In 2011, under the mentorship of Prof. Susan Handelman, an eminent scholar and author, I submitted my MA thesis to Bar-Ilan University. Its title was “Performing Ruth: Dramatic Exegesis in Religious Women’s Theater Groups, with an Emphasis on the Character of Naomi.”

I dedicate this updated excerpt from my conclusion of that thesis to those women who do not have biological or adopted children but have given tirelessly to others – relatives, students, friends, colleagues, community members – who, in their own way, have become their “children.”

Since Oct. 7 especially, but even before, many of the themes in Megillat Ruth resonate with our lives in Israel, themes that are not unique to the holiday of Shavuot that we recently celebrated.

We see the pain and the challenges of leaving one h

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