סִידְרָן שֶׁל כְּתוּבִים: רוּת וְסֵפֶר תְּהִלִּים וְאִיּוֹב וּמִשְׁלֵי, קֹהֶלֶת, שִׁיר הַשִּׁירִים וְקִינוֹת, דָּנִיאֵל וּמְגִילַת אֶסְתֵּר, עֶזְרָא וְדִבְרֵי הַיָּמִים.... אַתְחוֹלֵי בְּפוּרְעֲנוּתָא לָא מַתְחֲלִינַן. רוּת נָמֵי פּוּרְעָנוּת הִיא! פּוּרְעָנוּת דְּאִית לֵיהּ אַחֲרִית – דְּאָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: לָמָּה נִקְרָא שְׁמָהּ רוּת? שֶׁיָּצָא מִמֶּנָּה דָּוִד, שֶׁרִיוָּהוּ לְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּשִׁירוֹת וְתוּשְׁבָּחוֹת. וּמִי כְּתָבָן....?SHמוּאֵל כָּתַב סִפְרוֹ וְשׁוֹפְטִים וְרוּת.
The order of the Writings is: Ruth and the book of Psalms, and Job and Proverbs; Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Lamentations; Daniel and the Scroll of Esther; and Ezra and Chronicles.... We do not begin with suffering, i.e., it is inappropriate to start the Writings with a book that deals so extensively with suffering. The Gemara asks: But the book of Ruth, with which the Writings opens, is also about suffering, since it describes the tragedies that befell the family of Elimelech. The Gemara answers: This is suffering which has a future of hope and redemption. As Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Why was she named Ruth, spelled reish, vav, tav? Because there descended from her David who sated, a word with the root reish, vav, heh, the Holy One, Blessed be He, with songs and praises. And who wrote the books of the Bible?.... Samuel wrote his own book, the book of Judges, and the book of Ruth.
Rambam also lists Ruth as the first book in Ketuvim. However, the two oldest editions of Tanakh are the Alepo Codex (c. 930 CE) and the Leningrad Codex (c.1000 CE). Both follow the Mesorah and tradition of Ben Asher (Tiberias, 900s), and have the following order: Chronicles, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Songs, Kohelet, Eicha, Esther, Daniel and Ezra. This, more or less, is our order.
Who is the main character in the book?
Prof. Reinhartz cites Melissa Donovan (author and publisher of a blog, "Writing Forward", 2020), who suggested the following criteria to identify the central figure in a work:
- the protagonist faces challenges...or conflict within the story,
- the prot. wants or needs something (has a goal),
- the antagonist's actions are interfering with the protagonist's ability to achieve the goal,
- the prot. makes choices or decisions, which are usually difficult,
- the choices made by the prot. lead to consequences, good and bad,
- the prot. undergoes personal transformation, which is often dramatic, as a result of the events within the story,
- at its heart, the story is often about the prot.; it is the protagonist's story.
When does Ruth take place? See 1:1 and 1:22. (Is this a tale that fits in the book of Shoftim?)
Who are the characters in the story:
3 Main characters: Naomi, Ruth and Boaz
2 Minor characters: Orpah, Ploni Almoni
Walk-ons: Elimelekh, Mahlon, Chilion, Boaz's foreman
Female chorus: 1:19, and 4: 11-12 and 14-15
Do the names have meaning?
(ה) וְשֵׁם הָאִישׁ אֱלִימֶלֶךְ (רות א, ב), רַבִּי מֵאִיר הָיָה דּוֹרֵשׁ שֵׁמוֹת. רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן קָרְחָה הָיָה דוֹרֵשׁ שֵׁמוֹת. וְשֵׁם הָאִישׁ אֱלִימֶלֶךְ, שֶׁהָיָה אוֹמֵר אֵלַי תָבוֹא מַלְכוּת. וְשֵׁם אִשְׁתּוֹ נָעֳמִי, שֶׁהָיוּ מַעֲשֶׂיהָ נָאִים וּנְעִימִים. וְשֵׁם שְׁנֵי בָנָיו מַחְלוֹן וְכִלְיוֹן, מַחְלוֹן, שֶׁנִּמְחוּ מִן הָעוֹלָם. וְכִלְיוֹן, שֶׁכָּלוּ מִן הָעוֹלָם.
