A Soul Analogy of the Book of Ruth
There are five levels of the human soul. The point of our lives in this world is to strive to elevate ourselves by completing the tikkun (spiritual repair) of each level. To understand this, we first need to know how the levels are defined.
The relationship of the characters of Ruth to each other demonstrate the inter-relationship of the levels of the soul, drawing a person ever closer to Hashem.
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Serach Bat Asher
Serach was the daughter of Asher. She is only mentioned in the Torah in the list of the seventy souls of Yacov's family who descended into Egypt (Genesis 46:17; Numbers 26:46; I Chronicles 7:30). However, we know that whenever a person merited mentioning, there was good reason. Serach's story is told in the Midrashim, which tell a wonderful story of a little known heroine in Jewish history. Serach's fascinating story has captured the imagination of the Jewish People throughout history. However, there is much depth to Serach, and the message of her life is one of the truth overcoming lies, of life and redemption.
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Devora and Barak
We can see a lot of parallels with Biblical Israel. For instance, the Biblical Barak lived in a time when Israel was at war with the Caananites of the northern part of the Land of Israel. He was afraid of them--so afraid that he told Devora the Prophetess that he would not face them without her. The Caananites had a mighty armored military with 900 iron chariots, (reminiscent of the Syrians' enormous tank corps of our time). (Egypt had only had 600 chariots.) Israel had no chariots and few weapons, for Jabin, the king of the Caananites had declared it illegal for the Israelites to forge weapons. Barak was afraid; he would have buckled. Devora told him that she would go, but the credit for the victory would go to a woman rather than to him.
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