Her Mother's House

But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Turn back, each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me!

"But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Turn back, each of you to her mother’s house" - to the house of her people. Avnimos of Gadara's mother died, and Rabbi Meir went up to visit him, and he found them sitting in mourning. And at another time his father died, and Rabbi Meir went up to visit him, and found them busy about their work. He said to him: It appears to me that your mother is more beloved to you than your father. Avnimos said to him: "Is it not written: "Turn back, each of you, to her mother’s house," but not "to her father's house"? He responded to him: "You spoke well for a gentile has no father".

"Turn back, each of you, to her mother's house." And it is written elsewhere "Stay as a widow in your father's house" - learn from this that that there is paternity in Israel but there is no paternity among non-Jews.

The maiden [Rebecca] ran and told all this to her mother’s household.

"The maiden ran and told her mother's household." Rabbi Yochanan said: A woman ordinarily runs only to her mother's house. They objected to him: isn't it written "and [Rachel ran and] told her father"? He said to them: her mother was dead, so she had nobody to tell but her father.

"To her mother's house": The way of the women was to have their own houses for them to sit in at their work — and a daughter, of course, confides only in her mother.

"And she ran": she ran home full of joy and told what happened in her mother’s house. She did not tell anything in her father’s house, for a daughter shares her experiences with her mother and not with her father.

Scarcely had I passed them
When I found the one I love.
I held him fast, I would not let him go
Till I brought him to my mother’s house,
To the chamber of her who conceived me.

I would lead you, I would bring you
To the house of my mother,
Of her who taught me—
I would let you drink of the spiced wine,
Of my pomegranate juice.

"[And the Lord called Moses and spoke to him] from the Tent of Meeting" (Lev. 1:1). Rabbi Elazar said: Even though the Torah was given to Israel from Sinai as a safeguard, they were only liable to punishment according to it after it was repeated from the Tent of Meeting.... so it is written, "till I brought him to my mother's house and to the chamber of my teaching." "To my mother's house," this is Sinai; "to the chamber of my instruction," this is the Tent of Meeting, from which Israel was commanded through instruction.

"I would lead you, I would bring you": I would bring you from the upper spheres to the lower. "I would bring you to my mother's house": this is Sinai. R. Berachia said: Why do we call Sinai "my mother's house"? Because there Israel was made like a one-day-old baby. "Of her who taught me": commandments and good deeds. "I would let you drink of the spiced wine": these are the great mishnayot..... "Of my pomegranate juice": these are the aggadot, that are flavorful like a pomegranate.

"To my mother’s house": the Beit Hamikdash. "That you should teach me": as You were accustomed to do in the Tent of Meeting. "I would give you spiced wine to drink": libations. "Of the nectar": sweet wine.

"I would lead you, I would bring you to the house of my mother who taught me." "The house of my mother": this is Jerusalem. The meaning of "who taught me" is who taught me the commandments, and who will rejoice with you like a woman who drinks wine with her husband.

"Until I had brought you to my mother's house": this is the land of Israel, the home of my people. "To the chamber of her who bore me." This is the Temple, which included, as it says, a bedchamber (II Kings 11:2).