Is this a "true" story or are these fictitious characters?
Where do the events of the book take place:
Ch. 1: Beit Lehem in Yehuda, the fields of Moav, the road to Beit Lehem, and the city itself
Ch. 2: the field of Boaz
Ch. 3: the threshing floor of Boaz
Ch. 4: the gate of the city (Beit Lehem)
Stylistic elements and terminology (Hebrew roots) (suggested by Cohn):
1. Ruth has no breaks (sections that are "open") other than before 4:18, the genealogy
2. Chapter one locates the family in the plains of Moav; the book concludes in Beit Lehem. It opens with death, loss, famine, and ends with birth, succession and sustenance (Bava Batra 14b: "....has a future of hope and redemption")
3. Female chorus twice underscores key themes, in 1:11 and 19, and 4:15 and 17
4. Opens with three widows on the road; concludes with three generations in one roof
5. Repeating Hebrew roots: "leket" - 12x; "ga'al" - 14x; "shuv" - 12x; name ("shem") - 14x; "hesed" - 3x; "davak" - 4x; "knaf" - 2:12 and 3:9
Reinhartz states: "The story moves forward on two tracks: an agricultural track, in which the movement is from famine to plentitude, and a familial track, which follows Naomi's life situation, and her emotional state, from wife and mother, to childless widow, to (adoptive) mother and grandmother.... The agricultural track is always a step ahead of the personal track, foreshadowing the developments on the personal track."
Chapter 1:
What is Naomi's relationship to her two daughters-in-law (1:13)?
Why does she send them back only once they're already en route to Beit Lehem (1:6 - 13)?
What is Naomi's emotional state and what does 1:21 imply?
How does Naomi view Ruth (1:20-21)?
Did Ruth convert to Judaism?
(טז) שֹׁבְנָה בְנֹתַי לֵכְנָה (רות א, יב), רַבִּי שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר נַחְמָנִי בְּשֵׁם רַבִּי יוּדָן בְּרַבִּי חֲנִינָא, בְּשָׁלשׁ מְקוֹמוֹת כְּתִיב כָּאן (רות א, ח): שֹׁבְנָה, (רות א, יא): שֹׁבְנָה, (רות א, יב): שֹׁבְנָה, כְּנֶגֶד שָׁלשׁ פְּעָמִים שֶׁדּוֹחִין אֶת הַגֵּר, וְאִם הִטְרִיחַ יוֹתֵר מִכָּאן מְקַבְּלִין אוֹתוֹ.
Chapter 2:
See 2:6 for foreman's identification of Ruth to Boaz.
Ruth's self-image: see 2:10.
See Naomi's reaction in 2:20 to Ruth's report in 2:3. Theological implication?
Chapter 3:
According to Reinhartz, Naomi "is transformed from a bitter widow to a take-charge mama...[she] plants the seed for a plan that will secure the lives of both women."
What is the implication of 3:10-12?
Chapter 4:
4:13-17 Cohn: "...the central theme of the entire book: the transition from exile to redemption."
Hazal used Ruth to derive other teachings. The midrashim below reflect other approaches.
בֹּא וּרְאֵה כַּמָּה קָשֶׁה לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לִפְשֹׁט יָדָיו בִּבְרִיּוֹתָיו. וּמַהוּ עוֹשֶׂה לוֹ. כֵּיוָן שֶׁהוּא חוֹטֵא לוֹ, תְּחִלָּה פּוֹשֵׁט יָדָיו בִּנְכָסָיו. מִמִּי אַתְּ לָמֵד. מִנָּעֳמִי וּבָנֶיהָ וֶאֱלִימֶלֶךְ בַּעֲלָהּ שֶׁהָיָה רֹאשׁ הַדּוֹר. בְּאוֹתָהּ שָׁעָה כֵּיוָן שֶׁבָּא הָרָעָב, מֶה עָשָׂה. הִנִּיחַ לְאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁמָמָה וְהָלַךְ לוֹ לְאֶרֶץ מוֹאָב, וְהָיָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא קוֹצֵף עָלָיו, שֶׁהָיָה נְשִׂיאוֹ שֶׁל דּוֹרוֹ. אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, אֵלּוּ עָזְבוּ בָּנַי וְהִנִּיחוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ שְׁמָמָה. מַה כְּתִיב שָׁם, וַיָּמָת אֱלִימֶלֶךְ אִישׁ נָעֳמִי (רות א, ג).
