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Ruth, Book

Ruth the Moabite Breaks a Pattern of Seduction

Lot’s older daughter gets him drunk and conceives the forefather of the Moabites. Tamar, Boaz’s foremother, conceals her identity from her father-in-law, Judah, to bear his child. Although Naomi encourages Ruth to seduce Boaz, Ruth reveals her identity to him, thereby correcting the legacy of her foremothers, including that of the daughters of the Moabites, who seduced the Israelites into apostasy.

Dr.

Gili Kugler

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The Book of Ruth: A Serious Comedy

The story has a comic undergirding as Naomi and Ruth teach the staid patriarch Boaz a humanitarian lesson.

Prof.

Nehama Aschkenasy

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The Dark Side of the Book of Ruth: Sexual Harassment in the Field

When Boaz sees Ruth gleaning in the field, and learns who she is, he offers her protection from his own workers’ predatory behavior, giving us a glimpse at what poor women, gleaning in the field, had to contend with.

Prof.

Jonathan Rabinowitz

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The Book of Ruth: When Bad Things Happen to Good People

With its sensitively portrayed characters and quotidian contexts, the story of Ruth and Naomi underscores questions about the good path in life, the choices we make, and especially the role of the deity who controls all. The narrative also touches upon a wide array of issues concerning gender, economic deprivation, the status of the migrant, and other matters.

Prof.

Susan Niditch

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The Book of Ruth? It’s Naomi’s Story

Despite its name in tradition, the story revolves around Naomi—her feelings and her needs.

Prof.

Adele Reinhartz

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The Defamation of Orpah

Chesed, lovingkindness, is a major theme in the book of Ruth. And yet, the rabbis have little sympathy for Orpah. To the contrary!

Dr.

Barry Dov Walfish

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Boaz Married Ruth at the Threshing Floor: A Grammatical Solution to Ruth 4:5

Boaz’s speech to the unnamed kinsman (Ruth 4:5) is difficult. By interpreting one element as an enclitic mem, as found in Eblaite, and by making use of the alternative textual option known as the ketiv, a new meaning for Boaz’s claim emerges.

Prof.

Gary A. Rendsburg

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The Substance of Kinship: How Ruth the Moabite Became a Daughter in Judah

Ruth’s consumption of barley and wheat gleaned from the field of Boaz was an integral step in her transformation from a “foreigner” who arrived from the fields of Moab to a “daughter” in Judah.

Prof.

Cynthia Chapman

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Megillat Ruth: When Kindness Conflicts with Torah

A tale of chesed and chutzpah

Prof. Rabbi

Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

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Acquiring Ruth with the Land: A Text-Critical Solution for Ruth 4:5

The mistaken exchange of the letter gimel for a vav corrupted the meaning of a key verse in Ruth.

Prof.

Raanan Eichler

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Contrasting Pictures of Intermarriage in Ruth and Nehemiah

By comparing the aggressive approach of Nehemiah towards the foreign wives of the Judahites with the positive role of Ruth as a Moabite woman who married into an Israelite family, we can attempt to uncover the core messages about Jewish identity that the two texts have in common.

Prof.

Jacob L. Wright

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Prof. Rabbi

Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

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Naomi’s Bitter Poem

A look at Naomi’s theology, as expressed in her poem, and how it carries her through her grief and back into productive engagement.

Prof. Rabbi

Jonathan Magonet

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Gleanings for the Poor – Justice, Not Charity

The agricultural allocations for the poor outlined in Leviticus and Deuteronomy are a series of negative commandments, in which God forbids Israelite householders from gathering some of their produce and requires them to leave it for the poor. The rabbis took these laws a step further, granting the poor property rights over the allocations even before they are gathered.

Dr.

Gregg E. Gardner

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Book of Ruth: Recasting David’s Foreign Origins

The book of Ruth tells the story of David’s great grandmother Ruth, a Moabite woman who attaches herself to a Judahite family. Could this have been designed as a positive spin for a persistent, problematic tradition about David’s foreignness—a tradition so controversial that it was excised from the rest of the Bible?

Dr.

Yael Avrahami

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Ralbag’s Surprising Take on Ruth's Conversion

Prof.

Menachem Kellner

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Book of Ruth: Achieving Justice Through Narrative

The book of Ruth presents a different model of justice from that afforded by statute, custom, and precedent, one that seeks restorative as opposed to retributive justice.[1]  

Prof. Rabbi

Pamela Barmash

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Key Characteristics of (Proto-) MT

Prof.

Emanuel Tov

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