Yechezkal, Perakim 19-24
1) Perek Summaries
Perek 19: References to the Beis Yisrael’s errant leadership via parable of a vine and a lion cub.
Perek 20: A fascinating account of the rebelliousness of the Bnei Yisral across history, with specific details about the period of the Exodus. Our attempt at assimilation is detailed too, as well as HaShem’s retribution. The perek ends on a positive note, with a prophecy about repent and future glory.
Perek 21: Account of the enemy having set foot to Jerusalem to capture it. Zedekiah is to be captured.
Perek 22: A general spiritual decline of Jerusalem and its leaders. The sins of the land.
Perek 23: HaShem likens His nation to prostitutes in their disloyalty to Him.
Perek 24: The tenth of Teves; the enemy reaches Jerusalem. HaShem tells of the impending bloodshed and reveals to Yechezkal that his wife will be amongst those killed. There is to be no overt grief over the destruction of Jerusalem.
2) Dvar Torah (a bit longer; last week’s was short enough!)
In perek 20 HaShem seems to single out one sin in particular committed in the past by the Bnei Yisrael. Referring to the time Bnei Yisrael were in the desert after leaving Egypt, Yechezkal says that (20:13) ‘they desecrated Shabbos a lot (me’od).’ What does ‘a lot’ mean here? The Metzudas Dovid explains that this word ‘me’od’ is because members of the Bnei Yisrael broke Shabbos the first two Shabbasos after they had been given the mitzvah of Shabbos (the first being those people who went out to collect manna on Shabbos, and the second being the mekoshesh eitzim). But the question returns; why, just because it was the first two Shabboses, does the pasuk say that we broke Shabbos ‘a lot’ – it was only twice?
Let’s answer this by introducing a concept by means of a few questions… (Most of this is based on Rabbi Tatz)
We have a halacha that tumah (impurity) is allowed when it comes to communal matters (it’s not ideal, but it is allowed). Thus, when certain communal sacrifices become tamei, we allow them to be used based on the above rule. Now, if this is so, why did the Jews search for pure oil in the Chanukahh story; surely, as we have seen, impure oil suffices for communal use? Next question; there are two korban tamids offered each day – one in the morning and the other in the late afternoon. If for whatever reason the morning one was not offered, the after noon one is nevertheless still offered up. There is, however, one exception to this rule; when there is a new mizbeyach. In this case, if the morning tamid is not offered up then the after noon one is skipped and the next day begins with the first tamid again. Why does a new mizbeyach affect things in this way?
The answer is a concept which itself is embedded within another concept. Here goes…
The first concept is that the physical world mirrors the spiritual world, and thus one can learn much about how the spiritual world works from the study of the physi cal/biological world; especially the human body. One wonder of the human body is that at the moment of creating a new life, the DNA is already encoded and laid down as to exactly what this new child will look like. It is all there from the first moment; the rest of the process is just development and watching as this plan is carried out as the baby grows. And so it is in the spiritual world; everything is laid down at the start, only for things to unfold and grow to achieve these plans later. For example, in the creation of the world everything was created on the first day, only for each item to be placed and ‘brought out’ in its correct day (Rashi Bereishis 1:14, 24). Simi larly, we have the concept that ‘maaseh Avos siman babanim,’ i.e. that which occurred to our forefathers in Chumash Bereishis lays down our national genes as to what will occur to us across history.
Consequently, the start of any process is arguably the most important part, for this will define how the process will be car ried out and indeed end up. In our terms, a project which is not started well is not likely to pick up and succeed. This is called ‘hakol holech achar harosh’ i.e. everything continues from the way it is started. This can be illustrated by a simple mashal; if a ship sails one degree off course towards the end of its journey then it will not dock too far from its original planned port of arrival. But if the ship is one degree off from the start of the journey then it will end up at a very different point of des tination than originally planned. The point is that when things are developing/starting off they are at their most crucial and fragile state. Thus, the gemarra Shabbos states that the mitzvos that Bnei Yisrael kept strongly from the start are still followed well, but the mitzvos we started off performing weakly, continue to be kept in a weak way. (Bris milah is a great example; Avraham Avinu went through tremendous hardship to perform bris milah, and his descendants to day practise bris milah; even the non-religious descendants. And the same goes for Chesed.)
Armed with this concept, we can now return to our original questions…
We can now understand that when, in the Chanukahh story, we found ourselves at the beginning of the rededication of the Beis HaMikdash – a new beginning – we had to do it properly and use pure oil. So too when there is a new mizbeyach it must start off properly – with the morning tamid first. At the start we must make special effort to ensure things are done properly.
This is also the key to the word ‘me’od.’ When we broke those two Shabboses, we got off to a bad start with regards to Shabbos. It is precisely because the start of any mitzvah, etc is so important that breaking the first two Shabboses were crucial; it meant that the beginning was ‘bad,’ and had repercussions throughout history.
