SHA'AREI MEGUILAH: Gates of the Meguilah - THE BOOK OF RUTH (SHA'AREI MEGUILAH - ENGLISH)

The Book of Ruth, unlike the other books of the Tanakh, is not actually called as SEFER (ספר) - book - but rather as MEGUILAH (מגילה) - scroll. This name is also given to four other books in the Scriptures, namely: Meguilat Esther, Meguilat Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs), Meguilat Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) and Meguilat Eichah (Lamentations). The Meguilot, or "scrolls", are made up of five relatively short books that form part of a whole within the traditions of the People of Israel. These five books contained in the K'TUVIM of the Tanakh shape a compendium of writings of extreme importance, both morally and spiritually.

Just as the Meguilot are made up of five books, the Torah is made up of five books. It is in the Meguilot that the more mystical teachings found in the Torah are taught and expounded in a practical way. Due to that, the Gemara states that a person may set his Torah study aside for a while in order to study the Meguilot. This shows how the Meguilot are valuable and important. The Torah, in a way, to be fully grasped, demands the study of those “scrolls” and for this reason, the study of the Meguilot is just as meritorious as dedication to the study of the Torah itself. And why both must walk side by side? Unlike what it is seen in the Torah accounts, where Hashem manifests Himself and operates in His world openly, in the Meguilot we see the same divine works and miracles in a more hidden way. The way Hashem manifests Himself in the Meguilot, where human eyes and rationality are not able to perceive Him during the process, it is the same way we experience Hashem in our lives in a daily basis. This simple difference makes the Meguilot much more connected to our reality of life and our human understanding. In the reality in which we live, we no longer see Hashem acting in the way He did at the time of the Torah. The Meguilot, unlike the Torah, are capable of connecting us to the spiritual worlds and elevating our understanding so that we can build a more intimate relationship with Hashem within the reality in which we live. The Meguilot are capable of this feat with greater mastery than the Torah itself, and why? Because in the Meguilot Hashem works in the same way that He works in the "coincidences" of life, in the hidden and within human improbabilities.

SHA'REI MEGUILAH - THE BOOK OF RUTH elucidates the divine words of the Book of Ruth in a mystical and spiritual way, always turning its teachings to the human behavioral side. This work follows the rabbinic way of elucidating the Scriptures.

The books in the SHA'AREI MEGUILAH collection are part of the SHA'AREI TORAH collection.

WARNING
THIS BOOK HAS NOT BEEN ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN ENGLISH AND A NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER HAS TRANSLATED IT. THUS IT STILL CONTAINS GRAMMATICAL ERRORS, AS WELL AS SPELL ERRORS AND IT COULD BE UNCLEAR IN SOME PARTS.