1. Same-Sex Marriage: Boaz as Hero
Lesleigh Cushing Stahlberg, "Modern Day Moabites: The Bible and the Debate About Same-Sex Marriage," Biblical Interpretation 16 (2008): 442-475
“Ruth is named twelve times in ‘her’ book. In six of these instances, the name is accompanied by an ethnic or national designation: she is Ruth the Moabite.” (472)
“When she marries Elimelech’s kinsman Boaz, the community convenes as witnesses and offers its blessing on the couple. The blessing goes beyond mere well-wishing. With its entreaty that ‘the Lord make the woman who is coming into [Boaz’s] house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel’, the townspeople set Ruth among the matriarchs of Israel. We can read their actions as direct defiance of the law and a willingness to extend the boundaries of the community of Israel. More importantly, however, God himself seems to disregard Ruth’s provenance. He too offers his blessing on the couple, and this blessing takes the form of a child….It is nothing short of shocking that the son born of the forbidden marriage was the grandfather of King David, one of the most important figures in the Bible...By turning from laws--which in the case of the homosexual, as in the case of the Moabite, seem to be unequivocal--to a narrative that describes communal transgression of a law in the name of love, the religious liberal may find the biblical precedent she has been seeking. ” (473-474)
"The biblical law is clear: Moabites are not permitted to enter into the community of Israel. And yet the biblical narrative is equally plain: the forerunner of the Messiah was the great-grandson of a Moabite. If the book of Ruth has anything at all to teach us, it might well be that from time to time, it is worth seeing what happens when a community breaks a law." (474)
"In the book of Ruth, a community rallied around two people whose marriage defied God's law. The community not only witnessed this union, it blessed it. And, as a consequence of that blessing, the society was positively transformed. Admittedly, it took generations for the full fruit of acceptance to be known. No doubt it will take at least as long for the impact of same-sex marriage to be fully grasped in the United States." (475)
א"ל דואג האדומי עד שאתה משאיל עליו אם הגון הוא למלכות אם לאו שאל עליו אם ראוי לבא בקהל אם לאו מ"ט דקאתי מרות המואביה א"ל אבנר תנינא עמוני ולא עמונית מואבי ולא מואבית
Doeg the Edomite then said to [Saul], ‘Instead of inquiring whether he is fit to be king or not, inquire rather whether he is permitted to enter the assembly or not’! ‘What is the reason’? ‘Because he is descended from Ruth the Moabitess’. Said Avner to him, ‘We learned: An Ammonite, but not an Ammonitess; A Moabite, but not a Moabitess!
(א) רבי אבא בר כהנא פתח: (תהלים ד') רגזו ואל תחטאו. אמר דוד לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא, עד אימתי הם מתרגזים עלי ואומרים: לא פסול משפחה הוא, ולא מרות המואביה הוא?
R. Abba bar Kahana began: (Psalms 4:4) "Tremble and do not sin." David said before the Holy One, blessed be He, For how long will they be angry with me, saying: Is he not of unacceptable lineage, from Ruth the Moabite?
2. Aliyah: Naomi/the Land as Heroine
וכן היה ר"ש בן יוחאי אומר אלימלך מחלון וכליון גדולי הדור היו ופרנסי הדור היו ומפני מה נענשו מפני שיצאו מארץ לחוצה לארץ שנאמר (רות א, יט) ותהם כל העיר עליהן ותאמרנה הזאת נעמי מאי הזאת נעמי א"ר יצחק אמרו חזיתם נעמי שיצאת מארץ לחו"ל מה עלתה לה
And so said R. Simeon b. Yohai: Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion were [of the] great men of their generation, and they were [also] leaders of their generation. Why, then, were they punished? Because they left Palestine for a foreign country; for it is written, And all the city was astir concerning them, and the women said: 'Is this Naomi?' What [is meant by] 'Is this Naomi?' — R. Isaac said: They said, 'Did you see what befell Naomi who left Palestine for a foreign country?'
