Who Are You? The Story of Ruth - Tehila Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship

hey guys uh so we just passed shavuot and i wanted to share a little something that came up for me when i was studying the book of ruth this year and here i want to give a little shout out to our friend and fellowship member colleen and her group of amazing women throughout africa who kindly invited me to speak um on the day on the second day of shavuot to speak about ruth over zoom and that actually pushed me to really delve into the book this year and give it some extra thought and study so even though chamod is behind us i feel like the message is forward-facing at least for me it's been giving me a lot of strength um for this particular time so i'd like to share that with all of you so it's no secret that the whole world is going through a rough time and in israel in particular like we were just starting to feel like a little bit of the covetous like letting up and the strangle was kind of lifting and then we had the disaster in miron and just as we're trying to process that and pull ourselves out of that you know horrible thing we that horrible loss we started being attacked on all fronts from within and from without gaza iran shooting from the north and and probably the worst of all you know attacks from within with you know violent and murderous riots um so it's not hard to fall into a state of despair in these kinds of situations and we've been really struggling with that you know creeping in of hopelessness and sadness and and you know giving up and we need to constantly be vigilant in not allowing ourselves to fall into those emotions and i think that the book of ruth really addresses that the theme of the book that really um like popped out of me this year is this underlying and repeating question who are you who are you going to be in the face of challenges and pain and suffering in a way the characters of the book are all going through these these processes of discovering how to be in the world how to be someone in the world like this underlying question of like we're here with billions of people how can you make your life mean anything it's like i'm just one out of gajillion anonymous people i don't really matter right how can you make yourself someone so these questions of identity and who you can be are scattered throughout the book and this year they just jumped out at me so the story starts with naomi i'm going to be a little hard on naomi here so forgive me naomi but i don't think it's escapable in like the actual text of the story itself so she suffers no one doubts that she's suffering i mean she has real suffering that in some ways has the aspect of unavoidable tragedy right her husband dies and her sons get sick and die but not all of it was necessarily unavoidable right like they did make this decision to leave israel even though there was a famine there were people that stayed and they seemed to have been like a relatively well-off family they were landowners so they decided to leave and it's not clear that that wasn't the trigger for all of the tragedies that befallen but then she loses everything and she comes back to judah with nothing and here comes up the first question of who are you i want to argue that there are two fundamental ways of being when it comes to facing challenges and tragedy one is to fall into despair this feeling of bitterness helplessness you know nihilism or to pick yourself up try to help other people and try to be grateful for whatever it is you have those are really the only two options so naomi comes back to judah what does she say she's all the women come out and they're like oh my gosh and she says guys don't call me naomi because you know in hebrew naomi comes from the word nai means pleasant now me is like my pleasantness she's like i don't have any pleasantness anymore call me mara mara means bitter because the almighty hath dealt with me very bitterly which i went full and i came back empty right the lord has brought me back home empty why call you me naomi seeing the lord has testified against me and the almighty has afflicted me she doesn't say anything about well maybe i had a little part in that just raising her fist to the sky and say i hate reality reality is so bad god has done this to me i'm empty i have nothing left god is so bitter so i'm gonna be bitter and it's interesting that she uses this less common name for hashem kel shaddai which is the symbolic name of hashem literally it's like related to the word breast it's like the the the name of hashem that symbolizes nursing and nurturing us so she's like hey hashem you were supposed to be giving me stuff you were supposed to be nurturing me no fair i want to quit this game now the most remarkable thing is not just talk what struck me this year is so strange when i read the magilla that i never noticed before is how weird is it that naomi doesn't go to gather sheaves with ruth like when boaz sees ruth for the first time he orders all of his servants no one should harass her he tells him you know be careful don't bother this young woman meaning immediately why does he have to say that because he immediately recognizes that she's like the prime victim for unsavory guys to be bothering and degrading her right and he prevents that why did she even have to be in that situation to begin with like you know would have really prevented what would have really prevented that naomi showing up an older respected member of the community that everyone knows no one would mess with her daughter and lava she doesn't even go out to get her own food it's like if you can't help others isn't it your very minimal responsibility to at least help yourself like don't be a burden on others that's that's something at least to not be a burden on others so i shared this idea on shavuot in the town next to our farm where i was invited to teach and all the ladies pounced on me and they said i was being too hard on naomi because she's an old woman and how can she be expected to go out and gather you know sheaves from the ground right but i'm standing tough on this point because yeah she's old but a few days ago she walked all the way from moab to judah she can make it to the field next door i'm