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Reading Ruth: Birth, Redemption, and the Way of Israel
“Through a close reading of the Book of Ruth, Leon Kass and Hannah Mandelbaum transform how we see the story and how we see ourselves. A marvelous gem of a book.”―Russ Roberts
"A thoughtful and thought-provoking book."― Booklist
Through close reading and responsive commentary, Reading Birth, Redemption, and the Way of Israel vivifies this much-loved biblical text, enabling readers to imagine how a widowed woman from an alien nation becomes the ancestress of the greatest Israelite king.
As the authors (granddaughter and grandfather) also show, the Book of Ruth is about much more than the Cinderella-like rise of a woman from misery to glory. Ruth’s story sheds light on certain enduring questions of human life, and on the Hebrew Bible’s answers to those the meaning of national membership and identity; the nature and limits of female friendship, marital love, and familial obligations; the importance of attachment to the land; and, especially, the redemptive powers for human life of childbirth, loving-kindness, and loyal devotion.
"A thoughtful and thought-provoking book."― Booklist
Through close reading and responsive commentary, Reading Birth, Redemption, and the Way of Israel vivifies this much-loved biblical text, enabling readers to imagine how a widowed woman from an alien nation becomes the ancestress of the greatest Israelite king.
As the authors (granddaughter and grandfather) also show, the Book of Ruth is about much more than the Cinderella-like rise of a woman from misery to glory. Ruth’s story sheds light on certain enduring questions of human life, and on the Hebrew Bible’s answers to those the meaning of national membership and identity; the nature and limits of female friendship, marital love, and familial obligations; the importance of attachment to the land; and, especially, the redemptive powers for human life of childbirth, loving-kindness, and loyal devotion.
125 pages, Paperback
Published April 6, 2021
10 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Leon R. Kass
32 books58 followers American physician, scientist, educator, and public intellectual, best known as proponent of liberal education via the "Great Books," as an opponent of human cloning, life extension and euthanasia, as a critic of certain areas of technological progress and embryo research, and for his controversial tenure as chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics from 2001 to 2005. Although Kass is often referred to as a bioethicist, he eschews the term and refers to himself as "an old-fashioned humanist.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 22, 2024
Really excellent careful devotional Bible study of a wonderful book.
I wish that I could do a Christian gloss on it, though; there's so much gospel in the book of Ruth.
I wish that I could do a Christian gloss on it, though; there's so much gospel in the book of Ruth.
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August 16, 2021I don't think I've yet created a tag worthy of books like this. When I glimpsed it on a public library shelf last week, I never imagined it would make such a rich addition to my devotional life as a Christian. Not that I'm surprised: as one whose tradition includes the Jewish Tanukh in our sacred text, I would probably do well to read far more Jewish commentary and reflection on the texts we share.
But it's been a long time since I read a Jewish reflection on one of the books in what I know as the Old Testament. This delightful project has given me much to reflect on and chew over -- not least its notions of a womanhood fulfilled in childbearing.
The authors' parsing of the story draw out these values very clearly and in a fair reading, it seems odd the text. But as a 21st century reader who's studied singleness around the world, I also have to grapple with the challenge is many women who may share Naomi's view, but don't have a way to attain such fulfillment through their own bodies.
But it's been a long time since I read a Jewish reflection on one of the books in what I know as the Old Testament. This delightful project has given me much to reflect on and chew over -- not least its notions of a womanhood fulfilled in childbearing.
The authors' parsing of the story draw out these values very clearly and in a fair reading, it seems odd the text. But as a 21st century reader who's studied singleness around the world, I also have to grapple with the challenge is many women who may share Naomi's view, but don't have a way to attain such fulfillment through their own bodies.
December 14, 2021
This study on the book of Ruth was an utterly delightful read! It didn't feel like a study at all! The authors, Leon Kass, and his granddaughter Hannah Mandelbaum shared their thoughts and observations on this well-known Old Testament story as they went through the book section by section. They gleaned sheaves of truth from the text that many have missed, especially myself. Their *gleanings* or *reapings* enriched my understanding and reminded me of how God is silently at work in the regular lives of people to bring about His future purposes and to restore all that the locusts of hardship and poor choices have eaten in the process. And not to take away from the heroine of the story, Ruth, for she really was an amazing woman, but Boaz was quite a shrewd guy! I had never seen him in that way before.
A delightful read!
A delightful read!