וְלֹא הָיָה לְבָנָיו לִלְמֹד מֵאֲבִיהֶם לַחֲזֹר לְאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל. וּמֶה עָשׂוּ. אַף הֵם נָשְׂאוּ לָהֶם נָשִׁים מוֹאָבִיּוֹת, שֶׁלֹּא הִטְבִּילוּ אוֹתָם וְלֹא גִּיְּרוּ אוֹתָן. שֵׁם הָאַחַת עָרְפָּה (שם פסוק ד), שֶׁהָפְכָה עֹרֶף לַחֲמוֹתָהּ. וְשֵׁם הַשֵּׁנִית רוּת (שם), שֶׁרָאֲתָה דִּבְרֵי חֲמוֹתָהּ. וַיֵּשְׁבוּ שָׁם כְּעֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים (שם). כָּל עֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים הַלָּלוּ הָיָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַתְרֶה בָּהֶם, שֶׁמָּא יַחְזְרוּ בִּתְשׁוּבָה וְיָשׁוּבוּ לְאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל. כֵּיוָן שֶׁלֹּא עָשׂוּ תְּשׁוּבָה, הִתְחִיל לִפְשֹׁט יָדוֹ בְּמִקְנֵיהֶם וּבִגְמַלֵּיהֶם. כֵּיוָן שֶׁלֹּא הִרְגִּישׁוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת תְּשׁוּבָה, מִיָּד, וַיָּמוּתוּ גַּם שְׁנֵיהֶם מַחְלוֹן וְכִלְיוֹן (שם פסוק ה).
Come and see how difficult it is for the Holy One, blessed be He, to raise His hand against a human being. So what does He do to him? When he sins, He begins by raising His hand against his assets. From whom have you learned it? From Naomi, her sons, and Elimelech her husband, who was the head of [his] generation. When famine came, what did he do? He left the Land of Israel and went to the Land of Moab. Now the Holy One, blessed be He, was angry with him because he was prince (nasi) of [his] generation. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “These have abandoned My children and left the Land of Israel a wilderness.” What is written there (in Ruth 1:3)? “Then Naomi's husband Elimelech died,” but his sons were unable to learn from their father to return to the Land of Israel. And what did they do? (According to vs. 4) They also “took Moabite wives for themselves,” whom they neither immersed nor converted. (Ibid., cont.:) “The name of the one was Orpah ('rph) and the name of the second was Ruth”: Orpah ('rph), because she turned her back ('rp) on her mother-in-law; Ruth, because she esteemed (r'th) the words of her mother-in-law. (ibid., cont.:) “And they lived there about ten years.” All those ten years (in Moab) the Holy One, blessed be He, had been warning them, that they might repent and return to the Land of Israel. When He saw that they did not repent, he began to raise His hand against their camels and against their cattle. When He saw that they did not repent (literally, return in repentance), immediately (in vs. 5), “Both of them, Mahlon and Chilion, also died.” Thus [you may infer] that it is difficult for the Holy One, blessed be He, to raise His hand against [a human being].
(יד) יַעַשׂ ה' עִמָּכֶם חֶסֶד,.... אָמַר רַבִּי זְעֵירָא, מְגִלָּה זוֹ אֵין בָּהּ לֹא טֻמְאָה, וְלֹא טָהֳרָה, וְלֹא אִסּוּר, וְלֹא הֶתֵּר, וְלָמָּה נִכְתְּבָה לְלַמֶּדְךָ כַּמָּה שָׂכָר טוֹב לְגוֹמְלֵי חֲסָדִים.
(14) “May the Lord perform [ya’as] kindness with you” ....
Rabbi Ze’eira said: This scroll does not contain [the laws of] purity or impurity, and not prohibitions or allowances. Why was it written? It is to teach you the extent of the good reward for those who perform kindness.