After the Holy One, blessed be He, informed Yechezkel of the siege that was to come upon Jerusalem, He now comes to inform him of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash itself as well. The Malbim explains that there are three prophecies in this chapter, corresponding to the three prophecies we saw in Chapter 21: corresponding to "Set your face toward the south" - this is the prophecy concerning Jerusalem; corresponding to "Prophesy against the land of Israel" - this is the prophecy we saw in Chapter 23; and corresponding to "Preach against the sanctuaries", meaning that the Beit HaMikdash would also be destroyed - this is addressed by the prophecy before us. And in the prophecy of "Set on the pot," it is said, "no lot has fallen upon it," meaning that the king of Babylon did not cast lots, but came immediately to Jerusalem. The prophet's way in this chapter: at first he spoke without a parable, and when the people said of him that he was speaking in parables, he reiterated everything and gave it a parable. And now we shall see the great parable of the chapter - the death of the prophet's wife.
וַיְהִי דְבַר־יְהֹוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר׃ בֶּן־אָדָם הִנְנִי לֹקֵחַ מִמְּךָ אֶת־מַחְמַד עֵינֶיךָ בְּמַגֵּפָה וְלֹא תִסְפֹּד וְלֹא תִבְכֶּה וְלוֹא תָבוֹא דִּמְעָתֶךָ׃ - And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, behold, I am taking away from you the desire of your eyes by a plague; yet you shall not mourn and you shall not weep, nor shall your tears run down.
"The desire of your eyes" - this is his wife, as will become clear later in the chapter. "By a plague" - meaning that no illness preceded her death, but rather she was taken in a single moment. This comes to hint that so too, the ruin of Israel will arrive suddenly; in a single moment the Beit HaMikdash will be destroyed. And the Holy One, blessed be He, commands him not to lament or weep over the death of his wife, which also serves as a sign and an omen for them: that this is what they will do, for out of the sheer magnitude of the troubles, they will be utterly unable to cry. "Nor shall your tears run down" - that you should not shed tears from your eyes, that no tear should run down your cheek.
הֵאָנֵק דֹּם מֵתִים אֵבֶל לֹא־תַעֲשֶׂה פְּאֵרְךָ חֲבוֹשׁ עָלֶיךָ וּנְעָלֶיךָ תָּשִׂים בְּרַגְלֶיךָ וְלֹא תַעְטֶה עַל־שָׂפָם וְלֶחֶם אֲנָשִׁים לֹא תֹאכֵל׃ - Groan in silence, make no mourning for the dead; bind your turban on yourself and put your shoes on your feet, do not cover your upper lip, and do not eat the bread of men.
The Malbim explains that a groan (*anaka*) consists of both sound and silence - a cry in a silent voice, not with a loud voice, but in a whisper, in a manner that no one else hears. Therefore He says to him, "Groan in silence": your groaning shall be in quiet, in silence. "Make no mourning for the dead" (*metim evel lo ta'aseh*) - the Malbim explains that this means "the mourning of the dead" (*evel shel metim*), in the customary manner of biblical verses that invert the order, like "the firstborn of his ox" (*bechor shoro*), which means the ox of his firstborn.
From here on, the prophet enumerates all that mourners customarily do - and the Holy One, blessed be He, commands him to do the exact opposite. "Bind your turban on yourself" - that he should wear headgear upon his head, unlike the practice of mourners, who would sit wrapped up (*ituf*). The only ones who have maintained this custom to this day are the Yemenite Jews: when they sit in a house of mourning, they sit wrapped in *tallitot*, and this is the practice of mourner's wrapping that has been preserved among them from the time of the Gemara. Incidentally, from here we learn the primary practices of mourning: from everything Hashem told Yechezkel to do, we understand that a mourner normally does not do these things.
