Couch touches on two major themes that faith traditions often grapple with. The first is the range of difficult life-challenges that present themselves to us during our short span. Behind closed doors too often, families struggle with conflict and abuse; too often life brings disappointment, tension and illness. This theme is taken up in Judaism in a number of ways, including in the way classical Jewish sources strive to understand the connections between our own actions and the consequences those actions have for our lives and those around us.

The second theme of Couch that struck me is the ever-present possibility of change. In Judaism we sometimes call this kind of change "Teshuvah" (returning, repentance). Teshuvah is a process of assessing our actions and returning to our core priorities and values as we move ahead. While Teshuvah is the focus of the High Holy Day period in the Jewish calendar (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, around September/October in the Gregorian calendar) one can make Teshuvah at any time.

Couch casts a light on some of life's challenges and offers the ever present hope of making Teshuvah, of returning to new beginnings.