Ruth Blau - רות בלויא, Part 1

B"H

Ruth Blau (Bloi) was the second wife of the formerly well - known head of Jerusalem's Neturei Karta, Rabbi Amram Blau. Most facts about the two are already known but now I got hold of Ruth's autobiography published in 1979 (in Hebrew). The French original version of the book is called "Les Guardiens de la Cite" and the Hebrew translation is named "Shomrei Ha'Ir - שומרי העיר".

Ruth Blau, formerly Madeleine Ferraille, was born into a French Catholic family. In her book she claims that she didn't have such a great happy childhood due to some quarrels between her parents. Alreday at an early age she promised herself not to depend on a potential future husband but make decisions on her own.

Her family was Catholic but her mother was absolutely anti - religion despite that she admitted that there must be a G - d. But if so, then only ONE and not a trinity. Ruth, on the other hand, believed in G - d and felt the urge to pray. At the age of three, she and her parents moved from Calais to Paris where they lived in a tiny little apartment in Rue De Kant. Her parents slept in one room and Ruth slept on a couch in another room. Besides the two tiny rooms, they only had a kitchen.

Her father hated the Christian "Meshiach" Joshke and once Ruth asked a priest how G - d could have come down into a human being when He is probably spiritual and eternal. She says in her book that she doesn't remember the priest's answer but that he got really angry at her. Ruth (then still MADELEINE) got many doubts about what the church is telling her to believe. For instance, she found it extremely disgusting that her Catholic community used to kiss various Christian statues.

She read Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and started learning German. Jews who had escaped Hitler Germany and fled to France became her teachers. They also told her how the Jews suffered in Germany.

In late summer 1937, she met her first husband who was then only 19 years old. She describes him as a quiet man who grew up as an orphan. They married in September 1939. The Second World War begun and Ruth's husband joined the French army. She bore her son Claude but describes her marriage as not a happy one. On September 5, 1942, she filed for divorce. Afterwards she signed up at the University of Toulouse and started studying geography as well as history. She got her degree in 1943 and started to work as a school teacher. However, she still continued the university and studying geology. She said that her extreme passion for science happened in order to stop her hunger for answers. Answers to her questions about G - d the the entire being.

In 1947 she and her son Claude moved to Geneva. In order to make a living, Ruth sold insurances at night and kept on studying for her PhD. during the day.

To me it looks like Ruth (Madeleine) was always searching for something. For answers, for things she didn't even know she was looking for.

I will anxiously continue reading her biography but I am wondering already how such an educated woman fit into the Mea Shearim backyard "Batei Ungarin".



Links:


The secret life of Ruth Blau

Notes on a Scandal by the Failed Messiah

I do not agree to all facts and reasons the Failed Messiah is listing ! In fact, there are further reasons involved why Rabbi Blau davka married the French convert Ruth Ben David. Why a convert at all and not a born Jewish woman ?
Furthermore Ruth Blau writes in her biography "Shomrei Ha'Ir" that she filed the divorce from her first husband on September 5, 1942.