The Haftorah for Parshat VaYigash (Ezekiel 37:15-28) is an emotionally charged and politically consequential vision. It mirrors the Torah portion’s dramatic family reconciliation while addressing one of the deepest fractures in Jewish history: national division and the possibility of its healing.
In the Torah, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers. Truth, repentance and courage reunite a family torn apart by jealousy. In the Haftorah, the prophet Ezekiel elevates this personal moment into a sweeping national prophecy: the reunification of the divided House of Israel.
G-d commands Ezekiel to take two sticks, one marked “Judah” and the other “Joseph,” and to join them into a single stick held in one hand. This is no abstract symbol. Ezekiel speaks to a nation shattered by civil war, exile and ideological rupture. After King Solomon’s death, Israel split into two rival kingdoms, a division that proved catastrophic. Fragmentation led to vulnerability, and vulnerability to destruction.
Against this bleak backdrop, Ezekiel dares to speak of unity. “I will make them into one nation in the land… and one king shall be king to them all” (37:22). No more competing sovereignties, no more fragmented identity.
The parallel to Joseph’s story is unmistakable. Joseph does not seek revenge or dominance. He weeps and speaks plainly, bridging the chasm with empathy. Reconciliation, the Torah teaches, begins not with power, but with sincerity.
Ezekiel links national unity with moral renewal. Political cohesion without spiritual integrity is hollow. Healing requires accountability and a return to shared values.
This message resonates powerfully today. The Jewish people are once again sovereign in their land, yet deeply divided. We speak the language of brotherhood while practicing the politics of discord.
Ezekiel offers no shortcuts. Unity demands shared purpose, honest self-examination and recommitment to what binds us together. He also reminds us that fragmentation invites danger while cohesion enables resilience.
But unity doesn’t mean uniformity. Judah remains Judah; Joseph remains Joseph. Difference is not erased but elevated within a shared destiny.
Like Joseph and his brothers, the Jewish people face a choice: remain trapped in suspicion or summon the courage to rebuild trust. Ezekiel says that unity may be difficult but it is possible, and Divinely desired. Indeed, Jewish destiny is fulfilled when divided tribes grasp the same stick, and when a people remembers that despite all differences, we share one past, one land, one Torah and one future.
Rabbi Michael Freund, a former Deputy Communications Director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is the Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), which assists lost tribes and hidden Jewish communities to return to the Jewish people.