Furthermore, Chazal expounded on "your headgear" (*pe'ercha*): "To give to the mourners of Zion glory (*pe'er*) instead of ashes," and the glory of Israel is *tefillin*. "Bind your turban on yourself" - you specifically, from which you understand that other mourners do not wear their glory, and therefore on the first day of death, a mourner does not put on *tefillin*. Notice carefully: this depends on the day of death and not on burial, and is unrelated to the laws of *aninut* - on the first day of death, the mourner does not put on *tefillin* at all, and this is what we learn from here.
"And put your shoes on your feet" - unlike other mourners, who remove their shoes. "Do not cover your upper lip" - for mourners would cover their upper lip and let their hair grow. "And do not eat the bread of men" - this refers to the *Seudat Havra'ah* (the meal of condolence), for it is customary that a mourner does not prepare his first meal for himself upon returning from the cemetery; rather, other people from the outside prepare it for him. It typically consists of lentils, eggs, and the like, and must be an actual meal with bread. Therefore it is called "the bread of men" - bread brought to him by people from the outside. Incidentally, many people confuse the *Seudat Havra'ah* with the meal made at the conclusion of the *shivah*. These two matters are entirely unrelated: the *Seudat Havra'ah* is the first meal fed to the mourners when they return from the cemetery, whereas the meal at the end of the *shivah* has no halachic source whatsoever.
וָאֲדַבֵּר אֶל־הָעָם בַּבֹּקֶר וַתָּמָת אִשְׁתִּי בָּעָרֶב וָאַעַשׂ בַּבֹּקֶר כַּאֲשֶׁר צֻוֵּיתִי׃ - So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died; and in the morning I did as I was commanded.
Yechezkel spoke these words to the people in the morning, and that very evening his wife died. On the following morning, which was the time of burial and the onset of mourning, "and I did as I was commanded" - I began observing all those practices of non-mourning that I had been commanded. In other words, he spoke with them, for example, on Sunday morning, his wife passed away on Sunday night, and on Monday morning he began acting contrary to the customs of mourners.
And why was he commanded to announce this in advance? In order to verify his prophecy. Everyone would know that this had been revealed to him beforehand, and as a result, they would not slander the prophet by claiming that he spoke out of ignorance or invented things from his own heart. Behold, he told you what was destined to happen - and exactly as he said, so it truly came to pass.
וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלַי הָעָם הֲלֹא־תַגִּיד לָנוּ מָה־אֵלֶּה לָּנוּ כִּי אַתָּה עֹשֶׂה׃ וָאֹמַר אֲלֵיהֶם דְּבַר־יְהֹוָה הָיָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר׃ - And the people said to me, "Will you not tell us what these things mean to us, that you are doing so?" And I said to them, "The word of Hashem came to me, saying:"
The people absorbed and understood the message: surely everything you did was not in vain, but rather "what are these to us" - all these actions are meant to convey a message, a sign, and a prophecy to us. What do they signify for us? To this the prophet replies: I did not do any of these things on my own initiative; rather, they all came through the word of Hashem. Just as I told you that a prophecy had come that my wife would die and Hashem commanded me not to mourn for her, so too the meaning concerning you comes through the word of Hashem.
אֱמֹר לְבֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל כֹּה־אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה הִנְנִי מְחַלֵּל אֶת־מִקְדָּשִׁי גְּאוֹן עֻזְּכֶם מַחְמַד עֵינֵיכֶם וּמַחְמַל נַפְשְׁכֶם וּבְנֵיכֶם וּבְנוֹתֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר עֲזַבְתֶּם בַּחֶרֶב יִפֹּלוּ׃ - Speak to the house of Israel: Thus said the Lord God: Behold, I am desecrating My Sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes, and the longing of your soul; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword.
"Behold, I am desecrating" - this does not mean by Myself, but rather, as Radak explains: I will bring foreigners against it who will desecrate it, as it is written, "and lawless ones shall enter it and desecrate it." Here the verse gives several titles to the Beis HaMikdash. "The pride of your strength" - as it is written, "He set it for pride," for the pride of Israel was the Beis HaMikdash, and it was called their strength and their glory, where the glory of Hashem was visible in the cloud and in the fire that descended. "The delight of your eyes" - for it was beautiful in its construction and design, and the First Temple was exceedingly magnificent. "And the longing of your soul" - just as a person pities and cherishes what he loves; and every day they hoped and anticipated returning to the Beis HaMikdash, in the manner of the false prophets who falsely reassured them in Babylon that they would immediately return to the Beis HaMikdash and that the Holy One, Blessed be He, was redeeming them.
