It is traditional to read the Book of Ruth on Shavuot. The link between this Biblical heroine and the holiday we are celebrating is rooted in the giving of the Law. Shavuot, which means ‘Weeks’, follows seven weeks after Pesach when the Children of Israel stood at the foot of Mount Sinai and received the Torah, which would turn them from a disparate group of tribes into a single people. Likewise, Ruth, after the death of her husband, her father-in-law, and her brother-in-law, linked her faith and life with her mother-in-law, Naomi, and traveled back to live with Naomi’s people, now Ruth’s people.
This is a wonderfully sweet story. The loving bond between Ruth and Naomi is so very much more than merely mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
But there is a more sophisticated story playing out in the Book of Ruth — actually two stories rooted in history – one from the past and one in the future.
Biblical scholars have long seen the Book of Ruth as a challenge to Ezra’s edict demanding that Jewish husbands send their Babylonian wives back. Israel was exiled to Babylonia in about 586 B.C.E., where they remained until Cyrus the Meade, founder of the Persian Dynasty (today’s Iran), allowed them to return home in 536 B.C.E. In those 50 years, nearly three generations, there had been many intermarriages. Ezra wanted the foreign wives to go home so that the Second Temple would be uniquely Jewish. But the Book of Ruth asks – just as Ruth’s line produced King David – might the coming Messiah be a descendant of a Babylonian wife now in Israel? Let us keep our Babylonian wives with us.
The other historical element in the Book of Ruth deals with Leverite Marriage and Ruth’s status as a childless widow. If a man died without leaving children, the dead man’s brother or other close relative was obligated to redeem the widow and father a child in the name of the deceased. Ruth was in that category, and the Leverite Marriage situation occurs in two very interesting ways in the Book of Genesis – both related to Ruth.
The first involves Lot and his daughters. The daughters honestly believed that the destruction of Sodom and Gemmorah was the destruction of the entire world. Humanity could only continue to exist through their father Lot and them. Both girls gave birth to sons, and the name of one of the sons was Moav. Ruth was a Moabite, a descendant of Lot.
The second involves Judah and his daughter-in-law, Tamar. After two of Judah’s sons died, Judah withheld his third son from Tamar. Judah eventually fathered a child with Tamar whose name was Perez. Seven generations later, Boaz was born from that line.
Ruth and Boaz came together because of Leverite Marriage. Ruth’s progenitor was the result of a Leverite Marriage. Boaz’ ancestor was the result of a Leverite Marriage.
A coincidence – I think not.
Halpern’s Rule #19 – There Are No Coincidences.
So, what should we learn?
B’Shalom
Rabbi Stanley Halpern