Techiyat Hameitim - Resurrection of the Dead

22 Sivan 5785

Following is the bit I promised from our Shabbat discussions...

Belief in the resurrection of the dead is the final one in the list of Rambam's Thirteen Principles of Faith.  

Resurrection of the dead — t’chiyat hameitim in Hebrew — is a core doctrine of traditional Jewish theology. Traditional Jews believe that during the Messianic Age, the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, the Jewish people ingathered from the far corners of the earth and the bodies of the dead will be brought back to life and reunited with their souls. ...Among Orthodox Jews, belief in the resurrection is still generally understood as a literal prophecy that will come to fruition when the messiah comes.  (Source)

I also believe, with absolute faith, in the resurrection of the dead when the individual soul will be reunited with its perfected, purified body.  However, I don't concern myself with how it could be possible or how it will play out.  It's enough for me that it's the Torah truth.

What is at issue for me today is the resurrection, not on the individual level, but on the national level.  I think it must be considered a fact because 1) we see it being played out in our reality, and 2) it is referenced in the prophets of Tanakh.

[Before I proceed with the quotes, please be aware that I am familiar with other interpretations found in the commentaries, but they need not be limited to only one interpretation.]

(See Yechezkel 37.7-14: "Vision of the Dry Bones") 

 ...I prophesied as I was commanded, and there arose a noise when I prophesied, and behold a commotion, and the bones came together, bone to its bone!  And I looked, and lo! sinews were upon them, and flesh came upon them, and skin covered them from above, but there was still no spirit in them. 

Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the spirit, 'So says the Lord God: From four sides come, O spirit, and breathe into these slain ones that they may live.' "  And I prophesied as He had commanded me, and the spirit came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a very great army, exceedingly so.  

Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel.  Behold they say, 'Our bones have become dried up, our hope is lost, we are clean cut off to ourselves.'  Therefore, prophesy and say to them, So says the Lord God: Lo! I open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves* as My people, and bring you home to the land of Israel.  Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and lead you up out of your graves as My people. 

And I will put My spirit into you, and you shall live, and I will set you on your land, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and have performed it," says the Lord.

This is the techiyat hameitim of the Jewish nation *brought up out of the graves" of exile.  The pashat of the text is clear that the nation is reconstituted but like a body without a soul at the beginning, only later becoming enlivened through the supernatural intervention of HKB"H.

The actual enlivening is described also in ...

   I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. According to their way and their misdeeds did I judge them.  And they entered the nations where they came, and they profaned My Holy Name, inasmuch as it was said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord, and they have come out of His land.'  But I had pity on My Holy Name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they had come. 

Therefore, say to the house of Israel; So says the Lord God: Not for your sake do I do this, O house of Israel, but for My Holy Name, which you have profaned among the nations to which they have come.  And I will sanctify My great Name, which was profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord - is the declaration of the Lord God - when I will be sanctified through you before their eyes.  

TEN "I WILLs"

For I will take you from among the nations and gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you to your land.  And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean; from all your impurities and from all your abominations will I cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put My spirit within you and bring it about that you will walk in My statutes and you will keep My ordinances and do [them].  

Then will you dwell in the land that I gave your fathers, and you will be a people to Me, and I will be to you as a God.   (Yechezkel 36:19 - 28)

Therefore, say; So said the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples, and I will assemble you from the lands which you have been scattered therein, and I shall give you the land of Israel.  And they will come over there, and they will remove all its detestations and all its abominations from it.  And I shall give them one heart, and a new spirit I shall place within them, and I shall remove the heart of stone from their flesh, and I shall give them a heart of flesh.  In order that they walk in My statutes and keep My laws and perform them, and they will be My people, and I shall be their God.   (Yechezkel 11:17 - 20)

The State of Israel is currently the place where the reconstituted national body is waiting for the complete fulfillment of the prophecy.  When HKB"H breathes new life into that body, the State will be replaced with the Kingdom - the Kingdom of Israel - the Kingdom of God!

With all that in mind, let's revisit the time our Sages predicted for techiyat hameitim.

In the Zohar, Parashat Toldot (Midrash Ne’elam, 140a), it is suggested that the period of resurrection will span 210–214 years before the year 6000. According to Rabbi Yitzchak, the resurrection process could extend over 214 years, beginning after 40 years of the ingathering of exiles (Kibbutz Galios). 

The Leshem Shevo V’Achlama (Drushei Olam HaTohu, 2:4:12:9–12), a 19th-century Kabbalistic work, cites this Zohar passage and further specifies that the resurrection must begin no later than 210–214 years before the year 6000, placing the latest possible start around the year 5786–5790 (2026–2030 CE).

What if, like everything else associated with the geulah, even techiyat hameitim is a process and the culmination of that process - for the nation - could be as soon as Rosh Hashanah 5786 - a mere three months from now!!!

 And just fyi, the simple gematria of 5786 = 26, the number of Hashem's name!

"Therefore, say to the house of Israel; So says the Lord God: Not for your sake do I do this, O house of Israel, but for My Holy Name,...."