Midrash sur Ruth 1:8

“Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law: Go, return each woman to her mother's house; may the Lord perform kindness with you, as you performed with the dead, and with me” (Ruth 1:8).
“Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law: Go, return each woman to her mother's house [beit immah]” – to the house of her nation [beit ummatah].¹⁰⁵Typically one’s home is referred to as one’s father’s, not one’s mother’s, house. Consequently, the midrash finds in this term a reference to rejoining their original nations. The mother of Avnimos the weaver died, and Rabbi Meir ascended to pay his respects and found them sitting in mourning. Later, his father died, and Rabbi Meir ascended to pay his respects and found them engaged in their labor. He said to him: ‘It appears to me that your mother was dearer to you than your father.’ He said to him: ‘But is it not written so: “Each…to her mother’s house”?¹⁰⁶Proving that the mother is more dear than the father. He said to him: ‘Well said, as there is no paternity among gentiles.’¹⁰⁷The identity of the father is uncertain. Rabbi Meir agreed with Avnimos but for a different reason. Avnimos was a gentile.

“May the Lord perform [ya’as] kindness with you” – Rabbi Ḥanina bar Ada said: It is written “ya’aseh.”¹⁰⁸Lest you think that Naomi’s blessing was halfhearted, as it is read without the heh, it is not so, as it is written with a heh. “As you performed with the dead” – that you tended to their shrouds; “and with me” – that you relinquished your marriage contracts. Rabbi Ze’eira said: This scroll¹⁰⁹The book of Ruth. does not contain [the laws of] purity or impurity, and not prohibitions or allowances. Why was it written? It is to teach you the extent of the good reward for those who perform kindness.

“Turn back, my daughters, go, as I am too old to be with a husband. If I were to say: I have hope, even were I to be with a husband tonight, and also were I to bear sons” (Ruth 1:12).
“Turn back, my daughters, go” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said in the name of Rabbi Yudan bar Rabbi Ḥanina: In three places it is written here: “Turn back” (Ruth 1:8), “Turn back” (Ruth 1:11), “Turn back” (Ruth 1:12), corresponding to the three times that one rejects a convert. If he insists beyond that, one accepts him. Rabbi Yitzḥak said: “A stranger shall not stay the night outside” (Job 31:32). A person shall always reject with the left and accept with the right.¹¹³Rejection should be performed weakly, while the subsequent acceptance should be undertaken powerfully. “As I am too old to be with a husband […were I to be with a husband tonight]” – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Torah teaches you proper conduct, that one engages in marital relations at night and not by day. That is what is written: “In the evening she would come and in the morning she would return” (Esther 2:14), and it is written: “Were I to be with a husband tonight.”