By Rabbi David Sirull
As the Beatles wrote, “Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter. Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here,” so here comes the sun, or more precisely the summer. For most of us, summertime represents the joyful return of warmth and fun. It also includes the lesser-known Jewish holiday of Shavuot, otherwise known as the Festival of Weeks or Pentecost.
Shavuot is a special day in which we look deep at the oath made on Mount Sinai and our whole acceptance of the Torah (Old Testament) which defined the Jewish nation as a unique people. This is the moment we stopped being a collection of tribes and united as one people with service to God.
MORE: Buona Caffe expanding downtown operation
On Shavuot, we read the book of Ruth to teach us that at one time we all stood before God and that our great leader, David, came from Ruth. The central message of Ruth is not to look at bloodlines, at nationality or at race but rather look at character and values.
Ruth was a Moabite, a people disfavored by the Israelites. The Torah teaches that “No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted into the congregation of the Lord, none of their descendants, even in the tenth generation shall even be admitted into the congregation of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 23:4) What irony that the highly regarded Ruth was a Moabite woman in whom God found merit and blessed her line with King David.
MORE: New event ready to kick off along North Augusta’s riverfront
The true message of the book of Ruth is not one of acceptance but one of love and second chances. Ruth comes to Boaz to offer herself to him in hopes of saving herself from hardship and acceptance. As she sits at Boaz’s feet, he awakens and notices her. He says to her, “Blessed be you to the Lord, my daughter; for your last loyal kindness is greater than the first one, because you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.”
Boaz saw in her hope, something lacking in his life, and she saw in him stability, but in the end, what they saw in each other was a chance at a new beginning. This is why Ruth is considered to have been a heroine. We Jews have been scattered aaround the globe, finding kindness and hope in others around us. Much like Ruth and Boaz we see the chance for that one last embrace, that spark of love and hope, and finding our moment of clarity. That is what we celebrate in the holiday of Shavuot and this is what we try to claim each summer.
Rabbi Sirull is the leader of the Adas Yeshurun Synagogue on Johns Road in Augusta.
