Das Buch Ruth

"Where you go, I will go; where you stay, I will stay" - millions of couples choose this line from the Book of Ruth as their wedding motto. In this book by Ilana Pardes, we learn about the religious and cultural background of this one sentence over many centuries. The Israeli literary scholar explains the rabbinic praise of Ruth as an exemplary transformation and her Moabite background with its redemptive power. She examines the pastoral images of Ruth in early modern French painting, where she is depicted holding bundles of grain. Pardes also includes contemporary representations of Ruth in literature, photography, and film as a refugee and displaced person in her analysis. The diverse recurrence of Ruth reveals not only essential aspects of the respective times but also illuminates the origin: the Book of Ruth in the Bible.