not saying that she has to bend down and pick stuff up but at least like some moral support for ruth she could stand next to ruth while ruth does the heavy lifting that would be something ruth doesn't complain she even brings food for herself and ruth like when boaz gives her all this extra food she leaves leftovers and brings some back to ruth so naomi is like this model of this hopelessness and bitterness she's so angry and so bitter she won't even help herself so that's the beginning of the book that's one way of being in the world okay try that on for size then you have the middle of the book the middle of the book is all about okay that was one way what's the other way what's ruth's way because ruth has clearly come to judah with a mission she's decided to make a name and a memory for her deceased husband and she is not going to let down and she's chosen kindness over hopelessness she's decided to do something to be proactive to give and it's so interesting because three times throughout the middle of the book there's this question that repeats itself of who is ruth the first time is in the field with boaz buzz doesn't say hey hey missus who are you he says to his servants to whom is this maiden meaning he sees her as a first impression as not even a person unto herself but as a handmaiden belonging to someone else because what defines a slave as opposed to a real person a slave doesn't have goals because they belong to someone else they're an instrument for fulfilling someone else's goals someone else's aspirations excuse me you know they're like hey move this put that there they don't set their own mission they're not in control of who they'll be their entire identity is belonging to someone else so that's the first impression that boaz has and then there's this marvelous verse so you know boaz says well you know i've heard you've done all this kindness come you know you can eat here you can collect here and he's very very you know very friendly to her and very nice to her and she says let me find favor in thy sight my lord for thou has comforted me and now has spoken to the heart of that maiden though i have made and though i be not as one of thy handmaidens so she's grateful for his kindness despite her suffering the humiliation of having to gather with all the poor people she's grateful but then the end of the verse the way it's translated it sounds very similar to way that the clots the way the classic interpreters of the bible uh have interpreted this verse as she's trying to say i'm not worthy to be one of your handmaidens but that's not actually what the simple meaning of the words are in hebrew in hebrew it says i will not be like one of your handmaidens the actual meaning of the word that you can't see in the translation is that she's saying thank you i appreciate it but don't confuse me for someone who's about to be a handmaiden i appreciate everything you've done for me don't look at me as if i belong to someone else i've faced my suffering and i've set a goal i've set a mission i'm the opposite of a handmaiden and then we get to the scene at the threshing floor where naomi has sent ruth on this kind of sketchy uh unbiblical mission right and here boaz says to her right so he he comes to his bed and he discovers there's a girl there and what does he say he says who are you now both of them are really showing courage because he could have just preferred to not know a random girl showed up in his bed don't ask too many questions she could have just stuck to naomi's plan and said oh you know don't mind me i'm just some handmaiden and continue to try to seduce him but she stands up and says i am ruth you need to do the right thing you need to redeem me you need to redeem the name of my deceased husband so she's gone from the image of this handmaiden who belongs to someone else to this person who can stand up for herself and say i am ruth this is me and this is what i demand this is what i know must be done to make this situation right and then there's a third time where we're asked who is ruth the third time is when she comes back to naomi and naomi says who are you my daughter now this is really funny because it's clearly trying to draw our attention to the deeper meaning of this question because naomi doesn't really need to know who she is she says who are you my daughter it's like how many daughters does she have lying around judah right she knows who it is because she says my daughter but she says who are you my daughter it's like trying to draw our attention back to the the story is trying to figure out who ruth is going to be and then ruth answers but doesn't really answer she gives her the sheaves that she had gotten from boaz to give to naomi she doesn't even say oh hey it's me ruth she has already transcended her personal identity as a name and i am ruth and she's it's like she's fully identifying herself with her giving and with her kindness what she does for others in the world she's like oh you want to know who i am take this these sheaves that i've kindly collected for you that i've brought for you this that i'm giving this that i'm taking responsibility for that's who i really am by the end of the story when someone says who are you she doesn't need words anymore because she can answer in actions this is what i'm doing this is what i'm being and now what's even cooler is that ruth doesn't just transform herself in the story she serves as a model that transforms everyone around her like if the book started with naomi being this model of of hopelessness and negativity she meets her neighbors and changes her name to bitterness she says call me mara ladies you know she says to all of her former girlfriends call me bitterness cause look how hashem has been bitter to me and i'm just gonna be bitter now but look how the book finishes the book finishes with meeting the women again and it says and then the women said unto naomi blessed be the lord who hath not let who has not left thee on this day without a near kinsman and let his name be famous in israel so she meets the neighbors again and they say nope you thought you were marai you thought hashem left you but we see he didn't look how she is transformed from this woman who was so bitter she wasn't even