Text: Ezekiel 37: 1-14
The hand of the Lord was upon me,
and the Lord carried me out in a spirit,
and set me down in the midst of the valley,
and it was full of bones.
And He caused me to pass by them round about,
and behold, there were very many in the open valley,
and lo, they were very dry.
And He said unto me,
Son of man, can these bones live?
And I answered, O Lord God, Thou knowest.
Then He said unto me,
Prophesy unto these bones, and say unto them,
O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord:
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones:
Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.
And I will lay sinews upon you, bring up flesh upon you,
and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live.
So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied,
there was a noise, and behold, a commotion,
and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
And I beheld, and lo, there were sinews upon them,
and flesh came up, and skin covered them above,
but there was no breath in them.
Then said He unto me,
Prophesy unto the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath:
Thus saith the Lord God: come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that they might live.
So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them
and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great host.
Then He said to me:
Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
Behold, they say: Our bones are dried up,
and our hope is lost, we are clean cut off.
Therefore prophesy, and say unto them:
Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves,
and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people,
and I will bring you into the land of Israel.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord
when I have opened your graves,
and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people.
And I will put my spirit in you, and ye shall live,
and I will place you in your own land,
and ye shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken,
and performed it, saith the Lord.
PDF: Prophecy_of_Ezekiel-sample.pdf
Late in 2007, Becky Silverstein, choir director at Mishkan Torah Synagogue in Greenbelt, Md., announced to the choir that the theme of the forthcoming spring concert would be the 60th anniversary of Israeli independence, and that she was seeking appropriate music. I volunteered to compose a piece for the occasion.
Becky was skeptical. The choir had recently sung a couple of my works, and they had struggled to master them. I have always tried to place my choral compositions within reach of an unauditioned chorus, but it never quite turns out that way. Becky did not believe there was enough time for me to compose a piece, let alone for the choir to learn it by April.
Nor did I have an idea of what text to set or how to handle it. But Jeffrey Rosen, my friend and fellow Mishkan Torah choir member, had the perfect answer: the Ezekiel “dry bones” prophecy with a bass soloist singing Ezekiel’s words and the choir singing those of G-d as related by Ezekiel.
It started out simply, the piano introducing the C minor 5-note scale that I realized only later was the same as the opening phrase of “Hatikvah,” the Israeli national anthem. Unlike most of my efforts, it went quickly, the ideas often emerging so fast that my pencil (I didn’t yet have composing software) couldn’t keep up. I completed the piece on Feb. 11, and the choir premiered it in April with me singing the bass solo. As is typical, I got lots more compliments on my writing than my singing.
Over the next few years, the choir performed the piece a few more times, but with Cantor Phil Greenfield as the bass soloist.
In addition to the 5-note motif, I made frequent use of perfect fourth intervals throughout. I came to see the prophetic text as Ezekiel’s dream, a dream of returning home to his people’s own land, which was realized in April 1948. To me, the fourths enhanced that dreamlike mood.
The solo line reaches its climax at the phrase “an exceeding great host.” complete with a high E♭, and the soloist’s work is done. I intentionally began the next section with just the upper three parts to give the soloist time to join the choral basses if needed.
The tonality returns to C minor and wanders through various keys, elevating by minor thirds, before settling on C major for the triumphal ending.