Ruth on Shavuot

All Biblical festivals and special days relate to time.

Whether it is daily, monthly, annually, or seasonally. Awareness of the natural world comes with awareness of oneself, our transience, and the ups and downs of life. Who are we? And where do we belong? All this is the core of religious life which helps us to live in the world in as positive a way as possible.

Shavuot started as a harvest festival. There are three. Pesach is the first, with the earliest barley crop. Shavuot celebrates the beginning of the wheat and fruit harvests. And Sucot is the culmination of the agricultural year and the celebration of water and rain, essential for a successful agricultural year.

But as we became less and less of an agricultural society, other themes emerged to add to the message of Shavuot specifically. The rabbis added the theme of Torah. The anniversary of the Sinai revelation of our way of life, regardless of our occupation or where or amongst whom we ( and are) living.

Why did the Rabbis choose this Book of Ruth to be read on Shavuot? It is set against a background of harvests and how unpredictable they can be. The failed harvest caused the emigration of Elimelech’s family from Israel to Moab. But hints at his failure as a leader to stay and help the community at a difficult time. Disaster strikes. Elimelech and the two sons die. Naomi is left with two widowed daughters-in -law, Ruth and Orpa. Then the cycle turns, rich harvests in Israel enable Naomi to come back. Ruth decides to stay with Naomi and become part of the Israelite people. In Ruth’s magnificent declaration, “Where you go, I will go, where you stay, I will stay, your people are my people, and your God, my God…only death will separate us.”

The Book of Ruth illustrates the choices people make and their consequences. To leave. To come back. To change one’s religion and nation. To act with love and care. To be charitable and kind. The goodness of a person rather than genealogy or status. It displays the redemptive powers of women. But it also recognises the drawbacks of societies, class systems, levels of wealth, and the limitations of conventions and rules.

But Naomi and Ruth are destitute. Biblical laws required redemption. When a family fell on hard times, and sold their property, the relatives had a legal obligation to redeem the loss and try to reinstate them. The poor also had legal rights to glean fields as they are being harvested, and landowners had to leave corners of fields to the poor, all poor, even foreigners.

According to the Torah, the law, justice, Mishpat, has to be allied to the idea of Tsedek, doing the right thing, as expressed through the human quality of Chesed, kindness, which Ruth showed to Naomi, and Boaz in return showed to Ruth. One’s religion is important, but so is human kindness. And we need a fair and just system of courts to see that justice is done fairly, even to strangers.

The Torah set the tone for a just society, one that guaranteed that the weakest and most disadvantaged would be helped. If the Torah imposed commandments that connected humanity with God, it also required, just as much, that humans connect with each other. As the Prophet Yeshayah said repeatedly God wants kindness and morality more than sacrifices or hypocritical prayers.

The most popular explanation of the link between Shavuot and Ruth is that Ruth actually chose to live a life according to Naomi’s Israelite customs and ideals. She made the commitment that the Israelites made at Sinai. As Boaz said to her when he met her, “May the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to trust, reward you.” It does not matter where you come from as much as who you are. And this challenges us to think about what our commitment is today and what are our priorities.

Ruth’s story is of how life is unpredictable and often tragic. And yet, through human kindness which the Bible stresses, we can find redemption and build a better world. No matter what goes on around us. Thiese messages for us and our people are as important today as ever.

Happy Shavuot and Chag Sameach
Ruth on Shavuot

All Biblical festivals and special days relate to time. Whether it is daily, monthly, annually, or seasonally. Awareness of the natural world comes with awareness of oneself, our transience, and the ups and downs of life. Who are we? And where do we belong? All this is the core of religious life which helps us to live in the world in as positive a way as possible.

Shavuot started as a harvest festival. There are three. Pesach is the first, with the earliest barley crop. Shavuot celebrates the beginning of the wheat and fruit harvests. And Sucot is the culmination of the agricultural year and the celebration of water and rain, essential for a successful agricultural year.

But as we became less and less of an agricultural society, other themes emerged to add to the message of Shavuot specifically. The rabbis added the theme of Torah. The anniversary of the Sinai revelation of our way of life, regardless of our occupation or where or amongst whom we ( and are) were living.

Why did the Rabbis choose this Book of Ruth to be read on Shavuot? It is set against a background of harvests and how unpredictable they can be. The failed harvest caused the emigration of Elimelech’s family from Israel to Moab. But hints at his failure as a leader to stay and help the community at a difficult time. Disaster strikes. Elimelech and the two sons die. Naomi is left with two widowed daughters-in -law, Ruth and Orpa. Then the cycle turns, rich harvests in Israel enable Naomi to come back. Ruth decides to stay with Naomi and become part of the Israelite people. In Ruth’s magnificent declaration “Where you go, I will go, where you stay, I will stay, your people are my people, and your God, my God…only death will separate us.”

The Book of Ruth illustrates the choices people make and their consequences. To leave. To come back. To change one’s religion and nation. To act with love and care. To be charitable and kind. The goodness of a person rather than genealogy or status. It displays the redemptive powers of women. But it also recognizes the drawbacks of societies, class systems, levels of wealth, and the limitations of conventions and rules.

But Naomi and Ruth are destitute. Biblical laws required redemption. When a family fell on hard times, and sold their property, the relatives had a legal obligation to redeem the loss and try to reinstate them. The poor also had legal rights to glean fields as they are being harvested, and landowners had to leave corners of fields to the poor, all poor, even foreigners.

According to the Torah, the law, justice, Mishpat, has to be allied to the idea of Tsedek, doing the right thing, as expressed through the human quality of Chesed, kindness, which Ruth showed to Naomi, and Boaz in return showed to Ruth. One’s religion is important, but so is human kindness. And we need a fair and just system of courts to see that justice is done fairly, even to strangers.

The Torah set the tone for a just society, one that guaranteed that the weakest and most disadvantaged would be helped. If the Torah imposed commandments that connected humanity with God, it also required, just as much, that humans connect with each other. As the Prophet Yeshayah said repeatedly God wants kindness and morality more than sacrifices or hypocritical prayers.

The most popular explanation of the link between Shavuot and Ruth is that Ruth actually chose to live a life according to Naomi’s Israelite customs and ideals. She made the commitment that the Israelites made at Sinai. As Boaz said to her when he met her, “May the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to trust, reward you.” It does not matter where you come from as much as who you are. And this challenges us to think about what our commitment is today and what are our priorities.

Ruth’s story is of how life is unpredictable and often tragic. And yet, through human kindness which the Bible stresses, we can find redemption and build a better world. No matter what goes on around us. Thiese messages for us and our people are as important today as ever.

Happy Shavuot and Chag Sameach

Rabbi Jeremy Rosen lives in New York. He was born in Manchester. His writings are concerned with religion, culture, history and current affairs – anything he finds interesting or relevant. They are designed to entertain and to stimulate. Disagreement is always welcome.