Reading Ruth; Contemporary Women Reclaim a Sacred Story
"The Book of Ruth is one of Western civilization's great narratives of women's relationships. This collection of modern-day interpretations brings together the wisdom, sensitivity, and spirituality of the biblical story with the struggles and insights of contemporary women. Readers will be moved and inspired by these essays."\ —Susannah Heschel Editor of On Being a Jewish Feminist With Reading Ruth, two creative scholars have brought together an amazingly eclectic group of Jewish novelists,...
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"The Book of Ruth is one of Western civilization's great narratives of women's relationships. This collection of modern-day interpretations brings together the wisdom, sensitivity, and spirituality of the biblical story with the struggles and insights of contemporary women. Readers will be moved and inspired by these essays."—Susannah Heschel Editor of On Being a Jewish Feminist With Reading Ruth, two creative scholars have brought together an amazingly eclectic group of Jewish novelists, essayists, poets, rabbis, psychologists, and scholars—including Cynthia Ozick, Marge Piercy, Francine Klagsbrun, and Nessa Rapoport—to explore one of the most beloved stories in the Bible. In lively essays, poetry, fiction, and personal narrative, the gamut of women's experience in the modern world is illuminated by this ancient story. Whether the essayists explore relationships between sisters, the complex bond between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the place of the "other" in society, the heartache of loss, the limitations of loyalty, or the elaborate connections of family, they give voice to an exciting array of thought and interpretation that endows this sacred tale with new life."[A] rich, diverse, and thought-provoking collection."—Judith Plaskow Author of Standing Again at Sinai"Filled with passion, humor, insight, and just the right combination of irreverence and awe, Reading Ruth puts the Book of Ruth right where it belongs—in the hands of women. All of us are the richer for it."—Ari L. Goldman Author of The Search for God at Harvard"The book of Ruth is a gem in its own right. Through Reading Ruth the gem becomes a multifaceted diamond that reflects and refracts a multiplicity of images....Read this book."—The Rocky Mountain News Library Journal The subtle mixing of voices to create a cohesive whole is accomplished with some success in this work. Academics Kates and Reimer have brought together the voices of female Jewish writers, rabbis, teachers, wives, and mothers such as Cynthia Ozick, Merle Field, and Nessa Rapoport to offer insight into the biblical tale of Ruth the Moabite as daughter-in-law, childless widow, stranger, and loyal friend. The essays that work best are those that steer clear of what one writer calls "imaginative reconstruction." The dynamism of Ruth is found when it answers Field's challenge: "What happens when people, when women, stand at a crossroads? How do you find your true path in this world?" The new ground this book plows lies in the reclamation by Jewish women of this ancient, female-centered drama. Footnoted with abundant Hebrew and English translations; recommended where greater depth is needed in feminist religious writing.-Sandra Collins, SLIS, Univ. of Pittsburgh
A Note about the IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionThe Book of Ruth3Verse by Verse: A Modern Commentary141"But Ruth Clung to Her"29Ruth, Naomi, and Orpah: A Parable of Friendship33Friendship44Feminine Plurals55The Concealed Alternative652"For Wherever You Go, I Will Go"83The Redeeming of Ruth87Finding Our Past: A Lesbian Interpretation of the Book of Ruth91Her Mother's House973"I Went Away Full, and the Lord Has Brought Me Back Empty"107Language as Female Empowerment in Ruth111The Journey Toward Life125Fullness and Emptiness, Fertility and Loss: Meditations on Naomi's Tale in the Book of Ruth131Growing Up and Older with Ruth145Poetic Movements157The Book of Ruth and Naomi159Ruth's Journey161At the Crossroads1664"Your Latest Act of Chesed"183Women at the Center: Ruth and Shavuot187Circles of Kinship: Samuel's Family Romance199Ruth211Poetic Movements233Words Not Said: Four Poems after the Book of Ruth235Awakening Ruth241Isa2425"Like Rachel and Leah, Both of whom Built Up the House of Israel"251Ruth and the Continuity of Israel255Ruth and Naomi, Rachel and Leah: Sisters under the Skin261Soldiers in an Army of Mothers: Reflections on Naomi and the Heroic Biblical Woman2736"A Son Is Born to Naomi"285Reading Ruth: Where Are the Women?289Ruth: Dilemmas of Loyalty and Connection298Reading Ruth with Naomi3097"Ruth the Moabite ... Begot David"317Ruth and the Messiah321Ruth Reconsidered336Dialogue on Devotion347Notes369Contributors' Biographies380
\ Library JournalThe subtle mixing of voices to create a cohesive whole is accomplished with some success in this work. Academics Kates and Reimer have brought together the voices of female Jewish writers, rabbis, teachers, wives, and mothers such as Cynthia Ozick, Merle Field, and Nessa Rapoport to offer insight into the biblical tale of Ruth the Moabite as daughter-in-law, childless widow, stranger, and loyal friend. The essays that work best are those that steer clear of what one writer calls "imaginative reconstruction." The dynamism of Ruth is found when it answers Field's challenge: "What happens when people, when women, stand at a crossroads? How do you find your true path in this world?" The new ground this book plows lies in the reclamation by Jewish women of this ancient, female-centered drama. Footnoted with abundant Hebrew and English translations; recommended where greater depth is needed in feminist religious writing.-Sandra Collins, SLIS, Univ. of Pittsburgh\ \
