On Shavuot, it is traditional to read the Book of Ruth. In this lesson, we will focus on the heroine of the book and discover her contribution to the story of the Jewish people.
I. The Prelude
In Judaism, the books of the Tanakh are ordered in degree of holiness. We start with the Torah, which is the word of God, then we move to the Prophetic writings which is the word of God through man, and end with the Writings which are the words of human beings to God. In this system, the Book of Ruth is in the Writings section.
But, if we wanted to arrange the books according to chronological order within Tanakh, where would the Book of Ruth fit in?
The first verse of Ruth sets the date of the book, which would place it after the book of Judges.
In the days when the chieftains ruled, there was a famine in the land; and a man of Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the country of Moab.
The last verse of the Book of Ruth announces the birth of King David which would place the book before the four books of Kings (Samuel I and II, Kings I and II)
In terms of its subject matter, which other book of the Tanakh is the Book of Ruth most similar to?
The Book of Ruth has no great miracles, no great prophecies. Instead, it feels more similar to the book of Genesis, which focuses on ordinary humans demonstrating extraordinary gifts and strength of character.
It seems that Chazal, the Sages, point to the similarity of these two books by asking the same question of both works.
Rashi's very first comment on the the Torah questions the purpose of the Book of Genesis.
Rabbi Zeira, in the midrashic collection Ruth Rabbah, also questions the purpose of a book, but this time it is the Book of Ruth.
בראשית. אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק לֹֹֹֹֹא הָיָה צָרִיךְ לְהַתְחִיל אֶת הַתּוֹרָה אֶלָּא מֵהַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם, שֶׁהִיא מִצְוָה רִאשׁוֹנָה שֶׁנִּצְטַוּוּ בָּהּ יִשׂרָאֵל, וּמַה טַּעַם פָּתַח בִּבְרֵאשִׁית? מִשׁוּם כֹּחַ מַעֲשָׂיו הִגִּיד לְעַמּוֹ לָתֵת לָהֶם נַחֲלַת גּוֹיִם (תהילים קי"א), שֶׁאִם יֹאמְרוּ אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם לְיִשְׁרָאֵל לִסְטִים אַתֶּם, שֶׁכְּבַשְׁתֶּם אַרְצוֹת שִׁבְעָה גוֹיִם, הֵם אוֹמְרִים לָהֶם כָּל הָאָרֶץ שֶׁל הַקָּבָּ"ה הִיא, הוּא בְרָאָהּ וּנְתָנָהּ לַאֲשֶׁר יָשַׁר בְּעֵינָיו, בִּרְצוֹנוֹ נְתָנָהּ לָהֶם, וּבִרְצוֹנוֹ נְטָלָהּ מֵהֶם וּנְתָנָהּ לָנוּ:
בראשית IN THE BEGINNING — Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah which is the Law book of Israel should have commenced with the verse (Exodus 12:2) “This month shall be unto you the first of the months” which is the first commandment given to Israel. What is the reason, then, that it commences with the account of the Creation? Because of the thought expressed in the text (Psalms 111:6) “He declared to His people the strength of His works (i.e. He gave an account of the work of Creation), in order that He might give them the heritage of the nations.” For should the peoples of the world say to Israel, “You are robbers, because you took by force the lands of the seven nations of Canaan”, Israel may reply to them, “All the earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whom He pleased. When He willed He gave it to them, and when He willed He took it from them and gave it to us” (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 187).
אָמַר רַבִּי זְעֵירָא, מְגִלָּה זוֹ אֵין בָּהּ לֹא טֻמְאָה, וְלֹא טָהֳרָה, וְלֹא אִסּוּר, וְלֹא הֶתֵּר, וְלָמָּה נִכְתְּבָה לְלַמֶּדְךָ כַּמָּה שָׂכָר טוֹב לְגוֹמְלֵי חֲסָדִים.
Rabbi Zeira says: "This book [of Ruth] does not have anything in it concerned with impurity or purity nor what is forbidden and what is permitted. So why is it written? To teach us the greatness of the reward for acts of lovingkindness."
So here we have two separate books of the Tanakh, Genesis and Ruth, that are similar in tone, and have similar subject matter and both works have their very existence questioned by the rabbis.
Let's look at another similarity. Read the passage below from Ruth and think about what other Torah passage it reminds you of.
Look at the similarities with the passage below concerning Abraham.
Abraham leaves everything that is familiar to him and sets out on a journey. Ruth does the same thing! She leaves her family and follows her mother-in-law to a foreign land and an uncertain future. In this way, Ruth is Abraham's female counterpart.
Now we can see what the two books have in common and what they are doing in the Tanakh.
Genesis is the prelude to the birth of the Jewish nation, a book about a family.
In the same way, the Book of Ruth is the prelude to the birth of the nation. Ruth is the prelude from a tribal society which is not unified to the birth of Israel as a kingdom and a united political body.
So what can learn from these two preludes? What are they telling us?
