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The Scroll of Ruth The Scroll of Ruth This article was written by Stephen Butterfass for Religious Living on the Web. The Scroll of Ruth is a lyrical tale of human devotion, of loyalty and love. It has had no equal throughout the generations. Its theme is how the covenantal relationship between God and Israel is to be realized through "Chesed", the loving kindness and caring responsibility of ordinary human beings for one another. The story of Ruth portrays a central tenet of Judaism: that the command to love God can only be honored through compassion for your neighbor. We read Ruth on Shavuot, the day tradition has assigned as the beginning of Israel's spiritual journey. In the wilderness of Sinai, a Voice speaks through cloud and fire: as Israel prepares to receive the Torah, the people say "all that the Eternal has said we will do." Ruth brings us down to earth, for God's presence in this story is signaled not by fire but by the way the characters behave toward each other. Reform Judaism has taken bold and courageous positions by welcoming intermarried couples and recognizing their children as Jews. We have the Scroll of Ruth as an example and guide: a simple and powerful declaration of loyalty and faith uttered by Ruth ..."your people shall be my people and your God my God..." These words and the sentiments they express should be acted upon by all of us: to appreciate and respect the diversity our welcome brings, and to encourage those who would like to emulate Ruth by formally embracing the covenant. The Scroll of Ruth Chapter 1 Once, in the days when the judges judged, there was a famine in the land. A certain man from Bethlehem of Judah left there and settled in the field of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons. The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Machlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites of Bethlehem of Judah. They came to the field of Moab and there they stayed. Then Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, so that she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women; one was named Orpah, the second one was named Ruth. And they dwelled there for about ten years. Then Machlon and Chilion both died, so the woman was bereft of her two boys and her husband. So she arose, leaving Moab with her daughters-in-law, for she had heard there that the Eternal had remembered the people, giving them food. She set out from the place where she had been staying, her two daughters-in-law with her, and they took the road back to the land of Judah. Naomi then said to her two daughters-in-law: "Go, each of you must return to her mother's house. May Adonai treat you kindly, as you have been kind to the dead, and to me. May Adonai grant to you and may you each find security in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them, causing each to raise their voices and weep. And they replied to her: "We will return with you to your people." But Naomi said to them: "Turn back, my daughters, why go with me? Are there any more sons in my womb who might become your husband? Go back, my daughters, go your own way; I am too old to have a husband. If I were to say 'I have hope,' even if I were to have a husband tonight and If I were to bear sons-would you wait for them until they were grown? Would you tie yourselves to them and have no husbands? No, my daughters! For things are far more bitter for me than for you; for the hand of Adonai has gone out against me." Again they wept out loud. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law [farewell], but Ruth clung to her. So she said: "Look, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and to her god. Turn back, go after her." Then Ruth said: "Do not beg me to abandon you or turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall become my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die and there I will be buried. May Adonai do thus to me and more, if even death separates me and you." Seeing how determined she was to go with her she stopped speaking to her [about it]. So the two continued on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole city was humming over them; the women said "Is this Naomi?" She said to them: "Do not call me Naomi (Sweet One), call me Mara (Bitter One). for Shaddai (the Almighty) has made me very bitter. I left full, but Adonai has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since Adonai has testified against me, and Shaddai has pronounced an evil sentence on me!" So Naomi returned and with her came Ruth, the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, returned from the field of Moab. As it happened, they arrived in Bethlehem at the start of the barley harvest. Chapter 2 Naomi had a kinsman through her husband, a courageous and wealthy man, from Elimelech's clan, whose name was Boaz. Ruth the Moabitess then said to Naomi: " I would like to go to the field and glean barley behind someone who would look upon me with favor." She said to her: "Go ahead, my daughter." So she set out and went and gleaned in a field behind the harvesters. By chance, she came to a portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. Then Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters: "Adonai be with you!" They replied to him, "Adonai bless you!" Then Boaz asked his young man who was in charge of the harvesters, "To whom does this young woman belong?" The young man in charge of the harvesters answered by saying "She is a Moabite girl, the one who returned with Naomi from the field of Moab. She asked, 'Please allow me to glean and gather behind the harvesters among the sheaves.' So she came and has stood here since then, from morning until now, resting in the hut but for a little while." Boaz then addressed Ruth: "Hear me, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field, and do not leave this one, but stay here, and attach yourself to my young women. Keep your eyes on the field they are harvesting and follow after them. I am commanding the young men not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go over to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn up." She fell on her face, bowing low to the ground and said to him: "Why have I found favor in your sight, so that you take notice of me, when I am only a stranger?" Boaz answered her saying, "I have been well informed of all that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of her husband: that you left your father and mother and the land where you were born, and came to a people you had not known, neither yesterday or even the day before. May Adonai reward your deed, and may you receive payment in full from Adonai, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge." And she said: "May I find favor in your sight, My Lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken to the heart of your maid-servant, though I am not even one of your maid-servants." At meal time, Boaz said to her, "Come over here and have some of the bread and dip your morsel in the sour wine." So she sat beside the harvesters and he made a pile of some roasted grain for her, and she ate