Shabbat Chol Hamoed Pesach 
April 22, 2000
Rabbi William Altshul

In today's haftarah, the House of Israel, represented by “dry bones,” bemoans her fate of exile and persecution, proclaiming: “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone. We are doomed.”

The prophet Yechezkel delivers a message of hope and encouragement, bringing these dry bones back to life: The exile will end and the Jewish people will be redeemed.

The nation’s notion that “avdah tikvateinu—our hope is gone” should ring familiar to us all. In 1878, the Galician poet Naftali Herz Imber turned this statement of despair into a message of hope. In his poem, “Hatikvah,” the lost hope of the dry bones becomes the newfound hope of the pioneers who rebuilt Eretz Yisrael: “Od lo avdah tikvateinu—Our hope is not yet gone.”

This metaphor can be extended further. The Talmud identifies those resurrected by Yechezkel as three types of Jews: those who denied the resurrection; those who lacked good deeds; and those who, in their idolatrous worship, covered the Temple with abominations.

Among the pioneers who built the State were many G-d-fearing Jews, who were inspired by Yechezel's vision. But a crucial role was also played by the “dry bones” of our people—those who were heretics, who denied all the major principles of our faith, who lacked “the vitalizing sap of good deeds,” and who would “cover the Temple with abominations” through their anti-religious behavior.

But just as Yechezkel brought the dry bones back to life, these pioneers, too, helped bring the land of Israel back to life, realizing the prophet's vision.

Rava, in the Talmud, states another view: that the dead that Yechezkel brought back to life were the Bnei Ephraim, who, centuries earlier, when the Jews were enslaved in Egypt, made an ill-fated attempt to escape their bondage. But having erred in their calculation as to the time of redemption, they were slaughtered by the Philistines. They had the right motives, but the wrong strategy led them down the path of defeat.

The Talmud asks: What caused Israel to be scattered among the nations of the world? The battles that they sought with the nations, answers the Talmud.

The Maharsha explains: "During the First Temple era, had they made peace with Nevuchadnetzar and had [King] Tzidkiyah not rebelled against him, they would not have been exiled at all. Moreover, during the Second Temple era,  had the violent ones of Israel listened to Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai and the Sages of their generation and made peace with Titus, they would not have been exiled. But they desired battles and war, not peace."

The underlying cause of both the first and second exiles was the violent course of action taken by the Jews of the time. Had they chosen a more prudent course of action, the result would have been different.

The leaders of the modern State of Israel face the same difficult decisions as the Bnei Ephraim and the Jews of the First and Second Temple eras: When is it right to be patient, and when does one need to act? We live in an historical period of great promise, one which challenges us to make the right decisions at the right time.

May G-d grant us the wisdom and the courage to make the right decisions, so that the prophet Yechezkel's vision of the renewed Land of Israel, which we have, baruch Hashem, witnessed in our own days, will be secure until the final redemption, speedily in our days.

Rabbi William Altshul

Rabbi Altshul is principal at the Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School in Brooklyn, New York