Va'eira: From Promise to Prayer
בְּקַבְּצִ֣י | אֶת־בֵּ֣ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל מִן־הָֽעַמִּים֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר נָפֹ֣צוּ בָ֔ם וְנִקְדַּ֥שְׁתִּי בָ֖ם לְעֵינֵ֣י הַגּוֹיִ֑ם וְיָֽשְׁבוּ֙ עַל־אַדְמָתָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָתַ֖תִּי לְעַבְדִּ֥י לְיַֽעֲקֹֽב:
When I gather in the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they have been scattered, and I have been sanctified through them in the eyes of the nations, then shall they dwell on their land that I gave to My servant, to Jacob.
One cannot read the opening posuk of the haftarah without hearing its echo in the Shemoneh Esrei. “When I gather the House of Israel from among the nations…” becomes, in our daily prayer, “Gather us together from the four corners of the earth.” Yechezkel speaks in the language of promise, the Amidah answers in the language of longing. What the Navi describes as Hashem’s future act, we articulate as a daily request. Both frame kibbutz galuyot not as private consolation, but as public recognition — something meant to be seen.
Yechezkel then clarifies what that gathering entails. He does not speak of return, but of gathering — קַבְּצִי — a word that assumes fragmentation and patience. Gathering is not a single moment but a process, drawing scattered pieces toward one another over time. Nor were the people merely displaced. They were נָפֹצוּ — scattered outward, dispersed into other cultures and histories, at risk of losing cohesion altogether.
The verse culminates not in survival, but in sanctification. וְנִקְדַּשְׁתִּי בָם. Rashi explains that Hashem’s name is sanctified when the nations see that Israel’s story did not end in exile. The Malbim sharpens the point: sanctification does not wait until the gathering is complete; it unfolds through the gathering itself. The process becomes the revelation and recognition of Hashem’s name.
To pray these words today, in a world where the scattered are quite literally being gathered, is to sense how closely prophecy and prayer can stand beside one another. In Yechezkel’s vision, holiness emerges not only through miracles that suspend nature, but through history that refuses to erase a people. A people drawn together. A promise unfolding. A revelation of Hashem in full view of the world.