Even though the rest of the Five Books of Moses is about the people of Israel as a nation-- a political body, and the books of Samuel and Kings are about Israel as a kingdom -- another kind of political body, they both have a prelude about family. This is to tell us of the primacy of the personal over the political. They teach, that politics alone cannot sustain a society if that society's foundations are not built upon acts of kindness, generosity, and moral strength the likes of which are best exemplified in stories about the human family. Ultimately, there cannot be a larger society if the individuals do not matter, or are ignored, and in the end, as we shall explore, it is the individual person that needs to be counted most of all.
II. The Two Women
Let's now skip to the end of the Book of Ruth. Towards the end, all of the townspeople are blessing Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law with the following words:
This seems a bit strange. Why is Perez named? And why bring up the story of Yehudah and Tamar? What do they have to do with it all?
All of a sudden we realize that the Book of Ruth is saving its biggest surprise for the end.
We now have to go back to the story of Tamar, in the book of Genesis. The story occurs in the middle of the Joseph story.
About that time Judah left his brothers and camped near a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her and cohabited with her. She conceived and bore a son, and he named him Er. She conceived again and bore a son, and named him Onan. Once again she bore a son, and named him Shelah; he was at Chezib when she bore him. Judah got a wife for Er his first-born; her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s first-born, was displeasing to the LORD, and the LORD took his life. Then Judah said to Onan, “Join with your brother’s wife and do your duty by her as a brother-in-law, and provide offspring for your brother.” But Onan, knowing that the seed would not count as his, let it go to waste whenever he joined with his brother’s wife, so as not to provide offspring for his brother. What he did was displeasing to the LORD, and He took his life also. Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Stay as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”—for he thought, “He too might die like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house. A long time afterward, Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. When his period of mourning was over, Judah went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, together with his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is coming up to Timnah for the sheepshearing.” So she took off her widow’s garb, covered her face with a veil, and, wrapping herself up, sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, yet she had not been given to him as wife. When Judah saw her, he took her for a harlot; for she had covered her face. So he turned aside to her by the road and said, “Here, let me sleep with you”—for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. “What,” she asked, “will you pay for sleeping with me?” He replied, “I will send a kid from my flock.” But she said, “You must leave a pledge until you have sent it.” And he said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your seal and cord, and the staff which you carry.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she conceived by him. Then she went on her way. She took off her veil and again put on her widow’s garb. Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite, to redeem the pledge from the woman; but he could not find her. He inquired of the people of that town, “Where is the cult prostitute, the one at Enaim, by the road?” But they said, “There has been no prostitute here.” So he returned to Judah and said, “I could not find her; moreover, the townspeople said: There has been no prostitute here.” Judah said, “Let her keep them, lest we become a laughingstock. I did send her this kid, but you did not find her.” About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot; in fact, she is with child by harlotry.” “Bring her out,” said Judah, “and let her be burned.” As she was being brought out, she sent this message to her father-in-law, “I am with child by the man to whom these belong.” And she added, “Examine these: whose seal and cord and staff are these?” Judah recognized them, and said, “She is more in the right than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he was not intimate with her again.
This is the story of how Tamar, an outsider and agunah (a chained woman), secures the future of her family, and the larger Jewish nations.
There are an overwhelming abundance of similarities between Tamar, and Ruth. Let's examine a few:
Both stories begin with the senior males (Judah and Elimelech) moving away from their larger family and into a moral or physical decline:
In both stories, the movers and shakers are the women - Tamar and Ruth.
In addition, both stories involve the death of two sons.
In both cases, the woman is left as a childless widow, with no possibility of yibum, or Levirate marriage:
In both cases, the story turns on a non-normative Levirate marriage. Instead of Tamar marrying her brother-in-law, she has a child with her father-in-law. In the case of Ruth, she marries Boaz, which is also an unconventional Levirate marriage.
Also, in both stories, the women are determined to make sure that the name of the dead husband is perpetuated by having a child that will carry his lineage forward. The women, and not the two men who were obligated, were mindful of the moral duty to perpetuate the names.
And, in both stories, the women are required to act daringly in order to achieve their goals.
Ultimately, the most important similarities have to do with the women themselves. Our heroes, the ones whose acts are essential for the perpetuation of the Jewish people are the most marginalized of characters: Childless widowed women, to whom people denied help, from foreign and adversarial nations.
And yet, these two women, at the very margins of society, emerge as heroines and they allow the Jewish story to continue.
III. Heroes
The Book of Ruth ends with a listing of genealogy:
In The Myth of the Birth of the Hero, the Freudian theory of the origin of the hero is spelled out: A child is about to be born to a royal couple but the king sees the child as a threat. To protect himself from the child, the king arranges for the child to be killed. As it happens, the child isn't killed, but is found and adopted by ordinary, simple people. Eventually, everything that is foretold, actually happens. The child grows up, defeats the king and is subsequently discovered to have royal blood.