March 13, 2022
A sensitive commentary on the Book of Ruth
I was listening to a discussion with Dr. Leon Kass a few days ago when the interviewer mentioned his latest work, “Reading Ruth” which he wrote with his granddaughter after the death of his wife.
I am familiar and very sympathetic to the short biblical book of Ruth, and my late mother was called Ruth, and there is a quote from the book of Ruth on her gravestone, so I thought I would read this commentary and I was not disappointed.
It is a beautiful, sensitive discussion of the relatively short text, infused by Leon Kass’ academic and scholarly erudition and his teenage granddaughter’s insights. I felt I learned a lot about a familiar story, that has all the elements of a modern drama. Love, loss, pain, riches and poverty, emigration and immigration, deep feminine friendship and the redeeming qualities of love and childbirth. Kass and Mandelbaum engage in a labour of love that many others can appreciate.
I was listening to a discussion with Dr. Leon Kass a few days ago when the interviewer mentioned his latest work, “Reading Ruth” which he wrote with his granddaughter after the death of his wife.
I am familiar and very sympathetic to the short biblical book of Ruth, and my late mother was called Ruth, and there is a quote from the book of Ruth on her gravestone, so I thought I would read this commentary and I was not disappointed.
It is a beautiful, sensitive discussion of the relatively short text, infused by Leon Kass’ academic and scholarly erudition and his teenage granddaughter’s insights. I felt I learned a lot about a familiar story, that has all the elements of a modern drama. Love, loss, pain, riches and poverty, emigration and immigration, deep feminine friendship and the redeeming qualities of love and childbirth. Kass and Mandelbaum engage in a labour of love that many others can appreciate.
November 10, 2025
A short (125 pages, including notes) essay on Ruth, which at first seemed to address obvious points but grew on me in the last few chapters. Most interesting is Kass' comparison of the characters in Ruth to other Torah personalities in somewhat similar situations. After the destruction of Sodom, Lot gets drunk and his daughter has sex with him, creating the line of Moabites that Ruth is descended from. Like Lot after the destruction of Sodom, Boaz ate and drank, falls asleep, and wakes up in what is arguably a sexually charged situation. But unlike Lot and Noah, Boaz isn't obviously drunk, and Ruth (unlike Lot's daughter) does not take advantage of the situation to sexually overreach. Kass also compares Boaz and Ruth to Tamar and Judah (who are ancestors of Boaz). Just as Judah impregnates the widowed Tamar, Boaz marries and impregnates the widowed Ruth. But Tamar has to deceive Judah to get him to do this, while Boaz does the honorable thing on his own.
Kass also compares Ruth to the Five Books of Moses: in the Torah, people do the right thing because they are commanded by God- here, they do good things without a Divine command.
Another interesting point: some commentators see Ruth as a criticism of xenophobia. But Ruth is accepted by the Hebrews not because she is a Moabite, but because she rejects Moabite ways.
Kass also compares Ruth to the Five Books of Moses: in the Torah, people do the right thing because they are commanded by God- here, they do good things without a Divine command.
Another interesting point: some commentators see Ruth as a criticism of xenophobia. But Ruth is accepted by the Hebrews not because she is a Moabite, but because she rejects Moabite ways.
September 15, 2021
I often wonder how my life might be different today if, as in Sunday school, particularly in my high school years, we had read books like this about stories from the Bible.
I loved how this began as a dialogue between a grandfather and his granddaughter, mourning his wife, her beloved grandma... and from that dialogue grew from an engagement with one of the most beautiful books of the Tanakh.
I don't agree with all their conclusions, but maybe if we talked them over, I might better appreciate an insight or two that I questioned. Still, this grandfather--and his granddaughter--help us understand this book, this story about the love between a widow and her widowed daughter-in-law, about the redemptive power of chased--lovingkindness.
Well worth your time....
I loved how this began as a dialogue between a grandfather and his granddaughter, mourning his wife, her beloved grandma... and from that dialogue grew from an engagement with one of the most beautiful books of the Tanakh.
I don't agree with all their conclusions, but maybe if we talked them over, I might better appreciate an insight or two that I questioned. Still, this grandfather--and his granddaughter--help us understand this book, this story about the love between a widow and her widowed daughter-in-law, about the redemptive power of chased--lovingkindness.
Well worth your time....
March 24, 2025
I would love to read this type of breakdown for every book within the Bible.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews