Spiritual Transformation

And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said: 'Who are you, my daughter?' And she told her all that the man had done to her. And she said: 'These six of barley gave he me; for he said to me: Go not empty unto your mother-in-law.'

Then said she: 'Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall; for the man will not rest, until he have finished the thing this day.' (Ruth 3:15-18)

We begin by noting that Naomi’s question to Ruth is hard to understand. Did she not recognize Ruth and if she did not, why does she call her “my daughter”? Ruth Rabbah 7:4 suggests: “She said to her, ‘Are you still single or are you now a married woman? She said to Naomi: “I am single”. A fascinating interpretation that is rich with psychological insight is suggested by Nachalas Yosef. Naomi asked Ruth, “Do you still belong to me? Are you still mine or has Boaz taken you away from me? Whose are you now, my daughter, mine or his?”

A thought deserves expression.

When the Jews first saw the Manna, a man said to his brother, “Man Hu”. In Hebrew it means – “it is a prepared portion”; however in the cognate language Arameic it is a question that means, “Who is he?”. The Hassidic Master, Chozeh of

Lublin

explained it in the following fashion. Those that ate manna reached new and elevated levels every day, so much so that every day a man no longer recognized his fellow and asked, “Who is he?” (Sippurei Chassidim, Beshalach). In a similar vein, after David slew Goliath Saul did not recognize him even though the two have met but a few chapters previously.  Before he was a simple page; now he possessed great stature.

When Ruth walked through the portals of Naomi’s dwelling, she was taller, straighter, more radiant and infused with illumination of the events of the test passed on that blessed night. Naomi did not recognize this stranger who so resembled and yet appeared so different from her sister-in-law and she asked in wonder and confusion: “Who are you, my daughter?[1]”

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[1] In the same vein R. Shimshon Raphael Hirsch writes in his commentary at the end of parshas Vyetsei that when Yakov left Beer Sheva and encountered the vision of the angels of Hashem, he marveled and was moved. Twenty years later, as he returned to the

Land

of

Israel

, the verse states that the angels met him, for after twenty years of striving and growth, he has grown to such an extent that they marveled at him.