Megillas Rus - Impact Across Generations | Rabbi Mordechai Alster

On Shavuos, we read Megillas Rus, the life story of one individual, Rus. The Medrash asks a question, This Megillah has no laws of impurity or purity, nor matters of prohibition or permission. Why was it written down? To teach you the great reward that people who do acts of kindness get. One would assume that such an incredible story of kindness, important enough to be written down in Tanach, would have been written down immediately. But that's not true. The Megillah ends, And Boaz fathered Oved, and Oved gave birth to Yishai, and Yishai gave birth to Dovid. Why did it take four generations for the story to be written? The answer probably is that what happened at the time in the fields of Beis Lechem was nothing extraordinary. It was a simple story of kindness, of a loyal daughter-in-law, a convert, following her mother-in-law back to Eretz Yisroel, ultimately doing the kindness with the family of Elimelech by marrying Boaz. Nothing extraordinary. Definitely not historic. But then they had a son, Oved, who had a son, Yishai, who had a son, Dovid. And once Dovid Hamelech emerged, Shmuel Hanavi recognized that Dovid Hamelechs don’t just happen. And Shmuel Hanavi investigated and inquired and through Divine inspiration it was revealed to him that it was the merit of Rus. And only then, did Shmuel Hanavi, through Divine inspiration, write the story down in Megillas Rus. But let’s ask a question, Was Dovid Hamelech’s lineage not enough? After all, Dovid Hamelech’s father was Yishai, who was one of the four people that never sinned. And Dovid Hamelech was grandson of Nachshon ben Aminadav, who jumped into the Red Sea. Was it really necessary to have the merit of Rus? The Toras Chaim in Baba Basra 14b says that Dovid Hamelech says in Tehillim, I am Your servant, the son of Your maid. He doesn't say ‘the son of Your servant.’ And the Toras Chaim explains it, that if Boaz would have married anybody else, Dovid Hamelech would not have emerged. Why not? What happened to Yishai? What happened to Nachshon ben Aminadav? What happened to Boaz? Why weren't their merits enough? The answer is that it's not always the greatest actions and the famous people that inspire. Sometimes it's actions by regular people, with quiet dedication and consistency, with sincerity and purity, they make a bigger and a greater impression on the generations that follow them. My father, the Rosh Yeshiva of blessed memory, used to say that some people inspire their children for the love of Torah by saying brilliant Torah lectures in front of hundreds of students, and others inspire their children for the love of Torah by donating Sifrei Torah and giving a lot of money for Torah institutions with big fanfare and pomp, but what leaves a bigger impression might be the father, who, exhausted after a long day, goes into his room quietly and makes sure to learn that page of Gemara before he goes to bed. That might leave a bigger impression and a bigger inspiration on his children. A child observing his mother while standing by the Shabbos candles, with a tear rolling down her cheek as she prays, might leave a bigger impression in the power of prayer than that same child, standing in Shul on Yom Kippur, while the Chazan says ‘השם הוא האלוקים’ seven times with hundreds of people. People say to themselves, I'm not important. Who am I, anyway? How can I inspire anybody? What difference do my actions make? But no, Megillas Rus teaches us otherwise. It's the small actions, the dedication, the commitment, of regular people, those are what create generations, those are what inspire generations, and those are the actions that have an influence on others. A grandmother, doing a simple action with dedication and purity, although unnoticed today, might make all the difference on her grandson, whether he's going to be a regular Dovid, or a leader in Klal Yisroel.