R' Frand spoke this evening on Shavuous and delivered some vorts on Megillas Rus. The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts that he said on the Megillah. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
In Megillas Rus there is the classic discussion between Rus and Na'ami wherein Rus expresses her interest in converting and Na'ami attempts to dissuade her. Before reaching the meat of his first vort, R' Frand said a quick thought from R' Neventzal about this discussion. He explained that the conversation was not about trying to convince Rus not to convert, but was instead Rus' attempt to fix the errors of her ancestors.
R' Neventzal gave a few examples of this concept - when Rus said in 1:16, "where you will go, I will go" - it was an atonement for Lot separating from Avraham in Bereishis 13. Similarly, when Rus said in the same pasuk "I will sleep where you will sleep" it was to atone for Lot and his act with his daughters in Bereishis 19:31-38.
This concept was not only linked to Lot as he noted that when Rus said later in 1:16, "your nation is my nation" she was atoning for Balak stating in Bamidbar 22:5 "see this nation that left Egypt." And when she said in the end of the pasuk - your G-d is my G-d, it was to atone for the women of Moav in Bamidbar 25:2 who called to the Jews to worship the Moabite idols.
However the main focus of this vort was a jumping off point for discussion by the Kli Chemdah about why people who are converting and are being taught about Shabbos are told the rules of Techum. R' Frand asked - if you were to give the meat and potatoes rules of Shabbos you would think of cooking or other significant melachos, so why is the law of boundaries taught?
In answering the question, R' Frand first quoted the famous Medrash that Hashem went to every nation and offered them the Torah, before going to the Jews. Each nation asked what is in the Torah and were told about rules which convinced them not to accept the Torah, such as don't steal, or don't kill, or dont commit adultery.
The Shem M'Shmuel asks - why were the Jews not given some reason to reject the Torah? The answer according to the Avnei Nezer and R' Weinberg is that the Jews did not ask what was in the Torah and simply said Na'aseh V' Nishma.
However, the Kli Chemdah said a different answer based on the Chidushei Harim that Hashem did tell the Jews something they did not want to hear - that there are boundaries and limits which need to be obeyed. While a Jew constantly wants to grow, there are times that he can't move beyond his role as a Levi cannot do the Avodah in the Beis HaMikdash, Similarly, the Jews were told at Har Sinai - don't go up on the mountain.
As such, the discussion with the prospective convert about boundaries is not a watered down version of Shabbos rules, it is an instruction on the nature of our relationship with Hashem.
R' Frand also said an interesting vort on the pasuk in Rus 3:1 where Na'ami tells Rus that she will find for her "manoach" which is commonly translated as "rest." R' Frand noted that for most women, being without a husband leaves them feeling on edge and that they have no menucha without a shidduch.
R' Frand then said a novel vort from R' Elya Baruch Finkel which was based on a Gemara in Bava Basra which states that Boaz had 30 sons and daughters before he met Rus and he made 120 wedding feasts, but he did not invite Manoach to any of them. Why? One answer is that Manoach had no children and there would be no potential quid pro quo. But that's hard to believe when you are dealing with a Shofet. So he gave another explanation that Manoach was not invited so that he would not feel bad about being unable to invite Boaz back. But even for good reasons, this was a slight to Manoach and as a result all of Boaz's children died. As such, Na'ami said - I will find you Manoach so that your children don't predecease you!
If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
No comments:
Post a Comment