Ruth and the Sense of Self: Midrash and Difference

(2.) In summarizing contemporary critical appreciations of Ruth, Avivah Zornberg notes that for the modern reader, "[T]here doesn't seem to be a moment of crisis in the entire book" (Zornberg, "The Concealed Alternative" in Kates and Reimer, p. 66). This remark needs to be understood in its context. For my purposes, its overriding import is that while the modem reader may impute all sorts of tension to the inner lives of the protagonists, little of this is overtly demonstrated in the text.

(3.) "And the word of God was dear in those days: prophecy was not wide-spread" (I Samuel 3:1).

(4.) It should be noted that Ruth Rabbah is one of the older extant Midrashim and, like the Midrash Tanhuma, itself one of the earlier Midrashim, was compiled in Israel.

(5.) The reference here is to the repetition of the verb "to judge [sh'p't]" so that the normally laconic text reads "the time of the judging of the judges" instead of the more usual "the time of the judges."

(6.) See Erich Auerbach, Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, translated from the German by Willard R. Trask (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1953), chapter 1, "Odysseus' Scar," esp. pp. 10--12.

(7.) "K'gon zaken yoshev v'doresh 'to tateh mishpat, 'v'hu mateh mishpat;' 'to takir panim, 'v'hu makir panim; 'to tikach shochad' v'hu lokeach shochad," Ruth Rabbah 1:2.

(8.) The Midrash insists that in their attitude to the law, the Israelite people were akin to their judges, and would willfully disregard unfavorable verdicts even to the point of physically attacking the judges ("b'ymai shfot ha'shoftim, haya 'adam b'Yisrael 'oved 'avodah zarah, v'haya haDayan mivakesh la'asot bo din, v'haya hu [i.e., the man being judged] ba u'malkeh ha Dayan," Ruth Rabbah Petichata 7).

(9.) In Ruth Rabbah, Petichata 5, we read a condemnation of this attitude. The Midrash unfavorably compares the leaders of the period of the Judges to Moses, who was ever-ready to defend his people even against God. (The words of the Midrash accuse the leaders of this period of "not jumping into the breach" to defend their people before God: "lo 'alitem bapratzot k'Moshe... nishtayer pirtzah v'lo haya to sha'a l'gadrah, v'amad b'toch ha'pirtzah... 'aval atem lo 'amadetem b'toch ha'pirtzah... she'ilu 'alitem bapratzot k'Moshe, hayitem yicholin la'amod bamilchama b'yom 'af Hashem.")

(10.) The Midrash puts it trenchantly: "zeh 'osek b'sadehu, v'zeh 'osek b'karmo ... this person was occupied with his fields; and this one was busy in his vineyard," Ruth Rabbah, Petichata 2.

(11.) The word "ish" used in the first verse typically signifies a person of importance.

(12.) See Cynthia Ozick, "Ruth," in Kates and Reimer, pp. 218--219. Also see Avivah Zornberg, "The Concealed Alternative," also in Kates and Reimer, p. 71.

(13.) Genesis 19:31--38.

(14.) Cf. Genesis 18:20: "The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great...." Also, Lot's house is surrounded by enraged Sodomites when it is learned that Lot is harboring guests inside, and it is obvious that no good is intended either for Lot or for his guests (Genesis 19:4--9).