'Do
not urge me to leave you, to turn back from following you. For where you
go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people are my people,
and your God my God; where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.
Thus may God do to me, and so may He do more, if anything but death
separates me from you. (Ruth 1:16-17)
Ruth
Naomi
entreating Ruth to follow Orpah (detail),
Illustration (1795) by William Blake (1757-1827)
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Megillat
Ruth tells the story of the family of Elimelech of the tribe of Judah, in
the days of the Judges. Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons
Machlon and Chilyon, left Beit Lechem [Bethlehem], where there was a
famine, and settled in the fields of Moab.
There, the two sons married Moabite women -
Orpah and Ruth. Ruth was a princess, daughter of Eglon, king of Moab.
In time, the father and his two sons died
there, leaving Naomi and her two daughters-in-law.
Naomi,
who lost both her husband and her two sons, decided to return to her
homeland in Canaan and asked Ruth and Orpah to return to her own parents home in
Moab.
Naomi riding a camel, with Elimelech and sons,ca. 1947, by Arthur Szyk (1894-1951, Polish)
Ruth,
refused to be separated from Naomi, and said, 'Do
not urge me to leave you, to turn back from following you. For where you go,
I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people are my people, and
your God my God; where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus
may God do to me, and so may He do more, if anything but death separates me
from you.
(Ruth 1:16-17)
The
fact that Ruth refused to go back and leave Naomi and said
"...your
people are my people and your God is my God...."
identify Ruth as one of the first
Jews-by-Choice.
Ruth is a Torah seeker
par excellence who is held up to the rest
of us as the shining model of
proper Torah acceptance.
Despite Naomi's warning to her that she
might never be able to
remarry and pursue a "normal" life, Ruth
decided to leave her
homeland, her culture, her security and her
status to join the
Jewish
people. All she could expect was a life
of poverty.
Naomi had a relative
named Boaz. Boaz allowed Ruth to come into his fields and to gather grain.
By chance, Ruth met Boaz when she went to gather in his field. The Torah
obliges the Israelite farmer to allow the stranger, the orphan and the
widow to gather from his crop, and Ruth was a stranger and a widow.
As Boaz was a
relative of Elimelech's family he decided to marry Ruth. The child born of this marriage, Oved, was King
David's grandfather. Oved's son was Yishai the father of king
David.
Boaz and Ruth
Loving-kindness
"Loving-kindness" stands at the center
of the Book of Ruth.
Rabbi Zeira said that the Megillah was written:
"To teach the reward
that is reserved for those who perform acts
of loving-kindness" (Midrash Ruth Rabbah 2, 16).
The loving and kindness are manifested in the
relationship between
Naomi and Ruth and also between Boaz and Ruth. Naomi cares for
her daughter-in-law Ruth, and Ruth
cares for her mother-in-law Naomi.
Even linguistically the importance of kindness is
prominent.
The word "hesed" (kindness) appears three times in the
Megillah,
and each time it is connected with a blessing from God.
The reward for those performing acts of kindness
is the passage from
exile to redemption, the direct link to the Kingdom of
Israel and the
feeling of personal satisfaction that accompanies the good and
generous
deed.
Ruth's actions guaranteed that her
offspring would be a valued
member of the Jewish community. In the eyes of the
Jewish tradition,
Ruth's merit was such that King David proudly claimed her as
his ancestor.
Answer the following
questions:
Elimelech was married to Naomi
Orpah and Ruth were sisters
Orpah and Ruth were Moabite women
Machlon and Chilyon were Elimelech
and Naomi's sons
Why did Elimelech, Naomi and their
two sons leave Bethlehem?
Who died in Moab?
Naomi decided to return to
.
Naomi asked Ruth and Orpah to return
to
.
Ruth and Orpah agreed to return to
Moab.
Ruth told Naomi that she would go
wherever Naomi goes
Ruth is a Jew by choice. Can you
explain?
Share with us
As a result of Ruth's love to God
she is a relative of King David.
Can you explain why Ruth deserved this priviledge?
As a result of Ruth's love to God
she is a relative of King David.