This series of events occurs in many heroic stories.
This is not the series of events that happens in the story of Jewish heroes.
In the story of King David, we have two stories about his origin and the key figures are Tamar and Ruth.
As opposed to coming from royal blood, King David is descended from two marginalized women and he becomes Israel's greatest king.
The Torah is teaching that your dignity, your strength, and your character don't depend on who you are born to. Every child is special. This is the opposite of the classical origin story of a hero.
The accounting of David's selection as king is found in I Samuel.
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־שְׁמוּאֵ֗ל ...אֶֽשְׁלָחֲךָ֙ אֶל־יִשַׁ֣י בֵּֽית־הַלַּחְמִ֔י כִּֽי־רָאִ֧יתִי בְּבָנָ֛יו לִ֖י מֶֽלֶךְ׃ ... וַיְהִ֣י בְּבוֹאָ֔ם וַיַּ֖רְא אֶת־אֱלִיאָ֑ב וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אַ֛ךְ נֶ֥גֶד יְהוָ֖ה מְשִׁיחֽוֹ׃ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־שְׁמוּאֵ֗ל אַל־תַּבֵּ֧ט אֶל־מַרְאֵ֛הוּ וְאֶל־גְּבֹ֥הַּ קוֹמָת֖וֹ כִּ֣י מְאַסְתִּ֑יהוּ כִּ֣י ׀ לֹ֗א אֲשֶׁ֤ר יִרְאֶה֙ הָאָדָ֔ם כִּ֤י הָֽאָדָם֙ יִרְאֶ֣ה לַעֵינַ֔יִם וַיהוָ֖ה יִרְאֶ֥ה לַלֵּבָֽב׃ וַיִּקְרָ֤א יִשַׁי֙ אֶל־אֲבִ֣ינָדָ֔ב וַיַּעֲבִרֵ֖הוּ לִפְנֵ֣י שְׁמוּאֵ֑ל וַיֹּ֕אמֶר גַּם־בָּזֶ֖ה לֹֽא־בָחַ֥ר יְהוָֽה׃ וַיַּעֲבֵ֥ר יִשַׁ֖י שַׁמָּ֑ה וַיֹּ֕אמֶר גַּם־בָּזֶ֖ה לֹא־בָחַ֥ר יְהוָֽה׃ וַיַּעֲבֵ֥ר יִשַׁ֛י שִׁבְעַ֥ת בָּנָ֖יו לִפְנֵ֣י שְׁמוּאֵ֑ל וַיֹּ֤אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל֙ אֶל־יִשַׁ֔י לֹא־בָחַ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה בָּאֵֽלֶּה׃ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵ֣ל אֶל־יִשַׁי֮ הֲתַ֣מּוּ הַנְּעָרִים֒ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר ע֚וֹד שָׁאַ֣ר הַקָּטָ֔ן וְהִנֵּ֥ה רֹעֶ֖ה בַּצֹּ֑אן וַיֹּ֨אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵ֤ל אֶל־יִשַׁי֙ שִׁלְחָ֣ה וְקָחֶ֔נּוּ כִּ֥י לֹא־נָסֹ֖ב עַד־בֹּא֥וֹ פֹֽה׃ וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח וַיְבִיאֵ֙הוּ֙ וְה֣וּא אַדְמוֹנִ֔י עִם־יְפֵ֥ה עֵינַ֖יִם וְט֣וֹב רֹ֑אִי (פ) וַיֹּ֧אמֶר יְהוָ֛ה ק֥וּם מְשָׁחֵ֖הוּ כִּֽי־זֶ֥ה הֽוּא׃
And the LORD said to Samuel, ... I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have decided on one of his sons to be king.” ...When they arrived and he saw Eliab, he thought: “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands before Him.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Pay no attention to his appearance or his stature, for I have rejected him. For not as man sees [does the LORD see]; man sees only what is visible, but the LORD sees into the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass before Samuel; but he said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” Next Jesse presented Shammah; and again he said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” Thus Jesse presented seven of his sons before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.” Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the boys you have?” He replied, “There is still the youngest; he is tending the flock.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send someone to bring him, for we will not sit down to eat until he gets here.” So they sent and brought him. He was ruddy-cheeked, bright-eyed, and handsome. And the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.”
In this tradition it is not David's birth order that makes him stand out, but instead, what God sees inside of him. David inherits the legacy of loyalty and kindness, courage and vulnerability from his ancestors Tamar and Ruth, and that is why God sees him as fit to rule Israel.
The story of the Jewish people is the story of Tamar and Ruth: the story of progression through the kindness of two strong women who were considered outsiders and yet exemplified the middot (character traits) most important to the Jewish people. It was through Tamar and Ruth that Israel got King David, its greatest king.
The story of the Book of Ruth is thus ultimately an important lesson, crucial to our survival: never write an individual off before you truly see their character.
This Shavuot, may we be inspired by Tamar and by Ruth.