The Weekly Shtikle - Shavuos

In the same shiur I referenced last week for the shtikle on Bemdibar, I heard a beautiful thought on Megillas Rus from R’ Avigdor Nebenzahl. Rus’s lineage traces back to some well-known characters in the Torah. We read about Rus to highlight her triumphant journey from a member of the nation of Moav to her conversion and ultimately becoming the great grandmother of David HaMelech. Perhaps the most dramatic exchange occurs when Rus resists all of Na’ami’s attempts to convince her to return to her nation. She declares (1:16-17) “Where you shall go, I shall go. Where you sleep, I will sleep. Your nation is my nation and your God is my God. Where you will die, I will die and there I will be buried.”

R' Nebenzahl explains that with each phrase, Rus was seeking to correct a deed from ancestral past. “Where you go, I will go” is meant to negate the actions of her forefather Lot, who chose to go to Sedom when his entourage was forced to separate from that of Avraham. “Where you sleep, I will sleep” is a reference to the actions of his daughters which, although well-intentioned, required correction. “Your nation is my nation” is a rejection of Balak who dismissed B'nei Yisrael (Bemidbar 22:5) as merely a nation that had left Egypt. "Your God is my God" rejects the actions of the women of Moav who seduced B'nei Yisrael into idol worship. 

“Where you will die, I will die” harkens back to the demise of Lot’s father Haran. The midrash recounts that he waited to see what would happen to Avraham when he got thrown into the furnace at Ur Kasdim. He chose to follow him not out of conviction but simply because he saw he survived. Haran, due to his lack of true faith, did not.  Finally, "there I will be buried" recalls the demise of Lot's wife who was turned into a pillar of salt and did not merit a burial.  

Have a chag samei'ach and good Shabbos!

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: Shavuos takes it on the chin... or under the shin

Dikdukian: Letzeis and On top of Old Smokey

Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com

The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to shtiklelist+unsubscribe@weeklyshtikle.com.