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Rabbi Zeira says: this book (Ruth)
contains no matters of
(ritual) impurity and purity, nor matters of the permitted and forbidden. Why
then was it written? To teach how great is the reward for those who perform
acts of benevolence (gemilut ḥassadim). Midrash Ruth Rabba 2:15
Rabbi Yose ben Kisma says: I wonder if this book was
written only to present the genealogy of the House of David, which is
descendant from Ruth.
Zohar Ḥadash, Ruth 31b
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Dr.
Yael Ziegler suggests that the two rabbinic comments are related.
The
Bible presents an ambivalent approach to monarchy. On one hand, the Torah
commands: “You must then appoint a king …” [Deuteronomy 17:15]; yet on the
other hand, when the nation requested (or demanded) that Samuel “appoint a king
for us” [I Samuel 8:5], the prophet was “displeased” [ibid, 6], and, to put it
mildly, Samuel did not express any pleasure at the fact that the people wished
to fulfill a positive mitzva.
The
Bible’s ambivalence results from the disparity between the ideal of monarchy
and the reality of what monarchy typically becomes. Torah sees monarchy from
the perspective of responsibility to the nation. While it is true that the
Torah grants far-reaching privileges to the monarch, those privileges are the
result of accepting responsibility. As opposed to this ideal, monarchy tends to
focus on privilege, while diminishing the emphasis on national responsibility.
Thus,
the connection between the two rabbinic comments becomes clear. The Book of
Ruth was written to present the genealogy of the Davidic Dynasty, Israel’s only
legitimate monarchy, while Rabbi Zeira adds that in order for the House of
David to realize its destiny, the ideal of monarchy, it is necessary that it be rooted in gemilut ḥassadim.
A dynasty based upon the values of gemilut ḥassadim will indeed
appreciate that its function is to serve its subjects, and will perceive
monarchy as responsibility, not as privilege.
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