Today, Lily Azerad-Goldman, a reviewer for Bookpleasures.com is honored to have has our guest, Eva Etzioni-Halevy author of The Garden of Ruth.

Lily:

Why can the Unnamed not marry Ruth? Hebrews were permitted more than one wife at the time.

Eva:

This is in fact part of the mystery, which first attracted me to Ruth and her story. 

On the face of it, the biblical Book of Ruth seems totally pastoral, totally idyllic. But when I looked at the Scripture more carefully I saw that below the surface there were hints of some dark undercurrents.

I noticed the mystery of the man whose name is never revealed, who in the Hebrew Bible is referred to as "Ploni Almoni", that is, "The Unnamed". He was Ruth's deceased husband's next of kin, and by law and custom was required to marry her. Thereby he would also have acquired her husband's property, yet he refused.

I began asking myself: who was this mysterious man? Why is his name concealed? Could there have been something so horrifying about him that made it necessary to hide his name?

Also, why was he so adamant not to marry Ruth, even though this marriage could have enriched him? Especially, as you correctly say in your question, taking account of the fact that he could have married more than one woman, why did he refuse?

Could it be that he had met Ruth before? Could there have been a
clandestine relationship between them? And could things subsequently have gone wrong between them?

I was caught up in this mystery and I decided to write a novel that would unravel it.

I built the task of unraveling the mystery as a bit of a detective novel.
My second heroine, Osnath, is a sort of a biblical Miss Marple. She appears on the scene three generations later, uncovers more and more pieces of the puzzle and makes them fall into place.


Lily:

Why does Eliab want to hide the truth from Osnath?

Eva:

Initially, Osnath suspects that Eliab is trying to block her investigation because his own and his family's inheritance may be jeopardized by what she may uncover. She suspects that Ruth's son Obed was not truly the son of Boaz, but of her unnamed lover. If so, he and his descendants after him, especially Eliab, were not entitled to inherit the property.

Eventually, when all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, Osnath discovers that Eliab tried to prevent her from uncovering the truth because the family's interest would in fact be endangered by her discovery, but in an entirely different manner from what she initially suspected.

Of course we don't want to reveal the solution of the puzzle to potential readers, so as not to spoil their fun of reading. 

Lily:

What are the reasons the unnamed one abandons Ruth?

Eva:

Despite the practiced words of love he prattles in Ruth's ear, he does not really love her. There is another woman, back in Bethlehem, who is the real love of his life. So when he returns to his hometown he has no interest in taking Ruth with him to encumber him, when he wants to resume his relationship with that other woman, whom he subsequently marries. 

Lily

Was it a Jewish holiday that triggered the idea for The Garden of Ruth?

Eva:

It was, in the sense that the biblical book of RUTH, on which THE GARDEN OF RUTH is based, is read in the Synagogues on Shavuoth. So each year, as I heard the scripture being read, I was more and more fascinated by the mystery contained in it. 

Beyond that, there is of course an intrinsic connection between the book of RUTH and Shavuoth and between that and my own life story. For that reason, too, I was entranced by Ruth's story and decided to write a novel about it.

There are at least two reasons for RUTH being read on Shavuoth:

- Ancient Israel was an agricultural society and the festival of Shavuoth is based on the agricultural cycle: it celebrates the wheat harvest. This is the time of the year in which Ruth met and developed her relationship with her future husband Boaz, their love sprouted while the harvest was proceeding in the fields, and their story is also the story of the harvest.

- Shavuoth is also the Holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. Ruth accepted the God of Israel and thereby also the Torah.

THE GARDEN OF RUTH furnishes its own interpretation of this connection. Reading it can help people reach a new and original understanding of the tie between the Book of RUTH and Shavuoth. It can help people enjoy the ancient Holiday in a new manner.

All this is also connected to my own life because, in a way, I followed Ruth's example in being a traveler not only in the geographical sense, but also a in my soul. Like Ruth I accepted the Torah (after many years of alienation from it), and for me Shavuoth symbolizes this acceptance.