"And your sons and your daughters whom you left behind" - Radak explains that those who were exiled with Yehoyachin had left their sons and daughters behind in Yerushalayim, as Nevuchadnetzar did not take everyone, and at times he took the parents while leaving the children. To those currently in Babylon he says: Your sons and daughters whom you left behind in Yerushalayim shall fall by the sword. They, too, are included in "the longing of your soul," and it emerges that "the longing of your soul" refers both back to the Beis HaMikdash and forward to the sons and daughters, for whom a person likewise grieves with deep compassion.
Here lies the nimshal for everything he had demonstrated to them previously: Just as I told you that my wife would die and so it indeed happened, so too the holy Shechinah was cleaving to the Jewish people with a bond of love like the love between husband and wife, and now the Temple would be destroyed and this connection would be severed. Surely this does not mean that the Holy One, Blessed be He, completely abandoned the Jewish people - "Hashem will not forsake His people" - yet it certainly would no longer be on that previous level of the resting of the Shechinah in the House of Hashem here on earth.
וַעֲשִׂיתֶם כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי עַל־שָׂפָם לֹא תַעְטוּ וְלֶחֶם אֲנָשִׁים לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ׃ - "And you shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your mustache, nor eat the bread of men."
Why did Hashem command me not to cover my mustache and not to observe any of those mourning customs? Because it is a sign and an omen of what is to come upon you. And why will you not eulogize either? Rashi and the Malbim explain along the same line: out of fear of the Chaldeans. As is well known, when enemies arrived and slaughtered people, they would not allow eulogies or large funerals, because public gatherings could incite the populace against the conqueror. Therefore, they were commanded to bury quietly, swiftly, and without any commotion. Just as today any demonstration in Gaza becomes a way of stoking hostility against Israel, so it has always been: when nations conquered their rivals, they did not permit mass funerals, eulogies, or rallies, as all of these agitate the people against the occupying power. There is also an additional factor: who will eulogize, and who will offer comfort, when everyone is in mourning? In a reality where everyone is grieving, no one has the heart or presence of mind to eulogize or console. And this is the parable of the plague.
וּפְאֵרֵכֶם עַל־רָאשֵׁיכֶם וְנַעֲלֵיכֶם בְּרַגְלֵיכֶם לֹא תִסְפְּדוּ וְלֹא תִבְכּוּ וּנְמַקֹּתֶם בַּעֲוֺנֹתֵיכֶם וּנְהַמְתֶּם אִישׁ אֶל־אָחִיו׃ - "And your headdresses shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet; you shall not eulogize nor weep, but you shall pine away in your iniquities, and groan one to another."
"And you shall pine away [u-nemakosem]" - as in the words of Moshe Rabbeinu, "and they shall pine away in their iniquity," meaning that you will melt away in troubles, and these troubles will come as the retribution for your sins. That is the meaning of "and you shall pine away in your iniquities." And as has often been explained: "Your wickedness shall chastise you" - what chastises a person is his own sins. "A man's foolishness perverts his way, and his heart frets against Hashem" - his own foolishness perverts his path, and then he comes and complains: "Hashem, why did You do this to me?" But it is not a matter of "why did I do this to you," but rather "why did you do this to yourself?" When a person commits a sin, he creates something like a Rottweiler, which, if it were unleashed upon him for even a small nip, he would perish. Yet the Holy One, Blessed be He, has mercy on us and sustains the destructive forces we create. In any case, we must know: whatever harms a person, he himself brought into being.
