| Mrs. Michal Horowitz is a Torah teacher whose shiurim reach audiences worldwide. She teaches weekly in her Five Towns, NY, community and lectures nationally and internationally. A longtime presenter for the OU Women's Initiative, she inaugurated the Torat Imecha Nach Yomi program. In September 2023, she was invited by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis to serve as the first female scholar to keynote the Annual Pre-Yamim Noraim Conference for the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. She is the author of Abled: Living With a Disability, a Torah View (Mosaica Press, 2025) and lives in Woodmere, NY, with her family. | | | Dvar Haftorah OU Women's Initiative Founding Director Rebbetzin Dr. Adina Shmidman | | | | | | The Promise of Our Future, The Direction of Our Destiny Yechezkel 36:16-36 | | | There are moments in Jewish history when the present feels uncertain, fragile and even frightening. Moments when events unfold faster than we can fully process them, and the question quietly emerges: what holds us steady when the ground beneath us feels less secure? The Navi Yechezkel speaks directly into such a moment. He addresses a generation in exile, a generation that had lost its land, its stability and its sense of continuity. They could easily have believed that their story had reached its end. And yet, Hashem declares to them: לֹא לְמַעַנְכֶם אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל, כִּי אִם לְשֵׁם קָדְשִׁי, "Not for your sake do I act, House of Israel, but for My holy Name" (Yechezkel 36:22). Redemption, the Navi tells them, will not come solely because of what they have already achieved. It will come because of something deeper, something that still lies ahead. Rav Hirsch, in his commentary on Vayikra 26:44–45, articulates this principle with remarkable clarity. He writes that redemption does not depend solely on past merit, but on Israel's future mission. Hashem will not reject His people, because they carry His purpose. According to Rav Hirsch, Jewish continuity is not sustained only by memory or by past righteousness. It is sustained by destiny. We endure because something essential has not yet been completed. This idea reframes how we understand redemption itself. It is not merely a reward for who we have been. It is an investment in who we are meant to become. Yechezkel continues with one of the most moving promises in all of Nevi'im: וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב חָדָשׁ וְרוּחַ חֲדָשָׁה אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם, "I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will place within you" (36:26). Redemption is not only about returning to a place. It is about becoming a people capable of carrying forward Hashem's presence in the world. We are living through days when the vulnerability of Jewish existence feels especially visible. The Jewish people once again face threats from powerful adversaries. The sense of uncertainty is real. And yet, Yechezkel reminds us that Jewish survival has never depended solely on circumstance, nor solely on strength. It depends on covenant. It depends on purpose. Rav Hirsch teaches that Hashem does not abandon His people because they are the bearers of His mission in history. Their existence is not incidental. It is essential. This realization carries both comfort and responsibility. Comfort, because it reminds us that our story is not governed by randomness. Responsibility, because it reminds us that redemption is not passive. Hashem restores His people not because everything is already complete, but because something sacred still lies ahead. Our mission is to build, to grow and to carry forward His presence in the world. | | | As part of your weekly learning, join Torat Imecha Parsha with Mrs. Hyndi Mendelowitz. Register below to receive weekly recordings. | | | |
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