Ruth: the soul that really died for people
Shavuos, the revelation on Mt. Sinai, is also the day of the passing away of King David. On that day we read the story of Ruth, his grandmother, Elimelech, a descendant of our father Judah, and a very rich Jew, was the high judge during a famine in Israel. He took his wife Naomi, and his two sons, Nahlon and Chilion, and went to Moab. There Nahlon and Chilion married the two daughters of the king of Moab, Ruth and Orpah. Then Elimelech, Mahon, and Chilion all died and the family lost all their money, so Naomi decided to go back to Israel, where the famine had already ended. Her two daughters in-law walked with her, and both of them said, “I want to go with you, but Ruth meant it, and Orpah just said it. So Orpah stayed behind, and Ruth went with Naomi.
In Israel, in former good days, the four corners of the field belonged to the poor. The law is very strong; it’s not that you cut off the corners of the field and give it to the poor, because then it is yours, and you are giving it away. You can’t cut the four comers; they don’t belong to you.It is the poor man’s field. Another law is when you gather from the field, if you forget something you are not allowed to go back. If something falls it also doesn’t belong to you. So, when Ruth and Naomi came back to Israel Ruth went to gather food, and by divine providence she went to the field of Boaz, who was actually a cousin to her husband. Boaz came to look at his field, and he saw a very, very beautiful woman; not just beautiful, in every way shining. He asked who she was, and his workers told him she was a princess of Moab who came to Israel, poor now. He said to the workers, Please make sure that a lot is forgotten, and a lot falls down, and during lunchtime, when you eat, give her some olives, some bread. The Torah says that the Moabite is not to be accepted into the congregation of Israel. Only if a Moabite converts, then after three generations he can become part of Israel. Why? It says because he did not bring you bread and water when you went into the desert.” Who was the tribe of Moab? Moab was the son of the daughter of Lot. Lot the nephew was the of Abraham. Abraham rescued Lot from Sodom by his prayers. That means Moab owed its whole existence to Abraham. Moab had a chance to pay back to the Jews what they owed them, what they owed father Abraham, by bringing them bread and water in the desert. In those days who was to bring bread and water? Only the men. In those days women wouldn’t go out of the house to bring bread end water to the desert. Suddenly, on the very day, the very instant that Ruth and Naomi crossed the border, the high court in Jerusalem started discussing the law which says a Moabite cannot come into the congregation of lsrael. They said this means the male Moabite not the female, because she cannot be accused of not bringing bread and water. This became the new law.
In former good days the law was that if someone died, leaving a wife without children, someone in the family had to marry her. The day after the court decision Boaz said, “Someone has to do somthing for this girl. Someone has to marry her.” There was one man who was a closer relative than Boaz, but that man was super-holy, and he said, “No, I couldn’t marry a girl who was converted. I know the holy court decided the woman Moabite is O.K. but I am not so sure about the holy court.” Boaz said, “O.K. then, I am next.” Boaz married her, but the very sad thing is that Boaz died the next morning. That means he was married to Ruth for only one night. The Zohar says the reason Boaz came into the world was for just that one night. Ruth had a son, Obed; Obed had a son Yeshai, and Yeshai had a son David, the king of Israel, the ancestor of Messiach.
O.K. now, who was this woman, Ruth? Our father Abraham, had two star pupils. One was Lot, his nephew, and the other was Chedorlaomer. Abraham was really giving; that was his message to the world. Suddenly his star pupil, Chedorlaomer, turns around and becomes the king of Sodom, where the law was that if you were were caught giving something to the poor you were killed. If you killed someone, you were rewarded. If you hit someone you got paid. Everything completely perverted … and Chedorlaomer became the king! A few months later the second star pupil of Abraham, Lot, took off also and became the high judge of Sodom. This was the end for Abraham. The Zohar says that after Lot left was the first time that Abraham really prayed for a son, because all the time he had thought, “I have two sons, maybe not physically my sons, but they are spiritualy my sons. After they left he realized he had to have ason who would really continue. Listen to this. Who was the real star pupil of Abraham? The real star pupil of Abraham was a little girl, the daughter of Lot. She really absorbed all of Abraham’s teaching. When her father went to Sodom she didn’t want to go along, but what could she do? After she came to Sodom the most horrible thing happened. The poor wouldn’t die in the streets anymore. The Sodomites couldn’t find who was feeding them. This went on for a long time. If you remember the story, two angels came to Abraham and one of them said, “God sends word to you: Her crying reaches Me, and I am going to destroy Sodom.” The other angel told Abraham he would have a son, Isaac. The Zohar asks what “her” crying is, who is this “she”? The answer is that day in Sodom the little girl was caught giving a piece of broad to a poor man. The Sodomites poured honey all over her and they put her on the roof, and she was eaten by the bees. This is the most painful death anyone can be subjected to.
When the time is right, God works fast. The next day Sodom was destroyed, and Abraham needs another star pupil, Isaac. Although Isaac was very holy, be was ready to die for G-d, he doesn’t compare to that girl. That girl died for giving a poor man a piece of bread. Tne Zohar Kodesh says that the soul of that girl came back to the world, and she was Ruth. So Messiach is the descendant of those two star pupiIs, Isaac, who was ready to die for G-d, and Ruth, the soul that really died for people. That’s the story.
House of Love and Prayer, San Francisco. Sivan, 5732. Reprinted from Holy Beggar’s Gazette, vol 1 no 3.
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