Following on from the central focus of biblical Shavuot as celebrating the Covenant, one of the sub-themes of Shavuot is the acceptance of converts into God’s Covenant with Israel. For this reason, the Book of Ruth is traditionally read at Shavuot. It is a short book, so the whole of the book can easily be read in one go.
The benefit to Israel of sincere converts
The Book of Ruth is a story which inspires those who seek to join the Covenant, and become part of Israel out of a love for the Jewish people and the House of Israel. On the flipside, through the actions of Naomi and Boaz, the story shows the blessings which can also flow the other way – to Israel – when we accept the genuineness and integrity of Gentiles who seek Adonai.
For many generations, until recently, the Samaritans did not accept converts to the Samaritan faith. As a result, their numbers have diminished to less than a thousand. They are also closely genetically related to one another. This resulted in a dwindling community that was in danger of being wiped out by in-breeding, so they have recently allowed female converts only.
On a basic level, accepting converts ensures the continued survival of a community of faith, with a high proportion of members who belong to the community because they want to, not because they have to.
It is a very important principle in Talmidaism that people should not be threatened, frightened, or in any way coerced into joining the Israelite faith. Members come to Talmidaism because their heart and soul is drawn to Talmidaism, not because anyone has badgered them to convince them, or made spiritual threats and frightened them into joining. The individual who comes to Talmidaism willingly, is more likely to stay, because they have come home to a community which is, essentially, who they are in the very core of their being.
A ‘foreigner’ who loves the God of Israel can be admitted into the Congregation of Israel
The principle or ‘life-lesson’ that the Book of Ruth gives us, is that a foreigner – that is, someone who is not genealogically descended from Jacob son of Isaac – can legitimately be admitted into the Congregation of Israel, if they love the God of Israel, and wish to adhere to the worship of Adonai alone. They can become part of the people of Israel, if they love the Jewish people. If they show their desire to cleave to the Covenant between God and Israel, when they are willing to align their fate and destiny with that of the people of Israel, then they can be admitted into the Covenant between God and Israel.
Ruth displays all these loves and qualities when she makes her famous and most moving declaration, “wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you stay over, I will stay. Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Adonai deal thus with me, and worse, if anything but death comes between you and me!”
Other converts in the Miqra
Lesser known, yet equally moving, is the declaration of Ittai the Philistine, when he declares his loyalty to David: “As surely as Adonai lives, and as surely as my lord the king lives, only in the place where my lord the king is – whether it results in death or in life – there alone will your servant be.” Not only does Ittai the Philistine – a man from a foreign, enemy people, with their own, foreign gods – declare his allegiance to David, but in the same sentence he declares his faith in the surety of Adonai as the One, true, living God.
Torah also has clear injunctions against Canaanites, and yet the prostitute Rahab and her entire extended family were admitted into the Congregation of Israel; by her declaration in Joshua 2:8-13, she too declared her faith in Adonai. She had faith in the supremacy of Israel’s God, and that was what made her different to her fellow Canaanites. This is another example of how the content of biblical books outside of Torah, gives us life-examples and case-studies which show how Torah is to be applied. You don’t have to be a proponent of the Talmud in order to find solutions; the solutions are already there in the life-lessons which the Hebrew Bible itself gives us. God’s Torah is not only to be found in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, but the entirety of teachings and principleswhich God has given us in the Hebrew Bible.
Membership of the Congregation of Israel is based on the allegiance of one’s soul, not on your genetic ancestry
In Talmidaism therefore, membership of the Congregation of Israel is not based on one’s genetic ancestry, but on the calling of one’s heart. Those who are actually descended from Jacob son of Isaac are automatically Israelites, but those who have no ancestral link to Jacob, yet who still feel a calling in their very soul to pledge their allegiance to Adonai alone, are willingly accepted by us, once their sincerity and genuineness have been ascertained.
If God’s very Self has called and commissioned a soul before they were even born, and they were Followers of Adonai before their souls even came to earth, then who are we to keep them away? Who are we to exclude them from applying to join the Congregation of Israel? In the end, they contribute to the survival of the people of Israel.
blessings in the Holy Name of YHVH our Saviour
your brother
Shmuliq