This reflection is part of the ongoing Forest Hills Haftorah Series. The rest of the content can be found here: https://www.sefaria.org/groups/FHJC-Haftorah-Series .
(יב) לָכֵן֩ הִנָּבֵ֨א וְאָמַרְתָּ֜ אֲלֵיהֶ֗ם כֹּֽה־אָמַר֮ אדושם יקוק הִנֵּה֩ אֲנִ֨י פֹתֵ֜חַ אֶת־קִבְרֽוֹתֵיכֶ֗ם וְהַעֲלֵיתִ֥י אֶתְכֶ֛ם מִקִּבְרוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם עַמִּ֑י וְהֵבֵאתִ֥י אֶתְכֶ֖ם אֶל־אַדְמַ֥ת יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (ס) (יג) וִֽידַעְתֶּ֖ם כִּֽי־אֲנִ֣י יקוק בְּפִתְחִ֣י אֶת־קִבְרֽוֹתֵיכֶ֗ם וּבְהַעֲלוֹתִ֥י אֶתְכֶ֛ם מִקִּבְרוֹתֵיכֶ֖ם עַמִּֽי׃ (יד) וְנָתַתִּ֨י רוּחִ֤י בָכֶם֙ וִחְיִיתֶ֔ם וְהִנַּחְתִּ֥י אֶתְכֶ֖ם עַל־אַדְמַתְכֶ֑ם וִידַעְתֶּ֞ם כִּי־אֲנִ֧י יקוק דִּבַּ֥רְתִּי וְעָשִׂ֖יתִי נְאֻם־יקוק׃ (פ)
(12)I am going to open your graves and lift you out of the graves, O My people, and bring you to the land of Israel. (13) You shall know, O My people, that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and lifted you out of your graves. (14) I will put My breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil. Then you shall know that I the LORD have spoken.
With these words, we conclude the special Haftorah for Shabbos hol hamoed Pesah. Words of assurance and encouragement that Hashem spoke to the prophet Ezekiel - someone who lived through one of our darkest moments - the desolation of our beloved capital Jerusalem, and the destruction of our venerated and cherished first Temple in the sixth century BCE.
At the time, Ezekiel had been standing in a valley filled with dry bones - bones, which he was told, represent the whole of the House of Israel. After hearing the word of Hashem, these bones begin to pull themselves back together, stand up, and regrow sinews, muscle, and skin. While they are initially full of despair and hopelessness, Hashem is quick to offer them comfort, with the guarantee of future redemption and restoration.
While there is so much in this Haftorah to speak about, for this upcoming Shabbos I want to just ask one question - Why the connection to Pesah?
In the Babylonian Talmud, there is a debate as to whether this moment actually happened, or whether it is meant to be read as a parable. And even amongst those who are in agreement that this actually took place, there is yet another argument as to whose bones these are. One of these opinions provides a direct connection to our exodus from Egypt:
אמר רב אלו בני אפרים שמנו לקץ וטעו שנאמר (דברי הימים א ז, כ) ובני אפרים שותלח וברד בנו ותחת בנו ואלעדה בנו ותחת בנו וזבד בנו ושותלח בנו ועזר (ואלעזר) [ואלעד] והרגום אנשי גת הנולדים בארץ
Rav says, "These are the bones of the descendants of Ephraim who calculated the moment of redemption from Egypt. But they erred! And they therefore left before their appointed time, and the people of Gath [Philistine territory] who were born in the land killed them.
So what happened here? As the moment of our Israelite ancestors' redemption from Egypt was approaching, some of them mistakenly presumed to know exactly when this was bound to happen - and they up and left, leaving the rest of their Israelite brothers and sisters behind. Upon arriving at the Land of Canaan, they found themselves in conflict with the Philistine people of Gath, and they all perished - having never experienced the true redemption, missing out on all of the Signs and Wonders that the rest of their brethren would merit shortly after.
A passage of midrash which speaks of this same moment is preserved in Yalkut Shimoni:
דבר אחר ולא נחם אלקים
אף על פי שיצאו ישראל ממצרים לא קיבל הקב"ה תנחומין על בני אפרים שנהרגו שמנו הקץ וטעו ויצאו שלושים שנה קודם הקץ, שמנו לבין הבתרים והקץ היה משנולד יצחק,
משל למלך שהיה משיא בנו
ומתוך החופה מת לו בן אחד אמר אי אפשי בשמחה מפני בני המת ואי אפשי להתאבל מפני שמחת בני החי
ומה עשה התחיל מרקד בידו אחת וסופד בידו אחרת הוי ולא נחם,
God did not lead (nahum) the Israelites out by way of the land of the Phillistines, although it was nearer; for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt. (Exodus 13:17)
Even though Hashem is now bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, He is still not accepting comfort (tanhumim) over the people of Ephraim who were killed - for they had calculated the end, erred, and left thirty years before the actual time
...
This is akin to a king who was celebrating the marriage of his son. And from underneath the wedding canopy, another of his sons died. The king said - I can neither celebrate, because of my deceased son! Nor can I mourn, because of the joyous occasion of my living son!
What did he do? He began to dance on one hand, and mourn on the other.
The separation between much of Ephraim and the rest of Israel was tragic - a tragedy so poignantly captured by this midrash in personifying Hashem, comparing His emotional experience to a father forced to encounter the extremes of both jubilation and utter devastation at the same time. And with the help of this midrash, we now have a remarkable and moving connection between Passover and the Shabbos Haftorah portion.
As Jews, our first redemption was the one we celebrate during Passover. But even from its very beginning, this redemption could never be complete - for not all Israelites ended up having a share in this epochal moment in our history.
While celebrating our redemption, Ezekiel reminds us that ultimately it fell short - and that we should not only be celebrating the past, but yearning for the future - for the final, and even greater, more complete redemption that at long last all Israelites will merit experiencing together. May it be speedily in our days.