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Shall Dry Bones Live?

Bechukotai – Rav Hanan Schlesinger

Had I lived before 1945, I would have been extremely hard pressed to believe a central element
of this week’s Torah portion. To someone living in that year, or in 1492 during the expulsion
from Spain, or in 1096 during the First Crusade in Europe, or at so many other points in our
blood soaked history of the past almost two millennia, the closing words of Parashat Bechukotai
would have strained credulity to the limit.

Most of the portion describes sin and punishment. The sins are dire and the punishment is
severe. In graphic detail we are told about the defeat, humiliation and exile that the Jewish
people are to suffer. We read of pain and disease and bereavement, of destruction and
desolation, of famine so oppressive that “you shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of
your daughters” (Leviticus 26:29). And it has all come to pass. Looking back on Jewish history,
we can indeed say: ‘Been there, done that’ – our people has experienced it all.

And then towards the end of the Torah portion we are assured that despite it all, God will never
forget His covenant. No matter what we do or how badly we act, we are His nation. And no
matter how incredibly trying the persecutions and horrors that we suffer, God will not spurn us.
We shall remain his Chosen People.

I might have had real difficulty believing that in 1945. The few of us Jews that remained were
dazed and our families decimated. Ninety percent of European Jewry was annihilated, and our
cultural and religious centers were wiped off the face of the map. There was just about nothing
left. All of the curses of this week’s parasha – and many more – had come upon us. The dead
were smoke and ashes and dry bones, and the few living appeared to be little more than … dry
bones as well. Precious little hope seemed to remain. Would God, could God, renew His
covenant with dry bones?

Schultz Rosenberg Campus, 12324 Merit Drive, Dallas TX, 75251

Phone: 214-295-3525 Fax: 214-295-3526
Email: kollelofdallas@sbcglobal.net Web site: www.kollelofdallas.org
The Community Kollel of Dallas is an affiliate of the Center for the Jewish Future of Yeshiva University
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Unbelievably, against all odds, within a few short years those dry bones came alive. They
created a vibrant American Jewry and what more, a flourishing Jewish State in the Land of Israel.
Who could have imaged? In retrospect, we understand that we have lived to see the fulfillment
of the vision of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:1-14), who talks of a time when in exile, the
Jewish People will be on the verge of despair, saying “Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost;
we are clean cut off.” And to this lament God directs the prophet to reply that even if the Jewish
People are but dry bones, hope is never lost, for God is ever ready to renew the life of even the
driest of bones. Ezekiel is then shown a vision of rows of dead arising from their graves, the
bones being assembled and flesh growing upon them, until they stand upright, living and
breathing. And then he is told by God – these bones represent the whole House of Israel. From
the grave of exile and despair the Jewish People shall be resurrected, “and I shall bring you into
the Land of Israel”.

If we had not seen it in our own day, we would not have believed it. At least I would not have
believed it. And now that we have witnessed such a turnaround in Jewish fate, such a
spectacular show of resilience and redemption, the question is – what are we the Jewish People
going to do about it?

God indeed has not spurned His covenant. Neither shall we!

Schultz Rosenberg Campus, 12324 Merit Drive, Dallas TX, 75251

Phone: 214-295-3525 Fax: 214-295-3526
Email: kollelofdallas@sbcglobal.net Web site: www.kollelofdallas.org
The Community Kollel of Dallas is an affiliate of the Center for the Jewish Future of Yeshiva University