Muslim and Jewish Families Save Each Other, 50 Years Apart
5 min read
Orpah is surely one of the most puzzling and tragic characters in the Bible. She marries the son of Elimelech, Kilyon, and when he dies, she accompanies her mother-in-law, Naomi, along with her sister, Ruth, back to the land of Israel, where they face the prospect of a life of hardship and rejection, with little prospect of getting married. Yet Orpah, as well as Ruth, seems willing to join the Jewish people, despite the challenges they would face. However, when they are about to reenter the land, Naomi makes one final plea to them to remain in Moav, reminding them of how difficult their life would be if they come with her. While Ruth insists on staying with Naomi, Orpah gives in to the arguments, kisses Naomi, and returns to Moav. With this decision, she forgoes her opportunity to permanently join the Jewish people.
Despite this decision, it is clear that Orpah must have been on a very high level to persist with Naomi until this point, and as Naomi acknowledges, she, along with Ruth, performed great kindness with her mother-in-law. Given all of this, one would have assumed that when she returned home, she remained at least somewhat righteous, and would have perhaps been in the category of a ben Noach, a Noachide, who is a non-Jew, but keeps the Seven Mitzvot that are commanded to all non-Jews.
However, the Sages paint a very different story of the events following Orpah’s separation from Naomi. The Sages tell us that on the very night when she left Naomi, she sunk to the lowest levels of immorality and depravity1. Included among her descendants is Goliath, the mighty warrior who blasphemes God. How could it be that she fell in such a dramatic way in one night?
In order to explain this problem, it is instructive to analyze the purification for a Metzora, a person who has been punished for his sins with the tzoraat affliction (whereby a person’s skin turns white – this is not the same as leprosy). One of the essential stages of this process is immersion in a mikvah. The Sefer HaChinuch suggests a reason for the significance of immersion as a key part in the repentance process which the Metsora is undergoing. He explains that the world was full of water before man was created and therefore symbolizes a return to the beginning of creation. Dipping into water is a gesture of leaving behind past sins and starting afresh2. When a person sins and then recognizes his failure, there is a natural tendency to feel guilt-ridden and low. This can be directed in a positive way, motivating him to avoid such sin in the future, however, often it has a very undesirable effect, causing the person to fall into a downward spiral of spiritual failing. When a person feels low about what he has done, he may become disconcerted and lose the strength to continue in his Divine service as before. In this way the ’fall-out’ from a sin can actually be far more damaging than the sin itself. Immersing in a mikvah after a sin symbolizes that the person is saying that he will not be bound by his past errors and will not let them bring him down further.
With this approach, we can have a deeper understanding of the explanation of Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz to explain Orpah’s dramatic fall. He explains that when she saw that she failed in the great test to join the Jewish people, she was unable to leave her sin behind and start afresh. She was greatly affected by her inability to stand up to challenges, and consequently lost all sense of balance and fell to the powers of the yetser hara (evil inclination)3.
Rabbi Shmuelevitz cites another incident in which a great man failed a test and recognized the danger he was in of falling into the same trap of being completely ensnared by the evil inclination. The Prophet Shmuel instructs King Shaul to destroy all of Amalek. However, Shaul leaves some animals and the Amalekite King Agag alive. Shmuel confronts him and tells him that he has forfeited his right to the kingdom with this sin. After failing to exonerate himself, Shaul admits his guilt but then makes a very strange request of Shmuel. “Please now honor me in front of the Sages of my people and the people of Israel...4” What was the purpose of this request - it was surely not merely an attempt by Shaul to feel better about himself. Moreover, Shmuel acceded to the request, indicating its validity. Rabbi Shmuelevitz explains that Shaul did not merely want honor, rather he knew that he was in danger of suffering a great fall and he realized that he needed to strengthen himself immediately so that he would not be adversely affected by his sin. Therefore, amidst this great fall in his spiritual level he asked Shmuel to honor him and thereby help him maintain his sense of equilibrium and start afresh5. It seems that Shmuel, despite his displeasure with Shaul, consented to his request because he recognized its importance.
While there is little risk of a person falling as far as Orpah, her stark example teaches us to be very wary of our reaction to failure or sinning, and to prevent the fallout from the sin being greater than the sin itself.
