A final lesson from the dry bones vision is the ability of Klal Yisrael to mourn and then move forward. Rav Avrohom Kluger in his Sefer Nezer Yisrael tells the story of a Gadol who went to make a shiva call to a family who lost a child in a terrible auto accident. Besides the grieving parents, there were many older siblings sitting shiva and all week they had been discussing what they should accept upon themselves, what they should be mekabel as to improve their avodas Hashem as a result of this tragedy. They asked the Gadol what he thought.
“You want to know what you should be mekabel during this time?” the Gadol asked. “I’ll tell you exactly what HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants. He wants you to be mekabel tanchumin! Don’t think it is so easy to move on after a tragedy. Taking comfort and consolation, being mekabel tanchumin, is a great avodah like all other aspects of avodas Hashem. Before you take on and be mekabel anything else, make sure you work on being mekabel tanchumin, work hard at being consoled!”
Perhaps this is the reason why each person who visits a shiva house and comforts the mourner needs to say the pasuk of “HaMakom. . .” At times, it seems strange and unnecessary for each person to recite the pasuk, one after the other after the other. But we have to understand that it is not easy to receive comfort. It’s a choice a person has to make and it requires hard work. A mourner needs every last blessing he can get in order to receive nechama. Each person is saying a short tefillah to the mourner that Hashem should comfort him and Hashem should give him the strength to not allow the tragedy to be emotionally debilitating long term, to find a way to accept the tragedy and continue living life the way it should be lived. When a person faces his own dry bones tragedy and needs to work on receiving comfort, he needs all the tefilos and brachos he can get so that the dry bones can become productive.
And these are some of the happenings in this week’s haftarah.