{"id":56241,"date":"2019-05-27T14:45:13","date_gmt":"2019-05-27T11:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=56241"},"modified":"2020-04-24T13:56:29","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T10:56:29","slug":"for-insiders-or-outsiders-the-book-of-ruths-american-jewish-reception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/for-insiders-or-outsiders-the-book-of-ruths-american-jewish-reception\/","title":{"rendered":"For Insiders or Outsiders? The Book of Ruth\u2019s American Jewish Reception"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":"56241","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":56243,"related_cahpter":"228","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":"<p>In May 1912, the editors of a Boston Jewish weekly published an article on \u201cRuth and Boaz.\u201d The writers gleaned a number of items from the Book of Ruth, but one lesson, they admitted, stood out: Ruth the Moabite foreigner excelled in the Land of Israelites. Therefore, the jour\u00adnalists surmised, \u201cit makes no difference where a person is born or from what country he comes, if he is only good and noble. It is actions that tell and by our good actions we make ourselves pleasing to God and men.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That they contemporized the short biblical book in this way is not surprising. In that moment, the American Jewish community was deeply concerned over legislation that threatened to limit migration to the United States and a rising \u201cKnow-Nothing\u201d attitude directed toward newcomers and their American-born children. The New England journalists had claimed that it was the \u201cimmigrant who makes America \u2018The Promised Land.\u2019\u201d The biblical figure of Ruth imparted the very same moral. Despite her background, Ruth settles in Judea and makes her home there, one that Scripture reports reared King David and his monarchical descendants.<\/p>\n<p>Time and again, Jewish (and non-Jewish) writers and sermonizers looked to Ruth to explore the roles of \u201cinsiders\u201d and \u201coutsiders\u201d in American life. Perhaps more than other sacred texts, Ruth is ripe for multiple interpretations. She is born an outsider, into a nation with whom the Torah, on the face of it, forbids from intermarrying (Deut. 23:4), even if the Moabite converts. Despite this, Ruth is transformed into an insider through her genuine conversion to Judaism, reinforced by her pledge to her mother-in-law Naomi\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Ruth\u2019s is an exceptional case \u2013 not just anyone can convert to Judaism. Her devotion to Naomi\u2019s family in the face of scrutiny from Israelite insiders and willingness to fulfill the levirate marriage requirements with her kinsman also betokens her commitment to become a member of an exclusive religious group.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, Boaz\u2019s final acceptance of Ruth despite her Moabite origins reflects a certain openness to incorporate outsiders and expands the possibility of whom we might consider a less exclusive breed of insiders. Aware of its utility for a so-called Nation of Immigrants, American readers seized on this story to tighten or loosen boundary lines between themselves and others around them. Para\u00addoxically, Ruth can be interpreted as a narrative about the selectiveness of insiders or the imperative to reach out and convert outsiders.<\/p>\n<p>For the Book of Ruth, the protagonist\u2019s legacy loomed large for all those considering or reconsidering religious and cultural identities in America\u2019s rapidly changing environment\u2026 The biblical heroine is at once a principled convert who set a formidable standard for anyone else seeking to become a Jewish insider and a reminder to include the outsider, a theme of tolerance that touches upon a longstand\u00ading tension in the United States. Like other biblical figures, the malleable image of Ruth mattered much to Jews and other religious people look\u00ading to anchor themselves and their experiences in the swift-changing currents of American culture.<\/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 13:30:49","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":674,"height":745,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/judges-ruth-gleanings3-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/judges-ruth-gleanings3-271x300.jpg","medium-width":271,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/judges-ruth-gleanings3.jpg","medium_large-width":674,"medium_large-height":745,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/judges-ruth-gleanings3.jpg","large-width":674,"large-height":745,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/judges-ruth-gleanings3.jpg","1536x1536-width":674,"1536x1536-height":745,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/judges-ruth-gleanings3.jpg","2048x2048-width":674,"2048x2048-height":745,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/judges-ruth-gleanings3.jpg","post_full_size-width":674,"post_full_size-height":745,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/judges-ruth-gleanings3-380x420.jpg","home_baner-width":380,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"In The Days of the Judges\u2026","main_caption":"For Insiders or Outsiders? 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