• KH

  Kathryn Hauser -6 years ago

  I agree, sometimes one has to take risks to
  achieve greatness. And sometimes one
  takes risks and one’s own homies cannot recognize the great courage it is
  extracting.

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• ZE

  Zlata Ehrenstein -6 years ago

  outstanding!

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• D

  Daniel -10 years ago

  Yibum
  After ruth converted, she was no longer related to boaz. So why did boaz have to do yibum?
  

  
  Thanks for your help.

  
  

  
   

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  • A

    Anonymous -10 years ago

    Re: Yibum
    1) Some say that Ruth converted much earlier, before her marriage to Elimelech's son. So she was married to him after she was Jewish.
    

    
    2) this was not Yibum in its classical sense, as Boaz was any way not her brother in law. It was symbolic, in order to perpetuate the name and estate of the diseased, Machlon.

    
    

    
     

    
    

    
     

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• B

  ben -11 years ago

  navigation
  can you please make it as easy to naviate this series for your parsha classes? i download a few at a time and it is challenging to find the right ones in the archives.

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• A

  Anonymous -11 years ago

  questions
  thanks for a really great shiur, but i have a few questions regarding this lesson:
  
  1- If Yehuda instituted Yibum because he knew it would later be a part of the Torah, and kept the Torah before it was given, why could they resort to forbidden relations- ie Tamar marrying her father-in-law, in order to keep a Torah law? Even though it wasnt forbidden yet, it would be by matan torah- why was keeping yibum before matan torah more imortant than not having forbidden relationships before matan torah?
  
  2- How could what Lot's daughters did-having a relationship with their father- be called a kindness, if we know what they did was wrong and immoral?
  
  3- Could you please clarify the kri/kesiv point. How did Naomi saying 'me' show that what Rus was doing was not selfishly motivated?
  
  4- and lastly, if 2 husbands die, and the third brother/relative bears a child, like with Tamar, is the son considered the son of the first husband or the second?

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  • A

    Anonymous -11 years ago

    Re: questions
    I am looking into your question and will answer them shortly.

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• R

  reuben -12 years ago

  yibum
  If this takes place post matan torah, how is yibum with anyone other than a brother-in-law allowed? Or in other words, why are we discussing yibum here given that it is post matan torah?

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• L

  Lazer -12 years ago

  Ruth's knowledge
  In the previous class you quoted Rashi which states that Ruth would not bend down to collect the wheat, rather she would sit as not to expose her body. Seemingly we can derive from here that her knowledge of the laws of modesty was at its acme.
  
  But in this class we say that Ruth makes the mistake of quoting Boaz that she would collect the wheat with the opposite sex.
  
  If she knew not to bend down (definitely not a Moavite practice) she would surely know not to mingle with the other gender.

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: Ruth's knowledge
    It is a very good question—there is a seeming contradiction between two Midrashim. For both ideas are stated in Midrash Rabah on Ruth.
    
    My answer would be this: on a conscious level she has graduated Moav culture and studied and internalized the behavior of modesty. Yet on a sub-conscious level, Moav was still part of her. Hence, in her natural conversation she gave us a “slip” which was revealing that due to her upbringing and youth something of the Moabite culture still remained in her. The fact that her casual speech she did not get that distinction was telling for the Rabbis.
    
    If this is true, this Midrash would be another source for the concept of the subconscious emerging via verbal slips in the midrashic literature.

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• C

  Curious -12 years ago

  What about yichud?
  Ok. What about the apparent that existed throughout that night? Unless, the laws of yichud were instituted later.

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: What about yichud?
    1.The prohibition of “yechud” with a single woman, unmarried, was instituted through David and his beis din, in the aftermath of the tragic story of Amnon and Tamar (Talmud Sanhedrin 21b. Rambam Hilchos Isurei Biah 22:3).
    
    2.Even the prohibition of Yechud with a married woman or a Nidah, the Rembam states (ibid. 22:2) that it is “bekabalah,” which some interpret to mean that it is not biblical. Yet Ruth was probably not even in this category as discussed in a previous comment.
    
    3.They were laying together outside, in a granary, not behind closed doors. I am not sure that is included in Yechud at all.

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• SC

  Sam C -12 years ago

  Why such a Lineage?
  Rabbi, why is it that Moshiach has to be born from such a, retroactively speaking, tarnished and sullied lineage?(Although both Lot and his daughters, and Judah With Tamar relationships were justified according to the various commentaries, us through our lense of Todays torah, view their actions through the obligations we implement.)
  
  
  
  Was the only condition for Moshiach to come down to this world is that his progenitors must overcome the challenge that their earlier ancsecors have failed in?

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: Why such a Lineage?
    Yes, Sam, that is part of the answer. The remainder of the answer will be addressed in great detail in class 5.

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• M

  Malka -12 years ago

  Curious about this.
  Why in the cases of the unions mentioned in this class, and perhaps others, is there no mention of advance mikveh preparation and immersion by the women involved?
  
  
  
  
  
  If the answer is that in the case of Lot's daughter and Tamar it was before Matan Torah, what then is the answer in the case of Rus? Naomi tells her to go to Boaz that very night. She couldn't have been tahor since she did not have a husband for which to go to mikveh for. Unless perhaps, she was tahor because the 7 clean days were not yet instituted, and she had immersed in waters soon before going to Boaz as part of conversion.
  
  
  
  

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: Curious about this.
    Malka, you answered your own questions nicely. Lot’s daughter and Tamar were before Matan Torah and there was no mitzvah of mikvah. Even if you will insist that Tamar observed the Torah (as did the Avos), she may have immersed prior to the union with Yehuda.
    
