פירוש על רות 1:19

So the two of them went on. Rabbi Abahu said, “Come and see how dear the proselytes are before the Holy One, Blessed Is He. As soon as she decided to convert, Scripture compared her to Naomi [by stating, “the two of them...”].²⁸Despite leaving her home and family, Rus’ determination was so strong that Scripture ranks her equally with Naomi.

The whole city buzzed with excitement over them. The women said, “Can this be Naomi?” The gematria of Vatayhom kol ha’ir, “The whole city buzzed,” is the same as Yom katzir omer hayah, “It was the day of the harvesting of barley,” according to Rabbi Moses Galante.¹⁰Moshe ben Yonatan Galante (1621 – 1689 Jerusalem), grandson of Moshe Galante, was a 17th-century rabbi at Jerusalem. He served as the first Rishon Le'Zion and was called Magen (מגן) with reference to the initials of his name. He wrote Zebaḥ ha-Shelamim, a harmonization of contradictory Biblical passages and of Biblical with Talmudical statements (edited by his grandson Moses Ḥagis, Amsterdam, 1707–08), and Ḳorban Ḥagigah, halakhic and kabalistic novellæ (Venice, 1714). (Wikipedia) As it says, “Call me Mara,” (Ruth 1:20) The Leket Shmuel¹¹A midrashic compilation on various subjects with a supplement entitled Derush Shemu’el on the Torah by R. Samuel Feivush ben Joseph Yuzpa Katz. He was a grandson of R. Joshua Falk (Perishah u-Derishah) and served as sofer in Lublin. Samuel was forced to flee that city in 1656 due to pogroms, settling in Vienna, where he was appointed the city scribe. explained that because Naomi did not protest to her husbands and sons (for leaving Beit Lechem), it caused their deaths, Moshe Alsheikh¹²Alsheikh, Moses (d. after 1593), rabbi and Bible commentator, born in Adrianople. He studied in Salonika under Joseph *Taitaẓak and Joseph *Caro, and then emigrated to Ereẓ Israel, settling in Safed, where he gained prominence as an halakhic authority, a teacher in two talmudic academies, and a preacher. (Encyclopedia.com) writes that if this is so, then she was guilty of the sin of bloodshed and was judged to be reincarnated as Mara as the holy Zohar states. That is why she says, “Call me Mara.” It might be that this is alluded to when it says, “for Shaddai has made my lot very bitter.” “Made bitter,” Ha’mayr has the same letters as Marah. In other words God would forgive her in the way he embittered her and caused her to be punished bitterly in a place of bitterness. She said, “I went forth full…” It is possible that this alludes to what Rabbi Israel Saruk¹³Israel Sarug Ashkenazi (also "Saruk") (16th cent.; fl. 1590–1610) was a pupil of Isaac Luria, and devoted himself at the death of his master to the propagation of the latter's Kabbalistic system, for which he gained many adherents in various parts of Italy. Among these the most prominent were Menahem Azariah da Fano, whom he persuaded to spend large sums of money in the acquisition of Luria's manuscripts, and Aaron Berechiah of Modena, author of the Ma'abar Yabboḳ (Ma'abar Yabboḳ, Ḳorban Ta'anit, i.). (Wikipedia) said. Naomi is connected to the mystery of Leah. The statement, I left full (milai’ah); read it, with a hirik under the mem so it says Me’Leah, (read the verse, “I went forth like Leah”) This is strange, for it says, “But Adonai has sent me back empty,” even though Leah was successful in giving birth to children.

The whole city was astir. The whole city became astir. They had all gathered to bury the wife of Bo’az, who had died that very day.²⁹Apparently the people of the city were gathered together because “the whole city” learned so quickly of their return. Rashi therefore explains why they had gathered.

Is this [really] Naomi. The hai is vowelized with a chataf because it is in the interrogative. Is this Naomi who was accustomed to travel in covered wagons and with the mules?³⁰Because of the affliction and the hunger that she endured, Naomi’s appearance changed so drastically that they were hardly able to recognize her. Have you seen what has befallen her because she went abroad [i.e., outside Eretz Yisroel]?