In just over a week we will arrive at the holiday of Shavu’ot – most likely the least known about, let alone observed – festival on our calendar. We traditionally hold Confirmation services during this holiday, as Shavu’ot recalls the moment in which God revealed the Torah to us and we accepted the yoke of its commandments. By holding Confirmation at Shavu’ot, we give our youth the opportunity to re-enact that moment by reaffirming their acceptance of the yoke of Jewish belief and practice.
On Shavu’ot, we read the Ten Commandments, the definitive account of our acceptance of God’s law. This code of ethical behavior is a core part of the teaching we impart to our young people during their Confirmation studies. We are also mandated by tradition to read the Book of Ruth. Though our Confirmands will read this in English, most Reform synagogues forego the chanting or reading of the Book of Ruth altogether for the sake of time, substituting other readings or Confirmation rituals. I find that in addition to the Ten Commandments, the Book of Ruth is the model text for teaching Jewish ethical conduct to today’s students: the ideals of conviction, generosity, and loving-kindness, commitment, loyalty and love.
The TaNaKh’s shortest book, the Book of Ruth, is a beautiful story set during the period of the Judges, known to be a time of lawlessness and depravity. The narrative opens as Naomi, her husband Elimelech and their two sons are leaving famine-stricken Israel for the Land of Moav, whose people have long been considered enemies of Israel. The sons take Moabite women as their wives, and within ten years, Elimelech and his sons have all died, leaving Naomi and her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, widowed. The famine in Israel ends, so Naomi decides to return to her homeland. She insists that Ruth and Orpah remain in Mo’av, most likely understanding that in Israel the two Moabite women would be subject to rebuke and discrimination. Elderly Naomi, bitter and grieving, needs support and help as never before; yet her overwhelming generosity and chesed (loving-kindness) dictate that she put the welfare of her daughters-in-law ahead of her own. Naomi is a strong model of selflessness for our children who live in a “me, me, me” society.
Ruth, (whose name means “companion”) pledges deep loyalty to her mother-in-law, unlike Orpah who stays in Mo’av. Ruth boldly asserts:
"Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you lodge there I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God. Where you die there I will die, and there I will be buried. May Adonai deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."
What a valuable teaching this is for our Confirmands! Ruth demonstrates what true devotion really is. She accepts Judaism wholeheartedly - its laws, values, and people - and is willing to do whatever is necessary to follow God’s commandments.
The story continues as Ruth and Naomi arrive back in Israel at the time of the barley harvest. Ruth, though exhausted from traveling, goes to work right away to glean what she can from the barley fields as the grain is harvested. She ends up in the fields belonging to Boaz, who is from the family of her deceased father-in-law. Rather than pursue a younger man to marry, Ruth offers herself to Boaz so to “redeem” the land belonging to her deceased husband and his family. It is also obvious that Ruth voluntarily chooses Boaz over a younger man because of his kind and generous nature.
Boaz is, indeed, an exemplar of kindness and respect. When he arrives at the field, he greets his workers, “May the Lord be with you.” When Boaz meets Ruth, he shows her where she may gather grain, insures her safety, and gives her water and food, even though he knows she is of Moabite descent. Boaz also goes above and beyond the law and duty to marry Ruth and provide a home for both Ruth and Naomi, thus insuring that the family name of Elimelech will be perpetuated. Ruth and Boaz have a child who becomes the grandfather of King David and the progenitor of the messiah to come.
In addition to providing lessons about deeds of loving-kindness, loyalty, and love, The Book of Ruth also reminds our Confirmands to always be mindful of the needs of the poor, “the orphan, the stranger, and the widow.” This is demonstrated in Boaz’s observance of the laws of pe’ah, where we are instructed to leave the edges of a field unharvested, and leket, where we are to leave behind individual stalks that fall from the sheaves so the poor may collect them.
The Book of Ruth teaches us one final lesson about redemption and hope. The story shows us that God can bring redemption even after the greatest times of despair and loss, and that one act of kindness can transform the world.
Though we may no longer literally plant seeds and reap a harvest, we can “sow” the seeds of kindness and friendship and reap a bountiful harvest of love, respect, gentleness and humanity. On this Shavu’ot, may our offering to God be the “first fruits” of our kind hearts and helping hands.
