Category Archives: Naomi

Ruth and Naomi: The Divine of Human Relationship (May 20 2021)

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Ruach HaYam teaching presented by Penina Weinberg May 20, 2021

The book of Ruth poses hard questions about the relationship between humanity and God, and between one human and another. Like Job, Naomi agonizes over being abandoned by God, even afflicted by God. The community of Naomi’s birth rejects her upon her return. Yet Ruth is able to transform the village and effect Naomi’s restoration to respected elder. What does it mean that God can afflict human beings? Ruth and Naomi sit outside the gates at the beginning. What is the role of women in transforming society? What is the role of marginalized people generally in the repair of the world? What can we apply from Liam Hooper’s teaching in April?
Tikva Frymer Kensky writes: it is up to humanity to ensure that the foundations of the earth do not totter. The way to do this is right behavior and social justice. This is an enormous task, but the way to accomplish it has been revealed: God has instructed and continues to instruct the people as to how they are to behave. “In the Wake of the Goddesses”, pg 106
We will read the book of Ruth with the teachings of Liam and Frymer-Kensky in mind – looking for fresh insights on the meaning of chesed and how to perform it.
Banner shows two woodcuts by Margaret Adams Parker. In both, Naomi and Ruth and villagers are portrayed as long robed and hard laboring – not the common idyllic scenes. First image shows Naomi entering her old village, drooping, supported by Ruth. Caption “Ruth 1:19 – And the women said, ‘Is this Naomi?’” Second image shows Naomi looking up at Ruth. Caption “Ruth 3:16 – And she said, ‘Who are you my daughter?’”
At 6:45pm ET, meeting will be open for logging in, schmoozing and solving any technical issues. [see below for details] Study begins at 7:15 ET. ——>>>>>> Zoom login can be found in the Ruach HaYam study room https://www.studywithpenina.com/ruach_hayam ——>>>>>> Only recognized names will be admitted to Zoom meeting. Please be sure to RSVP Penina Weinberg is an independent Hebrew bible scholar whose study and teaching focus on the intersection of power, politics and gender in the Hebrew Bible. She has run workshops for Nehirim and Keshet and has been teaching Hebrew bible for 10 years. She has written in Tikkun and HBI blog, and is the leader and founder of Ruach HaYam. *** Ruach HaYam https://www.facebook.com/groups/Ruach.HaYam/ study sessions provide a queer Jewish look at text, and are welcoming to LGBTQ+ and allies, to any learning or faith background, to all bodies, and friendly to beginners***

Pre-Shavuot Shabbat and Potluck Lunch and Learn: RUTH (May 20, 2017)

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Join Ruach HaYam on March 20, 2017, for a Saturday morning Shabbat service followed by potluck lunch and learn on Ruth.   Get ready for Shavuot! Arrive at 9:30am to schmooze and help set up. Service will begin at 10am.

For the potluck please bring veggie/dairy food and your ideas on Ruth.

We worship without a mechitza, and with acoustic music only. We have our own siddur. Our services and study sessions are warm, meaningful, collaborative, lead to deepening of friendships, and are simply fabulous.

Escape to Canada: A Rabbinic Consideration

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Headline: Escape plan: How to Move to Canada if the Election Doesn’t Go Your Way

A Personal Response with the aid of Rabbinic Tradition

Talk about escaping to Canada if one’s preferred candidate does not win the election is plentiful.   It has been plentiful before, when George Bush was re-elected, after 9/11 and so on. No doubt escape hatches will be touted again and again. This calls to my mind rabbinic commentary on the story of Elimelech and his wife Naomi.   What follows is not a political statement, but a rumination on where the consequences of escape touch upon my personal life.

In the book of Ruth, in the space of the first 5 verses, we learn the following: There was a famine in Bethlehem, in the land of Israel; Elimelech and his wife Naomi leave Bethlehem with their two sons to sojourn in Moab; Elimelech dies; their two sons die without offspring; Naomi survives alone. This is clearly a tragedy.   The text tells us how tragic by this: “And the woman was left of her two children and of her husband” (Ruth 1:5). Naomi was so bereft that in losing her husband and her two children, she lost her identity, indeed her very name. She is left like a remnant.   “R. Hanina said: She was left as the remnants of the remnants [of the meal offering].” (Ruth Rabbah).   I mention this so that we don’t overlook the fact that the real tragedy of this moment is on the shoulders of Naomi, who is embittered and alone.

