Reflections on the Book of Ruth
What made Ruth follow Naomi? Surely in every logical and practical way, going back to her father’s palace, as Orpah chose to do, made sense. Why did Ruth go with Naomi? Why did she choose what looks like a very poor path to follow? What did Ruth see?
Ruth saw Hashem. How can we understand what she saw? Here are some metaphors that may help.
Imagine that you are engrossed in a situation with excitement and strong characters, when, briefly, you get a glimpse that it is a puppet show. For one second, you see that there is a puppeteer. Would your consciousness expand? Would you become interested in how it works? Would the story line lose some of its urgency? Or, imagine that you are in a movie theatre, with the lights out and there, full screen, are the actors and the story that engross your emotions and thoughts for the next two hours, so much so that you experience it, cry, feel what they are feeling and more. Yet all they have to do is turn on the light, and the images that seemed so real fade away, hardly visible on the screen. Ruth saw that our perceptions of this world are not the entire picture by far. What seems real on the screen is hardly real when the lights come on. Ruth saw reality and wanted a life attached to it.
After living with Naomi and her family for years, Ruth came to see Gd, a Creator behind the scenes, Who is, in fact, all there is. She understood that living without tRuth was not for her and she followed Naomi, desiring to live with Gdconsciousness and to choose a path that would lead to the greatest pleasure that she could imagine, a rapport with the Creator of the World..
Orpah on the other hand did not see what Ruth saw and she returned to her home. By turning in the direction she did, the consequences made themselves apparent the very first night and continued on the logical path that she chose, leading to Goliath. The metaphor for our generation speaks loudly. Where does Orpah’s path lead to? Goliath.
Where does Ruth’s path lead to? Melech HaMoshiach. To attach ourselves to Hashem, we are instructed in Tomer Devorah to emulate His Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, forgiveness, patience, tolerance, kindness, and more. When we shift our frame of reference from our egos to shining His Attributes, we embark on the path of Ruth.
May we all develop a relationship with the Creator of the World through which we can see ourselves in His presence and turn ourselves from our lower selves to our higher selves.
Categories: G-d Consciousness, Emes, Truth, Faithfulness, Emunah
I have heard a number of things about Orpah, including that she missed the trappings of her old home, that she missed her parents, etc. But the outlook you have presented feels so much more real...perhaps Ruth also missed something of her old home, but she truly yearned for her real Father, her real "home" and in her quiet, steadfast way, followed the more difficult path to get there. Thank you for your enlightening thoughts.
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