"And behold, Boaz was coming from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, 'God be with you,' and they said to him, 'May God bless you.'I translated the verse according to its usual understanding, that Boaz blessed his workers with the phrase, "God be with you," which was the traditional greeting, and they responded likewise with a traditional blessing, "May God bless you."
However, the Rabbi Eliyahu ("the Gaon") of Vilna (ad loc) explains differently:
The Zohar teaches that when two Jews unite, the Divine Presence joins them, but this so long as they engage in Torah matters, but if they do not that which pleases God, the Divine Presense abandons them, as is written in the Torah: 'Let no unseemly thing be seen among you lest [the Divine Presence] abandon you.' So too here when [Boaz] saw a maiden among [his reapers], he said: 'Is God with you?' In other words, 'Have you stumbled [in holy matters] because of her, causing the Divine Presence to abandon you?'
