in mind. If we have a sense of the kind of end we want, what do we do today? How shall we live now?

See you tomorrow morning at 8:30.

Shabbat shalom,
Wes