As Shavuot approaches and we once again stand spiritually at Sinai, we return not only to the giving of the Torah, but also to one of the deepest and most emotional questions confronting the Jewish world today:

In a post-October 7 world, this no longer feels like an abstract theological discussion. It has become deeply personal and existential.

Is Judaism merely a religion? A culture? An ethnicity? Or is it something larger — a covenant, a people, a shared memory, and a shared destiny?

Perhaps the answer was already embedded thousands of years ago in the Book of Ruth, the very text we read on Shavuot.

But we must not forget something essential: Shavuot is not only about Ruth.

It is about receiving the Torah itself.

And perhaps after October 7, many Jews instinctively felt that we once again needed to remember who we are and what we received at Sinai.

Ruth’s immortal declaration to Naomi remains one of the defining statements of Jewish identity:

“Wherever you go, I will go… your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” — Ruth 1:16

Notice the order carefully.

“Your people shall be my people.”

Judaism begins not only with belief, but with belonging.

With peoplehood.........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)