Chapter 37 in Yechezkel is famously known as "The Vision of the Dry Bones" - the chapter in which the Holy One, blessed be He, shows the prophet the dead whom Yechezkel resurrected, and informs the People of Israel that the dead are destined to be revived. We will proceed through the pesukim in order and examine both the parable and its deeper meaning.
הָיְתָה עָלַי יַד־יְהֹוָה וַיּוֹצִאֵנִי בְרוּחַ יְהֹוָה וַיְנִיחֵנִי בְּתוֹךְ הַבִּקְעָה וְהִיא מְלֵאָה עֲצָמוֹת׃ - The hand of Hashem was upon me, and He brought me out by the spirit of Hashem and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones.
Rashi explains that wherever "the hand of Hashem" is mentioned in prophecy, it denotes compulsion. As it were, the spirit compelled him to go. To distinguish by a thousand separations, in ancient idiom a person whose mind became deranged was called nichpeh (compelled or seized), because he commits acts of madness against his will, as if an inner spirit compels him to do so - sometimes quite literally through a spirit, and sometimes due to a disorder in the inner workings of his psyche, causing him to behave foolishly. Here, the meaning is that Hashem took the prophet like someone who has no independent will, but rather a spirit governs and leads him.
In the words of Chazal, there are several opinions identifying the bones in the valley. Some say they were from the tribe of Ephraim: those people who left Egypt before the appointed time - approximately one hundred and ten years before the actual Exodus - who said that the redemption was destined to come and believed the time had already arrived, thinking they had to bring the redemption by force. They departed Egypt to ascend to the Land and actually arrived here, but the men of Gath who inhabited the land killed them.
And in the Gemara: Rabbi Eliezer says, the dead whom Yechezkel revived stood on their feet and uttered song. And what song did they utter? "Hashem causes death and gives life; He causes death in justice and gives life in mercy." Rabbi Yehoshua says, they uttered this song: "Hashem causes death and gives life; He brings down to the grave and raises up." Rabbi Yehudah says, in truth it was a parable - meaning that Yechezkel saw this entire event in prophecy, and it did not occur in physical reality. And Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yose HaGelili says, the dead whom Yechezkel revived in the valley of Dura ascended to Eretz Yisrael, married wives, and fathered sons and daughters - meaning they lived out their natural lifespans after being resurrected. Rabbi Yehudah ben Beseira stood up and said: I am one of their descendants, and these are the tefillin that my father's father left me from them. Rabbi Yehudah ben Beseira possessed tefillin that his grandfather had inherited from those very dead whom Yechezkel revived.
The Sages disputed further: Rav said, these were the sons of Ephraim who miscalculated the appointed end and erred, as explained. 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 erected the golden idol, putting to death anyone unwilling to bow down to it.
The Radak explains that the Holy One, blessed be He, shows all this to the prophet as a parable: Do you, the People of Israel, believe that you are like dry bones with no possibility of living again? Come, and I will show you that when Hashem wills it, even dry bones are capable of coming to life. The conclusion: When Hashem wills it - you, too, will be redeemed. The prophecy came to encourage them to believe that redemption is coming. One can add a further explanation: that the vision came to strengthen their belief in the resurrection of the dead itself, so that they would believe that the dead are truly destined to be brought back to life. And the Malbim emphasizes: Even if we say it was a parable, know that the prophet actually sees these things in vivid detail, as if they are unfolding right before his eyes.
וְהֶעֱבִירַנִי עֲלֵיהֶם סָבִיב סָבִיב וְהִנֵּה רַבּוֹת מְאֹד עַל־פְּנֵי הַבִּקְעָה וְהִנֵּה יְבֵשׁוֹת מְאֹד׃ - And He led me all around them, and behold, there were very many upon the face of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.
The Malbim follows the opinion that these were the ones who miscalculated the end of exile and denied the resurrection of the dead, and strictly speaking, they did not merit resurrection. In order to understand the novelty of this miracle, an introduction is necessary: the works of Kabbalah state that even after death, there remains within every person a kista de-chayuta (a residual measure of vitality) or havla de-garmei - a subtle vapor that lingers in the bones even after the soul has completely departed from the body. This functions like leaven in dough: just as yeast is placed in dough and causes it to rise, so does this havla de-garmei remain in one specific bone - the luz bone - and from it the resurrection will unfold and the body will rise anew.
