September 25, 2020
Don’t Be Jonah
Yom Kippur/Shabbat Shuvah, 5781
(Dedicated to Anna Yuter z”l on the occasion of her first yahrtzeit.)
The following story is told about the great, Rav Yisroel Salanter (1809-1883).
He was once on his way to synagogue to pray Kol Nidrei, when he noticed that the goat of a non-Jewish farmer was wandering in obvious pain. He saw that the goat had some painful thorns stuck in its feet. Rav Yisroel Salanter removed the thorns and then personally helped the goat navigate through very rough terrain. Meanwhile, back in the synagogue the entire congregation had no idea where their rabbi was. They waited and waited and became very nervous. Finally they decided to send out a search party to look for him. They found the holy rabbi at the entrance to the farmer’s barn making sure that the goat was returned safely. (Based upon, Shai Agnon, Days of Awe, 297).
On the holiest night of the year—Kol Nidrei--the entire community was delayed from davening because of a goat!
I thought of this holy rabbi’s dedication to a simple goat as I reviewed the Book of Jonah in preparation for Yom Kippur and saw again and again the prominent role that animals fill in this beautiful book.
In the first instance an animal is one of the heroes/heroines of the story -- a large fish (dag gadol). The fish swallows Jonah and thereby saves him (2:1). Upon the command of Hashem, the large fish then spits out Jonah (2:11). In the rabbinic tradition there were actually two fishes. Jonah was first swallowed by a male fish. However, since the fish was too cavernous Jonah did not yet feel the need to repent. So the male fish spit him out and he was then swallowed by a second fish—a pregnant female fish. In the female fish Jonah’s living conditions were very tight and so finally he felt cramped and thus at last he prayed to Hashem. As Rashi says:
a huge fish: It was a male, and Jonah could stand with plenty of room, so that he did not think to pray. The Holy One hinted to the fish, and it spewed him out into the mouth of a female, which was full of embryos, and it was crowded there, and he prayed there, as it is said: (verse 2) “from the belly of the fish (2:1).
Second, the animals actively participate in the repentance of Ninveh. After Jonah comes and calls upon the city of Ninveh to repent the text states that the animals fasted and wore sack clothes (3:7-8).
Third, it is then the most insignificant of all creatures—a worm (tola’at) that is sent by Hashem to destroy Jonah’s beloved kikayon tree (4:7).
Fourth, the book ends with Gd declaring to Jonah, “Should I not care about the many animals (beheimah rabba)?
And, fifth, we cannot escape the fact that the very name Jonah means a “dove.” It reminds us of one of the most impactful doves in the Torah—the dove that Noach sent out of the ark. It also reminds us of the dove that is often brought as a sacrifice on the altar in the Temple.
Why do animals appear so prominently in the story of Jonah?
The answer to this question is central to the question of why we read this story on Yom Kippur and the message that I propose we all take to heart this year.
The Talmud tells us that on the afternoon of Yom Kippur we read the Torah portion of arayot and for maftir we read from the Book of Jonah (Megillah, 31a). It does not, however, explain the reason for these readings.
This begs the question: Why do we read the Book of Jonah on the afternoon of Yom Kippur?
Here are several of the most popular answers. In that they were all proposed by great sages, I believe that they are all correct. After reviewing these answers I will offer two additional ones that especially resonate with me this year.
1) According to Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488-1575) we read the Book of Jonah because it demonstrates “koach hateshuvah, the power of repentance” (Orach Chaim, 622). The people of Ninveh were told that they were going to be destroyed and yet they saved their own lives through a communal repentance. Ninveh was a wicked city and yet the power of repentance worked for it. So too, imagine how much spiritual energy we could unleash on the world if we repented properly! We read this story on the afternoon of Yom Kippur to remind us to repent!
2) According to Abudraham (fl. 1340), we read this book to remind us that we are not able to run away from Hashem. The book begins with Gd calling to Jonah and telling him to prophesize. Jonah responds by trying to run away from Gd. “Vayakam Yonah livroach tarshisha, and Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish” (1:3). But that’s impossible. No one can run away from Hashem. So too, we must remind ourselves on the afternoon of Yom Kippur that we can never run from Hashem.
3) Another common explanation is that this work of Jonah reminds us that Hashem has mercy on all the creatures of the world whether or not the creatures are in fact deserving (rachamim al kol maasav). The people of Ninveh have done nothing to be worthy of a prophet trying to rescue them. Jonah himself has done nothing to be worthy of being saved by a fish. But yet, Hashem has mercy on all creatures. So too, on Yom Kippur we emphasize this message and declare that even though we may be unworthy we appeal to Gd to have mercy upon us as we are all creatures of our Creator (cited in Agnon, Days of Awe, 353).
