From the Publisher
Traditionally the Book of Ruth is read during the Jewish holiday, Shavuot -- a holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah (Old Testament) to the Jewish people. It is also a tradition during this holiday to spend the night studying the Old Testament (some people even stay up all night!). The year that I worked on the publicity for Reading Ruth, my sister and I decided to have our own study session during Shavuot and we read parts of this book together. We had a wonderful time reading the poems by Marge Piercy, Ruth Whitman, and Merle Feld and discussing the themes of the Book of Ruth -- including loss, the relationship between sisters, and the bond between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. In addition to poetry, Reading Ruth includes essays, fiction, and personal narrative by famous Jewish women who are novelists, poets, rabbis, psychologists, and scholars. If you enjoy women studies and/or Bible studies you will enjoy Reading Ruth -- any time of the year!
From the Inside Flap
"The Book of Ruth is one of Western civilization's great narratives of women's relationships. This collection of modern-day interpretations brings together the wisdom, sensitivity, and spirituality of the biblical story with the struggles and insights of contemporary women. Readers will be moved and inspired by these essays."
--Susannah Heschel
Editor of On Being a Jewish Feminist
With Reading Ruth, two creative scholars have brought together an amazingly eclectic group of Jewish novelists, essayists, poets, rabbis, psychologists, and scholars--including Cynthia Ozick, Marge Piercy, Francine Klagsbrun, and Nessa Rapoport--to explore one of the most beloved stories in the Bible. In lively essays, poetry, fiction, and personal narrative, the gamut of women's experience in the modern world is illuminated by this ancient story. Whether the essayists explore relationships between sisters, the complex bond between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the place of the "other" in society, the heartache of loss, the limitations of loyalty, or the elaborate connections of family, they give voice to an exciting array of thought and interpretation that endows this sacred tale with new life.
"[A] rich, diverse, and thought-provoking collection."
--Judith Plaskow
Author of Standing Again at Sinai
"Filled with passion, humor, insight, and just the right combination of irreverence and awe, Reading Ruth puts the Book of Ruth right where it belongs--in the hands of women. All of us are the richer for it."
--Ari L. Goldman
Author of The Search for God at Harvard
"The book of Ruth is a gem in its own right. Through Reading Ruth the gem becomes a multifaceted diamond thatreflects and refracts a multiplicity of images....Read this book."
--The Rocky Mountain News
From the Back Cover
In Reading Ruth, thirty contemporary Jewish novelists, essayists, poets, rabbis, psychologists, and scholars - including Cynthia Ozick, Marge Piercy, Francine Klagsbrun, and Nessa Rapoport - explore this biblical work and reclaim it for women on their own terms. In lively essays, poetry, fiction, and personal narrative, a breathtaking gamut of women's experience in the modern world has been brought to bear to illuminate women's connection to the ancient sources. Whether they explore the relationships between sisters, the complex bond between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the place of the "other" in society, the heartache of loss, the limitations of loyalty, or the elaborate connections of family, these extraordinary intellects give voice to the exciting array of thought and interpretation that endows this sacred tale with new life. For Jewish women and all readers who want to probe the deeper levels of an ancient text, and feminists who crave a connection to our spiritual foremothers, Reading Ruth is a fascinating exploration - representing an exciting, innovative, and dynamic encounter between women and the Bible.
