Yechezkal, Perakim 7-12
1) Perek Summaries
Perek 7: HaShem conveys his message of destruction to the sinful inhabitants of the Land of Israel
Perek 8: Yechezkal is shown idolatrous practices occurring in the Temple itself, and is told that these unworthy leaders of the Jewish People claim that HaShem has forsaken the Land and is not watching them.
Perek 9: Yechezkal is privy to HaShem’s summoning of forces (angels) to come and wreak destruction upon the Land and its inhabitants. This angel (Gabriel according to the Redak) was to mark the foreheads of those who were righteous enough to merit avoiding the fate of their straying brothers. (similar to the Pesach story in a way).
Perek 10: A continuation of the prophecy of the merkava in the opening perek. Descriptions of the Cherubin and Ofanim.
Perek 11: The naming and shaming of the false prophets, and their fate. Yechezkal effectively pleas for HaShem not to wipe out all of Bnei Yisrael from the Land of Israel. HaShem promises that He will be with the people in exile, and that they will return to the Land. HaShem removes His Presence from the Land, so to speak.
Perek 12: Yechezkal is to convey to the people the message of exile and the imminent destruction of the Land.
2) Dvar Torah
These perakim are jam-packed with issues. For example, perek 9 teaches us that even when there is destruction, HaShem is merciful to people who deserve it. And perek 8 tells us that people will make any claims to cover up their internal bias and justify what they want to do. Similarly, gemarra Shabbos (55a) tells us that the righteous people of the time were criticised in Heaven for not reproving and correcting their erring brothers. But I want to focus on a conversation between Yechezkal and HaShem in perek 11.
In perek 11, Yechezkal asks HaShem to guarantee that there will still be Jews left in the Land of Israel. HaShem responds that He will be for the people as a ‘mini Temple,’ for the Jews in exile, which the gemarra (Megillah 29a) explains refers to the shuls and batei madras in galus. What have these parts of the conversation got to do with each other; why is it a response for HaShem to say that He will be with us in the shuls and batei midrash in the exile?
The key is a comment by the Vilna Ga’on on the gemarra Brachos (8a.). The gemarra recounts that Rav Yochanan was surprised to hear that old people exist in Bavel. Why? For he read the pasuk that we say in shema ‘so that you will increase your days…in the land that I promised to your forefathers…,’ and thus learnt that only in the promised Land shall you have lengthy days, and not in Chutz l’Aretz. The gemarra continues that when they told Rav Yochanan that the people of Bavel spent much time in the shul, he understood why they had been granted a long life. But, the Vilna Gaon points out, the question remains; the fact that people had a long life in Bavel contravenes the pasuk; even if they spent long times in shul? He answers that since the gemarra (megillah 29a) says that in the future the shuls and batei medrash of Bavel will be fixed in Eretz Yisrael, this means that their point of destination is the Land of Israel, and thus they already have properties and facets of the kedusha of the Land of Israel. And the Maharsha goes even further (megillah 29a ‘attidim’) in saying that since all shuls will be connected to the beis hamikdash in the future, then standing in one shul even in Chutz l’Aretz has an aspect of standing in the midkash itself.
This is the key to our question. HaShem was assuring Yechezkal that there will be Jews remaining in the Land of Israel, because He was guaranteeing that the shuls and batei midrash of the galus would take on the status of Eretz Yisrael – and Jew would be in those shuls and batei midrash.
