Ruth: Rectifying Lot’s Mistake

On Shavuot, the custom is to read the Book of Ruth. The commentaries bring a number of connections between Shavuot and the story of Ruth. By analyzing a specific aspect of her greatness and contrasting it will her less illustrious ancestor, Lot, we can glean another connection between Ruth and Shavuot.

First, it is instructive to delve more deeply into the story of Lot and how he strayed from the correct path. Right at the beginning of the story of Avraham, the Torah relates that one of the few people who came with him, was his nephew Lot. Leaving his home and family behind must have been a great act of self-sacrifice for Lot and is surely an indication of a level of greatness. However, once they left for Eretz Yisrael, the course of events ended in Lot separating from his uncle and choosing to live in the wicked land of Sodom, where he thought he could attain prosperity.

At the time that Lot made the decision to split from Avraham, the Torah tells us that God spoke to Avraham, “after Lot had departed from him.”¹ Rashi comments on this that, “as long as that wicked person [Lot] was with him [Avram], the Divine word was withheld from him.”² This teaches us that Lot was on such a low level that God would not even talk to Avraham while Lot was with him.

The problem is that Lot had been with Avraham from the beginning of the Torah Portion of Lech Lecha, yet God did speak to Avraham in that time. Why did Hashem speak to Avraham then if Lot was with him? The answer is that evidently, at the earlier stage, Lot was not yet wicked, indeed he was a devoted follower of Avraham who left everything to follow his teacher. The obvious question is what changed in the period between them leaving for Eretz Yisrael and their ultimate split?

When God instructed Avraham to leave everything behind to travel to Israel, He promised Avraham that he would receive prosperity and other blessings. However, as soon as Avraham arrived in the Land, the opposite took place and there was a terrible famine, forcing Avraham to leave for Egypt where he endured more challenges. Yet it is clear that Avraham remained steadfast in his trust in God. This is because Avraham’s reasoning for listening to God was not in order to receive those rewards, rather because he knew that God’s word was the Ultimate Truth. Consequently, Avraham did not become frustrated or disheartened when he immediately faced difficult challenges.

However, Lot evidently had a different attitude from his uncle. He was also aware of the promises of success and prosperity and that was his prime motivation for accompanying Avraham. Moreover, it seems that he expected this to take place immediately. So, when he was faced with the famine in Israel and then his own sister, Sarah was taken by Pharaoh, he began to become disenchanted with Avraham’s program and he began to develop an outlook of his own. This outlook prioritized material gain over spiritual accomplishments. This was demonstrated by the attitude of his shepherds, who, following his example, allowed their animals to graze in the fields of other people in Israel, based on the weak rationalization that eventually he would inherit the land from Avraham anyway. This led to his split from Avraham and his fateful decision to live in the wicked land of Sodom where he again sacrificed morality for materialism. Thus, we now understand why Lot deteriorated to the point where God calls him a wicked man. In the words of Rabbi Immanuel Bernstein.

“The path that emerges is one where Lot was prepared to follow Avraham’s path on the understanding that it would lead him to prosperity and acclaim, but not on a path leading purely toward truth and elevated, Godly living. When these two ideas ceased being synonymous in his mind, he left.”³

Ruth’s journey was somewhat similar to Lot until a certain point. She was a princess in Moab, who married one of Elimelech’s sons. This was not in and of itself necessarily such an act of self-sacrifice as Elimelech was a very important person. However, he then died, as did Ruth’s husband. Consequently, Elimelech’s wife, Naomi was left with nothing and returned to Eretz Yisrael a poverty-stricken widow. Ruth and her sister Orpah accompanied her back to the Land but she starkly warned them that there was nothing for them to gain by staying with a childless widow. This was the ultimate test of the underlying motivation of Rus and Orpah. Orpah failed the test, succumbing to the argument that there was nothing to gain by staying with Naomi.

Ruth, however, was determined to stay, because she was not motivated by gain, rather because she wanted to cling to the truth of the Torah. As a consequence, she converted, and is an example to all prospective converts that their motivation to become a Jew is not to gain success, but to cleave to the truth. In this way, Rus served to rectify the failing of her ancestor Lot – he left Divine Service when it didn’t deliver the rewards he had hoped for, while Rus clung to G-d through all her travails.

The contrast between Lot and Ruth is dramatically demonstrated by an observation of the Shelah.⁴ When Lot reached the point where he had to leave Avraham, his uncle tells him, “hipared na m’alai” – please separate from me.⁵ When Ruth determines to stay with Naomi through in all circumstances, she powerfully states, “Ki hamavet yafrid beini ubeinayich” – “for death alone will separate between me and you!”⁶ The same root, word pered, meaning to separate, repeats itself in these two accounts but in totally opposite ways. Lot’s faulty outlook causes him to separate from Avraham, whereas Rus’s pure dedication empowers her to stay with Naomi permanently.

We have seen how Ruth teaches the importance of accepting Torah purely because it is true, and not for any specific gains.⁷ This explains another connection between Megillah of Ruth and Shavuot. When God offered the Jewish people the Torah, they did not ask what was in it⁸, rather they responded, ‘Naaseh V’Nishma’ – we will do and we will hear, meaning that they accepted the Torah purely because it was the Ultimate Truth. This attitude is the foundation of Torah observance – may we all merit to emulate Rus in accepting the Torah with pure motives.

1. Bereishit, 13:14-15.
2. Rashi, Ibid, 13:14, Dh: Acharei.
3. ‘The Call of Sinai’, p.277. See the whole of Chapter 35 for an excellent elaboration of how Ruth fixed Lot’s failings.
4. Parshat Lech Lecha, cited in ‘The Call of Sinai’, p.278.
5. Bereishit, 13:9.
6. Ruth, 1:17.
7. It is instructive to note, that ultimately, one who keeps the Torah will gain in this world as well. Indeed Rus, who gave up everything for Torah, ultimately merited to see her descendants, David HaMelech and Shlomo Hamelech, become Kings of Israel. In contrast, Lot’s ‘reward’ for his greed, was that he lost his wife, and some children, and all his wealthy, when Sodom was destroyed.
8. Unlike the other Nations who rejected it because it contained commandments that were too difficult for them to observe.

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