Resurrection..Chol HaMoed Pesach...

It is interesting that on this Shabbat Chol HaMoed Pesach, as Jews are reading the haftorah about the dry bones which become connected into human figures and are covered with tendons and flesh, much of the Christian world is celebrating the resurrection of their religion’s central figure, Jesus.  For many modern day Jews the idea of resurrection seems foreign, yet when you analyze our own theology, it definitely has been part and parcel of Jewish thought. 

Think about the amidah’s statement “Michayei Ha Meitim”….who brings the dead to life…Think about our burial practices of burying the entire body, including body parts that may have been amputated or blood that might have been lost.  Think about Yigdal that we sing on Friday evenings which is actually a rendition of Maimonides 13 principles of faith….meitim yichayeh ayl/G-d will resurrect the dead….Each of these parts of our tradition point to a belief in life after death/giving life to the dead/even to the concept of resurrection which the Christian community so aptly picked up upon and uses as part of their theology at this time of the year. So, although many of us feel might feel uncomfortable even trying to wrap our heads around such a concept, I’d like to suggest that perhaps we can do so on a completely different level.  

In the Haftorah that we read today, “God then reveals that the bones represent the People of Israel in exile and commands Ezekiel to convey another prophecy in order to revitalize these bodies - to resurrect them and bring them to the Land of Israel.”  G-d of course could have brought the bones to life by Himself, yet he commanded Ezekiel to be involved in the process.  A human being was commanded to take the initiative as well as the responsibility for bringing the dead to life. (Gideon Weitzmann)

Rashi commented that this section of Ezekiel is a parable “that relates to the exile and eventual redemption of the Jewish people.”  “Like a dead person who comes back to life, thus Israel will return from exile. 

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When you think about the prophecy of return, we have been privy to seeing it carried out in our own day.  After the end of World War II, over 1/3 of world Jewry was destroyed. The remnants of European Jewry might have been compared to the dry bones prior to the creation of the State of Israel.  The establishment of the State of Israel breathed new life into those who had suffered much at the hands of the Nazis as well as to the rest of world Jewry.  Israel came about by human beings taking initiative, by starting the process.  At long last, after 2000 years of exile, Jews held their heads up in pride, returned to the land that had been part of the promise given to Avraham Avinu, and used their own ingenuity and hard work to rebuild it.  Life was renewed for the Jewish people and it was no less of a miracle than that of the dry bones in Ezekiel’s vision.

We might have our personal doubts about a world where individuals will be resurrected from the dead, but we should not doubt that the resurrection we have witnessed from the ashes in Europe is indeed a miracle. The ingathering of exiles in Israel has not only involved a physical revival, but also a spiritual revival affecting world Jewry even today.