17 Tammuz · Yahrzeit

Boaz ben Salmon

Boaz ben Salmon

Yahrzeit - 17 Tammuz

Resting place - Bethlehem, Israel

Rashbi – the Tana HaKadosh – wrote in the Zohar HaKadosh that Megillat Rut is read on Shavuot.

He taught that reading Megillat Rut on Shavuot is a remez (hint) to the fact that Boaz represents the Written Torah, Rut represents the Oral Torah, and Naomi represents Olam Haba, and so it is the perfect time to read Megillat Rut - at the time when the yichud (union) of the Written and Oral Torah takes place.

There is an opinion that Shmuel HaNavi wrote Megillat Rut, and that this is connected to his anointed one, David HaMelech, who was the 10th in line from Yehuda, the head of his tribe: Yehuda — Peretz — Chetzron — Ram — Aminadav — Nachshon — Salmon — Boaz — Oved — Yishai — David.

Boaz, like David HaMelech, would rise at Chatzot Layla (midnight) to pray, and it was then that he saw Rut in his field.

The phrase "Eshet Chayil" appears only once in the entire Tanach, and that is in Megillat Rut. Boaz said this praise about Rut when he was 80 years old and she, at 40, came to him - no longer a young man, since he was the brother of Elimelech, Naomi's husband.

"You surpass them all," says Boaz, addressing Rut (Ruth 3:10-11), "May the L-rd bless you, my daughter! ...You did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. So now, my daughter, do not fear! I will do for you whatever you say, for all the people at the gate of my people know that you are a woman of valor." Indeed, Rut goes to the elderly Boaz and proposes marriage to him - not for her own sake, but for the sake of her deceased husband and her mother-in-law Naomi. Rut fulfills the mitzvah of continuing her late husband's line.

Boaz gave Rut 6 measures of barley - corresponding to the 6 middot of David HaMelech and the 6 points of the Magen David.

The Talmud asks (Sanhedrin 93a): "Was it really Boaz's custom to give a gift of 6 measures of barley?" Could a man as righteous and wealthy as Boaz really give a poor woman so little? The Talmud answers that Boaz wanted, in this way, to "hint" to Rut that she would have 6 righteous descendants, each of whom would receive 6 blessings. These are: David, Mashiach, Daniel, Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya.

From the tzadik Boaz we learn that if someone comes as a guest, one should not let them leave empty-handed - he gave Rut 2 sheaves of barley before sending her home.

(From a lesson by Gaon Yitzchak Cohen)