The rabbis interpret that the deaths were a punishment for Elimelech (and I would add Naomi and the children) for leaving the land of the famine. “Why then was Elimelech punished? Because he struck despair into the hearts of Israel… He was one of the notables of his place and one of the leaders of his generation. But when the famine came he said, ‘Now all Israel will come knocking on my door, each one with his basket [for food].’ He therefore arose and fled from them.” (Ruth Rabbah). Elimelech left behind those suffering from famine, rather than taking responsibility for the people of his country.

As I said, talk of escaping to Canada brings this story to my mind, but whether those who might flee this country (now or in the future) are unsafe in remaining, entitled to a better future, or should be frowned upon for leaving behind those less fortunate, is not for me to judge and is not the point of my re-telling.   The story leads me personally to my relationship to my Jewish community, to the shul wherein I daven and take on various leadership roles. Two years into my president emerita status and I feel very much like escaping, if not literally from the campus, internally from all responsibility. There are many things I don’t like about how the organization is run, how volunteers are recruited and nourished, and how visions are created (as in NOT). In fact I have been internally escaping for some time.

The response of the rabbis to Elimelech pulls me up short. Not because I am afraid of punishment as such. But I need to think very carefully about my responsibility to the people in my own small country, the land of my shul. These are folks who have nourished me, and whom I have nourished.   According to the teaching in Ruth Rabbah, one does not flee from those whom want might be able to help. Is this a moment to double down on my efforts to work with others to create a better community? Or is the a moment to go sojourn in Moab?   Not sure about this yet, but I do know I’m not moving to Canada any time soon.

READING RUTH AS TAPESTRY (Pesach to Shavuot 2013)

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Brookline Community Beit Midrash  4 week series.
Close reading of the Book of Ruth, making meaning as though weaving a tapestry.  Warp consists of the major themes: Ruth and Shavuot; David’s ancestors; individuals in relationship to community and the divine.  Woof contains the modes of interpretation: our own reading; the Sages; modern –  including feminist, queer and traditional; woodcut art.

BOUNDARY CROSSING: THE STORY OF RUTH (March and July 2012)

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Nehirim Woman’s Retreat-  Workshop
Keshet – Beit Midrash
As queer Jews, our identity is rich and complex. What does it mean to alter our identity? Or come into our identity? How do we learn to read other boundary crossers? A journey through the Book of Ruth reveals how the best known and most beloved pair of biblical women cross identity boundaries and struggle to be recognized.

