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words and music by Dovid Kerner

vocal, guitar and harmonica: Dovid

keyboard and bass: Steve Kerner

A long, long time ago, in a land far away
A young girl named Ruth met a young man one day
He had traveled with his family from their home in Bethlehem
They fell in love and they got married, the two of them.

But in the tenth year of their marriage, there rose a mournful cry
Ruth's dear young husband, he suddenly did die.
Would the dark clouds ever scatter, would the bad news ever cease?
You see his father and his brother had also died, may their souls all rest in peace.

To be widowed with no children, Ruth's lot was awfully sad
And Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi, she lost everyone she had
She cried aloud most bitterly, her tears they fell like rain
"Though I love you like a daughter Ruth, I must return to from where I came."

"Yes I must return to Bethlehem, and you've no future there
You'd be a stranger and an outcast, you must start anew right here"
But Ruth reached out and the heavens shook, as she whispered through her pain
"Where ever you travel Naomi, that's where I shall remain."

"Though my road it might be rocky, and my trials they might be hard
Your people shall be my people and your G-d my G-d
This town has served its purpose but my time here now is through
I'm by your side, let's travel on, I choose to be a Jew."

Now when they returned to Bethlehem, well the people could not be sure
Was this the same Naomi that they had known before?
Where once they saw her charm and grace now they only saw her poverty
And that foreign girl who was by her side - well they must have been a sight to see.

But the sun was coming up like a ripe pomegranate and the birds were starting to chirp
And there was Ruth with her basket in her hand heading out to begin her work
It was the time of the barley harvest, time to gather in the crop
And Ruth would obey what the Law does say, that she should gather what the farmers drop.

And when Ruth returned from the fields that night with her basket filled with grain
She told Naomi all about her day and Naomi did exclaim
"Dear daughter Ruth may the G-d of Truth and Kindness end our sorrow
The man who owns those fields is our relative, you'll return to him tomorrow"

Now Boaz was a wise and caring man he was an elder of the town
For his advice and his assistance, people'd come from miles around
To the widow and the orphan and the destitute, he would always lend a hand
He said, "Ruth you'll glean in my fields today, no need to stray onto the neighbor's land."

Well the reason certain things will happen, sometimes its hard to understand
But that kindness begets kindness, you know its part of the master plan
So that Boaz and Ruth would marry, it shouldn't come as any great surprise
And that from their child would come the man named Dovid ben Yishai.

Ruth, Ruth, Ruth
The acts of kindness from your youth
Reverberate throughout the generations
They're woven deep within the cloth
From which redemption will spring forth
And provide our everlasting consolation.

                                                                                  The saga continues ...