"And groan one to another" - like a person who groans and cries out over the wrong he has done. According to the Radak's explanation here, this groaning is an aspect of teshuvah, of grief over what we have done, as it says in Mishlei (5:11-12): "And you will groan at your end, when your flesh and your body are consumed, and say: How have I hated rebuke, and my heart despised reproof!" - a groaning that signifies regret, an aching pain over what you did. If so, Yechezkel tells them, it is best that you awaken right now, for see what a harsh prophecy has been declared here.
וְהָיָה יְחֶזְקֵאל לָכֶם לְמוֹפֵת כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה תַּעֲשׂוּ בְּבוֹאָהּ וִידַעְתֶּם כִּי אֲנִי אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - "Thus Yechezkel shall be a sign for you; according to all that he has done, you shall do; when it comes, you will know that I am the Lord Hashem."
Here the prophet speaks, as it were, in the words of Hashem, almost quoting Him directly, since he himself says, "Thus Yechezkel shall be..." Rather, this is what Hashem told him to say to them: what Hashem has done to me, to Yechezkel, will likewise happen to you. And when? "When it comes" - when the dreadful news arrives that the Beis HaMikdash has been destroyed, then "you will know that I am Hashem," for behold, My words have been fulfilled.
וְאַתָּה בֶן־אָדָם הֲלוֹא בְּיוֹם קַחְתִּי מֵהֶם אֶת־מָעוּזָּם מְשׂוֹשׂ תִּפְאַרְתָּם אֶת־מַחְמַד עֵינֵיהֶם וְאֶת־מַשָּׂא נַפְשָׁם בְּנֵיהֶם וּבְנוֹתֵיהֶם׃ - "And as for you, son of man, will it not be on the day when I take from them their stronghold, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and the longing of their soul, their sons and their daughters?"
The exact same phrasing used regarding the wife - "Behold, I am taking from you the desire of your eyes" - is stated here concerning the Beis HaMikdash, for that is the true subject of the parable. "Their stronghold" and "the joy of their glory" refers to the source of their joy and rejoicing in Hashem. "The longing of their soul" refers to that upon which their souls are set. This can be understood in two ways: either "the longing of their soul" refers back to the Beis HaMikdash, or it is explained by what is stated immediately afterward - what is the longing of their soul? "Their sons and their daughters."
However, if we say that "the longing of their soul" refers to the Beis HaMikdash, it would be impossible to say "their sons and their daughters" without a conjunction vav ("and"), since this refers to a separate matter. Therefore, Radak explains: if we interpret it this way, an implied vav must be added - as if it said, "their stronghold, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and the longing of their soul" (all referring to the Beis HaMikdash), "and their sons and their daughters" - meaning that in addition, I am also taking their sons and their daughters. And do not be surprised by the missing vav, as Radak frequently cites proof from the verse, "Sun, moon stood still in their dwelling," where the meaning is sun and moon, for Scripture occasionally omits the conjunctive vav that signifies addition.
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יָבוֹא הַפָּלִיט אֵלֶיךָ לְהַשְׁמָעוּת אׇזְנָיִם׃ - On that day, the fugitive shall come to you to cause your ears to hear.
The Malbim explains the application of the parable here: just as he was commanded to speak to the people in the morning, prior to the death of his wife, so it will be precisely with the tidings of the Beis HaMikdash. When the fugitive comes from the Land of Israel to announce that the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, the word of Hashem will come to Yechezkel on the evening before, twelve hours earlier. In other words, the prophet will receive the prophecy concerning the destruction of the Temple even before the news arrives from Eretz Yisrael to Babylon, and he will announce it in advance, as we will see later in chapter 33: "and He opened my mouth." This is the meaning of "the fugitive shall come to you to cause your ears to hear" - the fugitive will come to make it heard to your ears, but you will already know the prophecy beforehand from what I will impart to you.
However, there is a difficulty in the verse, as it implies that the fugitive will arrive on the very day of the destruction. Rashi already addressed this: it is impossible for the fugitive to arrive on the day of the destruction, given the vast distance between Eretz Yisrael and Babylon, and in those days they were not connected to instant news - how could it be known on that very day? Therefore, Rashi explains that "on that day" does not mean the day the destruction takes place, but rather on the day the fugitive arrives, even if it is fifteen days later or much more: on the day the fugitive arrives, you will receive the knowledge beforehand.
