The Jewish Monitor (Fort Worth-Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, June 10, 1921 Page: 1 of 16
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VOL. IX. NO. 8.
A Mother of
A Story for Shabuoth by Elma Ehr-
lich Levinger.
(Copyright 1921 by Elma Ehrlich
Levinger- All Rights Reserved.)
The warm sunlight flowed into the
window of the little house of Naimi
of Bethlehem the house where she
had borne the two sons who had died
in Moab across the Jordan. A widow
without children she had returned to
the home of her childhood with Ruth
her daughter-in-law t her side.
Ruth the widow of Mahlon a woman
of Moab had deserted home and km
for the sake of Naomi her mother-in-law
refusing to desert her in her
old age .... And now Naomi in trem-
bling doubt and impatience waited
for her to return from the threshing-
floor of Boaz.
Siting by the window the morning
sunshine falling upon her grey hair
and sorrowful face Naomi remember-
ed all that had come to pass since her
return to Bethlehem. Naomi had
gone forth a wealthy woman rejoic-
ing in her husband and her two strong
young sons and returned a sorrow-
ink widow with no stay in life but the
frail girl who drooped at her side- Sh
who had known abundance might
have suffered want had not Ruth
gone forth in to the harvest fields of
Boaz the rich kinsman of Naomi
there to gather the gleanings of the
reapers consecrated by the law of
Moses to the fatherless and the poor.
Naomi recalled her fears for RutN
the morning the girl hid set out for
the harvest fields of Boaz; even in the
coarse garments she had worn since
her widowhood Ruth's young beauty
showed forth so radiantly that Naomi
had bade her a little harshly to veil
her face should she meet with rude-
ness from the young men who work-
ed among the reapers. Later she re-
pented of her harsh voice for Ruth
who was docile in all things had never
been guilty of boldness or immodesty.
Yet a pain stirred in Naomi's jealous
mother heart as she realized that her
dead son Mahlon was deprived of his
wife's sweetness and beauty even in
the days of his youth.
The summer days passed until the
barley harvest was over and every
night Ruth weary from her toil
among the gleaners returned with
her arms filled with gleanings. As
they sat in the dusk together she
told many tales of the kindness of the
reapers who gave her the best of
the gleanings jand he spoke often
of Boas the master of them all who
had asked her to sit and break bread
with him during the noonday meal
and given her to drink from his own
cup. And Naomi had listened with a
CI
M I . I I
Jewish Jotmm
FORT WORTH-DALLAS TEXAS
Bethlehem
heart strangely torn between joy and
anger joy that what he had hard-
ly dare to dream might come to pass
anger that Ruth who had known her
son's love had so soon learned to for-
get his devotion and the few months
of happiness they had known togeth-
er. . . . But she kept her thoughts
unspoken and encouraged Ruth to
speak to Boaz her kinsman and a ric)
land-owner in Bethlehem.
Now the end of the barley and of
the wheat harvest had come and Nao-
mi feared that the daily communion
between Boaz master of the reapers
and Ruth might come to an end and
her dreams would thus end in empti-
ness. And so the night before when
she knew that Boaz according to the
custom of that day slept upon the
threshing-floor Naomi had called
Ruth before her and had placed upon
her certain strange command With
her own hands Naomia d e
girl in her own bridal farmcnts del-
icate robes of silver and while the
sole remainder of her former wealth;
she braided the girl's dark hair with
pearls and placed bracelets and ank-
Mi upon her wrapping her in a dark
mantle and veil that those who passed
upon the road might not spy upon her
beauty. An than she had command-
ed the young woman to go to Boa
as he kept watch upon the threshing
floor reminding him that none of his
house and had remembered the law
that when man dies without chil-
dren his next of kin must marry the
widow lest his line die forever In Is-
rael. Ruth had flushed and paled but
had said no word for she spoke little
when deeply moved. At last she had
said slowly: "And you would have
me wed again?"
