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From: dovid@dorsai.org (Dovid Staloff)
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Subject: Book of Ruth
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House of Love and Prayer, San Francisco. Sivan, 5732.

        Shavuos, the revelation on Mt. Sinai, is also the day of the
passing away of
King David. On that day we read the story  of Ruth, his grandmother,
Elimelech, a
descendant of our father Judah, and a very rich Jew, was the high judge during a
famine in Israel. He took his wife Naomi, and his two sons,  Nahlon and
Chilion, and
went to Moab. There Nahlon and Chilion married the two daughters of the king
of Moab, Ruth and Orpah. Then Elimelech, Mahon, and Chilion all died and the
family lost all their money, so Naomi decided to go back to Israel, where the
famine had already ended. Her two daughters in-law walked with her, and both of
them said, "I want to go with you , but Ruth meant it, and Orpah just said
it. So
Orpah stayed behind, and Ruth went with Naomi.

        In Israel, in former good days, the four corners of the field
belonged to the
poor. The law is very strong; it's not that you cut off the corners of the
field and
give it to the poor, because then it is yours, and yoa are giving it away.
You can't
cut the four comers; they don't belong to you.  It is the poor man's field.
Another law is when you gather from the field, if you forget something you are
not allowed to go back. If something falls it also doesn't belong to you.
So, when
Ruth and Naomi came back to Israel Ruth went to gather food, and by divine
providence she went to the field of Boaz, who was actually a cousin to her
husband. Boaz came to look at his field, and he saw a very, very beautiful
woman; not just beautiful, in every way shining. He asked who she was, and his
workers told him she was a princess of Moab who came to Israel, poor now. He
said to the workers, Please make sure that a lot is forgotten, and a lot falls
down, and during lunchtime, when you eat, give her some olives, some bread.
The Torah says that the Moabite is not to be accepted into the congregation of
Israel. Only if a Moabite converts, then after three generations he can become
part of Israel. Why? It says "because he did not bring you bread and water when
you went into the desert." Who was the tribe of Moab? Moab was the son of the
daughter of Lot.  Lot the nephew was the of Abraham. Abraham rescued Lot
from Sodom by his prayers. That means Moab owed its whole existence to
Abraham. Moab had a chance to pay back to the Jews what they owed them,
what they owed father Abraham, by bringing them bread and water in the
desert. In those days who was to bring bread and water? Only the men. In those
days women wouldn't go out of the house to bring bread end water to the
desert. Suddenly, on the very day, the very instant that Ruth and Naomi crossed
the border, the high court in Jerusalem started discussing the law which says a
Moabite cannot come into the congregation of lsrael. They said this means the
male Moabite not thefemale, because she cannot be accused of not bringing
bread and water. This became the new law.

        In former good days the law was that if someone died, leaving a wife
without children, someone in the family had to marry her. The day after the
court decision Boaz said,"Someone has to do somthing for this girl. Someone
has to marry her." There was one man who was a closer relative than Boaz, but
that man was super-holy, and he said, "No, I couldn't marry a girl who was
converted. I know the holy court decided the woman Moabite is O.K. but I am not
so sure about the holy court." Boaz said, "O.K. then, I am next." Boaz married
her, but the very sad thing is that Boaz died the next morning. That means he
was married to Ruth for only one night. The Zohar says the reason Boaz came
into the world was for just that one night. Ruth had a son, Obed; Obed had
a son
Yeshai, and Yeshai had a son David, the king of Israel, the ancestor of
Messiach.

        O.K. now, who was this woman, Ruth? Our father Abraham, had two star
pupils. One was Lot, his nephew, and the other was Chedorlaomer. Abraham was
really giving; that was his message to the world. Suddenly his star pupil,
Chedorlaomer, turns around and becomes the king of Sodom, where the law
was that if you were were caught giving something to the poor you were
killed. If you killed someone, you were rewarded. If you hit someone you
got paid.
Everything completely perverted ... and Chedorlaomer became the king! A few
months later the second star pupil of Abraham, Lot, took off also and became
the high judge of Sodom. This was the end for Abraham. The Zohar says that
after Lot left was the first time that Abraham really prayed for a son, because
all the time he had thought, "I have two sons, maybe not physically my
sons, but
they are spiritualy my sons. After they left he realized he had to have a
son who would really continue. Listen to this. Who was the real star pupil of
Abraham? The real star pupil of Abraham was a little girl, the daughter of Lot.
She really absorbed all of Abraham's teaching. When her father went to Sodom
she didn't want to go along, but what could she do? After she came to Sodom
the most horrible thing happened. The poor wouldn't die in the streets anymore.
The Sodomites couldn't find who was feeding them. This went on for a long
time. If you remember the story, two angels came to Abraham and one of
them said, "God sends word to you: Her crying reaches Me, and I am going to
destroy Sodom." The other angel told Abranam he would have a son, Isaac. The
Zohar asks what "her" crying is, who is this "she"? The answer is that day in
Sodom the little girl was caught giving a piece of broad to a poor man. The
Sodomites poured honey all over her and they put her on the roof, and she was
eaten by the bees. This is the most painful death anyone can be subjected to.

        When the time is right, God works fast. The next day Sodom was
destroyed, and Abraham needs another star pupiI, Isaac. Although Isaac was very
holy, be was ready to die for God, he doesn't compare to that girl. That
girl died
for giving a poor man a piece of bread. Tne Zohar Kodesh says that the soul of
that girl came back to the world, and she was Ruth. So Messiach is the
descendant of those two star pupiIs, Isaac, who was ready to die for God, and
Ruth, the soul that really died for people. That's the story.


