Vayigash: From Revival to Relationship
When we think of Yechezkel perek 37, our minds often go immediately to its opening vision: dry bones rising, sinews forming, breath returning. That dramatic scene declares that even what seems irreversibly broken can live again.
But it is worth noticing where our Haftorah actually begins.
While the vision of the dry bones opens the perek, our Haftorah starts later with a quieter directive. Yechezkel is asked to take two pieces of wood—one inscribed Yehuda, the other Yosef—and bring them together until they become one in his hand. The movement here is intentional, shifting from a Divine act of revival to a human act of joining.
Seen this way, the arc of the perek becomes clear. Life is restored. A fractured nation is reunited. And even then, the prophecy does not end. It turns toward covenantal language—I will cleanse them… I will be their God—signaling that redemption is moving toward relationship.
Redemption, Yechezkel suggests, unfolds in stages. Survival is essential, and unity matters. Yet redemption reaches its fullness only when relationships are repaired—between one Jew and another, and between Am Yisrael and Hashem. The two sticks are not erased or reshaped in the process. Yehuda remains Yehuda. Yosef remains Yosef. Unity here is not uniformity; it is connection.
That is why the Haftorah begins after the miracle of the bones. It reminds us that redemption does not end with revival. It continues with responsibility and matures through relationship.
Redemption begins with Hashem restoring life.
It continues when we restore connection.
Only then can His presence dwell among us.