Valley of Dry Bones

This year we will not read the Haftarah regarding the Valley of Dry Bones from the Book of Yechezkel. This is because we do not have a Shabbat Chol Hamoed. This is also why Ashkenazim will read שיר השירים on the seventh day of Pesach.

This is a perfect example of the way the rationalists verses the traditionalists view this amazing prophecy.

When the prophet describes the bones miraculously transforming into human beings, it can be viewed as a vision of the resurrection of the dead in the future.

The rationalists will see this as allegory or a dream. The traditionalists will view this as an absolute description of what will take place in the future.

This division in outlook has been going on for thousands of years. To this day, some are dogmatic in maintaining these views. It seems to me that we need to find some common ground and meet somewhere in the middle between these two viewpoints.

Sefirat Haomer: Yesterday was two.