Furthermore, Chazal taught that the righteous are destined to return to their dust and become earth, and only afterward will they rise in the resurrection. The reason for this is that whenever something superior emerges from what existed before, the prior entity must first completely dissolve and cease to exist, and only then can the new creation sprout forth. A grain of wheat must decompose in the soil before something new develops; the seed of conception must decay before the embryo forms; the egg decays inside before the chick hatches. A new creation always emerges upon the total nullification of the previous state.
Now, says the Malbim, there were two impediments here. First: the bones had not yet completely decomposed - after all, they still existed, and the prophet saw them lying in the valley, and a body cannot be revived without the previous body first reaching total nonexistence. Second: some moisture must remain in that luz bone, where the kista de-chayuta, that minute spark of life, resides - yet even this was absent, for "and behold, they were very dry"; the bones were completely desiccated, and not even the havla de-garmei remained in them. Nor could they decay and disintegrate properly, since they were scattered across the surface of the valley rather than buried in the ground.
Rashi explains that Yechezkel was a kohen, and as a kohen, he was forbidden to enter the valley containing human bones; therefore, He led him round about them. However, Radak raises a difficulty with this explanation: after all, Hashem commanded Yechezkel to pass a razor over his head and beard, and even though concerning kohanim it is stated that they shall not shave the edges of their heads or beards, when Hashem commands it, their status as kohanim presents no obstacle. Moreover, it is explicitly written here, "and He set me down in the midst of the valley" - even though it initially says "round about," it ultimately states that he was actually inside the valley. Therefore, there is no issue regarding his status as a kohen, because he received a direct command from Hashem. Alternatively, we can explain that this entire experience occurred in a prophetic vision, and if everything was purely visionary from the outset, there was no physical reality and thus no ritual defilement (tum'ah).
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי בֶּן־אָדָם הֲתִחְיֶינָה הָעֲצָמוֹת הָאֵלֶּה וָאֹמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה אַתָּה יָדָעְתָּ׃ - And He said to me: Son of man, can these bones live? And I said: O Lord Hashem, You know.
Hashem asks him: Does it seem to you that these bones can live? That is, according to the laws of nature, it is impossible for them to live, for the reasons explained - the kista de-chayuta no longer remains within them, and the bones have neither decayed nor completely decomposed, and in such a state, resurrection is seemingly impossible. Therefore Yechezkel replied, "You know": according to the ordinary parameters, these bones are not capable of coming back to life, but if You, Hashem, so desire, even these bones will live. For with the Creator of the universe there are no limitations, and whatever His blessed will decrees comes to pass.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי הִנָּבֵא עַל־הָעֲצָמוֹת הָאֵלֶּה וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵיהֶם הָעֲצָמוֹת הַיְבֵשׁוֹת שִׁמְעוּ דְּבַר־יְהֹוָה׃ - And He said to me: Prophesy over these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of Hashem!
He commands him to prophesy concerning the bones and to address the bones directly.
כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה לָעֲצָמוֹת הָאֵלֶּה הִנֵּה אֲנִי מֵבִיא בָכֶם רוּחַ וִחְיִיתֶם׃ - Thus said the Lord Hashem to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.
What was missing from these bones? The havla degarmei, the slight spirit that is meant to remain within them and from which they begin to live. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you" - even though on their own the bones are unworthy of resurrection, being completely dry, and in the allegory: the Jewish people are already completely drained of any moisture of mitzvot - nevertheless, vitality will return to them, because I am renewing the spirit within them.
וְנָתַתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם גִּידִים וְהַעֲלֵתִי עֲלֵיכֶם בָּשָׂר וְקָרַמְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם עוֹר וְנָתַתִּי בָכֶם רוּחַ וִחְיִיתֶם וִידַעְתֶּם כִּי־אֲנִי יְהֹוָה׃ - And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.
