How much longer do we have to put up with our local Jewish newspaper discrediting itself and the community, by publishing material that is beyond the bounds of normative Jewish interpretation, insulting to intelligent readers, and offensive to believing Jews?
The assertion that the message of the book of Ruth is that we should embrace the concept of mixed marriages is simply absurd.
The inference that assimilation should be fostered is destructive.
It is entirely relevant that Ruth is the descendent of a Moabite (a nation precluded from Jewish destiny) and the progenitor of the Messianic era, but for the exact opposite reasons as the ones suggested in the Maccabean. Ruth represents one of the most awesome twists in human history, teaching us the miracle of divine intervention. Ruth allows us to understand that if we show faith, despite the most seemingly infallible challenges in the world, then reward will come.
It is not a theological “problem” that Ruth was a convert, as the Maccabean would have us beleive. It is precisely the point. Ruth is symbolic of Jewish loyalty to Torah, paradoxical to the suggestion that she represents the idea it should be disbandoned.
Ruth secured her place in Jewish destiny by saying Wherever you go I will go; wherever you lodge I will lodge. Your nation is my nation; and your G-d is my G-d.
This is the true way to react positively to changes in society. The alternative is to water-down, reinterpret, change, bastardise, and misrepresent Jewish ideas that have remained true and authentic for 4000 years.
The Maccabean article talks in general terms about all religions, and advocates that religion needs to respond to changes in societal values. That response, writes the pages of the Maccabean, should be to sanction and encourage assimilation, homosexuality, or anything else that is desired in the form of a human relationship.
Once again, the Maccabean has shamed its readership and contributed towards the destruction of Jewish identity in Perth.
Original Post 1 Feb 2008