It’s time again for another edition of Six Sentence Sunday. My post this week comes from my work-in-progress, Ruth and Boaz, a retelling of the Biblical tale. Regarded as perhaps the greatest show of platonic love, Ruth leaves her home to follow her mother-in-law Naomi back to Israel, where she finds love with Boaz. In today’s selection, Ruth has made her declaration and left Moab behind her, except now she’s facing an unsure future with rules she’s not exactly sure of. Let me know what you think of today’s excerpt; I appreciate your comments and thank you for stopping by my blog.
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There are few words between Ruth and Naomi as they travel to the Judean border. Even when she expressed her intent on following Naomi, the woman said little.
She just needs some time space, some time to mourn, Ruth tells herself, no different than you.
But with each step she takes towards her new life, it’s not the mourning she finds herself thinking about: how was she to show she was a true convert to G-d? She wasn’t worried about what others would think –she wanted only to please G-d by following his rules. Naomi had once told her that men were circumcised to show their devotion to G-d; so what did women do?