[Avodah] Another approach to Ruth's geirus

Micha Berger via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Mon Jun 5 14:06:17 PDT 2017


On Sun, May 28, 2017 at 03:18:13PM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
: Yes, but see Bava Basra 91a: "Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said that
: Elimelech, Machlon, and Kilyon were gedolei hador..." An excellent
: introduction to this problem is in the Overview to ArtScroll's Ruth,
: pages 48-52.

Which ties to the other thread about how we're to view Yiftach or
Shimshon -- baalei mesorah or amei ha'aretz? It's possible that at the
nadir points in the days of shofetim, being the gadol hador didn't rule
out also having fundamental flaws.

: R' Zev Sero wrote:
:> There was no yibum; marrying Ruth was seen as part of the
:> mitzvah of redeeming her husband's land.

: It doesn't matter whether you call it "yibum", or you call it
: something else. My point is that there is no connection between Rus
: and Boaz unless Rus was indeed married, and if there was no geirus
: then she was *not* married and not connected to Boaz.

If it was some general Semitic notion of ge'ulah, then perhaps being
common-law spouses in a 7 Mitzvos b' Noach sense would be enough to
trigger ge'ulah, even if yibum would require real qiddushin.

After all, the basis for ge'ulah was likely that the woman came to depend
on the family for her support, and it would be wrong to let her down.
Which is true of a Moaviah intermarrying into a Jewish family, even if
the marriage only seemed real to her.


I am also reminded of the Rambam IB 13, discussed hear repeatedly ad
nauseum. Shimshon's and Shelomo's wives were p[resumed Jewish until
their actions showed that they not only had ulterior motive, they lacked
a true motive (qabbalas ol mitzvos) altogether. Geirei `arayos all
are in that boat -- if we think they were mequbalos al mitzvos along
with wanting to convert to marry, we presume they're kosher Jews but
suspect and watch whether behavior matches presumption. Rus would be
in a similar situation, no?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The meaning of life is to find your gift.
micha at aishdas.org        The purpose of life
http://www.aishdas.org   is to give it away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                     - Pablo Picasso



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