Rabbi Daniel Siegel – Head of Jewish Life

The Book of Ruth

Personal, national and universal redemption

We ended last week’s Devar Torah with a question: Why is it that on Shavu’ot, Zeman Matan Torateinu/The Time of the Giving of our Torah, we read a biblical story, the Scroll of Ruth, that subverts a biblical law (“A Moabite can never enter the Community of the Lord”) and celebrates the Moabite Ruth as the quintessential convert to Judaism?

The book of Ruth is noteworthy for the most excluded becoming the most included.

The Bible tells us that we must never allow a Moabite to enter our Jewish community, because the Moabites “did not meet you with bread and water when you came forth from Egypt” and “because they hired Balaam to curse you”.

When the Judahite, Naomi, leaves the famine of Beit Lechem/Bethlehem, “The House of Bread”, she finds sustenance and succour in the fields of Moab where she is looked after by Ruth the Moabite. Even upon returning to Bethlehem, we are told that Naomi is being provided for by Ruth, through the barley and wheat harvest.

Far from abandoning the Jewish community in need, this Moabite, Ruth, provides for the immediate survival of the Jewess Naomi and preserves her entire “house and lineage” in marrying her kinsman Boaz, thereby continuing this Jewish family’s name in Israel.

Moreover, rather than bringing a curse upon the Jewish people, Boaz says of Ruth: “Blessed be you of the Lord, for your kindness is ever-increasing”. Her goodness makes her worthy to be as one of the Jewish matriarchs, as we see in the blessing given to Ruth, which brings to mind the blessing Jewish parents give to their daughters: “The Lord make this woman (Ruth) like Rachel and Leah”.

The very reasons given for excluding a Moabite from the Jewish community are those which enable us to understand why we celebrate Ruth’s inclusion into our community.

Remarkably, in reading the scroll of Ruth on Shavu’ot, the holiday celebrating revelation of Torah, we are asked to consider that, at times, subverting a commandment is fulfilling and preserving the Law. Revelation is ongoing and, as the Rabbis point out, the children should not be punished for the transgressions of their parents. The Rabbinic tradition had a powerful and purposive message in making the scroll of Ruth the biblical text to be read on Shavu’ot. Anyone who is committed to and whose life is reflective of the values and practices of our Jewish tradition is welcome into our community.

With Ruth’s inclusion into the Jewish community, not only are the names and future of Naomi’s family upheld and made secure, but the entire national collective of the Jewish people is advanced. This is the final message of the Book of Ruth, as the text ends letting us know that Ruth the Moabite became the progenitor of David, the most celebrated king of Israel.

From being most excluded from the Jewish community, this Moabite Ruth became central to its present and future continuity. She is most included for all posterity, as her entry into the Jewish community not only brought about the birth of King David but will lead to the Messiah who will arise from the House of David.