Crowns for the Righteous and the Valley of Dry Bones

Tanna Debei Eliyahu Rabbah 5:1

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

Glory and strength for the righteous in the time to come and in the world to come. How so? The Holy One, blessed be He, sits in His house of study, and the righteous of the world sit before Him, and to each and every one is given a radiant face according to the Torah that is in him, and the ministering angels stand around Israel and weep in their hearts and say: Happy are Israel, that all the trouble and affliction and pressure that they had has passed and gone, and now all that goodness and greatness is theirs, as it is said, "Kings of armies flee, they flee" (Psalms 68:13). Read not "flee" but "are friends" - for they conversed with Moses, father of wisdom, father of the prophets, who went up on high and brought down the Torah from heaven. For in this world the idolaters reproached Israel and said, Silver and gold are ours and silver and gold are Israel's; fields and vineyards are ours and likewise Israel's; what reward do they have for the words of Torah over which they so afflicted themselves? But afterward, when the days of the son of David arrive and the angel of death is abolished from Israel in this world, all the idolaters will say, "Happy the people whose lot is thus; happy the people whose God is the LORD" (Psalms 144:15), as it is said, "He will swallow up death forever" (Isaiah 25:8) - these are the days of the son of David. And the idolaters will cry outside, that they did not heed the words of Torah, and the ministering angels will cry within, that they did not merit that goodness of Israel, as it is said, "Behold, their valiant ones cry outside" (Isaiah 33:7). And it says, "He raises the poor from the dust" (Psalms 113:7) - these are people who committed transgressions and upon whom death was decreed unto four generations, as it is said, "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and fourth generations" (Exodus 20:5); they turned and repented and read Scripture and studied Mishnah and died amid that affliction. The Holy One, blessed be He, has no consolation over them unless He stands them up on their feet from the dust between His knees and embraces them and kisses them and brings them to the life of the world to come with the rest of the righteous. "To seat them with princes" (Psalms 113:8) - in the world to come. "He gives the barren woman a home" (Psalms 113:9) - this is the Temple, within which the Holy One, blessed be He, stood and created the whole world from end to end, as it is said, "The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, established the heavens by understanding; by His knowledge the depths broke open" (Proverbs 3:19-20). Another interpretation: this is this world, within which the Holy One, blessed be He, created the human being, as it is said, "I made the earth and created man upon it" (Isaiah 45:12). "A joyful mother of children" - blessed is the Omnipresent, blessed be He, whose joy over Israel is great forever; for just as Israel repents in this world and performs the Torah and rejoices in it, so the Torah rejoices in them in the world to come. The resurrection of the dead belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He, in this world, to sanctify His great name; and the resurrection of the dead belongs to Him in the days of the son of David, to give reward to those who love Him and fear Him; and the resurrection of the dead belongs to Him in the world to come, to render judgment and reckoning, as it is said, "Your dead shall live, my corpses shall rise; awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust, for your dew is a dew of lights, and the earth shall cast out the shades" (Isaiah 26:19). "Your dead shall live" - these are the dead of the land of Israel; "my corpses shall rise" - these are the dead outside the land; "awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust" - these are people who settle themselves upon the dust to learn Torah; the Holy One, blessed be He, brings upon them the dew of the lights of Torah and seats them between His knees and kisses them and brings them to the life of the world to come, as it is said, "for your dew is a dew of lights." And for what reason did Ezekiel merit that the dead be revived through him? Because he attached himself to Israel at every single hour. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Ezekiel, "Son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city?" (Ezekiel 22:2). Why "will you judge" twice? Thus said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Ezekiel: To Me and to you it is fitting to reprove Israel. Another interpretation: thus said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Ezekiel: If you reprove them, reprove them, and if you do not, I will reprove them with reproof; but you shall not be like them, but like this song - just as a song, at times people rejoice in it, at times it gladdens its masters, as it is said, "You are to them like a love song" (Ezekiel 33:32). And know that it is so: when Nebuchadnezzar came and exiled Israel and brought them down to Babylon, he made them officers over every labor, and when they corrupted their deeds he took them out to the valley and killed them; and at the hour they were slain they said, "Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost; we are cut off" (Ezekiel 37:11). Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, brought Ezekiel upon them and passed him over them, as it is said, "The hand of the LORD was upon me... and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones, and He led me around among them, and behold they were very dry" (Ezekiel 37:1-2). Read not "bones" but "tree of death" - from the tree of which the Holy One, blessed be He, told the first man not to eat, and he ate, and death was decreed upon him and upon his descendants who came after him until the end of all generations. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Ezekiel, "Son of man, can these bones live?" And he said, "O Lord GOD, You know." At once "He said to me, Prophesy over the bones... Prophesy to the breath... Thus says the Lord GOD, from the four winds come, O breath, and breathe into these slain that they may live" - this teaches that they had been slain. From here they said that the ministering angels were appointed over that wicked one to harm him, as it is said, "But you are cast out from your grave like a loathsome branch, clothed with the slain" (Isaiah 14:19). And in the end they lived and stood upon their feet and were fruitful and multiplied, as it is said, "And the breath came into them and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host" (Ezekiel 37:10). Then was the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, magnified and sanctified from one end of the world to the other; and concerning that hour it is said, "And I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself and make Myself known in the eyes of many nations" (Ezekiel 38:23).

Themes

World To ComeResurrectionTorah

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