4) We read Jonah on the afternoon of Yom Kippur in order to end the holiday on a high note. According to Pesikta deRav Kahana the Jewish people ask Hashem: “Will you, Hashem, accept our repentance. Hashem responds, “I accepted Ninveh’s repentance, so surely I will accept yours!” On the afternoon of Yom Kippur we reaffirm our belief that Hashem will surely accept our teshuvah.
5) Rabbi David Kimchi argues that when the Jewish people read this book on the afternoon of Yom Kippur we will hang our heads in shame and repent out of embarrassment. “It is written to be a moral lesson to Israel. For we see that a foreign nation that was not even close to repentance, and the first time a prophet rebuked them, they turned to a complete repentance from evil. And, on the other hand, Israel, whom the prophets rebuke from dawn to dusk, still do not repent from evil” (1:1).
6) Erica Brown inspired me to see another reason. She points out that the word great (gadol) is the most common word to appear in the book. Ninveh is constantly being referred to as the “great city.” The word gadol appears 14 times in 48 verses. This is all ironic because obviously nothing is great in comparison to Hashem. Just the opposite, we read the book knowing that Ninveh’s greatness can be shattered in an instant by the smallest of Gd’s creatures—a worm. So too, the afternoon of Yom Kippur is a perfect time to remind ourselves to remove any delusions of greatness from our mind and to stand humbly before Hashem. On Yom Kippur we remind ourselves that there is only one gadol entity in the world, and it is not us. (See Erica Brown, Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet, xxiii).
There are two more explanations that I would like to share because they especially resonate with me this year.
One of the reasons why the book highlights the role of animals in Gd’s kingdom relates to why we read the Book of Jonah specifically on the afternoon of Yom Kippur. The author of Jonah is emphasizing our universalistic responsibilities to the world. Why are we praying for forgiveness all day on Yom Kippur? Why do we want a second chance? The Book of Jonah reminds us that we want a second chance from Hashem for the primary purpose of bringing the message of Hashem to the entire world—of impacting the world through the powerful and eternal teachings of the Torah.
Jonah is the only example of a prophet whose primary message is not intended for the Jewish people, but in fact for another nation. Hashem wants Jonah to save the people of Ninveh—not to help the Jews in anyway whatsoever, but simply to help the people of Ninveh.
This is a powerful idea that Jonah doesn’t accept.
Jonah runs away from this mission.
In the words of Radak:
“Jonah went and fled toward Tarshish from before God: How could he flee? The prophet was full of wisdom and intelligence; how could he think that he could flee from God? Rather, he sought to flee from before God; that is, from being in God's presence, which is the spirit of prophecy. He thought that if he were to leave the Land of Israel, the spirit of prophecy would no longer rest upon him. And so he would be able to refuse to go on the mission, since he thought that gentiles are quick to repent, and if he went to them on this mission of God, they would repent from their evil ways. And this would condemn Israel, since Jonah and the other prophets keep going to them on missions from God and they do not repent from their evil way” (Radak, 1:3)
It is so tragically sad to read this explanation from Kimchi. Jonah, the great prophet, makes two fundamental errors.
First, he thinks Gd’s prophecy is limited to the land of Israel. What a colossal mistake! Of course, Hashem’s prophecy could extend anywhere. In the Torah we know that Balaam who live in Aram Naharaim was a prophet. We know that Moshe prophesized in Egypt. We know that Psalms were written by the rivers of Babylon and that Ezekial prophesized outside of the Holy Land. Of course there can be prophecy outside the land. But Jonah’s vision is myopic. He thinks prophecy is only for the Jews and only in a small parcel of land. The Book of Jonah dispels that theory.
Moreover, the first error of Jonah leads to his second even more egregious error. Jonah is so focused on helping his fellow Jewish brethren that he is willing to reject Gd’s command just to make the Jewish people look good. He is concerned that if the people of Ninveh repent then the Jews will look bad for not repenting. What a perverted approach to faith!
This is the danger of hyper particularism. Jonah’s myopic vision and focus on fighting for the welfare of his nation causes him to abandon the true path of Hashem and to walk down a foreign path not connected to authentic service of Hashem. It is a great sin for a prophet to run away and deny his prophecy. Jonah commits that sin because he desires to help his own people.
This is a danger for all of us who love our Jewish brothers and sisters so much. As Jews we are constantly in a battle for survival. So much so, that we run the risk of fighting too hard for our people, of thinking that we are better than we are, of abandoning the true service of Hashem in place of an idolatry that comes out of our own minds.
On Yom Kippur when we read the Book of Jonah we are being reminded to dream big with our prayers. To remember that our ultimate mission is a universal mission. Yes, we believe that we can best accomplish our universalistic dreams through our particularistic path. But we must never forget that the goal is not Jewish triumphalism but rather universal improvement. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we emphasize again and again that Hashem is King of the World. We say chamol al maasekha, have mercy on Your creation.” “All the world is passing before You, kol baei olam yaavrun lefanekha.”