Ruth Chapters 2.16 to 3.18

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Supplement to discussion in class July 6, 2011
Chapter 2
  • As a reminder, in verse one of  chapter 2, we are introduced to Boaz, who is identified in as kin to Naomi and as ish gibor chayil, a mighty man of valor.   When he finds that Ruth is gleaning in his field, he offers her extra gleanings and food, and protection from the young men who might otherwise humiliate her.   He offers this paltry help, even though he states that he has heard about how she has followed Naomi to this land and taken care of her.  We should ponder what is wrong with this picture?
  • Ruth gleans in Boaz’s field and takes food to Naomi.  Because of Ruth’s generous loving-kindness towards her mother-in-law, Naomi’s spirit is revived.  She blesses the man who took notice of Ruth.  How did she know it was a man?  Ruth did not say so.
  • The key to Chapter 2 is the revitalization of Naomi.  Naomi is brought out of her bitterness and despair through Ruth’s acts of loving-kindness, although she does not yet take action.  
  • 2:20 – Naomi offers up a blessing when she discovers that it is Boaz who owns the field where Ruth was gleaning.     “Blessed be he of the Lord, who has not failed in his kindness to the living or to the dead!”  The text is a bit ambiguous (is Naomi blessing Boaz or God?), but certainly Naomi understands that Ruth has been fortunate to light upon the field of her kinsman, Boaz.  While Boaz has not offered much help, he has at least protected Ruth in the field and provided her with extra gleanings.
o   Tikva Frymer-Kensky has pointed out that this may be a formulaic blessing of God, as it is very similar to the words of Abraham’s steward (Reading the Women of the Bible, p 246), who said in Gen 24:27: “Blessed be YHWH the God of my lord Abraham who has not left off his acting benevolently (hesed) and faithfully with my master.”   Note that this episode begins with the steward asking for a micreh – Gen 24.12.  See blog commentary on Ruth 2.3.
Chapter 3
  • 3:2-4 Naomi takes action because Ruth’s hesed has redeemed her. She instructs Naomi how to attract Boaz.  The scheme is not without risk.
  • 3:7 –  Ruth comes “stealthily” = ba’lat בלט=  This causes us remember Lot  לוט  – and to think about whether Ruth’s actions in attracting Boaz are similar to or different  from  the actions of Lot’s daughters.  They tricked their father into sleeping with them (to save humanity).   (Judith Kates, oral teaching).  Ruth is descended from Moab, the son of Lot and his oldest daughter.   See “Line of Descent” in list of documents on this blog.
  • 3:11  –  Boaz recognizes and blesses Ruth.  He calls her ishat  chayil, sometimes translated as woman of valor.  In the JPS Tanach it is misleadingly translated as “fine woman.”  Remember that in v 2.1.  Boaz is called ish gibor chayil, a mighty man of valor.    Boaz would appear to think Ruth is a very strong woman.
o   BDB definition of chayil – strength, efficiency, wealth, army;  when used of men = mighty man of valor or hero of strength.
o   To understand more about what Boaz may mean in calling Ruth ishat chayil,  look at Proverbs 31:10-31.  The wife in Proverbs, the ishat chayil,  labors by her own command and owns the fruits of her labor.  She oversees the management of the household, distributes charity, weaves linens and is a merchant for her goods.  With the profits she acquires land and plants a vineyard.   (See Miriam Peskowitz, Spinning Fantasies, for further discussion of these verses from Proverbs.)
  • When Ruth returns from visiting Boaz, Naomi is uncertain about what might have occurred between them.  She asks, “Who are you?”  mi at?  She then tells Ruth to wait and see what Boaz will do.  Naomi seems to display significant wisdom, as well as confidence that Boaz will now fulfill his duties.

Ruth Chapters 1.1 to 2.16

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Supplement to discussion in class June 13, 2011
Overview of Chapters 1.1 to 2.16

For those who want to go in depth,  following  the overview is a detailed verse by verse exegesis, with many helpful quotes from other sources. 
Chapter 1
  • Naomi is bereft of husband and children and feels the hand of God has been lifted against her.    Much like Job, she does not understand why her misfortunes have befallen her, but she is clear that God has emptied her out and made her lot a bitter one.  When she returns to her village of origin, her (presumably decrepit) appearance sets the village women in a panic.  The question to be pondered is why does Naomi appear to be abandoned, even afflicted , by God?
  • Ruth clings to Naomi and will follow her through thick and thin.  The chapter does not state why, but as the book progresses, we will see the importance of Ruth’s hesed (loving-kindness) in restoring her mother-in-law’s spirit and in obtaining the help from Boaz which he should have offered immediately.
Chapter 2.1 – 2.16
  • We are introduced to Boaz, who is identified in verse 1 as kin to Naomi and as a gibor chayil, a mighty man of valor.   When he finds that Ruth is gleaning in his field, he offers her extra gleanings and food, and protection from the young men who might otherwise humiliate her.   He offers this paltry help, even though he states that he has heard about how she has followed Naomi to this land and taken care of her.  We should ponder what is wrong with this picture?
  • We are reminded more than once that Ruth is a Moabite, a foreigner.
Detailed Commentary

