Since this is the end and I was finishing up my work, I thought I would take an idea we learned from Megillat Esther and apply it to Megillat Rut. When we were tying up the loose ends from Esther and redeeming the characters, we read a lot about how there's a surface meaning to the events in the Megillah and an underlying deeper meaning. The deeper meaning is the one that adds insight to our lives and has the potential to enhance with further knowledge. With Esther, we learned a lot of new things about seeing G-d in our lives, the role of women, exile vs. Diaspora, leadership, initiative, and uniting to deal with adversity. In the end, Megillat Esther turned out to be holding a lot more wisdom than we previously gave it credit for.
And then we learned Megillat Rut. Before this class, very few of us had actually read through the text and understood what was happening. On the surface, it seemed like a lot of un-Kosher things were going on, especially when it came to Rut and Naomi and being redeemed by a Goel. On the surface, going to the threshing floor in the middle of the night to lie with a man and then having to walk the "walk of shame" afterwards seems like yet another display of the normal immorality of the society of the Shoftim and definitely would not be considered admirable. Then we read between the lines. We looked at the nuances of the language and it all clicked: Rut did what she did to get Boaz to realize his responsibility to do this kindness for her and for Naomi. It was his job to take the initiative and stand up for what was right. A similar lesson also appears in Megillat Esther, where Esther ultimately learns that she has to step up and take advantage of the potential and the chance that G-d has given her. Rut stepped up, Boaz stepped up, Esther stepped up. On top of that, Rut taught us about the true nature of Chessed. She taught us that giving selflessly and sacrificing for what's right is the best way to actualize the potential to better the world.
I didn't think about this until just now, but perhaps the deep meaning behind the Megillot come out at just the right moments in life. For me, the lessons learned in Megillot class will hold a very special place in my heart because of the way we learned them. The path to finding meaning in life that we learned from Kohelet has inspired me to want to pass that knowledge on to other people who haven't yet had the fortune of making sense of a book that seems like nonsense when read literally. Sefer Eicha taught me how to deal with tragedy and grief, and now I can help others go through their own journey of grieving and moving on. Esther taught me more about taking initiative and action than I thought possible. I also learned about how to find G-d in the mundane and started to consider my role as one part of the whole of K'lal Yisrael, even as a person who is choosing to live in the Diaspora. Finally, Rut taught me about giving to others and about self-sacrifice when you have to do the right thing. Seriously, these lessons are the ones that I will take with me for life.
Mrs. Perl, thank you for an amazing five years as my teacher. I've learned so much more than I can put into words. Thanks for being there for me throughout and for being one of the most passionate and wonderful Judaic studies teachers and role models that Memphis has ever seen. You have changed all of our lives for the better. Those kids at Kohelet have no idea what an amazing ride they're in for.
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