her fill and had food left over. When she stood up to glean, Boaz told his young men: "Let her glean, even among the sheaves and do not shame her. Also, pull out some stalks from the bundles and leave them behind for her to glean, and you must not rebuke her." So she gleaned in the field until evening, and when she had beaten out what she had gleaned, it came to about a ephah of barley. She carried it away and entered the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned and Ruth brought out the surplus from her meal and gave it to her. Her mother-in-law said to her: "Where did you glean today and where did you work? May the one who treated you so kindly be blessed." So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said: "The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz." And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "Blessed is he by Adonai, who has not forsaken 'chesed' for the living and for the dead." Then Naomi told her "The man is our close kin, he is one of our redeemers." Ruth the Moabitess replied, "He even said to me, 'Stay close to my men until they have finished all my harvest.' " So Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, " It is best, my daughter, that you go out with his young women. Let no one insult you in another field.' So she kept close to the young women of Boaz in order to glean, until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. Then she stayed [at home] with her mother-in-law. Chapter 3 Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her: " My daughter, I must seek security for you, so that all may go well for you. Now consider, Boaz, with whose young women you were with, is our redeeming kinsman. Tonight, he will winnow barley on the threshing floor. Bathe and anoint yourself with oils. Put on your robe and go down to the threshing floor. Do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Then, when he lies down, note the place where he lies, and go over and uncover his feet and lie down. Then he will tell you what to do." She said to her, 'I will do everything that you have told me." She went down to the threshing floor and did exactly as her mother-in-law had commanded. Boaz ate and drank and was in a cheerful mood, and he went to lie down at the end of a pile of grain. She came over quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. Around midnight the man was startled and groped around-a woman was lying at his feet! He said "Who are you?" and she said, "I am Ruth your maid-servant. Now spread your 'wing' over your maid-servant, for you are a redeemer." He said, "Blessed may you be by Adonai, my daughter. Your latest act of chesed is better than the first ones, in that you have not gone after the young men, whether poor or rich. Now, my daughter, do not be afraid. All that you say I shall do for you, for all the gate of my people know that you are woman of unusual worthiness. It is true that I am a redeemer, but there is another redeemer even nearer than I. Stay here tonight. In the morning, if he will redeem you, good, let him redeem! If he does not wish to redeem you, I will redeem you as surely as Adonai lives! Lie down until the morning." So she lay down at his feet until the morning. She arose before one man could recognize his neighbor, for he said, "Do not let it be known that the woman had come to the threshing floor." Then he said, "Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it firmly." And as she held on to it, he measured out six barley measures, and loading it onto her, he went into the city. She went [home] to her mother-in-law, who asked, "How do things stand with you, my daughter?" So she related to her all that the man had done for her. She then said, "He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said to me, 'You shall not go empty-handed to your mother-in-law.' " So she told her, "Sit tight, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out.The man will not rest unless he concludes this thing today." Chapter 4 Boaz had gone up to the [city] gate and sat down there. Just then, the redeeming kinsman Boaz had mentioned passed by. So he said "Come over here and sit down," and he turned around and sat down. He then took ten male elders of the city and said, "Sit here," and they sat. Next he spoke to the redeemer: "The portion of the field which belonged to our brother Elimelech is being offered for sale by Naomi, who has returned from the field of Moab. I said I would reveal this to you and say 'Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you are willing to redeem it, redeem it! If you will not redeem it, then tell me, so that I may know. Because there is no one else to redeem it except you, and I am after you.' " And he said " I will redeem." Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you 'buy' Ruth the Moabitess, the dead man's wife, to establish the name of the dead upon his inheritance." Then the redeemer said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, so as not to spoil my own inheritance. You take on my responsibility to redeem, for I cannot redeem." This was formerly done in Israel regarding redemption and exchange, in order to confirm every matter: A man would pull off his shoe and give it to his neighbor; this was the manner of ratification in Israel. So the redeemer said to Boaz, "You buy", and he pulled off his shoe. Then Boaz said to the elders and to all the people: "You are witnesses today, that I hereby buy from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Machlon and Chilion. In addition, I acquire Ruth the Moabitess, wife of Machlon, as my wife; in order to establish the name of the dead upon his inheritance and so that the name of the dead not be cut off from among his brethren and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today." Then all the people who were in the gate and the elders, said, "We are witnesses! May Adonai make the wife who now enters your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the House of Israel. May you be strong [fertile] in Ephrathah and call [bestow] a name in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the seed Adonai will give you from this young woman." And so Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. He went in to her and Adonai made her conceive and she gave birth to a son. Then the women said to Naomi: "Blessed is Adonai who has not left you without a redeemer today. May his name be celebrated in Israel. For he will be a restorer of your life and will sustain your old age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you, has given birth to him. She is more bountiful to you than seven sons!" Naomi took the boy and held it to her bosom and became his nurse. The woman of the neighborhood celebrated his name saying "A son is born to Naomi." They called his name Obed. he was the father of Jesse, father of David. Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez begot Hezron and Hezron begot Ram. And Ram begot Amminadab and Amminadab begot Nachson. and Nachson begot Salma. And Salmon begot Boaz and Boaz begot Obed. And Obed begot Jesse and Jesse begot David.
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