1.1  Naomi and her husband Elimelech travel from Beth Lechem, to escape famine,  to the land of Moab, initially to sojourn [the root is ger], not as permanent residents.
  • stranger = ger = sojourner or newcomer or temporary dweller – one without original rights
  • Gen 15:13 [God] said to Abraham, “Know now that your descendents shall be strangers [ger] in a land not theirs.”  [lo lahem]  (parashat lech l’cha)
1.2-4  Elimelech dies and Naomi is left with her two sons, who marry Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. 
1.5 Then her sons also die and “the woman was left.”   Naomi is bereft of personhood – she becomes “a woman” with no name or personality.  She without yeladeyha.  This word for children means those whom she bore in childbearing.  So she is left empty wombed and truly empty (from a teaching by Judith Kates)
1.6-7  Naomi sets out to return to Beth Lechem because she hears the famine is over – her daughters-in-law set out with her.
1.8-12 Naomi urges the daughters-in-law to return – each to her mother’s house.
  • Naomi urges both daughters in law to return to live their normal/normative lives in Moab – don’t be strange/queer – stay with your own kind.
  • “The appearance of ‘mothers’ house’ is striking in view of the overriding importance of ‘father’s house’ (bet ‘ab) as the biblical term for the family household…”  pg 179 (Discovering Eve, Carol Myers).   Apart from Ruth 1.8 it is found only here:
o   Gen 24:28 “The maiden [Rebekah] ran and told all this to her mother’s household.”
o   Song 3:4 “I held him fast, I would not let him go/ Till I brought him to my mother’s house”
o   Song 8:2: “I would lead you, I would bring you / To the house of my mother, / Of her who taught me
1.13 Here Naomi  begins to appear to us as a character very much like Job.
  • She is embittered and feels that the hand of God has gone against her.    “My lot is far more bitter than yours (mar li meod), for the hand of YHWH has struck out against me.”
1.14 Ruth clung to Naomi (davkah). 
  • davkah – emphasizes the permanence of the attachment (Judith Kates teaches that in modern Hebrew  davaq is the word for glue, also used to describe how scales cling to crocodile;   in Bible how Israel clings to God.)  Other instances in Bible
o   Adam shall leave father and mother and cleave to his wife (Gen 2:24) (JK – oral = denotes leaving parental and becoming mature)
o   Israel to God (Deut 4:4 et al; Ps 63:9)
o   God for Israel (Jer 13:11)
o   Shechem to Dinah (Gen 34:3-5)
1.13-17 – Orpah returns home.  Ruth follows Naomi.
1.18 – When Naomi sees that Ruth is strongly determined to follow her, she leaves off speaking to her.
  • What causes the speechlessness?  Is Naomi overwhelmed by Ruth’s kindness, or is she so enveloped in bitterness and depression that she cannot take it in?
1.19 – Upon Naomi’s return, the village women are all astir, murmuring,  maybe in a panic (tehom). 
  • The women ask “Is this Naomi?”  It appears they do not recognize her.  Ruth is invisible at this moment.  Perhaps Naomi herself is too depressed to acknowledge Ruth at her side.
  • The community does  not take them in, offer them food or shelter.  No kinsman steps up.
1.20-22
  • Even God seems to have abandoned them – having left Naomi bereft of husband and two sons and Ruth without a husband or family.
  • “Do not call me Naomi,” she replied.  “Call me Mara, for Shaddai has made my lot very bitter.  I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty.  How can you call me Naomi, when the Lord has dealt harshly with me (Adonai ana vi), when Shaddai has brought misfortune upon me?”
o   “With excruciating irony she used the divine name, Shaddai, associated throughout Genesis with God’s promises of fertility, progeny, prosperity, to refer to a God who has deprived her, turned her fullness into emptiness.”  (Reading Ruth, Judith Kates, pg 193)
o   “Naomi uses this strange expression: Hashem ana vi, God afflicted me.  What exactly does ‘afflict’ mean?  Rashi says, ‘He testified against me, that I had been guilty in his presence.’   I had been guilty of something.  He testified against me, that I am incriminated of some unknown crime.  Then Rashi quotes another reading.  Ana vi: midat hadin, God’s faculty of judgment has afflicted me.  God in his role as judge, as punisher, has come out and afflicted me.  So ana vi can mean to afflict, to produce pain, to impose pain upon me, or it can mean to testify against me.”  (Reading Ruth, Aviva Zornberg, pg 68.