Rashi notes that in Sefer Iyov the order is reversed: "You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews" - first skin, then flesh, then bones, and finally sinews; and our Sages taught that this is the manner of the formation of an embryo in its mother's womb. Here, however, the order begins from the opposite direction: "and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin." Rashi explains with a parable of a person dressing: first he puts on an undershirt, then tzitzit, then a shirt, and then a suit jacket. When he undresses, does he remove the undershirt first? On the contrary: he takes off the jacket, then the shirt, then the tzitzit, and finally the undershirt. The order of dressing is the reverse of the order of undressing. The formation of the embryo is like dressing, whereas here it is like undressing, and therefore the order is inverted: here the bones come first, as they already existed, followed by sinews, flesh, and skin. And this happened miraculously, as though one took off his undergarments first and only afterward his outer clothes. The Malbim adds that in the ultimate Future, the order will not be like this either, but rather according to "You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews" - skin, flesh, bones, and sinews. It was only here, because the bones already existed beforehand, that it occurred in reverse.
One might ask: was it not already stated, "Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live," so why say again, "and put breath in you, and you shall live"? The answer is that the first spirit is the kista d'chiyuta, that minimal spark from which everything begins, the root and the seed - that comes at the very beginning. Afterward come the sinews, the flesh, and the skin in the inverted order we noted, and then "and put breath in you" - this is the neshamah, the spirit of life in its full measure.
וְנִבֵּאתִי כַּאֲשֶׁר צֻוֵּיתִי וַיְהִי־קוֹל כְּהִנָּבְאִי וְהִנֵּה־רַעַשׁ וַתִּקְרְבוּ עֲצָמוֹת עֶצֶם אֶל־עַצְמוֹ׃ - So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
Just as Hashem commanded me, so I came to the bones and prophesied over them. And what was the sound and the shaking heard during the prophecy? It was the spirit of revival breathed into the bones, and each bone drew close to its matching bone, causing a great commotion to resound.
וְרָאִיתִי וְהִנֵּה־עֲלֵיהֶם גִּדִים וּבָשָׂר עָלָה וַיִּקְרַם עֲלֵיהֶם עוֹר מִלְמָעְלָה וְרוּחַ אֵין בָּהֶם׃ - And I looked, and behold, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.
Following the sequence of the prophecy: bone, then sinews, then flesh, then skin - but there was no breath in them, meaning the soul. Why was there no breath in them? The Malbim explains: any alteration of the laws of nature can be performed through a prophet, except for returning souls to dead corpses, which is exclusively in the hands of the Holy One, blessed be He - "Blessed are You, Hashem, Who revives the dead." The resurrection of the dead is uniquely the work of the Creator of the universe. Therefore, when Eliyahu HaNavi wished for the soul of the son of the woman of Tzarfat to return, he prayed, for he held no key to restore spirits to human beings, and it depends solely upon His blessed will. Thus here, through the prophet's words everything else occurred: the flesh, sinews, and skin returned, yet the most essential element was still missing - the spirit. Scientists might claim they can manufacture anything; they might say they engineered a fly's leg in a laboratory - very impressive. Now make it move; breathe a spirit into it. Impossible. There is no human power capable of creating a spirit. A golem - that is all they can produce. Spirit comes only from Hashem, may He be blessed.
It is written here, "and the bones came together, bone to its bone," and the Midrash relates a wondrous incident. Nevuchadnezzar was sitting in his palace, and Chazal relate that in addition to looting the vessels of the Beis HaMikdash, he was thoroughly depraved and would drink from bone vessels fashioned from the bones of Jews. In those days, bone vessels were well known - today this is unfamiliar, but even among Jews we find in the Mishnah vessels of leather, bone, sackcloth, and glass, and people would make a ladle from an animal bone to stir the pot, for which it was ideal. Nevuchadnezzar possessed cutlery and vessels made of bones, certainly not of crude craftsmanship but ornately carved and magnificent. As he was sitting and eating, he suddenly saw his goblet fly out the window! He asked: What is this? They said to him: What are you talking about? You are sitting here while Yechezkel is reviving the dead in the valley of Dura! At that moment, all the bones began returning, bone to its matching bone, and all the bone vessels flew off his table. He went outside, saw it, and exclaimed: "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 extolled the Creator of the universe when he witnessed the resurrection of the dead in the valley of Dura.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי הִנָּבֵא אֶל־הָרוּחַ הִנָּבֵא בֶן־אָדָם וְאָמַרְתָּ אֶל־הָרוּחַ כֹּה־אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה מֵאַרְבַּע רוּחוֹת בֹּאִי הָרוּחַ וּפְחִי בַּהֲרוּגִים הָאֵלֶּה וְיִחְיוּ׃ - Then He said to me: Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath: Thus said the Lord God: From the four winds come, O breath, and breathe into these slain ones, that they may live.
