יחזקאל הנביא

Ezekiel the prophet is the prophet of the exile, who prophesied not in Jerusalem but by the River Kevar in Babylon, among the exiles. He taught the truth that changed Jewish history: that one can encounter the Divine Presence even outside the Land, even within the destruction, 'and I have been for them a small sanctuary' (Ezekiel 11:16), a little temple wherever a Jew prays.

His visions are among the most sublime in Scripture: the Account of the Chariot, the 'chashmal' and wheels and holy creatures, which became a foundation of the world of the secret. And against it, the vision of the dry bones in the valley: 'these bones are the whole house of Israel,' and they rise to life and are covered with flesh and spirit. A picture of a people that seemed dead, and rose.

Ezekiel also taught the principle of personal responsibility: 'the soul that sins, it shall die,' no one is punished for his father's sin. In exile, when the national frameworks had crumbled, he gave the individual his weight: every person is responsible for his own way, and every person can return.

What do we learn from him? That holiness is not imprisoned in one place, and that even a people that looks like dry bones can rise to life. Ezekiel teaches the secret of surviving exile: a small sanctuary in every heart, the personal responsibility of each individual, and faith that even the harshest picture, a valley full of bones, is not the end of the story.