Parshat Vayigash
This week’s haftarah from sefer Yechezkel marks the closing of the Geula section of the book—a section that includes chapters 36 and 37. The theme of a reunification between Judea, the Southern Empire and Yosef (Ephrayim), the Northern Empire, mirrors the highlight of this morning’s parsha and explains why it was chosen as the haftarah. Hashem’s command given to the Navi to take two branches/sticks and write “Yehuda” upon one stick and “Yosef” upon the other, is reminiscent of the directive that Hashem gave to Moshe (after the Korach rebellion), to take 12 staffs and to write the name of each tribe’s leader on his staff—and Aharon’s name of the staff of Levi.
The clear contrast between these two acts—according to Rav Amnon Bazak—is that Moshe’s action was meant to differentiate Aharon’s tribe from the others, designating him and no other, as Kohen Gadol; while the purpose of Yechezkel’s action was to reunite the tribes, thereby making them one nation, once again. The distinction is clearly underscored by the fact that Moshe had each staff returned to its individual tribal leader while the two branches of Yechezkel were fused into one.
But we would be missing much of the significance of the prophet’s actions were we not to understand the background to our haftarah. Yechezkel prophesied over 150 after the kingdom of Shomron had been destroyed and the bulk of her population had been exiled. At the same time, the kingdom of Yehuda was under siege by the Babylonian hordes, and the long-threatened prophecies of its destruction had begun to come true. Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch surmises that the Navi’s nevuah of an eventual reuniting of the two hostile kingdoms proves that the hatred had still remained—even after these many years, and even after the disappearance of the northern kingdom! The prophetic “eye” of Yechezkel perceives Israel—scattered and dispersed throughout the nations—still divided from, and in opposition to, each other throughout the centuries!
In describing what he sees in this division, Rav Hirsch uses the most powerful words that may very well have reflected the Jewish world of his time (mid-19th century) but, sadly, can describe our world today, as well. Rav Hirsch sees the exiled from Shomron as those preaching an “irreligious” philosophy, dismissing all Jewish experiences and accentuating assimilation. Those exiled from Judea, he writes, are those “religious” in name alone—discounting the importance of honesty and truthfulness—of honoring our fellow man and of avoiding evil and hateful speech.
In summary, Rav Hirsch tells us: “Religious nihilism, fanatical enmity towards every … Jewish point of view … is the stamp of Efrayim-Israel, (while) picking out which mitzvot should be kept (and) the mechanical carrying out those which are kept, is the reproach from which Yehuda-Israel cannot escape.”
These harsh words might rightly have us ask: Do these descriptions apply to our world as well? And, even if all of them do not—perhaps, some of them do. More disquieting, is the fact that the division within our communities has continued since the very words of Yechezkel. A prophecy that predicts a long-lasting period of disunity, conflict and, yes, even hatred, would haunt the Jewish nation for thousands of years.
I opened this article explaining that this reading marks the closing of the Geula section of sefer Yechezkel, but what is also true is that the opening part of the chapter is the well-known prophecy of the “Valley of the Dry Bones.” The promise that Hashem will bring the seemingly “dead” nation back to life is followed by this week’s message that the nation would be “reborn,” suggests that Israel can be revitalized only when she can renounce the divisions and the hatred; only when the two sticks can reunite and become one. Zecharya taught this lesson 2,500 years ago. Don’t you think that it’s about time we learn it?
Rabbi Neil Winkler is the rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel of Fort Lee, and now lives in Israel.