  • Again we see the connection drawn between Naomi and Job.
o   “Shaddai has embittered my life”  (v’shadei heymar nafshi)  (Job 27:2)
o   “Naomi’s rhythmic lament reverberates with Jobian echoes, and her plight is endowed with a colossal significance.”  “This woman’s personal complaint against a wrathful God places her in the biblical tradition of men challenging God for great undeserved suffering.”  (Reading Ruth,  Aschkenasy,  pg 114)
o   Job, through God’s agency, loses his animals, his dwelling, and his children, and his skin is inflamed from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.  Narrator is explicit that Job is afflicted by God, and Job challenges God on God’s treatment of him.  Job calls out to God in the bitterness of his soul.  Naomi feels  that she is afflicted, although the narrator does not specifically state that it is so.  Naomi does not directly confront God with her agony, but she proclaims it in her speeches to other women.  
Judith Kates asks (oral communication): Where is God for Naomi?
2.1 – Boaz is introduced as a gibor chayil, (we will see the significance of this in 3.11) but does not offer to help when his kin return, nor does anyone else.
2.1-2 – Ruth goes to glean
  • See Lev 23:22 for the law regarding gleaning
2.3 – By coincidence, when Ruth goes to glean, she happens on the field of Boaz.  vayiker mikreyah.
  • Note: Abraham’s steward prayed for a mikreh when he asked that the girl who would give his camels water would be the one destined for Abraham’s son.  This turned  out to be Rivka.  Gen 24:12
  • Some interpret this as showing the finger or hand of God at work.
2.4-5 – Boaz asks “Whose damsel is this?” – not who is she, but whose is she?
2.6-9 – Boaz permits Ruth to glean, having found out she is a maiden who came back with Naomi
  • Boaz offers her his protection, telling her the young men shall not touch her
  • a woman adrift in this society is in a place of danger with no protector
2.10 – Ruth points out that she is a nakriyah
  • foreign/er from nkr  = pay attention to, regard, recognize
  • As in something intently regarded (BDB Hebrew dictionary), a foreign object.  As if she is someone to stare at for her foreignness. This is a reminder that she is always a Moabite.  
  • Perhaps Ruth teaches acceptance of the foreign, of the nonnormative, into the very folds of Judaism.  Or perhaps it teaches that the foreignness never quite disappears. 
  • We will come back to this in 4.11.
2.11-12 – Boaz offers Ruth extra gleanings and a place to sit and eat.
  • Boaz explains that he does so because of what he has heard regarding her taking care of Naomi and following Naomi to this foreign land.
2:13 – Ruth notes that Boaz has spoken to her heart.
  • speak to the heart – dibber ‘el libbeh – appears only 8 times in the bible – one speaking their heart is always in superior position.  “The superior offers loving assurance to his upset, insecure or alienated partner that he will rectify the other’s insecure or alienated status.  Eight times, the passages imply that ‘speaking to the heart’ is successful;  the positive response of the other party is not even recorded.” (Reading the Women of the Bible, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, p188-189)
o   Joseph as ruler to brothers (Gen 50:21)
o   Shechem to Dinah (Gen 34:3-5)
o   Levite to concubine (Judg. 19:3)
o   Boaz to Ruth (Ruth 2:13)
o   God the husband to Israel as wife (Hos 2:16)
o   kings to their people (2 Sam and Chron)
o   people to Jerusalem (Isa 40:2)
2:14-16 – Boaz offers Ruth food to eat on the field and a place to sit and eat without being humiliated/put to shame.
  • Boaz does not offer to do very much – only gleanings.  Given that in 2.1 we learned that Boaz is kin to Naomi’s husband, and a gibor chayil, this is pretty paltry.  This gets to the heart of what is wrong in Beth Lechem.  Ruth had to be extremely full of hesed, as well as clever, to get Boaz to fulfill his obligations.  The village is out of whack.