    
    
    As far as Ruth: In addition to what you have suggested, you must remember the main point, that during the night in the field Ruth and Boaz did not have intimacy. Ruth just lied near him, exposed his feet, and asked Boaz to marry her. It is clear from the reading of the verses that there was no physical relationships that night. That is why Boaz promises that the very next morning he will be able to let her know if he can marry her.
    
    
    
    In Midrash Rabah on Ruth and in Talmud Sanhedrin 20b our sages extol Boaz for his moral integrity during the night, that despite the intense emotions that clearly existed, Boaz did not cross the boundaries of moral conduct.
    
    
    
    The only questions may be based on the interpretation of some commentaries on the word “vayelafes” (Ruth 3:8), he was grasped, which some explain to mean that Ruth grasped Boaz. Yet they were both single at the time, and biblically speaking it was not forbidden for them to touch each other. (Even rabbinicaly it may be permitted, especially in this case where Boaz quacked from fear and Ruth held on to him. So it was not for intimate reasons.) The only issue would be if Ruth was a Niddah, yet even then, holding on to Boaz because he quacked and trembled was probably completely permissible according to Jewish law.

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• C

  chaya -12 years ago

  search site
  how can i search for a specific video on the site??
  
  please let me know! thanks.

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: search site
    You can go to "archive" section and search for your video. Or, on top of each video where the internet link is, you will see a number for the video. The numbers are in order of the videos. Type in a number you want and that video will show up.

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• S

  sara -12 years ago

  technical
  hi.. im wondering if theres any way to pause/ rewind/ fast forward the videos. it seems like u can only watch the entire thing... ?
  
  
  
  thank you for great classes :)

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• E

  elki -12 years ago

  Dovid HaMelech
  Thank you! Surely, the story of Dovid and Batsheva is another link in the chain of "shady" behavior leading up to the birth of Moshiach. How does that story fit into the gilgulim theme?

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: Dovid HaMelech
    We will explore this in upcoming classes on Ruth. Stay tuned.

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• N

  nearim-nearos -12 years ago

  "
  Thank You

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• N

  nearim-nearos -12 years ago

  Question
  I understand Ruth was a Moavite, but by the time the story is taking place, isn't she deeply involved in Judaism, meaning she wouldn't make the mistake of "nearos" with "nearim"?

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: Question
    No, this story occurs only a few days after their arrives in Eretz Israel, from Moav. As chapter one concludes they arrive at the onset of the barley harvest and that is when Ruth chances upon the field of Boaz where they encounter each other and enjoy this conversation. It is around this time she converts to Judaism. She is thus still steeped in the vernacular of Moav.
    
    As for earlier times, remember that her Jewish husband married a gentile woman, and the fact that Noami had to teach her the basic laws of Judaism on their way to the Holy Land (as discussed in class one), means that her home and life style was not fully Jewish.

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• KT

  Kayo, Tokyo -12 years ago

  The first question in a year
  B"H
  
  
  
  Dear Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson;
  
  Had the pronunciation "Kuri" been transmitted from Moshe to Yoshua to the next generations as the Oral Tradition?
  
  If so, who and when is it compiled in the written form?

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: The first question in a year
    See Talmud Nedarim 37b, that it is "halacha lemoseh mesenei," part of the teachings we received orally from Moses. This means that when Moshe wrote the Sefer Torah and gave it to the Jewish people he also gave them the tradition of "keri" and "kesiv."

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• D

  dena -12 years ago

  no curriculum
  where is the curriculum?

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: no curriculum
    Right below the video you will notice a PDF document.

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• H

  hdsaltzman -12 years ago

  reincarnation
  okay, I have a question. How do you know who's reincarnated in whom?
  
  

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  • A

    Anonymous -12 years ago

    Re: reincarnation
    Usually we do not know. we would need a "soul expert" to be able to recognize this. In this case, however, the great Kabbalists and mystics revealed to us the reincarnation of Ruth, as explained in class 2 and 3.
    
    By the way, the 15th century Kabbalist, the Arizal, Rabbi Isaan Luriah from Sefad, has two works "sefer hagelgulim" and "shaar hagelgulim" where he reveals many many reincarnations over the generations.

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Rabbi YY Jacobson

• May 30, 2011
• |
• 26 Iyyar 5771
• |
• 2931 views

Classes in this Series

• 

  1 hr 15 min

  Ruth #1: Are You a Kisser Or a Cleaver? A Tale of Two Daughters In-Law

  Orpah and Goliath Go Into Therapy
• 

  1 hr 18 min

  Ruth #2: A Tale of 3 Relationships & a Triple Reincarnation

  Dignity & Loyalty In the Depths of Pain
• 

  1 hr 19 min

  Ruth #4: A Sword in the Beis Midrash -- Part 1

  The Debate on the Jewish Identity of Ruth & King David.
• 

  1 hr 9 min

  Ruth #5: A Sword in the Beis Midrash -- Part 2

  The Perspective of the Brisker Rav and the Ben Eish Chai on the Debate on the Jewish Identity of Ruth & King David
• 

  59 min

  Ruth #6: A Sword in the Beis Midrash -- Part 3

  Why King David Was Considered an Illegal Child
• 

  1 hr 24 min

  Ruth #7: A Sword in the Beis Midrash -- Part 4

  The Mysterious Lineage of Moshiach
• 

  1 hr 6 min

  Ruth #8: Why Do the Highest Souls End Up In the Lowest Places?

  The Secret Behind Boaz Removing the Shoe
• 

  1 hr 42 min

  Women's Shavuos Class

  Goliath and His Mother Go Into Therapy

  Ruth Vs. Arpah; David Vs. Goliath -- A Story of Unresolved Pain