Author of Novel on Biblical Heroine Ruth

Speaks at Flatbush & Shaare Torah Center

 

By Francesca Norsen Tate

 

            A headstrong girl who is also a gifted scribe encounters a family secret hidden among the scrolls in Bethlehem. She determines to write about it, much against the advice of her elders, including the Biblical prophet Samuel. This is one of the many plots and themes of a newly-published novel, The Garden of Ruth. Author Eva Etzioni-Halevy, herself a scholar and scribe, will speak at the Flatbush and Shaare Torah Center on May 29.

            The Biblical book of Ruth, on which this novel is based, is customarily read during the Jewish spring festival of Shavuot, which this year falls on May 22. During this month, Dr. Etzioni-Halevy—or Eva, as she likes being called—is on an U.S. tour of author talks in the days surrounding Shavuot, discussing The Garden of Ruth’s numerous intertwined themes, among them true love, interfaith tolerance and feminism, and a mystery that she seeks to unfold.

            The Garden of Ruth unfolds the Biblical Ruth’s story within another story—that of a fictional teenage girl named Osnath, niece of the prophet Samuel, who is staying with relatives in Bethlehem. Osnath’s story opens The Garden of Ruth. She finds a venomous snake in her room and is quick to blame—perhaps unjustly, as is later revealed—the future King David’s eldest brother who had quite passionately taken Osnath’s innocence from her some time ago and who then professes and pledges his love to her. The Garden of Ruth’s author presents Osnath’s story with a tender understanding of teenage angst but not always approving of Osnath’s willfulness. Osnath’s own turbulent search for love is woven into a second story, her stubborn quest to uncover a dark family secret in the family of the Biblical Ruth and Boaz.

            As many readers familiar with the Biblical Ruth will remember, there existed a unnamed man whose kinship to Naomi and Ruth was closer than that of Boaz. Only after this unnamed kinsman repudiates the claim to marry Ruth that comes parceled with the land he would redeem, can Boaz step in.

            “This point struck me as part of the mystery of the Ruth story,” Eva wrote in an email interview.  “I asked myself, though he has such a strategic role in the story, why is his name not mentioned? Could there have been something so horrifying about him that made it necessary to conceal it? And why did he refuse to marry Ruth, given that by doing so he would have inherited her deceased husband's property and enriched himself? Could it be that he had met her before in a clandestine relationship and things had gone awry between them?” wonders Eva. “His argument that he does not want to jeopardize his inheritance seems like a weak subterfuge, unless he already had a wife and did not want to jeopardize his relationship with her.

            “My novel is really an attempt to unravel the mystery, giving my own interpretation, which I hope makes for light enjoyable reading, yet is also faithful to the spirit of the Bible.”

            Eva points out as part of an online interview with the First Estate that “Women who lived some three thousand years ago could not be presented as blatant feminists. So the feminist messages had to be conveyed in a subtle manner, but they are nonetheless there. The first such message stems from the fact that the Bible has been written chiefly about men from a male point of view. The women appear in it as side characters, as seen in the eyes of men.” Whereas, Eva reverses this perspective: The Garden of Ruth “is written  first and foremost about women, from a feminine perspective. The men are still very important, but they are presented as seen through the eyes of women.”

            The Garden of Ruth brings out the strong character of women who cope with living in a society with limited opportunities for females. “It is also fascinating (and paradoxical) that the Bible describes the women as weak in their position, with most of the laws skewed against them, but also mostly as strong in their character and able to use their feminine strength and the friendship between them, to achieve what they wanted. What I find particularly enthralling about Naomi, is that she serves as Ruth's sexual advisor, a sort of a biblical Ruth Westheimer, instructing Ruth on how to seduce Boaz, a theme I have also developed in my novel.”

            Eva also points out on her website, www.evaetzionihalevy.com, that The Garden of Ruth “is based on firm precedent in the Bible, which shows that although women were dominated by men, most found various ingenious ways of obtaining what they wanted.” Among these Biblical heroines can be counted Tamar, daughter-in-law to Judah; and the prophetess and judge Deborah.  And The Garden of Ruth brings out Adah, whose cheerful, smiling disposition hides a shrewd young woman who wants out of an unhappy marriage without violating the Torah.

            Interfaith tolerance is one of the points that Eva hopes to emphasize in her talks.

            “The biblical book of Ruth is renowned for its emphasis on interfaith tolerance, a theme I have further developed in The Garden of Ruth. The message is loud and clear: embrace the stranger in your midst, so that she may not be a stranger any more. Ruth is sometimes referred to as the first convert to Judaism, but when you look at the biblical Ruth (and at my novel as well), Ruth accepted the God of Israel, but she did not undergo any ritual of conversion.”

            Eva points out, “in the entire Bible there is no ritual of conversion for women. To my mind, this testifies to an important strand of interfaith tolerance in the Bible prohibitions on intermarriage are only put forward where there is a danger that the non-Jewish women will seduce their husbands to idol worship. Where no such danger exists (for instance with respect to war captives), there is no prohibition. So we find that, indeed, David is descended from a foreigner, and this did not debar him from becoming Israel's most glorious king, who is also considered to be the ancestor of the Messiah.”

            Eva Etzioni-Halevy is a native of Vienna, whose family was fortunate enough to escape in 1939. She and her family survived the Holocaust. They stayed in Italy, much of the time in hiding. She attended a religious boarding school, then continued her education at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem with a focus on sociology. She earned her Ph.D. from Tel-Aviv University. Except for two long stretches of time in the United States and Australia, Eva has lived most of her life in Israel. She has written books and articles in political sociology, both in English and in Hebrew. Following a lengthy academic career in various universities, I was appointed professor of Sociology at Bar-Ilan University, and is now Professor emeritus.

            “As part of searching for my roots, writes Eva,  “I returned to the religious orientation I had previously abandoned. It is this roots-seeking process that also led me to the discovery of the rich world of the Bible, and to the intention of bringing it to life for contemporary readers through the writing of biblical novels.”

            Eva will continue her passion for writing about strong Biblical women figures. She is working on her forthcoming book about the renowned prophetess and judge, Deborah, and the military commander Barak, as described in the Biblical book of Judges.

Dr. Eva Etzioni-Halevy will speak on The Garden of Ruth at the Flatbush & Shaare Torah Center’s Meet the Author Luncheon and book review on Tuesday, May 29^, starting at 11:30 a.m. The Flatbush & Shaare Torah Center is at 325 East 5^th Street in Kensington.