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Shavuot
- Ruth
She
was a former princess, left widowed with her mother-in-law, destined
to abandon her royal past to join the Nation of G-D and become the
mother of Kingship...RUTH!
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RUTH
1
In the time when the land of Israel was ruled by judges, the
territory of Judah was struck with a great drought. Elimelech,
one of the leading citizens of the city of Bethlehem, watched
as the people around him grew gaunt from want of food. |
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RUTH
2
Indifferent to the people's needs, concerned only about preserving
his family's wealth, Elimelech gathered his wife Naomi, his
two sons, Machlon and Khilyon, and all their transportable wealth,
and left. Not only did he leave the city and the land of Israel,
he chose to settle in the land of Moab, a not-so-friendly neighbor
with whom Israel had a history of ill-will. When the Nation
of Israel sought food, water and safe passage on their journey
from Egypt to Canaan, the Moabites refused to help, sending
them back into the harsh wilderness. |
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RUTH 3
Time passed and Elimelech's sons brought home two nice, young
Moabite ladies, Orpah and Ruth. They were not just any young
women, but daughters of the royal house who had been raised
in a home dedicated to the Moabite traditions and beliefs! Time
passed and the family did not return to Bethlehem, Elimelech
and both of his sons died, and Naomi was left in the land of
Moab with her two foreign daughters-in-law. |
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RUTH
4
However, the Jewish mother is a force to always be reckoned
with! The beginning of the Book of Ruth, which describes their
flight to Moab, does not record any of Naomi's feelings or reactions.
Her silence confirms her unhappiness in leaving Israel and dwelling
in Moab. After the death of her husband and two sons, Naomi
resolutely packed her bags to head back to her home in Bethlehem.
Remarkably, both Orpah and Ruth desire to go with her, demonstrating
that while living under Naomi's roof they had indeed been influenced
by her, renouncing their previous idolatrous lives. |
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RUTH
5
At the border of Israel, Naomi decided that the Holy Land
would not be the appropriate place for her two daughters-in-law.
Her return to Bethlehem would not be glorious, in fact, it
would be filled with shame knowing that her husband fled rather
than share his wealth, and that her two sons took Moabite
wives. The time had come to send her daughters-in-law back
to their father's home. When pressed, Orpah returned to Moab.
Ruth, however, refused. She listened to no arguments. "Where
you go, I shall go, your people will be my people, your land
will be my land, and your G-d will be my G-d." In this
most famous of statements, Ruth confirmed not only her complete
identification with the Jewish people, but also her acceptance
of G-d's laws in her life.
And
so Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem.
In
Israel, the lives of Naomi and Ruth were difficult. The community
did not welcome Naomi with open arms. They remembered that
she had abandoned them, and Naomi was too meek to try to force
her presence upon her former relatives and neighbors. Furthermore,
when it became known that Ruth was a Moabite princess...you
can imagine.
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RUTH
6
Ruth and Naomi lived a lonely and threadbare existence. To keep
from starving, Ruth went out into the fields to collect the
excess harvest during the gathering of the barely. The field
to which she went was owned by a wealthy man named Boaz...a
relative of Elimelech. Seeing her in the field, distanced from
the usual group of women and humbled in her state, Boaz had
mercy on Ruth and insisted that she continue to come to his
field. He also made certain to assure her that she would not
be molested by those who saw her as only a Moabite princess,
and not the daughter–in-law of Naomi who had accepted the
Torah. |
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RUTH
7
Ruth's presence in the community caused much commotion. The
elders in the town debated her status, whether she was a true
convert and whether they were obligated to find her a husband.
Naomi, however, knew the right path to follow. Her daughter-in-law
was a devout, sincere, young woman. It was time for her to
establish a home.
Naomi
understood that Boaz's kindness in the field was a sign of
favor upon Ruth. He was a man of integrity who would not only
fulfill his familial obligation to redeem the family land,
keeping it in the tribe of Judah, but would also take care
of Ruth. She directed her daughter-in-law, therefore, to go
to him at the threshing ceremony and to present herself to
him as a potential mate.
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RUTH
8
Ruth, the former princess, took herself to the festival of the
threshing and, in the darkness of the night, lay herself at
the feet of Boaz, signaling to him her desire for him to recognize
their relationship. Boaz was not a young man. He was an established
landowner and a leader in the community. While he had seen Ruth
and knew that she was the daughter-in-law of Naomi, his relative's
widow, he had not thought of himself as one to take her hand
or redeem Elimelech's land. On the night of the threshing, Boaz
realized that he had a mitzvah to perform. |
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RUTH
9
There was one remaining stumbling block. Boaz was Ruth's second
closest relative, and there was yet a closer relative whose
obligation preceded his to redeem the family land. In the middle
of the day, Boaz waited in the public square for his relative
to pass by and told him that Naomi's land needed to be redeemed
and that he, the nearest kinsman, had the first responsibility
and opportunity to purchase it. The relative expressed interest.
With the purchase of the land, however, Boaz added, comes the
obligation of taking care of Ruth. The cousin hesitated and
then declined, proving that his intention was not the Biblical
design for the family's continuation, but rather his own monetary
gain. |
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RUTH
10
And so, Boaz and Ruth were married. And Ruth bore a son named
Oved, whose own son, Jesse, was the father of David, the greatest
King of Israel |
Summation
and illustrations by Sarah Rochel Reid.
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