הרבנית ורדית אביחי, ״משדי מואב לבית לחם: ארץ ישראל בראי מגילת רות,״ תורה תמימה 2012
"ניווכח כי תיאורי המקום אינם פרט שולי, הבא לצורך הרחבת הרקע למתרחש במגילה. הזכרתם יותר מפעם אחת מעידה על חשיבותם ומרכזיותם ולכן ננסה לפענח את הרעיון הטמון בהם."
"בית לחם יהודה, כור מחצבתו של אלימלך, הינה סמל לחיים של קודש, ומואב, לעומת זאת, מסמלת את ארץ טומאת העמים. הכינויים "בית" ("בית לחם) ו"שדה" ("שדי מואב") מבטאים את היסוד והמהות של כל אחד מן המקומות. "הבית" כמקום של קבע שמצוי בו לחם המהווה מצרך קיומי, ואילו "השדה" כמקום המייצג שפע של גידולים אך נעדר ביתיות. אלימלך שם פעמיו לשפע המצוי במואב ובכך מעדיף את השדה על פני הבית..."
"ותשב משדי מואב כי שמעה בשדה מואב כי פקד יקוק את עמו לתת להם לחם" ( רות א ,ו). האלשיך אומר כי הסיבה לשיבתה של נעמי לבית לחם היא רק משום חיבת הארץ. הוא מדייק מן הפסוק:" עוד כיוון שלא שמה פניה אל עידונים ומותרות, רק בשמעה היות להם לחם, אף שלא שמעה כי פקד יקוק כל שאר פירות ומשמני הארץ, רצתה בזה מבכל טוב שדי מואב, כי על הלחם לבדו תחיה בארץ החיים". נעמי העדיפה חיי צמצום בארץ החיים מחיי רווחה בחוץ לארץ. היא המתינה בקוצר רוח לשוב לעיר מולדתה למרות חוסר הנעימות וההשפלה הצפויים במפגש המחודש עם האנשים אשר זכרו את נטישתה בעת צרה. היא שבה אל בית לחם ומתמודדת עם חיי עוני ומחסור. חזרתה אל הארץ שלא על מנת לזכות בשפע חומרי מעידה על הבנתה כי ערכה של הארץ הוא בעיצוב חיי הרוח ובשכלול המידות.
Rebbetzin Vardit Avihai, "From the Fields of Moab to Bethlehem: The Land of Israel Through the Lens of the Book of Ruth," toratmima.co.il, 2012
"We will argue that descriptors of location (in the book) are not a marginal detail, included just to spread out the canvass upon which the story of the book takes place. Rather, their repeated mention indicates their importance and centrality, and we will therefore try to probe the idea hidden within them."
"Bethlehem, Judah, whence Boaz hails, symbolizes a life of holiness, and Moab, in contrast, symbolizes the impurity of foreign lands. Their nicknames of 'house' ('Beit Lehem' [literally means 'House of Bread']) and 'field' ('Fields of Moab') express the foundation and substance of each place. The house is a place of permanence and nourishing bread, while the field, though a place of abundant growth, lacks homeyness. Elimelech set out for the abundance found in Moab, preferring the field over the house."
"'And she returned from the Fields of Moab for she heard in the Field of Moab that God had come to the aid of His nation and gave them bread' (Ruth 1:6). R. Moshe Alshikh said that the only reason for Naomi's return to Bethlehem was her affection for the Land [of Israel]. He infers from the aforementioned verse: 'Since she did not set her sights on refinement and excess; rather, when she heard there was bread, even though God had not spared any other kinds of fruits and delicacies of the earth, she still wanted this more than all the comfort of the Fields of Moab. For on bread alone can one live in the Land of the Living.' Naomi preferred a life of frugality in the Land of the Living to a life of plenty outside of it. She waited with bated breath to return to her hometown despite the tribulations and humiliations she expected in her encounter with the people who would recall her abandonment of them in their time of need. She returned to Bethlehem and accepted a life of poverty and lacking. Her return to the Land, not driven by material abundance, was a testament to her understanding that the true value of the land lay in development of the spirit and refinement of character."
