{"id":55349,"date":"2019-05-13T07:50:28","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T04:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55349"},"modified":"2020-04-24T13:49:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T10:49:00","slug":"the-story-of-deveikut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-story-of-deveikut\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of Deveikut"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[337],"acf":{"old_id":"55349","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":55324,"related_cahpter":"218","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"As we count up to Shavuot we are excited to share new, exclusive content from a collection of essays: \u201cGleanings: Reflections on Ruth\u201d edited by Rabbi Dr. Stu Halpern of YU, published by Maggid\/Koren. We\u2019re grateful to be able to share selected excerpts from a wide array of writers, leading up to Shavuot and the reading of the Megillah.","content":"

There is something about Ruth\u2019s staying – about the posture of clinging to her mother-in-law, Naomi – that has forever endeared her to the Jewish people. Instinctively, we fall deeply in love with her character for remaining when and where Orpah chose to leave. But, still, she and her choice are shrouded in mystery, and this widely venerated inclination to cleave begs our curiosity.<\/span><\/p>\n

We might wonder, is deep attachment selfless and mature or fearful and childlike? Is it future-oriented or born out of loyalty to the past? Is it faithful and brave or apprehensive? Deliberately chosen or based in addiction?<\/span><\/p>\n

In Ruth\u2019s case, in particular, what did she imagine would come of staying? Why does the loss of her husband not plainly unveil a path of return to her former home and family? And why does Ruth – or must Ruth – so aggressively implore her mother-in-law to permit her enduring as a companion?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026While, after initial resistance, Orpah ultimately heeds Naomi\u2019s counsel, Ruth is steadfast, with the text\u2019s remarking, \u201cBut Ruth cleaved unto her\u201d (Ruth 1:14).<\/span><\/p>\n

This pregnant term makes its biblical debut in the second chapter of Genesis, poignantly describing or prescribing <\/span>dveikut<\/span><\/i>, clinging, as the antidote to man\u2019s solitude. After God observes that \u201cit is not good for man to be alone\u201d (Gen. 2:18), resolves to form a \u201cfitting helpmate\u201d (ibid.), unsuccessfully attempts to partner Adam with one of the animals, and, finally, produces the first woman, Adam says, \u201cThis is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh\u201d (Gen. 2:23). Immediately thereafter, the Bible states, \u201cTherefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh\u201d (Gen. 2:24).<\/span><\/p>\n

And while the parallel clinging as a response to the threat of loneliness is evident between the Books of Genesis and Ruth, there is yet a deeper conceptual and linguistic symmetry between the two stories, an echoing too resonant and stunning to ignore.<\/span><\/p>\n

It would make sense, then, having lost such a union in the death of her husband, for Ruth to depart. She, it would seem, has lost the \u201cbone of her bones\u201d and \u201cflesh of her flesh,\u201d making her abiding <\/span>dveikut<\/span><\/i> to Naomi confounding. Without the possibility for the partnership of man and wife, is there a place and call for <\/span>dveikut<\/span><\/i>? If not to her marital <\/span>ezer<\/span><\/i>, her helpmate, to whom or what \u2013 and, above all, why \u2013 is Ruth clinging?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 The Book of Ruth is more than the story of a foreigner who gleans in the fields of an Israelite. It is more than the story of a compassionate young woman who undertakes the responsibility of elder-care, and it is more than the story of Ruth\u2019s marriage to Boaz. This is the story of <\/span>dveikut<\/span><\/i>, the story of the compulsion within us to bind ourselves to God and of the capacity of an empathic clinging to resuscitate the faith of a hollowed friend.<\/span><\/p>\n

From: Malka Fleischmann, \u201cTo Sit with Another, to Resurrect a Floundering Faith,\u201d in <\/span>Gleanings: Reflections on Ruth<\/span><\/i>, Stuart Halpern, ed., Yeshiva University \/ Maggid-Koren, Connecticut and Jerusalem, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":55486,"id":55486,"title":"judges-ruth-gleanings3","filename":"judges-ruth-gleanings3.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/judges-ruth-gleanings3.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/struggles-storytelling-and-salvation\/judges-ruth-gleanings3\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"judges-ruth-gleanings3","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":55288,"date":"2019-05-14 13:26:00","modified":"2019-05-14 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