May 18, 2026, 8:00-9:00 pm
Boaz is wealthy, powerful, and male; Ruth is a poor, widowed, non-Israelite woman alone in a space with a man she barely knows. Unfortunately, we can easily imagine an alternative universe in which a less ethical person would have seen this encounter as ripe for exploitation. And yet, Boaz does not take advantage of the situation. In an era where toxic masculinity is too explicitly dismissed or implicitly encouraged, and where the Hebrew Bible does not always provide the best models of how to treat women, we need ancient and modern role models that just because a person has the ability to exercise coercive power does not mean that they must or should use it.
Join Rabbi Josh for a shiur where we look at Boaz and Ruth’s midnight encounter, and what lessons we might be able to draw from it.
