We are now at Yechezkel chapter 37. This is the chapter that deals with the dead whom Yechezkel brought back to life. This is what is known as the vision of the dry bones, and today, with God's help, we will begin and cover as much as we can, and we will see the prophecy in which the Holy One, blessed be He, informs the people of Israel that the dead are destined to be revived.
Yechezkel 37, verse 1: "The hand of Hashem was upon me, and He carried me out by the spirit of Hashem, and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones." Rashi says that wherever the phrase "the hand of Hashem" appears in prophecy, it denotes compulsion. As it were, the spirit forced him to go, similar, may it not happen, to someone who read about a person who went mad, who in the ancient language was called "forced" or "compelled." Why? Because he would do things that are acts of madness against his will, as if some inner force were compelling him to do them. Sometimes this is a dybbuk, in which case it literally means he is compelled by a spirit, and sometimes he was compelled by some disturbance in his spirit, some disruption in the inner workings of his soul that caused him to behave like a fool. Wherever it says "the hand of Hashem was upon me," it means Hashem took him like a person who has no will of his own, but rather some spirit that controls him so that he will go.
"And He set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones." The valley was full of bones. Who were those bones that were there in the valley? Chazal offer several opinions. Some say these were from the tribe of Ephraim. It is written that among the children of Ephraim there were people who left before the appointed time. If I recall correctly, 110 years before the appointed time, before the time of the Exodus from Egypt, they said the redemption was destined to come, and they thought the time had arrived and that they needed to bring the redemption by force. So the children of Ephraim left Egypt in order to go up to the Land, and they had already reached here, but the men of Gat, those who were here in the Land, killed them. Some say these people were from the children of Ephraim who came before their time.
Some say, as Rabbi Eliezer says, that the dead whom Yechezkel revived stood on their feet and sang a song. And what song did they sing? "Hashem kills and revives, kills with justice and revives with mercy." This is the song they sang after they arose. Rabbi Yehoshua says they sang this song: "Hashem kills and revives, brings down to the grave and raises up." Rabbi Yehuda says it was truly a parable. That is to say, this whole event Yechezkel saw in prophecy, and it did not happen in reality. So holds Rabbi Yehuda. Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yose HaGelili says that the dead whom Yechezkel revived went up to the Land of Israel, for this was in the valley of Dura, went up to the Land of Israel, married wives, and fathered sons and daughters. To such an extent, do you hear? People who lived to the end of their days after he revived them. Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira stood on his feet and said: "I am from among their descendants, and these are the tefillin that my father's father left me from them." Do you hear? Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira had tefillin that his grandfather left him from the dead whom Yechezkel revived.
And they asked: Who were the dead? Rav said: These were the children of Ephraim who calculated the appointed time and erred, as we saw and as we explained earlier. Shmuel said: These were people who denied the resurrection of the dead. And Rabbi Yochanan said: These were the dead of the valley of Dura, those whom Nevuchadnetzar killed when he made the idol and they were not willing to bow down. There he killed those who did not want to bow down, and these are those dead.
Now, what is the point of this whole prophecy? The Radak says that the Holy One, blessed be He, is showing him this as a parable. You, the people of Israel, think that you are in the state of dry bones? That dry bones, as it were, have no possibility of living again? Come and I will show you that when Hashem wants, even dry bones can live. The conclusion: when Hashem wants, you too will be redeemed. This comes to encourage them to believe that there is redemption. According to this, it comes as a parable about the redemption. There is an additional explanation, that it comes in order to strengthen their belief in the resurrection of the dead, that they should truly believe that the dead are destined to be revived.
The Malbim says that even if we say it was a parable, even if we say it was a parable, the Malbim says know that the prophet sees the matters actually happening, as if they were real. The Malbim explains, and I will read the verse first: "And He caused me to pass by them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry." The Malbim says these bones, according to the approach that holds these were people who denied the appointed time and denied the resurrection of the dead, and in truth they are not worthy of the resurrection of the dead. But then, how does the resurrection of the dead actually take place? It is written in the books of the Kabbalists that in every person, even after death, there remains a "kista dechiyuta," or a "havla degarmei." This means some sort of vapor that remains in the bones. Even after the soul completely departs from the body, some "havla degarmei" remains, the vapor of the bones, and it is like leaven in dough. Just as you place leaven, yeast, in dough and it rises, so too, in one bone the "havla degarmei" remains. Which bone is this? The luz bone. The luz bone from which the resurrection will develop and from which the body will arise anew.
