Йехезкэля 37:8 Мидраш: Bereshit Rabbah, Vayikra Rabbah & Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

“Formed” [Vayitzer] – there were two acts of formation [involved in the creation of man], a formation for [his life in] this world and a formation for [his life in] the World to Come.¹³When the dead bodies of the righteous will again take form at the resurrection. Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, Beit Shammai say: The formation that takes place in this world and the formation that takes place in the World to Come are not the same. In this world, it [man’s formation in the womb] begins with skin and flesh and finishes with sinews and bones, but in the future, it will begin with sinews and bones and finish with skin and flesh, as that is what it says regarding the corpses of Ezekiel: “I saw, and behold, there were sinews upon them,¹⁴Upon the bones. and flesh grew, [and skin covered them]” (Ezekiel 37:8). Rabbi Yonatan said: We cannot learn anything from Ezekiel’s corpses.¹⁵Because they already had bones. In the future resurrection, there will be no bones. To what were Ezekiel’s corpses comparable? To one who enters a bathhouse; what he takes off first [when undressing] he puts on last [when dressing].
Beit Hillel say: Just as his formation takes place in this world so will his formation take place in the World to Come. In this world, it [man’s formation in the womb] begins with skin and flesh and finishes with sinews and bones, so, too, in the future, it will begins with skin and flesh and finish with sinews and bones, as Job says: “Do You not pour me [tatikheni] like milk [and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh and cover me with bones and sinews]?” (Job 10:10–11) – hitakhtani [in past tense]¹⁶Which would have referred to his formation in the womb. is not written here, but rather tatikheni [in future tense].¹⁷Referring to the resurrection in the future. “And curdle me [takpieni] like cheese” (Job 10:10) – hikpetani [in past tense] is not written here, but rather, takpieni, [in future tense]. “You clothe me [talbisheni] with skin and flesh” – hilbashtani [in past tense] is not written here, but rather, talbisheni, [in future tense]. “And cover me [tesokhekheni] with bones and sinews” (Job 10:11) – sokhakhtani [in past tense] is not written here, but rather, tesokhekheni [in future tense]. This is analogous to a bowl filled with milk. Before putting the rennet in it the milk is loose; after putting in the rennet, the milk congeals and sets. That is what Job said: “Do You not pour me like milk [and curdle me like cheese]…skin and flesh…You granted me life and kindness, and Your command preserved my spirit” (Job 10:12).

Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, Beit Shammai say: The formation of the fetus in this world is not like its formation in the World to Come. In this world, it begins with skin and flesh and concludes with sinews and bones. But in the future, it begins with sinews and bones and concludes with skin, as it is written regarding the dead of Ezekiel: “I saw, and behold, there were sinews upon them, and flesh grew, and skin covered them from above, but there was no spirit in them” (Ezekiel 37:8). Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: The portion of Ezekiel is no proof. To what are the dead of Ezekiel comparable? To one who entered a bathhouse – what he removed last, he dons first.
Beit Hillel say: Just as a fetus is formed in this world, it is formed in the World to Come. In this world, it begins with skin and flesh and concludes with sinews and bones, and in the future it is likewise, as Job says: “Please, remember that You have fashioned me like clay” (Job 10:9). “Have You not liquefied [tatikheni] me like milk?” (Job 10:10). It does not say hitakhtani, but rather, tatikheni.²⁰The term hitakhtani is past tense and would have fit more naturally in the verse in Job. The word tatikheni is actually future sense, such that a literal translation is “You will liquify me.” This is taken as an allusion to the future resurrection of the dead. “And curdled me [takpieni] like cheese” (Job 10:10); it does not say hikpetani, but rather, takpieni.²¹Takpieni is in future tense, whereas hikpetani is past tense. “You clothed me [talbisheni] with skin and flesh” (Job 10:11); it does not say hilbashtani, but rather, talbisheni. “And covered me [tesokhekheni] with bones and sinews” (Job 10:11); it does not say sokhakhtani, but rather, tesokhekheni. That is, “You granted me life and grace” (Job 10:12).
A woman’s womb is filled with blood, and from there it emerges and goes to the place of her menstruation. By the will of the Holy One blessed be He, a refined drop goes and falls into it; immediately the fetus is formed. This is analogous to milk that is situated in a bowl. If one places rennet into it, it congeals and sets, and if not, it remains loose.
[This is analogous] to two painters, this one painted the image of that one, and that one painted the image of this one. The female is always from the man and the male is always from the woman.²²It is the father who is primarily responsible for the gender of the child when it is a female, and the mother who is primarily responsible for the gender of the child when it is a male. From where is it derived that the male is from the woman? As it is stated: “And his Judean wife bore Yered” (I Chronicles 4:18), and it is written: “And his concubine, and her name was Reuma, she too bore [Tevah, Gaham, Tahash, and Raama]” (Genesis 22:24). That is what is written: “When a woman conceives and bears a male child” (Leviticus 12:2).²³The verse portrays the woman as the active party in the birth of a male because it is she who is primarily responsible for his gender. The female is from the man, as it is stated: “And Betuel begot Rebecca” (Genesis 22:23); “and Dina his daughter” (Genesis 46:15); “And the name of Asher’s daughter, Saraḥ” (Numbers 26:46).²⁴The verse portrays the man in the active party in the birth of a female because it is he who is primarily responsible for her gender. Rabbi Avin said: There is no barber who cuts his own hair. This is analogous to two who entered a bathhouse. The one who perspires first, emerges first.²⁵The one who emits seed first completes his or her role in the act of relations and leaves it to the other to determine the gender of the child (cf. Nidda 31a).
Rabbi Abahu said: The Holy One blessed be He performed a great favor for the woman in this world in that He did not begin formation of the fetus with sinews and bones. Had He so begun, it would have breached her belly and emerged. Although in this world, the woman gives birth in pain, in the future, what is written? “Before she begins labor, she will give birth; before a pang comes to her, [she will deliver a male child]” (Isaiah 66:7).

Rabbi Phineas said: After twenty years, when all of them had been slain in Babylon, the Holy Spirit rested upon Ezekiel, and brought him forth into the plain of Dura, and called unto him very dry bones, and said to him: Son of Man ! What dost thou see? He answered: I see here dry bones. (The Spirit) said to him: Have I power to revive them? The prophet did not say: Sovereign of all the worlds ! Thou hast power to do even more than (this) here; but he said: "O Lord God, thou knowest" (Ezek. 37:3), as though he did not believe; therefore his own bones were not buried in a pure land, but in an unclean land, as it is said, "And thou shalt die in a land that is unclean" (Amos 7:17). "Prophesy over these bones" (Ezek. 37:4). He said before Him: Sovereign of all the worlds ! What ! will the prophecy bring upon them flesh and sinews and bones? Or will the prophecy bring upon them all the flesh and bones which cattle, beast, and bird have eaten, and they (also) have died in the land? Immediately the Holy One, blessed be He, caused His voice to be heard, and the earth shook, as it is said, "And as I prophesied there was a thundering, and behold an earthquake" (Ezek. 37:7), || and every animal, beast, and bird which had eaten thereof and died in another land the earth brought together, "bone to his bone" (ibid.).