Today I’d like to talk about intertexuality, between Parshat Kedoshim (the Holiness Code of Leviticus 19:1-20:27) and the Book of Ruth.
People like the world “intertextuality,” because it rhymes with “sexuality.”
There is certainly plenty of sexuality in Parshat Kedoshim and in the Book of Ruth, and I will talk about that. But the word “intertexuality” means something different.
“Intertextuality” means that some sections of the Tanakh clearly refer to other sections. Authors borrow language, images, and concepts, and place them in new contexts, where they are used to make new points. Sometimes the new point is a comment on the old idea; sometimes it’s a flat-out disagreement. Modern scholars say that the “intertextuality” of the Tanakh helps make it great literature.
The Book of Ruth is great literature, because every paragraph drips with intertextuality. It offers lots of comments and lots of disagreements. For example:
Ruth is the new Avraham as she journeys from Moab to Bethlehem.
Ruth and Naomi are the new cooperating Rachel and Leah inspiring the blessing “May God make you like Rachel and Leah.”
Boaz brings to life the social justice laws of Devarim-Deuteronomy but rejects its teaching that no Moabite can convert.
The narrator shows us that, unlike Torah’s historical genealogies, real-life genealogies begin with Mom and Grandma.
And that’s just a tiny taste of the intertexual themes in the Book of Ruth. And I haven’t even connected it with Parshat Kedoshim yet!
Parshat Kedoshim is two chapters long. The first chapter is a universal favorite. It says things like:
You should be holy, because I am holy. I’m YHVH, the Ineffable One.
Respect your mother and father.
When you harvest your field, leave the corners and dropped stalks for the poor and the new immigrant.
Don’t stand still when your neighbor’s life is in danger.
Love your neighbor as yourself. Or: love your beloved as yourself.
When a stranger comes to live among you, love him or her as you love yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
The second chapter of Kedoshim is not a universal favorite. It says things like:
Men, don’t have sex with another man’s wife, your father’s wife, your daughter-in-law, your sister, your aunt, or your sister-in-law.
Don’t marry both a mother and a daughter.
Don’t lie with a man in the same way you would with a woman.
The Book of Ruth takes all this on.
Here’s a quick summary of the plot:
Ruth lives in Moab with her Israelite husband and in-laws, including her mother-in-law Naomi. Ruth’s husband and Naomi’s husband both die, leaving them widows. Naomi decides to return home to Bethlehem. Ruth swears an oath of loyalty to her mother-in-law, and they travel together to Bethlehem. They arrive penniless, and Ruth gleans in the field of Boaz. Boaz has heard of Ruth’s kindness to her mother-in-law, and as soon as he sees Ruth in person, he is smitten. He instructs his workers to deliberately drop grain for Ruth to pick up, and he invites Ruth to have lunch with him. When Ruth comes home and tells Naomi, Ruth learns that Boaz is a relative. After both the barley and wheat harvests are over, Naomi tells Ruth she wants her to find happiness in a second marriage. Naomi suggests that Ruth go see Boaz in the middle of the night, “uncover his feet” and wait for him to tell her what to do. Ruth follows the instructions – up to a point. She goes to see Boaz, “uncovers his feet,” and then blurts out her marriage proposal. Boaz is beyond enthusiastic. The next morning, he runs to the courthouse, arranges to buy the family field and marry Ruth. All the people shout out their approval. Boaz and Ruth have a baby; Naomi’s friends call it Naomi’s baby. It turns out that the baby is a descendent of the self-determining Tamar and her father-in-law Judah, and an ancestor of King David.
The author of the Book of Ruth seems to share our contemporary response to Parshat Kedoshim. Chapter One is very, very good. But Chapter Two is a little upsetting.
Chapter One of Parshat Kedoshim provides the values that drive the narrative of the Book of Ruth.
Ruth respects her mother-in-law. She loves Naomi as she loves herself. Boaz leaves more than enough grain for the poor and the new immigrant. When the new immigrant Ruth comes, he refuses to treat her like a foreigner. He loves Ruth as he loves himself. When he has a chance to buy the family field to lift Ruth and Naomi out of poverty, he does not stand still – he runs to do it. For these acts of love and kindness, Ruth and Boaz are rewarded with more love, the love that flows between them.
Chapter Two of Parshat Kedoshim provides the values that the Book of Ruth questions.
Instructions about sexuality addressed to men? The Book of Ruth makes it quite clear that women make choices too.
No sex with your daughter-in-law? You may remember from Bereisheet-Genesis that Tamar initiated sex with her father-in-law Judah when he reneged on his legal obligation to provide her with a husband. Clearly the Book of Ruth approves of her initiative – as the narrator identifies King David as a descendant of Tamar.
Don’t marry both mother and daughter? Well, okay, on the literal level. But the Book of Ruth makes clear: marry one, and accept both into your family.
Don’t lie with a man as with a woman? What exactly does that mean? Most readers say it means, no same sex relationships. But a minority of close readers has always said, it means that same-sex relationships are uniquely different from heterosexual relationships. I’m with the minority, and I think the author of the Book of Ruth is, too.
The Book of Ruth explores a close, intergenerational relationship between two women. Are Ruth and Naomi lovers? The majority of readers say, “no”; a minority says “yes.” Here, I side with the majority.
But I do think the story shows that their matriarchal family unit functions differently than the patriarchal society around them. By the public social rules of that society, men redeem fields, men take wives, men beget sons, and men pass on lineages. It’s all a matter of who has which legal obligations.
In the Book of Ruth, however, nothing really gets done through obligation. Instead, family feeling, kindness, and romantic love make the world go around. Women plan together, propose marriage, raise children, pass along their lineage.
It’s possible that the world of the Book of Ruth isn’t a unique subculture, but a story of what really does make the world go around. Perhaps the world of written records deceives us into believing that Torah is men’s history, when really women working together, and women and men working together, steer our fate.
— Laura Duhan Kaplan, 2011
Image: hernameismandy.blogspot.com