Chazal say that the righteous are destined to become dust. They will return to their dust to become dust, and only afterward will they arise to resurrection. And why? He says, because always, when something superior comes and grows from what was before, this always requires the previous thing to be nullified, and only afterward does the new thing grow. For example, when I sow a seed of wheat in the ground, what happens to the wheat seed? It decays, and afterward a new thing develops. The seed of the fetus decomposes, and only afterward the fetus is formed. The egg decomposes, and only afterward a chick is hatched. Always, when a new thing is created, it is created upon the complete nullification of the previous state, and only afterward is the new state created. But here, he says, if we pay attention, there were two changes. First, the bones had not yet fully decayed, because the bones still existed. He passed him through the valley and he saw, behold, there were bones there. And it is not possible for the first body to live without the previous body reaching complete nonexistence. So here the bones still existed, so we have one impediment from this side. A second impediment: there needs to remain a bit of moisture in the bone, in that luz bone, where the "kista dechiyuta" would be, that small spirit of life. But here even this did not remain, because it is the vision of the dry bones. The bones were already completely dry, meaning that even the "kista dechiyuta," the "havla degarmei," as it were, no longer remained in them. And it is also not possible that they would decay, since they were scattered on the surface of the valley. If they are not in the ground, then they cannot decay and decompose. Here they were scattered on the surface of the valley, and they were also very dry, as we said, without the "kista dechiyuta."
"And Hashem caused me to pass by them round about." Why did He cause me to pass by them round about? Why did He not bring him into the valley? Rashi says Yechezkel was a kohen, and as a kohen he was forbidden to enter the valley where there were bones. Therefore He caused me to pass by them round about. But the Radak has difficulty with this. The Radak says, how can you say that because he was a kohen he did not enter the valley? We saw that Hashem commanded Yechezkel to pass a razor over his head and his beard, whereas concerning the kohanim there is a command "the corners of their heads and their beards they shall not shave." Rather, what is the answer? When Hashem commands, then in any case the priesthood has no bearing and the prohibition has no bearing, because here there is a command from Hashem. And he says, in particular, here it is written "and He set me down in the midst of the valley." So at first it says round about, but afterward it says "and He set me down in the midst of the valley," implying that he was actually inside. Therefore he says there is no problem of a kohen here, because he received a direct command from Hashem. Or we can explain that it was all in prophecy. And if it was all originally in prophecy, then there is no problem at all, since there was no reality here, so if there is no reality, then there is no problem of his becoming impure.
"And He said to me: Son of man, can these bones live? And I said: Hashem Elokim, You know." Hashem says to him, tell me, does it seem to you that these bones will live? Why, as it were, does He come to tell him this? Because by nature it is not possible for these bones to live, and why? As we explained, the "kista dechiyuta" no longer remained in them, and the bones did not decay, did not fully decompose, so in such a state, seemingly resurrection is not possible. What do you say, can these bones live? Therefore Yechezkel comes and says to Him: You know. Why does Yechezkel say to Him "yes, certainly"? Because as we said, according to the proper parameters these bones are not worthy of living. So he says to Him: You know, meaning if You, Hashem, want, then even these bones will live. Because with the Creator of the world there are no rules. Whatever He wishes, His blessed will, is fulfilled.
"And He said to me: Prophesy over these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of Hashem." He says to him, prophesy over these bones, receive now a prophecy over these bones. "And say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of Hashem." As it were, he is speaking with the bones themselves. "Thus says Hashem Elokim to these bones: Behold, I will bring spirit into you, and you shall live." The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him, tell them, behold, I will bring spirit and you shall live. What did we say? What is lacking in these bones? The "havla degarmei." The small spirit that is supposed to remain in them, from which they are supposed to begin to live. So He tells them, I will bring spirit into them. Even though these bones in themselves are not worthy of resurrection, as we said that they are completely dry, and the analogy is that the people of Israel, as it were, are already completely dry of any moisture of mitzvah, He tells him, nevertheless, know that these bones will have their life restored to them, because I renew the spirit within them.
