In the Days of the Judges: Shavuot and Ruth

Over the past 40 years of teaching and reading Ruth during the holiday of Shavuot, I’ve developed a relationship with all the characters. When I was younger, I did not like Naomi (even though we have the same name). I thought she was manipulative. She reminded me too much of my own mother. As I aged, I identified more with her and wondered, how did she manage the long trip from Moab back to Bethlehem. Nothing is said about the supply of water, food, transportation, bathroom stops. Did she talk to Ruth on the way? We do not know. As someone who both writes and teaches modern midrash, I try to humanize the biblical characters. A few years ago, I wrote a somewhat cynical modern piece. It was based on the fact that the opening words of the Book of Ruth set the story in the time of the Judges (Ruth 1:1). I tried to imagine who was the judge when they left. Was he or she the same one judging when they came back to Judah, or was it a different one? I turned this judge into the narrator of a retelling of the book of Ruth. You can read this retelling by following this link.

IN THE DAYS OF THE JUDGING OF THE JUDGES

The Book of Ruth begins “And it was in the days of the judging of the Judges.” וַיְהִ֗י בִּימֵי֙ שְׁפֹ֣ט הַשֹּׁפְטִ֔ים. The Midrash asks:

And who were they? Rav says: [The Judges] were Barak and Devora. R. Yehoshua ben Levi says: They were Shamgar and Ehud. R. Huna says: They were Devora, Barak, and Yael.  Shefot [would have implied] one, shoftim [would have implied] two, ha-shoftim [implies] three (Ruth Rabba 1:1).

It is interesting that according to the third opinion, that of R. Huna, we have a threesome:   two women and a man. In Ruth, there are also two females and one male: Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. Both Yael the Kenite and Ruth the Moabite are foreigners. Both of them come to the rescue (one a situation of starvation and continuity of lineage and the other annihilating the enemy). Whereas Ruth continues the line of Naomi, Yael cuts off Sisera’s lineage.  Naomi and Deborah are women of initiative. The two men, Boaz and Barak, are somewhat effeminate, in that they are the tools by which victory and ambition are procured. The women maneuver them for their ends. Naomi maneuvers Boaz into marrying Ruth, thus procuring for her the land and lineage and Deborah maneuvers Barak into being the victorious fighter by shaming him. Thus we have a tradition of strong women standing up for their rights and saving their people. Ruth is blessed by Boaz and Yael is blessed by Deborah:

Boaz exclaimed, “Be blessed of the Lord, daughter! Your latest deed of loyalty is greater than the first, in that you have not turned to younger men, whether poor or rich (Ruth 3:10).

Deborah mentions Yael in her song, exclaiming, “Tevorakh minashim Yael… minashim ba’ohel tevorakh” — Yael is to be blessed more than women in the tent (Judges 5:24).

JUDGING THE JUDGES TODAY

For the past couple of years, we have witnessed a frightening attitude toward the Judiciary in Israel. We have become a lawless country and a woman, the last hope for the preservation of law and order, has been under attack. All you have to do is read the headlines. Standing up valiantly, all by herself is the amazing first female Attorney General of Israel, Gali Baharav-Miara. She was chosen as one of the 50 most influential women by Globes for 2022 and 2023. In 2022, the government unanimously approved her appointment, yet three years later, the Justice minister Yariv Levin initiated the process of firing her in March 2025. The right-wing cabinet unanimously voted to dismiss her from office in a vote of no confidence. Moment Magazine describes her as “The Woman at the Center of the Struggle for Israel’s Soul”:

Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara who has been a thorn in the side of Netanyahu, now faces a potentially explosive dismissal effort.

Israel’s independent-minded Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara finds herself at the epicenter of a political firestorm that could rock Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. The decision in recent days to initiate a complex and delicate dismissal procedure against her could reignite mass demonstrations and cement her status as a symbol of Israel’s fragile and besieged democracy. The catalyst of this latest drama in Israel is the government’s effort to reboot its stalled authoritarian overhaul project under the long shadow of national trauma following the October 7 Hamas massacre. To enable the reboot, the government would like to remove Baharav-Miara and replace her with a compliant attorney general. The attorney general in Israel holds an authority unmatched in most democracies. Unlike in the United States or many European countries, where attorneys general serve as political appointees under the executive branch, Israel’s version, established in the early years of the state, wields broad independent authority (bold mine). In a system where political leaders may attempt to manipulate judicial mechanisms for personal or ideological gain, the attorney general functions as a crucial safeguard against unchecked governmental power (bold mine).The current government’s attempt to replace Baharav-Miara is therefore not merely about her legal opinions but about removing a key constraint on executive power.

To me Baharav-Miara is akin to the little Dutch boy, who kept his finger in a leak in the dike all night long, preventing the damage from spreading, thus saving the town from a devastating flood. If and when she is removed, no one will be left standing between us and a totalitarian state. After her, there will indeed be a deluge!.

LAW AND ORDER IN THE DAYS OF THE JUDGES

In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Ruth is situated between The Song of Songs and Lamentations. But in the Catholic Bible, Ruth is placed between the Book of Judges and 1 Samuel. The latter placement of the pastoral book, whose ending results in a King after the lawlessness described in Judges makes a statement.  Perhaps it is a statement we should take to heart as well. The days of civility seem to have ended. We have descended into the chaos described in Judges, where there is a civil war which almost decimated the tribe of Benjamin. The book ends by saying:

 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did as they pleased [what was right in his own eyes] (Judges 21: 25). בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵ֔ם אֵ֥ין מֶ֖לֶךְ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אִ֛ישׁ הַיָּשָׁ֥ר בְּעֵינָ֖יו יַעֲשֶֽׂה׃

RUTH, JUDGES AND THE HOLIDAY OF SHAVUOT

One can argue that in pre-monarchal times, there may not have been kings to keep law and order, but there were makeshift judges who came as needed. Some were more successful than others, like Deborah. In Ruth’s time (which may have been according to the text in the days of the Judges) there was civil law, the taking in of poor female immigrants and integrating them into a safety net, so that they wouldn’t starve. No one sent them back to the countries from which they were fleeing. None of our kings were saints. Some were philanderers. Others forced their constituents into building palaces and fighting enemies. And ultimately their hubris led their people into exile.

On Shavuot we read the Ten Commandments: we are told to worship the one God, who is an impassioned God and to not swear falsely by His name.  Today when so many people around us seem guilty of the idolatry of false worship, we wonder why they are not being punished. We are told to remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Yet our soldiers are not given days off and even religious soldiers are driving and laboring with permission of their rabbis, who themselves are not in harm’s way. Even the strangers who were within our settlements were told to rest. We were told to honor our fathers and mothers–the reason given is that we may long endure on our God-given land. Yet we can see today that no honor is given, even to bereaved parents by our government when they demand answers.

You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox or ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s (Exodus 20:5-14).

These are worthy commandments. Nevertheless, we need an eleventh commandment, one like צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ: justice, justice you shall pursue,  in order that you deserve to live in the land that God gave you (Deut 16:20). It would command us to preserve law and order and emphasize the importance of a respected judicial presence. Feel free to add your own commandment. Ten are not enough!

We celebrate matan Torah, the giving of the Torah to the people on Shavuot. When we return the Torah scrolls to the ark, we chant chadesh yamenu ke-kedem — Return and renew our days to what they were in the past (Lam 5:21). I’m not sure the past was such a great time, but right now ancient times are looking rosier every day.