Radak explains similarly: according to the simple reading, "on that day" refers back to "on the day I take," the day of the destruction, but that cannot be, for the destruction occurred on the tenth of Av while the fugitive arrived on the fifth of Teves. Therefore, Radak explains that "on that day" means "at that time," rather than denoting a specific day. This raises another question: how could the fugitive have arrived five months later? The journey from Eretz Yisrael to Babylon takes only fifteen days, as we know from the time it took the Babylonian pilgrims to return home after their festival pilgrimage. Radak answers: it is very possible that the Chaldean army went to conquer another place, taking the captives with them, and only afterward arrived in Babylon. That is, they made stops along the way and did not travel straight from Jerusalem to Babylon, but proceeded to further battles and conquests, which accounts for the five-month time span.
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִפָּתַח פִּיךָ אֶת־הַפָּלִיט וּתְדַבֵּר וְלֹא תֵאָלֵם עוֹד וְהָיִיתָ לָהֶם לְמוֹפֵת וְיָדְעוּ כִּי־אֲנִי יְהֹוָה׃ - On that day your mouth shall be opened with the fugitive, and you shall speak and be mute no longer; and you shall be a sign to them, and they shall know that I am Hashem.
"Es hapalit" - the meaning is with the fugitive, as in "with Yaakov [es Yaakov], each man and his household came," which means with Yaakov. With the arrival of the fugitive your mouth will be opened, and you will say to the exiles: Behold, you see, just as I prophesied to you and you did not listen or believe - now the fugitive has come and delivered the terrible news that the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed. "And you shall speak and be mute no longer" - since they will see that the prophecies you spoke were fulfilled, you will have the standing to speak before them, and they will have no pretext to silence you; they will no longer be able to claim that you are merely fearmongering and saying untrue things, for everything you said came to pass down to the last detail. The expression "and you shall be mute no longer" corresponds to what was said to him in the prophecy of the valley: "And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, and you shall be mute and shall not be a rebuker to them" - but now you will indeed be able to rebuke them, and your speech will be unhindered.
The Malbim notes precision in the words "your mouth shall be opened es hapalit," explaining that it means even before the fugitive arrives. For as he explained, Yechezkel would receive the knowledge twelve hours prior to the fugitive's arrival, and this is "your mouth shall be opened" - you will speak your words before he arrives, twelve hours beforehand. Only afterward will the fugitive arrive, making the event far more powerful: not only did you foresee the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, but you announce to them that the Temple has been destroyed at a time when no one else yet knows it, and only twelve hours later does the fugitive arrive to confirm your words. This will serve as a sign and a wonder to them that you are a prophet of Hashem and your word is true; through this you will be verified as trustworthy to them, your mouth will be opened, and they will accept your words. All of this was hinted to him through the death of his wife, which he announced twelve hours before it happened - an allusion to the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, which he would announce twelve hours before the fugitive arrived.
In this prophecy, the desire of the prophet's eyes - his wife - was taken from him in a sudden plague, and he was commanded not to mourn: not to eulogize, not to weep, to don his headdress, to wear shoes, not to cover his mustache, and not to eat the bread of mourners - from which Chazal derive the core practices of mourning in reverse. All this was in order to serve as a sign for Israel: just as the prophet's wife was taken suddenly, so too the Beis HaMikdash will be destroyed suddenly, "the pride of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and the longing of your soul," and their sons and daughters will fall by the sword. And just as the prophet did not mourn, so they will be unable to eulogize and weep - out of fear of the Chaldeans, and because when everyone is in mourning there is no one to console - but rather "you shall pine away in your iniquities and groan one to another," a groaning of remorse and repentance. Finally, the Holy One, Blessed be He, promises the prophet that the news of the destruction will reach him through prophecy twelve hours before the arrival of the fugitive, and then his mouth will be opened and he will be mute no longer, and he will be a sign to them - and they shall know that I am Hashem.