"And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put spirit in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am Hashem." The Holy One, blessed be He, tells him, "and I will lay sinews upon you." Rashi says that in the book of Iyov it is written the opposite way: "With skin and flesh You clothed me." What comes first? Skin. How does the phrase go? "With skin and flesh You clothed me," and afterward "and with bones and sinews You knit me together." Chazal say that the way the fetus is formed is: first skin, then flesh, then bones, then afterward sinews. This is the way the fetus is formed in its mother's womb. But here it begins to be the opposite: "and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin." Why is it the opposite? So Rashi says, to what can the matter be compared? To a person who dresses. If he puts on his clothes, first he puts on an undershirt, then tzitzit, then a shirt, then a suit. What is first? The undershirt. And also when you take them off, do you take off the undershirt first? The undershirt comes off last. You take off the suit, then the shirt, then the tzitzit, then the undershirt. That is to say, the order of dressing is the opposite of the order of undressing, right? So too it was here. The first time it is like dressing. Now it is like undressing, do you understand? So therefore now it begins the opposite way. It begins from flesh and then skin. The bones are first here. Right? The bones here are first because the bones already existed. So it is exactly the opposite of the formation of the fetus.
What? Right, it was miraculous that he took off his undergarments first and afterward the outer ones. Right. The Malbim says that in the future it will also not be in this way, but rather as we said, "with skin and flesh You clothed me, and with bones and sinews You knit me together." That is, it will begin from skin, then flesh, then bones, then sinews. Only here, since bones already existed first, it was in the opposite order.
Now here it is written "and put spirit in you, and you shall live." What? He gives two spirits? It already says "Thus says Hashem to these bones: Behold, I will bring spirit into you, and you shall live." Why again "and I will put spirit in you"? What did I explain earlier? What does the first "and put spirit in you, and you shall live" mean? The "kista dechiyuta," referring to that small amount from which everything begins, which is the root, which is the seed. That will be at the start. Afterward there will be upon you, "I will lay sinews upon you," then flesh, then skin, as we saw that the order is reversed, and afterward "and I will put spirit in you." What does spirit mean here? This is the neshama. This is already the full spirit of life. At the start it is the "kista dechiyuta," now we are speaking about the neshama in its fullness.
"So I prophesied as I was commanded." As Hashem told me, so I came to the bones and prophesied over them. "And there was a sound as I prophesied, and behold a rustling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone." It says "and behold a sound as I prophesied." I heard a sound of noise while I was prophesying. What was this noise? The spirit of resurrection that was breathed into the bones, and every bone drew close to its bone, and through this there was a great rustling sound. "And I looked, and behold, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them from above, but there was no spirit in them." At first, as the prophecy was: bone, then sinews, then flesh, then skin, but there was no spirit in them. That is to say, which spirit is being spoken of here? The spirit that is the neshama. And why indeed was there no spirit in them? The Malbim says that any change of nature can be done by the prophet, except for returning souls to dead corpses, which is only by "Blessed are You, Hashem." There is no one who returns souls to dead corpses except "Blessed are You, Hashem." "Blessed are You, Hashem, who revives the dead." The resurrection of the dead is only by the Creator of the world. Therefore, when Eliyahu the prophet wanted the spirit to return, what did he do? By the son of the woman of Tzarfat he prayed. Why? Because Eliyahu the prophet does not have the key to return spirits to people. Rather, it requires only His blessed will. Therefore, when he acts, he does everything as he prophesies. The flesh returns and the sinews and the bones, but the main thing is missing from the book. What is absent? Spirit. Scientists can create everything. They can create everything, they will tell you they created the leg of a fly in a laboratory. Well done. Now make it move. Bring spirit into it. There is none, it is impossible to create spirit, there is no power. There is no power. They can make everything, a golem. A golem. That is what they can create. Spirit is only from Hashem, blessed be He. Therefore in the prophecy Yechezkel brings everything, but there is still no spirit in them.