This universalistic message of the Book of Jonah is made sharper when we compare it with the story of Purim as told in the Book of Esther.
The two stories are in many way opposites. In the Purim story the non-Jewish characters are either wicked or buffoons and in the end they are slaughtered. Whereas in the Jonah story the non-Jews are righteous, heroic figures, who are saved by Hashem.
Consider the following comparisons.
Central to the Purim story are the lots that Haman draws in order to decide when to kill the Jews—hipil Pur hu hagoral (3:7). He does this out of pure wickedness without an ounce of mercy. In contrast, in the Jonah story the sailors draw lots (goralot) at the beginning of the storm (1:7). They do so not out of wickedness, but out of righteousness in order to determine what Gd wants of them.
The essence of Jonah’s prophecy is five Hebrew words. “Another forty days and Ninveh will be overturned (nehepechet, 3:4). This same word –nehapach—is used in Esther to explain the reversal of fortune of the Jews (9:22). The Jewish people are saved while their enemies are defeated.
In the Book of Esther, it is Mordechai who wears sackcloths and ashes to try and convince Esther and others of the evil decree (4:1). And it is Esther who commands the Jewish people to fast with her for three days before she approaches King Achashverosh and begs for mercy (4:16). In contrast, in the Book of Jonah, Jonah is in the belly of a fish for three days before he begins to pray to Hashem. However, it is the King of Ninveh himself who leads his people and animals in a communal fast as part of their repentance process and leads the people and animals in donning sackcloths (3:5-8).
Perhaps the biggest contrast between the two stories is what ultimately happens to the non-Jews. The Purim story ends with the slaughter of the enemies of the Jews (9:16), whereas the Jonah story ends with the salvation of the people of Ninveh (3:10).
The two books reflect two different visions of how the Jewish people can accomplish our role on this earth of extending Gd’s kingdom. In the Purim story we Jews try to accomplish our goal by attacking our enemies with weapons. It is noticeable that the name of Gd is entirely absent from the book and that the story ends with the Jewish people still being subjects of King Achashverosh (10:1). On the other hand in the Jonah story it is Hashem who tells Jonah on two occasions to encourage the people of Ninveh to repent. This demonstrates a different way of bringing Gd’s message out to the world--not through the armed conquest of the Other, but through lifting them up and elevating them spiritually.
My rebbe, Rabbi Avi Weiss, sent me an email in which he writes:
“Jonah, whose name literally means “dove,” a bird of peace, represents the Jewish people. He is told by God to go (lech) to Ninveh, the capital of Assyria the arch-enemy of Israel, to preach the message of Torah ethics. (Jonah 1:2) The word lech is reminiscent of the lech in the Avraham (Abraham) story. Like Avraham, Jonah is told to change the world.
Note that Ninveh is a composite of nin veh. Although in modern Hebrew nin is used to refer to a great-grandchild, in the Torah nin means children (Genesis 21:23), veh (spelled vav-hay) is an abbreviated form of God’s name. Even the wicked city of Ninveh is made up of children of God who deserve a chance.”
The message of the Jonah story is that we as Jews have a responsibility not only to the Jewish people, but to all the children of Gd. It is a universal message.
We read this story on the afternoon of Yom Kippur in order to remind ourselves that even though we have spent the day in the most particularistic of manners—all day in synagogue with members of our own faith—our ultimate responsibility is to all of Gd’s children.
This message is even sharper this year.
For the past 6 months we have witnessed two events that must remind us that as Jews our ultimate responsibility is to spread the powerful teachings of the Torah to the world.
The two events are the pandemic that we are living through and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
There are so many lessons that we must learn from the pandemic. But the most basic and truest lesson is that our world is interconnected. We must recognize that there cannot be an “us vs. them” on any level. We are all in this world in a connected fashion. The virus does not discriminate and neither can we. The virus reminds us that our responsibilities are universal and the teachings of our faith must be applied in a universal manner.
In this respect I am so humbled by the graciousness and dignity of our incredible neighbors, Billy and Michel Martin, and their children William and Aminah. When we were forced to move our services outside into our parking lot, we also basically moved our synagogue right under their bedroom windows. Now, I love the sound of our prayers, but I can imagine that not everyone would share the same feeling that I have. Through these past few months I have not heard or seen a word of complaint from our neighbors. Just the opposite they have generously supported our work and encouraged our prayers. The same goes for other neighbors in our beautiful neighborhood. Folks have walked by and told us how our prayers are a blessing to the community. This has moved me and inspired me greatly. It has reminded me that our neighborhood is a beautiful place to live and that we all need each other. We are all Gd’s children and therefore that belief must be front and center of our religious duties. It should impact all of our actions. In this sense we must be the opposite of Jonah, the opposite of the Purim story. We must listen to Gd’s words in the Book of Jonah and recognize that the universal message is core to our faith.
