Why Boaz Felt Ruth's Hair on the Threshing Floor

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Bo 16:4

"And she uncovered his feet and lay down" (Ruth 3:7). "And it came to pass at midnight," etc. (ibid. 3:8) — that he had arisen to occupy himself with Torah. "The man trembled and turned" (ibid.). He came to cry out; immediately she seized him. And this expression is nothing but an expression of grasping, as it is said: "And Samson grasped" the two middle pillars (Judges 16:29). What is the meaning of "and he trembled"? He thought: perhaps it is a spirit or a harmful demon (mazziq). He placed his hand upon her head and found her to be a woman, for the demons (shedim) have no hair.

Themes

Biblical References