By the way, it is written here that bone came, the bones drew close, bone to its bone. The Midrash tells a wondrous story. The Midrash says, Nevuchadnetzar was sitting in his palace and he had vessels. From what vessels did he drink? Chazal say that this Nevuchadnetzar was greatly corrupt, and besides drinking from the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash, he would drink from bone vessels made from the bones of Jews. And with these bones they also used to make things in those days, for it is known that there was a concept of bone vessels. Today people are not familiar with this, but in those days there were bone vessels. Jews too had bone vessels made from animal bone. Leather vessels, bone vessels, sackcloth vessels, and glass vessels, as in the Mishnayot. They would make from bone vessels a ladle to stir the pot. An animal bone is wonderful for stirring the pot, it is excellent. Yes, that is how they used to do it in those days. And he had cutlery, all of bone, certainly not at a simple level, carved and all. And he is sitting and eating, suddenly he sees the bone fly out of his window. Suddenly the cup flies out of his window. He asks, what is this? They tell him, what are you talking about, you are sitting here, Yechezkel is reviving the dead in the valley of Dura. And then all the bones began to return, bone to its bone, and all the bones flew off his table, all the vessels. And then he went out and saw, and said: "How great are His signs, and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation." He praised and lauded the Creator of the world when he saw the resurrection of the dead that took place in the valley of Dura.
"And He said to me." So what is lacking here? The spirit is lacking. "And He said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus says Hashem Elokim: Come from the four winds, O spirit, and breathe into these slain, that they may live." From the four winds, from every place where their souls went to wander in the four winds of the heavens, "come from the four winds, O spirit." That is, from whichever direction it may be, from wherever it may be, come, O spirit, and breathe into these slain. From the expression "and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." "And breathe into these slain," and by your breathing into these slain, "that they may live." Through this these souls, these bodies, will live. And why from the four winds? The Malbim says, it is written concerning the soul of the righteous, where is it? Bound up in the bond of life. So it is not in the four winds. What does "come from the four winds, O spirit" mean? The Malbim says, as we explained, that these were people who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. And since it is written "and the soul of your enemies He will sling out, as from the hollow of a sling," then in any case the slung soul goes and is slung throughout the whole world. What is the hollow of a sling? It is written that the soul yearns to return, yearns to return back to the body. And why? Since it is still connected to all the desires of this world, and it is drawn to them, and it still wants to continue to enjoy all those bodily desires it had in this world, from all those pleasures, from all those enjoyments, it is drawn. It still does not comprehend that it no longer has a body. And this is the great anguish of the soul, this is the hollow of the sling, that the soul repeatedly returns and is slung anew because it is drawn back to those desires. And the Abarbanel explained that "from the four winds" refers to the four types of spirit that exist in a person: the natural soul, the vital soul, the speaking soul, and the eternal soul. And all four spirits came and entered into the body.
"So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the spirit came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army." As I said, as Hashem told me, so I prophesied, and then they arose and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army from all those people who died in the valley of Dura.
"And He said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, we are cut off." He says, until now you saw the parable. Come and I will show you what the meaning is. These bones are the whole house of Israel. The meaning is that these people whom you see are compared to the house of Israel. And they say, "our bones are dried up." That is to say, they think we are already in the state of completely dry bones, we do not even have any moisture of life remaining, that "kista dechiyuta," that "havla degarmei," even that has not remained for us. And why? Because they say, we have neither king nor officers, we have no might, we have no power or army, we are finished, we have already scattered like dust. Nothing of us remains. And therefore they say, "our hope is lost, we are cut off." What does "cut off" mean? We have become like bones that are severed from one another and scattered and separated in the valley. So too the people of Israel, as it were, claim we are in exile, we are finished, we have nothing here today, so what chance is there that anything will remain of us? It almost never happened that a people that went into exile returned to its land. A people that went into exile scattered, assimilated, ended. Yes, where are the Palestinians who lived, and this is not talking to you about 200 years ago. This is 60, 70 years. Those who lived in Haifa and lived in Rechovot and lived in Beer Sheva and lived in all those places and lived in Yafo and lived in Tel Aviv, do they still have hope of returning? Why do they keep talking about the right of return, the right of return? They have still not lost their hope, they still think about returning. Do you understand? But what are the chances that they will return? Even from their perspective, leave aside now the spiritual aspect, from a physical perspective, what are the chances that they will return? Zero squared. Right? There is almost no chance that they will return. And rightly so. So that is what he says, these people say we have already gone into exile, what chance do we have to return back to our land, to establish a kingdom in it anew, what are the chances that such a thing will happen? So they say, we are in the state of dry bones, our hope is lost, we are cut off, that is, we have been cut off from one another, we have been severed, there is no chance of this becoming a whole and new body again.