Rav Zeira explained “Megilat Rut does not contain the laws of impurity or purity, nor the laws of that which is forbidden or that which is permitted. Why, then, what is written? To teach us the reward accorded to those who engage in acts of kindness.”
Rut Rabbah 2:14

א"ר זעירא מגלה זו אין בה לא טומאה ולא טהרה ולא איסור ולא היתר ולמה נכתבה ללמדך כמה שכר טוב לגומלי חסדים
-רות רבה ב:יד

What is it about the Book of Ruth that prompted Rav Zeira to assert that its primary message is that of chesed? What is the significance of reading this scroll on the holiday of Shavuot in particular, the day that we also celebrate matan Torah? In order to fully answer each of these questions it is critical that we develop a deeper understanding of chesed from a Torah perspective.

When we consider the imperative of chesed there are two primary sources that the commentators point us to; the passage commanding us “to love your neighbor” and the passage of “halachta b’drachav” which directs us to emulate the kindness, or acts of kindness, displayed by God.67 Rabbi Dr. Walter Wurzburger explains that Rambam understands emulation of the Divine, or imitatio Dei, as the cultivation of an ethical personality that mirrors the attributes commonly associated with God. Rabbi Wurzburger terms this approach towards imitatio Dei as “virtueethics” which he explains “focuses on the ethical quality of the state of mind of the agent”. The originality of the Maimonidiean approach, explains Rabbi Wurzburger, is elevating the “imitation of God through the cultivation of moral dispositions as a specific religious imperative.

Rabbi Yitchak Blau points out that the formulation of imitatio Dei as virtue-ethics, or “shifting the ethics from the act to the agent” results in a number of significant implications.69 On the one hand, it transforms our attitude towards legally mandated acts of chesed and tzedaka; as a result of absorbing and emulating God’s ways the primary motivation in one’s act of chesed is internal compassion and care for another rather than any specific legal obligation. In this way giving tzeddakah with a compassionate attitude would fulfill both the mandate of “love your neighbor” and imitatio Dei. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, imitatio Dei as virtue ethics extends beyond halakhically mandated chesed. A person who is compassionate will be inclined toward action above and beyond his or her legal obligations. And in turn, any act of chesed that results from this heightened sensitivity takes on religious import as an expression of imitatio Dei. Armed with a new understanding of chesed and virtue-ethics we are able to return to the Book of
Ruth and the holiday of Shavuot.

On the most basic level, the megillah interlaces the two realms of chesed; the halakhic and super halakhic. The second chapter of Ruth makes extensive reference to the biblical commandment of leket, allowing the poor to collect fallen grains, as Ruth’s initial connection to Boaz is through this very mitzvah. But the more significant theme of the scroll is the supererogatory chesed, the chesed that stems from imitatio Dei, which Ruth and Boaz display. Ruth willingly leaves her family and her homeland to follow Naomi, her destitute mother-in-law, into a foreign land while
Boaz commits to marry Ruth in order to perpetuate the name of her deceased husband. Neither character was obligated to act as they did and in doing so they remind us that the chesed of imitatio Dei extends far beyond the letter of the law. The Book of Ruth, therefore, represents chesed par excellence.

If we go a step further, however, we can understand why it is this megillah in particular that we read on the holiday of Shavuot. In order to do so it is important to consider the holiday of Shavuot in the context of Pesach. The fundamental message of Pesach is one of redemption and nationhood. We are enjoined to relive the exodus and once again experience the dramatic shift from slavery to freedom, from an oppressed people to a redeemed people. Not only does this message shape our self-image as a Jewish nation, we are informed that our origin as slaves must also frame our relationship with those who are suffering amongst us. And while the notion that we were once slaves in Egypt appears in the context of specific mandates to alleviate the suffering of others the power of this narrative is primarily in the way that it shapes our attitude towards suffering, towards otherness. We have been there, we know what it means to be outsiders, to be destitute and broken, and therefore we can both empathize and help. Fifty days later Shavuot, zman matan Torateinu, is upon us and we celebrate that our commitment to God and to community is given expression through clearly defined obligations and laws. Yet, there is a real concern is that our dedication to the letter of the law will replace the powerful message of the Exodus narrative and that narrow legalism will limit and perhaps even undermine the values we imbibed during Pesach.

How appropriate, then, that it is on Shavuot that we celebrate and extol the importance virtueethics, of imitatio Dei, specifically in regard to how it shapes our commitment to community. How incredibly powerful that theme  supererogatory chesed that is woven throughout the megillah gently remind us that receiving and keeping the Torah is one manifestation of our commitment to God, but certainly does not exhaust the ways in which we are encouraged and expected to express imitatio Dei.

In this way Shavuot is transformed into a unique opportunity to reflect on how to expand our individual and collective commitment to emulating God through our engagement with community. How can we better inculcate chesed oriented personalities such that acts of kindness, compassion and social justice become second nature and extend above and beyond formal legal categories?72 May this Shavuot be an opportunity for us to recommit to the chesed of imitatio Dei in the fullest way.