The Ruth–Boaz chesed legacy

In his essay "Megillat Ruth and the Story of Yehuda and Tamar: A Study in Biblical Contrast,” Rabbi Alex Israel of the Pardes Institute quotes the following the following from "Ruth Rabba" 2:14:

"Rabbi Zera said: This Megilla contains not impurity nor purity, not the forbidden nor the permitted. Nonetheless it has been written to publicize the extent of the reward that is bestowed upon people who engage in acts of kindness and welfare — gamilus chasadim."

The Book of Ruth, Megilas Rus, is all of four chapters consisting of a total of 85 verses. It was hard to believe that this year alone, two scholars each separately and independently from each other wrote two high quality extensive commentaries, one containing 487 pages, and the other 400 pages.

This column’s primary focus will be on the first, "Ruth: From Alienation to Monarchy" (Maggid Books, 2015) by Dr. Yael Ziegler, a lecturer in Bible at the Herzog Academic College and at Matan Jerusalem.

This book explains the narrative of the midrashic details that serve to teach us the deeper meaning of the plot, sub-plot and events, and especially the interactive roles played by Ruth and Boaz. The author demonstrate show these distinct individuals, each in their own way, perform small acts of kindness that ultimately serve to change the course of history thus restoring hope to the Jewish people of that most troubled era. 

In her written reply to this writer, Dr. Ziegler notes the following: