What's in a Name? The Friendship of Ruth and Naomi

We read about the loving friendship  between Naomi and Ruth on Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, culminating the Omer Period, in which we count up to receiving the Ten Commandments ( and from there, the rest of the Torah). 

Ruth's name is generally translated as "friendship"; in Hebrew, re'ut, which requires reading an extra letter into it: the letter Aleph which is the first hint of God's voice before the Ten Commandments were given.

Perhaps this says something about friendship: that there is an element of godliness woven into the relationship, as if it were meant to happen. This element can be seen in the way that Ruth just happened to glean in the fields of a relative of her mother-in-law Naomi, thereby making her the ancestress of King David, and by extension, the Mashiach, the Messiah, or Messianic Era.

It was no chance meeting that brought about the friendship between Ruth and Naomi!