The Gemara in Shabbos 88a, explaining the words "at the bottom of the mountain," says, "Amar Rabi Avdimi bar Chama bar Chassa,  Rav Avdimi bar Chama bar Chasa said: ‘Melameid shekafa aleihem har kegiggis. This teaches that the Holy One, Blessed is He, covered them with the mountain as though it were an upturned vat, like a huge upside down beer barrel. V'amar lahem, ‘Im mekablim haTorah mutav, Vim lahv, shom tehei kvuraschem” And He said to them, If you accept the Torah, fine, but if not, there will be your burial place”

Why did G-D say, “There will be your burial place? He should have said, Here will be your burial place”- right here at Har Sinai, under the mountain?

There is a principle in life brought down by our sages - Bdereck sheadam rotzeh leileich, molichin oso - Whatever path a person chooses, G-D helps him along that path.

G-D said, "If you choose to follow the direction of the Torah, your burial place will be in the path of Torah. If not, if you choose any path other than the Torah, there will be your burial place." You dig your own grave and decide your own burial place. If you choose it with Torah, here is where you will be buried - with the Torah heritage that you have chosen and created for yourself.

When Ruth decided to follow Naami, she told her , “Wherever you go, I will go, wherever you sleep, I will sleep, your people is my people and your God is my God.  Veka’asher  tamusi  amus,  v’sham ekaver  -  Wherever you die, I will die and there I will be buried.”

Ruth uses the same expression that G-D used to the Jewish people – “There will be your burial place.” Ruth said, v’sham ekaver  - and there I will be buried. Except in the case of Ruth, "there" means with Torah.

At Sinai, when Hashem said "There you will be buried", He was referring to any place else but with Torah. But ultimately, G-d was urging the B'nai Yisrael to choose the Torah.

Ruth chose to follow Na’ami=s path with Torah, and chose to be buried "there" in Na'amis' path, the path of Torah. Both Ruth and the Children of Israel chose Torah.

And ‘there'-in lies the connection to Shavuos - why we read Ruth on Shavuos. Because Ruth chose the Torah just as the Jewish people did at Mount Sinai.

Here, there, no matter where, may we always choose the path of Torah.

So let me ask you, the paths you've chosen in your life, have they lead you where you wanted to go? Are you where you thought you would be. . . or someplace else? Are you who you thought you would become, . . . or someone else?

Just like Ruth, as long as we're alive, we can still change course and we can still choose the Torah path. Ultimately the decision is yours and mine. Now what?

Heshie

Copyright, 2003 - Heshie Klein, MD