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"If he weds you' 'answers Naomi
evading her question and hating her-
self for her evasion "if Boaz weds
you the line of my son Mahlon need
not die out in Israel and I may hold
a grandchild upon my knee "
And Ruth had answered nothing.
Drawing her veil closely about her
face she had left Naomi in the door-
way walking down the road white
with moonlight as proudly as a
young queen to her coronation. And
Naomi the older woman had watch-
ed her with incerasing bitterness in
her heart for the girl seemed glad
to seek out a new lover while she
Naomi knew she would never cease
to mom the husband of her youth.
Naomi thought of all these things
brooding over Ruth's hardness of
heart as she sat waiting for her to
return. "A heathen woman at
heart" she muttered. "A true
daughter of Moab! Well do I remem-
ber her tears over Mahlon's funeral
bed. And that but a year ago. And
now because Boaz is young and good
to look upon and rich she gives her-
self to him gladly and looks eagerly
for the day of her espousals. No
daughter of Israel could prove her-
self so faithless to k husband she
pretended to love " Thus thought Na-
omi her mother love for her dead
son helping her to forget how Ruth
had left native land and kinsfolks foi
her sake caring for her as tenderly
as though she had been her own
blood.
She looked up to see Ruth stand-
ing before her. "Well?" she as'keo'
and anxiety made voice hard and
shrill. "What of Boat ?"
Ruth opened her mantle before she
spoke. "These six measures of bar-
ley did Boat give me" bhe answered
displaying the gift she brought with
her "and he has promised that he
will act the kinsman's part to me."
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Price Five CenU
She sighed a little her sad eyes look-
ing through the open window toward
the hills of Moab her home which
lay beyond the Jordan.
"He said" continued Ruth "that
there was one nearer of kin to my
husband's house than he. But if he
could buy the land of your husband
for himself then he would have a
right to wed me. Today he goes to
meet the enlers at the gate that they
may talk of this thing among them-
selves" Naomi rose heavily from her seat
the old anger for Ruths heartlessness
stirring within her mingled with joy
that Boaz would redeem her sons' in-
heritance and perhaps raise children
in his stead.
"I know Boaz" she said at last
"and that he will not rest until he
has finished this thing .... You will
be happy with Boaz for he is a good
and honorable man."
"I was happy with Mahlon" an-
swered Ruth solftly her eyes looking
again toward Moab where Mahlon had
led her from her fathers house to his
own.
"Think no longer of Mahlon" com-
manded Naomi again speaking
harshly for you are young and can
not live with the dead No doubt Or-
pah the wife of Chilion his brother
is already wed and has forgotten ev-
en his name. You need not mourn
for him for you go to a new home
and a new joy. Let me mourn in
your stead; it will not be hard for
me for I am his mother."
"Yes you are his mother" mumur-
ed Ruth a strange wistfulness in her
gentle face.
The old Chronicles tell us how Boaz
met the elders at the gate and devised
with them and the nearest of kin to
Mahlon the dead husband of the girl
Ruth how he might purchase for him-
self her Inheritance and wed her ac-
cording to the laws of Israel. They
tell also of the edding day and the
blessings of the people of Bethlehem
uttered as they took their vows bless-
ings that spoke of the future when
the house of Ruth and Boat would be
famous in Bethlehem And they speak
a little of the day when Ruth held her
first-born son in her arms but they
did not tell hte whole story.
For when Naomi stood beside the
bed of Ruth and took the new-born
child from her arms she wept for the
first time since the day that the earth
had covered the bodies of her hus-
band and her two sons. For now she
knew that the name of her son Mah-
lon would never perish In Israel-
From the next room she could hear
the women of Bethlehem friends of
her youth rejoicing In her new-found
joy. She heard their rolces rising
and falling In their festal song:
"There Is son born to Naomi;
(Continued on Page 16).
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Fox, George. The Jewish Monitor (Fort Worth-Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 9, No. 8, Ed. 1 Friday, June 10, 1921, newspaper, June 10, 1921; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth296816/m1/1/: accessed July 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .