Ruth and Esther: Chesed, Community and Commandedness

Introduction

Tzedakah and community building play significant roles in the lives of both Ruth and Esther. For Esther, the focus is on communal fasting and gifts to the poor; for Ruth, there is gleaning and levirate marriage. In this class that was given at Pardes during the Winter Executive Learning Seminar, Rabbi Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy explores how each of these personalities, in her own way, helped to create a more cohesive and vibrant community.

This podcast was generously sponsored by Falynn Schmidt in memory of her parents Toby Rieders and Charles Schmidt, who instilled in her a love of learning, words, tradition, community and Judaism.

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Meesh Hammer-Kossoy

Rabbi Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy is Director of the Year Program and Rosh Beit Midrash at Pardes, where she has taught since 1999. Originally from Washington, D.C., Meesh is a Pardes alumna herself, attending the Year Program in 1991-1992. Meesh holds degrees from Brandeis University and New York University, and received Orthodox ordination from Beit Midrash Har’el in 2015.

Meesh previously taught at NYU, Drisha, and Midreshet Lindenbaum. She has received multiple fellowships, including from ATID, the Memorial Foundation, and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. Despite having written her doctoral dissertation about criminal punishment in the Talmudic period, Meesh is known by her husband and three children as a lover of mercy and kindness.