{"id":56525,"date":"2019-06-01T23:30:20","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T20:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=56525"},"modified":"2020-04-24T14:01:39","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T11:01:39","slug":"bread-vinegar-and-destiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/bread-vinegar-and-destiny\/","title":{"rendered":"Bread, Vinegar, and Destiny"},"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":"56525","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":56524,"related_cahpter":"232","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":"

\u201cCome here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.\u201d (Ruth 2:14)<\/em><\/p>\n

Yitzhak bar Maryon said, \u201cScripture comes to teach us that if a man does a mitzva, he should do it with a whole heart. If Boaz <\/em>had known the Holy One blessed be He was writing about him, <\/em>and he held out to her parched grain and she ate, and was satisfied, and left over, he would have fed her fatted heifers\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Boaz summons Ruth to sit down and tells her to help herself to the reapers’ food, including the garnishes that are served as a matter of course in a harvest meal. For her part, Ruth places herself at the side of the table, not pushing toward the front where Boaz sits, in a sign of modesty and common sense. Boaz makes the gesture of serving her himself, “a little bit using his two fingers,” yet Ruth is satiated even from this, and is able to take what is left back to Naomi, along with her gleanings from the field (Ruth 2:18). How is that possible? Because, as R. Yitzhak tells us, there is a blessing within “that righteous woman” which transforms a few pinches of parched grain into a filling meal.<\/p>\n

The road from Ruth and Boaz in the field to the ultimate messianic redemption of the world is not smooth. With dominion come greatness and responsibility, but also suffering, corruption, and loss. Significantly, even an evil king like Manasseh is a necessary part of the process that leads to the Messianic Age. He attains a place in history as part of the chain of succession, but he also gains eternal life, despite his flawed repentance, so that others will learn that the door is always open to return to God. This too is a necessary part of the redemptive process.<\/p>\n

On one level, the only thing that happens in this narrative is that Boaz makes a kind gesture to a kinswoman ignored by everyone else. In his meditation on the history and meaning of the monarchy, R. Yohanan shows us that this small deed contains the seeds of eternity. The midrash ends with a gentle criticism of Boaz and a call to perform our good deeds generously in the recognition that we cannot know the impact of our actions.<\/p>\n

Unbeknownst to him, when Boaz invites Ruth to eat with his servants, he is actually calling their shared descendants to a transformative destiny, irrevocably changing the entire world with a simple act. This alone is not sufficient to create a redemptive dynasty, however. That can only be accomplished by the courage and loving-kindness of Ruth who “ate, and was satisfied, and left over.” She alone could take something so small and make it so great.<\/p>\n

From: \u201cBread, Vinegar, and Destiny\u201d in Gleanings: Reflections on Ruth<\/em>, Stuart Halpern, ed., Yeshiva University \/ Maggid-Koren, Connecticut and Jerusalem, 2019<\/p>\n

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