From wherever their souls had gone wandering across the four winds of heaven - from every direction: "Come, O breath, and breathe into these slain ones," echoing the phrase, "and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," and through this breathing the bodies would come to life. The Malbim raises a question: Surely concerning the soul of the righteous it is said that it is bound up in the bond of life and does not wander about in the four winds - so what is the meaning of "From the four winds come, O breath"? Rather, as we explained, these were people who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and concerning them it is said, "and the soul of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the hollow of a sling" (kaf hakela), so the slung soul wanders and is tossed throughout the entire world. And what is kaf hakela? The soul yearns to return to the body because it remains attached to all the physical desires of this world and drawn after them; it still longs to enjoy all those bodily lusts, pleasures, and delights that the person experienced in this world, and it cannot grasp that it no longer has a body. This is the great anguish of the soul - being hurled back and forth again and again as it is drawn back toward those worldly cravings. The Abarbanel, on the other hand, explained that "from the four winds" refers to the four types of spirit in man: the vegetative soul, the vital soul, the rational soul, and the eternal soul - and all four spirits came and entered into the body.
וְהִנַּבֵּאתִי כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּנִי וַתָּבוֹא בָהֶם הָרוּחַ וַיִּחְיוּ וַיַּעַמְדוּ עַל־רַגְלֵיהֶם חַיִל גָּדוֹל מְאֹד־מְאֹד׃ - So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Just as Hashem commanded me, so I prophesied, and then an exceedingly great army stood up on their feet, consisting of all those people who had died in the valley of Dura.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי בֶּן־אָדָם הָעֲצָמוֹת הָאֵלֶּה כָּל־בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵמָּה הִנֵּה אֹמְרִים יָבְשׁוּ עַצְמוֹתֵינוּ וְאָבְדָה תִקְוָתֵנוּ נִגְזַרְנוּ לָנוּ׃ - Then 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 clean cut off."
Until now you have seen the metaphor - come, and I will show you its application: these people whom you see represent the entire House of Israel. They say, "Our bones are dried up," meaning: we are already like completely dried bones, with not even a trace of life left in us, not even that faint spark of vitality (kista de-chiyusa) or the subtle warmth within the bones (hevla de-garmei). Why? Because they say: We have no king and no ministers, we have no might, no strength, and no army; we have scattered like dust and nothing remains of us. Therefore, "our hope is lost, we are clean cut off" - we have become like bones severed from one another, scattered and separated across the valley.
This is their claim: We are in exile, we have nothing left, and what are the chances that anything will remain of us? In human history, it has almost never happened that an exiled nation returned to its homeland; a nation that was exiled was scattered, assimilated, and vanished. Look at the Palestinians who lived in Haifa, Rechovot, Be'er Sheva, Yafo, and Tel Aviv, and this was not two hundred years ago but merely sixty or seventy years ago: they still have not abandoned their hope, and they continually speak about the "right of return" and imagine coming back. Yet what are the chances that they will ever return, even strictly from a natural, physical standpoint? Absolutely zero, virtually nonexistent. And that is precisely what the people in exile said: We have already been exiled; what chance do we have of returning to our land and re-establishing a kingdom? We are like dried bones, our hope is lost, we have been severed and cut off from one another, and there is no prospect of ever becoming a complete, renewed body once again.
The vision of the dry bones came to uproot despair from the heart of Israel. The bones in the valley were in the most dire state imaginable: entirely desiccated, without even the faint vitality of the luz bone remaining - yet nevertheless they lived, for "You know": with the Creator of the universe there are no limitations. The Holy One, blessed be He, first restored to them the minimal spark of vitality, followed by sinews, flesh, and skin in the reverse order of fetal development, and finally the soul itself - which no prophet and no sage has the power to restore, but only the Holy One, blessed be He, alone. All this was so that the people of Israel, who say, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost," will know that just as the dry bones were resurrected, so too the Jewish people will rise, be renewed, and return to their land.