This brings me to the other major circumstance that our country has witnessed in the past six months, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. It is an absolutely disgrace and abomination that in our country –a country that celebrates freedom and independence—we still see in an overwhelming manner the systematic oppression and discrimination of Black people. Such racism goes against every single thing that the Torah stands for and it is our duty as religious Jews to be at the forefront in fighting against racism.
This is why we read the book of Jonah on Yom Kippur afternoon—to remind us that we can no longer think like Jonah. We cannot think myopically. We must think universally. I can’t tell anyone else how to implement this message but I can tell you that for me this year the message of Jonah is that I must say on Yom Kippur, Black Lives Matter. On Yom Kippur we must remember to care deeply and passionately about the lives of others, not just of Jews.
This brings us to a second major reason why I think we read Jonah on Yom Kippur afternoon.
There was a storm on Jonah’s ship and how did Jonah react. He went to sleep (1:5). For shame! How dare Jonah go to sleep in the middle of a storm! What makes it worse is that when Jonah is awakened, he identifies himself by saying, “I am a Hebrew.” How can Jonah not understand that a Jew must not go to sleep in the middle of a storm? What kind of Jew goes to sleep when a storm is raging?
Jonah is a person who is abandoning his responsibility—as a Jew and as a prophet.
We cannot be like Jonah! We cannot abandon our responsibility to the world.
In the words of the great Abraham Joshua Heschel: “Jonah is running to Tarshish while Ninveh is tottering on the brink. Are we not all guilty of Jonah’s failure?” (Heschel, Moral Grandeur, 292, cited by Brown, xxxviii.)
Why do we sometimes shirk our responsibilities to the world? I think it is mostly not done out of malice but out of a lack of either belief in oneself or a weakness of commitment. We must all think we are great for the simple reason that Hashem created us. We must all imagine that we are put on this earth for a reason and that it is our job to impact the world for good. We must be active and aggressive (in a helpful and positive manner) about seeking ways to change the world. We need to find a way; anyway at all.
In my own very small way this is why I decided to become a rabbi. I feel so fortunate to be the rabbi of this beautiful community and to serve alongside my colleague and partner, Maharat Friedman. (May Gd give me the strength to be here for many, many years to come.)
In my own very small way this is why I signed up to participate in a clinical trial to find a vaccine for the coronavirus. When the virus broke out and came to our area, I was looking for a way to make a substantive difference. I am not a doctor and thus cannot heal anyone. Additionally, the many approaches to helping people that we usually use like gathering or visiting the sick were now off limits. So I asked my wife to help me find a clinical trial I could volunteer for. That is how I found out about the trial for the Moderna vaccine and applied to participate. For the rest of my life one of the things that I will be most proud is that I was one of the first people to call and offer to participate in the trial. I am proud that when the vaccine trial came to our area I was the 4th person to receive the dose. It gives me enormous pride that when I got the injection there was a reporter present (at the invitation of the clinical trial) who photographed me wearing a kippah while receiving the injection. This picture has been used over and over again in news stories. I view the picture as a statement that my faith required me to seek out a way to help the world in this difficult time.
Jonah was sent by Hashem to offer a fresh start to the people of Ninveh. The name Jonah is a messianic name. In the Torah it means a dove. It reminds us of the dove that Noach released after his own quarantine on the Ark when it rained for forty days. When Noach released the dove it represented a fresh start to the world. But when Noach emerged from the world, he was afraid. He retreated to the bottle and hid inside a tent.
One day, we too will be released from our quarantine. When that day comes we cannot be afraid to carry through on our spiritual responsibilities. Even now we have to be preparing for that day.
The world we live in has been upended. Everything is in flux. Please Gd it should end soon. But in the meantime we should not ignore that the times we are living in also present a powerful opportunity to look at our lives and make decisions about the current state of our spiritual life.
We should ask ourselves are we living our spiritual lives in the right manner. I am inspired by the many people who have made huge spiritual gains in the past six months. I see you at Torah class. I see you at zoom minyan. I see you and am inspired. But we always need to be asking how we can do more. What can we add spiritually to our life in the coming year that will allow us to impact the world and help all of Gd’s creations?
Jonah got the call from Hashem twice but, says the Talmud, he did not merit to get it a third time (Yevamot, 98a). These past 6 months have been a call from Gd. We should pay attention. We might not get another call. We must hear the call and respond!
Shmuel Herzfeld
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Shabbat Shuva Dvar Torah - 5781 recording can be viewed here
