Even though there is a kinship memory of the Moabites to the Israelites (through Abraham’s nephew, Lot) Moses decreed that the Hebrew children should have nothing to do with the Moabites since they did not help the Chosen People as they journeyed through the desert. But Ruth, the Moabite woman, insisted that the bond of love that exists between her and her mother-in-law, an Israelite, perdured even after the death of her spouse. Ruth eventually was integrated into Jewish society and became the great-grandmother of King David. The story reminds us to stretch the ordinary bonds of who we consider “one of our own.” We must be open those who are other, who are different as from God since they enrich our understanding of ourselves.