3. Native American Resistance: Orpah as Heroine
Laura E. Donaldson, "The Sign of Orpah: Reading Ruth Through Native Eyes," in Vernacular Hermeneutics, ed. R. S. Sugirtharajah (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), 20.
"The act of reading the Bible has been fraught with difficulty and contradiction for indigenous peoples. On the one hand, the translation of God's book into Native vernacular comes with a high price...All too often, biblical reading has produced traumatic disruptions within Native societies and facilitated what we now call culturecide. On the other hand, this depressingly long history of victimization should not obscure the ways in which Native peoples have actively resisted deracinating processes by reading the Bible on their own terms." (20-21)
"To Cherokee women...Orpah connotes hope rather than perversity, because she is the one who does not reject her traditions or her sacred ancestors. Like Cherokee women have done for hundreds if not thousands of years, Orpah chooses the house of her clan and spiritual mother over the desire for another culture." (34)
"In this interpretation, my responseability [sic: it's a term she invents earlier in the article] as a person of Cherokee descent and as an informed biblical reader transforms Ruth's positive value into a negative and Orpah's negative value into a positive. Such is the epistemological vertigo inspired by reading in the contact zone." (36)
4. Converting for Family: Ruth as Heroine
ותאמר רות אל תפגעי בי לעזבך לשוב מאחריך מהו אל תפגעי בי? אמרה לה: לא תחטא עלי, לא תסבין פגעיך מני לעזבך לשוב מאחריך. מכל מקום דעתי להתגייר. אלא מוטב על ידך ולא על ידי אחרת. כיון ששמעה נעמי כך, התחילה סודרת לה הלכות גרים. אמרה לה: בתי אין דרכן של בנות ישראל לילך לבתי תיאטראות ולבתי קרקסיאות שלהם. אמרה לה: אל אשר תלכי אלך. אמרה לה: בתי אין דרכן של ישראל לדור בבית שאין שם מזוזה. אמרה לה: באשר תליני אלין. עמך עמי אלו עונשין ואזהרות. ואלהיך אלהי שאר מצות.
"And Ruth said, 'Do not urge me to leave you, to turn and not follow after you'(Ruth 1:16)." What does it mean, 'do not urge me'? She said to her, "Do not sin against me, do not turn your misfortunes from me." "To turn and follow after you(ibid)." It has been my intention in every instance to convert, but it is better at your hands than at the hands of another. When Naomi heard this she began to expound to her the laws of converts. She said to her, "My daughter, it is not the custom of daughters of Israel to go to their theaters and their circuses. She replied to her, "Where you go, I will go (ibid." She said to her, "My daughter, it is not the custom of Israel to dwell in a house that does not have a mezuzah." She replied to her, "Where you lodge I will lodge.(ibid)." "Your people will be my people (ibid)," these are the punishments and the warnings. "And Your God will be my God (ibid)," the other commandments.
Rabbi David J. Wolpe, Why Be Jewish? (New York: Holt, 1995), 56-57.
Of course there are many different motivations for converting. Among converts are those who are moved by Judaism's beliefs and ideals. Others convert to marry a Jew.
Conversion for marriage is sometimes frowned upon. Yet it is in many ways an ideal reason to convert, for it is a statement of eagerness to join the Jewish people. Intellectual conviction alone is a fragile thing; another argument, a new book, and one may be dissuaded. But belonging to family is powerful, and many people come to tradition through the avenue of association.
Indeed the prototypical convert in the Bible, in the Book of Ruth, is motivated by family ties, not by ideology. Ruth converts after the deaths of her husband and father-in-law, when her mother-in-law, Naomi, decides to return to Israel. Ruth has grown very attached to Naomi and does not with to abandon her. So she declares in a beautiful passage: "Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God" (Ruth 1:16). Notice that for Ruth, "your people shall be my people" comes first. Often, theology follows love for another person and the joining of a new family.
For make no mistake: in becoming Jewish, one joins not just a religion but a people.