willing to take care of herself and pick up a few sheaves she takes full responsibility for this baby the verse in the end says naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became a nurse onto it how perfect do you remember the name that she used when she was so angry at hashem the name that refers to hashem as nursing us she transforms from a person who's expecting god to nurse her and angry when she doesn't get what she thinks she deserves to finishing off the book is someone who's willing to take responsibility and nurture others she takes responsibility for this baby and takes it as a nurse it's just so it's just such a perfect ending and even the name given to the baby is ovid what does oved mean open means to work like we are here in this world to do things to work this recognition of this lesson of standing up and taking responsibility instead of retreating into the helplessness and the hopelessness that you can fall into when things are going horribly and it's not only naomi who transforms boaz transforms to under ruth's influence do you remember the first time when he met her what does he say he says the lord should pay back thy work be thy reward complete from the lord the god of israel under whose wings thou art come to take refuge he says you have come to take refuge under hashem's wings he should bless you he blesses her i see you've suffered i see your kind i sure hope hashem blesses you but what happens at the threshing floor she uses the exact same words that he used and turns them around on him she says to him in english it kind of translates as you should spread your skirt on me which is kind of possible but the word in hebrew is the exact same word he used to bless her but about god he she says to him you came to find refuge under hashem's wings she says i want to find refuge under your wings knuff she says the exact same term for wings when she refers to boaz she says everything you said about hashem you need to do and here he transforms as well he suddenly says of course i'm blessing you that assumption i should take responsibility so we have these three characters that under you know that of ruth and two other characters under her good example that all develop their identity as people who take responsibility in the face of adversity and we remember them forever they all took upon themselves to rebuild this broken family to rebuild a name for someone else sacrificing of themselves to give to others and we remember them forever we name our children how many children in israel named naomi ruth boaz but then all of that is you know so all of that is so beautiful and then there's one character in the book who doesn't get it he really doesn't get it there's one character in the book who doesn't have a name and he's the character who appears at the end if you remember boaz said there's one kinsman who's closer to than me let's go find him and ask him if he wants to redeem ruth now in the translation he's just called the kinsman but you english readers are really missing out on the point this guy's name is not just the kinsman in hebrew he's called plony almoni which actually means like anonymous anonymous like when i'm a lawyer and i have a case that that the court says we're not allowed to publicize the name let's say because it has a minor we call the case let's say state versus plony right in the book he's actually called anonymous anonymous guy now why does anonymous anonymous guy say he doesn't want to redeem ruth he gives a good explanation he says wait a minute because you know if you if you take someone an elaborate marriage and you have children with them their lineage their name goes after the deceased husband and not after your own name and he says oh i would love to help but i'm worried about my inheritance i want my inheritance to have my name and then what hashem is just a great sense of humor because what happens he has no name he doesn't only have no name this guy who didn't want to redeem ruth because he was afraid he wouldn't have a name it's not only that he is nameless in the book the name that's given to him remains the symbol of namelessness throughout all the rest of history like even in modern hebrew his name means anonymous guy so it's like against the models of boaz of ruth and boz and naomi who transform themselves into people who sacrifice of themselves to make a name for others specifically the guy who's just worried about creating a name i want to be someone in the world he wants to make a name he's the guy who is forever nameless so um so i bless us you know all to be able to find strength to draw strength from ruth and naomi and boaz and and you know bring throughout our life bring to bring to full expression who we are as giving people who take responsibility in the world shalom my name is jeremy gimpel a few months ago we started an online seminar teaching life-changing biblical wisdom revealed from the original hebrew and straight from the mountains of judea with global instability on the rise more and more people are turning to god realizing now they don't exactly know where to look for guidance the bible says the guidance will come from the land of israel what started as an online seminar has grown into a global fellowship with hundreds of members from over 30 countries we are participating and fulfilling prophecy as we learn the bible through the eyes of prophecy with a focus on what it's telling about us in our lives today what you will discover is that the wisdom transmitted thousands of years ago is speaking directly to us in our time right now instead of learning the bible as a religion it's the torah of israel the living guidance of god so please join us for our next online gathering and get access to the full library of teachings that the land of israel fellowship is offering join now and get an audio series on the prophecy encoded in the book of joshua absolutely for free just click on the link below or email fellowship at the land of israel.com i don't know how you found this video or what compelled you to click on that link but i don't believe in coincidence and i would encourage you to take the next step on your journey toward the land of israel i hope to see you with the land of israel fellowship shalom