JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

R. Eliezer somewhat reduced the significance of Ezekiel’s
resurrection of the dry bones, pointing out that “the dead
whom Ezekiel revived stood up, recited a song [i.e., of praise],
and [immediately] died” (Sanh. 92b). R. Judah apparently regarded
the story as an allegorical vision; but other rabbis fully
accepted the resurrection miracle.
In later midrashic literature, Ezekiel is praised for his
love of Israel; hence he was deemed worthy to perform the
resuscitation miracle (SER 5:23). He was criticized, however,
for his initial doubting of the possibility of such a miracle.
Because of his lack of faith, he was doomed to die on foreign
soil (PdRE 33).
The halakhah of the Book of Ezekiel deviates on a number
of points from the Torah. Although attempts were made
to reconcile the contradictions (most notably by Hananiah b.
Hezekiah who saved the canonicity of the book), a number
of cases were left to be “interpreted by Elijah in the future”
(Men. 45a, and parallels). R. Yose b. Hanina, a third century
amora, frankly conceded that Ezekiel’s doctrine of personal
responsibility (Ezek. 18:3–4) was irreconcilable with Moses’
teaching concerning “visiting the iniquity of the father upon
the children and upon the children’s children” (Ex. 34:7, et
al.; Mak. 24a).
According to R. *Simeon b. Yoḥai, Ezekiel was consulted
by Ḥananiah, Mishael, and Azariah whether to bow down
to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. He referred them to Isaiah 26:20,
in effect advising them to hide and flee. They refused to accept
his counsel and prepared to die for the sanctification of
God’s name. Despite Ezekiel’s tearful pleading, God refused
to promise His aid, though saving them in the end (Song. R.
7:8). The Midrash reflects the conflicting opinions on the preferable
Jewish reaction to the Hadrianic persecution. Ezekiel
represents’ the moderate compromising view such as that of
R. Yose b. Kisma (cf. Av. Zar. 18a), while the course of martyrdom
followed by R. Akiva and R. Ḥanina b. Teradyon, among
others (Ber. 61b; Av. Zar. 18a), was preferred by R. Simeon (a
disciple of R. Akiva), who fearlessly braved death when he
demanded to be instructed by his imprisoned master (Pes.
112a), and risked his life again when he openly denounced the
Romans (Shab. 33b).
[Moses Aberbach / Stephen G. Wald (2nd ed.)]
ezekiel’s tomb
According to a tradition this was located at a village 20
miles (32 km.) south of the town of Ḥilla in central Iraq. The
Arabs refer to Ezekiel as to other prophets as “Dhū al-Kifl”
(various etymologies have been suggested such as “doubly
rewarded”; “guarantor”?) for the responsibility that he bore
for the people of Israel. The tomb is mentioned for the first
time in the epistle of R. *Sherira Gaon (c. 986), and a detailed
description is given by *Benjamin of Tudela about 1170,
*Pethahiah of Regensburg (about the same time), and later by
other travelers, Jewish and non-Jewish. It is situated in a manmade
cave, covered by a cupola. Over the cupola a magnificent
outer tomb is built, coinciding in its linear dimensions
ezekiel
with the lower tomb, and it is at this outer tomb that the pilgrims
pray. In the room adjoining Ezekiel’s tomb there are five
tombs purported to contain the remains of five geonim. Another
room, with a window, is referred to as “Elijah’s Cave,”
and a third room contains the tomb of Menahem Ṣāliḥ *Daniel,
a well-known philanthropist whose family was entrusted
with guarding the tomb. The walls bear various inscriptions,
including three poems in the Arab-Spanish meter composed
by the Babylonian poet R. Abdallah Khuḍayr and in honor
of donors. Pilgrimages to the tomb were usually made in the
late spring, especially on Shavuot. A special parchment scroll,
“the Scroll of Ezekiel,” was read, containing passages from the
Book of Ezekiel and written on behalf of the ascent to heaven
of the souls of the departed. In 1860 the Muslims made an
attempt to wrest ownership of the tomb from the Jews, but
a government emissary from Constantinople decided in favor
of the Jews.
[Abraham Ben-Yaacob]
in islam
The name of the prophet Ezekiel (Ḥiẓqīl) is not mentioned in
the *Koran. However Sura 2:244 (“Dost thou not look at those
who left their homes by thousands, for fear of death; and God
said to them ‘Die,’ and then He quickened them again …”) alludes
to Ezekiel 37:1–10. According to Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyāʾ (Legends
of the Prophets), the mother of Ḥiẓqīl ibn Būdhī was
barren (an allusion to Hannah, the mother of Samuel the
prophet), and he is therefore referred to as “the son of the old
woman.” It was he who resuscitated the dead who were killed
by the plague (al-ṭā‘ūn).
[Haïm Z’ew Hirschberg]
in the arts
Ezekiel and his prophetic vision have not inspired many works
of literary importance. Apart from Barbara Macandrew’s
Ezekiel and Other Poems (1871), a lyric by Emma *Lazarus, “The
New Ezekiel” (in Songs of a Semite, 1882), predicting the Jewish
people’s national revival in Ereẓ Israel, works on the theme
include a poem by Franz *Werfel, Ezechiel, der Prophet (1953),
a tale of the Babylonian captivity by Lieselotte Hoffmann, and
Albert *Cohen’s one-act play Ezéchiel (1933), a dialogue representing
the struggle between prophetic vision and reality.
In art the important subjects drawn from the Book of
Ezekiel are the apocalyptic visions – the Chariot (Merkavah)
with fiery wheels, the resurrection of the dry bones, and
the locked gate. There are also some scenes showing Ezekiel
undergoing various ordeals – eating a scroll, lying prostrate
in expiation of the sins of Israel and Judah, and cutting his
hair and beard and weighing them in the balance. The prophet
is usually shown with the fiery chariot or the double wheel,
taken as a symbol of the two Testaments. Sometimes he also
holds a scroll reading “Porta clausa est, non aperietur” (44:2).
In the third-century frescoes of the synagogue at *Dura-Europos
there is an outstanding cycle of scenes from the Book
of Ezekiel. There are representations of the men slaughtering
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 645