Midreshet Amit

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We are about to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot at which time we read Megillat Rut. What is the connection between Rut and the holiday of Shavuot? Why do we read this megillah on this holiday?

If we look at the Shalosh Regalim as representing the story of Am Yisrael, three related themes emerge. First, Pesach is redemption. Hashem saved the Jewish people by taking them out of Egypt. Second, Succot is protection. We sit in little huts to remember how Hashem was - and continues to be - our caretaker and protector. Finally, Shavuot is the bridge between Pesach and Succot. On Shavuot, the Jews didn't just accept the Torah but rather, the Har Sinai experience transformed the entire nation. We became a "goy kadosh," a holy nation, and the lives of the Jewish people were changed forever.

We can now understand the true connection between Megillat Rut and Shavuot. Rut embraced a new life as a Jewish woman. She left everything behind for an unknown and unstable future. Despite the enormous risk and the long odds in the end she became the mother of royalty, as David Hamelech was one of her descendants. Just as she experienced a transformation on an individual level, so too the Jewish people also were transformed by their experience at Har Siani.

This year at Midreshet AMIT each of our students followed the example of Rut and experienced her own "personal Shavuot." The Torah that has been studied by each student will influence their future observance of mitzvot. Relationships with teachers and the lessons learned will remain forever and influence who the type of people our students become. The "zugot," with whom our girls spent so many hours, were role models for people who truly "live chesed." Finally, the experiences shared with the children of Beit Hayeled will remain and impact the girls' futures in their personal commitment to chesed and Am Yisrael.