THE GARDEN OF RUTH (like my first novel THE SONG OF HANNAH) has sensual scenes in it. But I see no contradiction between being religious, accepting the Torah and more broadly the Bible, and writing sensual books based on it. This is so since the Bible itself has many sensual scenes in it, one of them being about the nocturnal encounter of Ruth and Boaz in the freshly harvested fields. So I feel that my sensual novels are really faithful to the spirit of the Bible, and entirely appropriate for a religious woman to write.

This should be of interest not only for Jews. It is part of the greatness of the Bible that it forms the common denominator for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and is at the basis of Western culture. Because the Bible is not only a divine but a very human book, it is also of great interest to non-believers, to secular people of many origins. THE GARDEN OF RUTH emphasizes and brings to light this common denominator.

The novel presents Ruth's acceptance of the Almighty as the acceptance of one God, in contrast to idol worship. In this manner it can help people of other faiths understand the victory of monotheism over idolatry, which is relevant to all monotheistic religions.

Christian readers have told me: reading my novels has strengthened them in their own faith. Understanding Shavuoth as a holiday of rejoicing in the triumph of monotheism can help strengthen their faith even further.

Lily

There was drought in the land of Israel and Naomi and her sons migrated to the rich land of Sdeh Moab out of necessity. They knew they were idolaters but their language was similar to Hebrew and they fast became friends. Does your story point at a situation where Jews and Arabs could live together in peace?

Eva:

The biblical book of RUTH is renowned for its emphasis on interfaith and interethnic tolerance, a theme I have further developed in my novel THE GARDEN OF RUTH

In this context, it is interesting to note that Ruth is sometimes referred to as the first convert to Judaism. But when you look at the biblical RUTH (and at my novel as well), Ruth accepted the God of Israel, but she did not undergo any ritual of conversion.

In fact, in the entire Bible there is no ritual of conversion for women (and it is doubtful whether there is one for men. Circumcision is mentioned as enabling men to participate in the Passover Sacrifice).

To my mind, this testifies to an important strand of interfaith tolerance in the Bible.

So we find that David is descended from a foreigner, and this did not debar him from becoming Israel's most glorious king, who is also considered to be the ancestor of the Messiah.

The message for today in both the biblical RUTH and in my novel, which is built on it, is loud and clear: Respect, accept and embrace the stranger, the one who is different from you.

This message is certainly valid for Jews and Arabs in Israel, who despite similarities in origin and language are hostile strangers and have not learned to accept each other. 

It is equally valid for other countries such as the US and Canada, where there are so many ethnic groups and religions, that must all live together in mutual respect and tolerance.

Lily:

They were shepherds and gathered grains to make delicious bread. Was that bread the ancestor of the Challah?

Eva:

The truth is that we don't really know. To my mind it's more likely to have been the ancestor of the traditional Middle Eastern Pitah, and this is the way in which I also describe it in the novel.

What we do know, is, that bread was the main staple food that people ate at the time, so much so, that in the Bible having a meal is sometimes referred to as "eating bread." On this basis the sages also devised a special blessing for the eating of bread (Hamotzi), as they did not do for other foods.

Lily:

Ruth wanted to marry Naomi’s son, an Israelite. Her mother was opposed to her marrying a mere shepherd with a weird religion and unusual customs. How did you find out about the differences in religions between the Moabites and the Hebrews.

Eva:

In fact, we don't know much about the religion of Moab. The main sources for whatever little knowledge we have are the Bible itself and what came to be known as the Mesha Stele. This is sort of a victory monument set up by one of the Kings of Moab. From both sources we know that the chief god of the Moabites was Chemosh. Other than that, historians of the ancient worlds presume that the Moabites also worshipped the other gods and goddesses that were popular in the ancient Middle East at the time, but there are no hard and fast records on that. So I had to build on this slim basis and add the rest from my imagination.

Lily

Her belief in her pagan gods is shattered when she is seduced and
abandoned, pregnant by the unnamed one. Is this a turning point in her
idolatry?

Eva:

It was, in the sense that a traumatic event is frequently a trigger for transformation in our personality.

Even so, I think that Ruth's truly and deeply accepting the Israelite religion and abandoning her own was probably a gradual process, and this is the way I also describe it in the novel.

Lily:

Thanks once again and good luck with your book.

To read Lily's Review of The Garden of Ruth CLICK HERE