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Ruth vs. Judges: A Righteous Revelation of Literary Inversions and Lessons to Live By

Day: Wednesday

Date: May 14 - May 21, 2025

Time: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm EDT

Suggested Contribution: $25

Description

In this series we will explore how the book of Ruth encompasses a masterful and astonishing Tikkun (corrective) for the end of the book of Judges. Through comparative literary analysis of the words, actions, and themes in the books, we will see how the Israelite’s successive revelations of Ruth’s inner virtue serve as a redemptive act for the depravity and sin latent ‘beneath the surface’ in Judges. The redemption helps transform the Israelites from a people in Judges who have, “no king in Israel, every man did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25) to a people who merit a new era of kingship, through the union of Boaz and Ruth leading to the birth of King David. The comparison between Ruth and Judges will be elevated through additional literary explorations between these books and other parts of Tanach. Our study will culminate with righteous inspiration for living a life of integrity and virtue.

Teacher

Rabbanit Jennifer Raskas is the Community Scholar at Shir Hadash, a synagogue and educational center in Jerusalem. She is also a co-founder of the Ohr Torah Stone International Halakha Scholars Program, as well as a member of the faculty at Midreshet Lindenbaum. She is on the leadership, teaching and coaching team for the Orthodox Leadership Project and is a trained facilitator for Resetting the Table, which builds cultures of courageous dialogue across charged political differences. She previously served as the Washington DC Director at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. A graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, she teaches classes widely on a variety of disciplines including Hebrew literary approaches to readings in Tanach and leadership development. Her articles and Divrei Torah can be found in academic journals and in online Jewish learning forums.