Jon S. is a regular commenter at this site. He sent along this remembrance for Holocaust Remembrance Day.
A few years ago, I accompanied a delegation of Israeli high-school kids to Poland, one of those trips which have become something of a rite-of –passage for a generation of Israelis.
So that’s how I find myself, standing on the ruins of one of the gas chambers, the weather clear and cold, my students are looking at me, and –for once in my life – I don’t know what to say, I’m literally at a loss for words. Somehow the emotional and physical strain of the trip has exhausted me , dazed me…Aside from everything else, it happens to be my birthday.
Finally, I pull out my prayer- book , I’ve decided to say Kaddish. Strictly speaking, since both my parents were still alive at the time, I wasn’t supposed to, but I felt that an exception could be made, that it was the right thing to do. So I recited the Kaddish, the kids saying “amen ” in the proper places. After the Kaddish – and after I dried my eyes– I opened my Bible and read Ezekiel’s “Vision of the Dry Bones” (ch.37), with its powerful message of consolation, hope and rebirth:
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and the LORD carried me out in a spirit, and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones;
2 and He caused me to pass by them round about, and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3 And He said unto me: ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered: ‘O Lord GOD, Thou knowest.’
4 Then He said unto me: ‘Prophesy over these bones, and say unto them: O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD:
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.’
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a commotion, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
8 And I beheld, and, lo, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said He unto me: ‘Prophesy unto the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath: {S} Thus saith the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’
10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great host.
11 Then He said unto me: ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.
12 Therefore prophesy, and say unto them: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, O My people.
14 And I will put My spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will place you in your own land; and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken, and performed it, saith the LORD.’
