רות פרק ב׳

And Naomi had a "modah" from her husband, a mighty leader. Modah is a relative...

From the family of Elimelech and his name was Boaz: The wicked are mentioned before the word name, as it says: Goliath was his name. Naval was his name. Sheva son of Bichri was his name. But for the righteous, the name comes first, as it says: And his name was Kish. And his name was Saul. And his name was Yishai. And his name was Mordechai. And his name was Elkana. And his name was Boaz. They are similar to their Creator, as it says: And my name J-- I did not make known to them.

§ With regard to the matter itself, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: There are three matters that the earthly court implemented and the heavenly court agreed with them, and these are they: Reading the Scroll of Esther on Purim, and greeting another with the name of God, and bringing the first tithe to the Temple treasury in Jerusalem...

And greeting another with the name of God is derived from a verse, as it is written: “And presently Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters: The Lord is with you, and they said to him: May the Lord bless you” (Ruth 2:4). And it states: “The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor” (Judges 6:12).

What is the reason that the Gemara cites the additional source about Gideon, introduced with the phrase: And it states? The Gemara explains: And if you would say: It is Boaz who did so on his own, and from Heaven they did not agree with him; come and hear proof, and it says: “The Lord is with you, mighty man of valor.”

And the verse in Ruth states: “And she went, and she came, and she collected in the field after the harvesters” (Ruth 2:3). Rabbi Elazar said: This verse teaches that she went and came, went and came, until she found suitable people with whom to walk. It also says: “And Boaz said to his youth who was standing over the harvesters: To whom does this young woman belong?” (Ruth 2:5). And was it Boaz’s habit to inquire about a young woman? Rabbi Elazar said: He saw in her a matter of wisdom. She collected two stalks, but she did not collect three stalks.

It was taught in a baraita: He saw a matter of modesty in her. She picked stalks that were upright while she was standing, and stalks that had fallen she picked while sitting. It also says: “Cling to my maidens” (Ruth 2:8). And was it Boaz’s habit to cling to women? Rabbi Elazar said: Since he saw “And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and Ruth clung to her” (Ruth 1:14), he said: It is permitted to cling to her.

And she fell on her face and bowed to the ground. This teaches that she prophesized that he in the future would know her in the natural way (have relations with her).

To recognize me and I am a stranger. It means, in doing me this gratuitous kindness, and I am from a gentile nation even though she had converted.

In vinegar. Because of the heat.

Vayitzbat. This is a unique verb [in Tanach], it means to give.

And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law: first she blessed him that he had not abandoned chesed for the living, because she understood that he did this to honorably sustain Naomi and Ruth, for they were living and they were from his family. And the dead, because she understood as well that he would do chesed with the dead through levirate marriage, for in this he would do a good deed to the dead one, and she explained her words in connection to what is written 'that he did not abandon his chesed to the living' because 'he is our relative,' and therefore he does chesed with his living relatives, and against what is written 'with the dead' she said 'he is one of our redeemers,' and the redeemer needs to perform levirate marriage for in this the life of the dead will be redeemed so that his name is not erased from Israel. And she said 'he is of our redeemers' because there is another redeemer, and he is one of them.

(11) And Ruth the Moabitess said, "Indeed, he said to me, 'You will stay close to my young men...' Rabbi Chanin ben Levi said, Certainly she was a Moabitess. For he (Boaz) said 'Stay here by my young women' and she said, 'with my young men.'

And she clung. And she did so, she clung to Boaz's girls until the harvest of barley and wheat was finished, and it says in the midrash that the time stretched for three months, which is the period for testing in conversion because she cannot marry before that. Therefore after that time passed she began to try to do yibbum.

And she returned to her mother-in-law, this means even though she clung for a long time to Boaz's girls, it was only for the time that she needed to collect, as it is written, and she clung to the girls of Boaz to collect, but after there was nothing else to gather she returned to her mother-in-law and did not visit the girls of Boaz because her love for her mother-in-law was greater in her heart than any other.