And he said to them, "Pick me up and cast me into the sea,

so that the sea may subside from upon you, for I know that,

because of me, this mighty tempest is upon you." (Jonah 1:12)

 

R. Natan said: Jonah simply wanted to lose himself in the sea, for it is said, Pick me up and cast me into the sea. You will find similar [deeds] among the patriarchs and the prophets - they would give themselves up for the sake of Israel. What does Moses say? And now if You forgive their sin [very well], but if not please erase me from Your book which You have written (Shemot 32:32). If this is the way You treat me, please kill me if I have found favor in Your eyes, so that I not see my misfortune (Bamidbar 11:15). What does David say? Behold I have sinned, and have acted iniquitously; but these sheep, what have they done? I beg that Your hand be against me, and against my father's house (II Samuel 24:17) - so it is that in every place you find the patriarchs and the prophets offering their lives for Israel.

(Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael Bo - Massekhet DePas'ha 1)

 

R. Shimon says: The men did not accept Jonah's request that they throw him into the sea and instead drew lots, as it is said: And they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah (Jonah 1). What did they do? They took the vessels that were on the ship and threw them into the sea in order to be unburdened of them, but it did not help at all. They tried to return to the land but were unable, for it is said: and the men rowed vigorously (Jonah 1). What did they do? They took Jonah and stood him by the side of the ship and said: "God of the world, O Lord! Do not place innocent blood upon us, for we do not know the nature of this man, and he himself says, 'This trouble has come upon you because of me.'" They took him and lowered him [until the sea reached] to his ankles, and the sea was calmed. They brought him back to them and the sea raged against them. They lowered him down [until the sea reached] his navel and the sea was calmed, they brought him back to them and it raged against them. They dropped him entirely and the sea was instantly calm, for it is said: And they picked Jonah up and cast him into the sea, [and the sea ceased storming].

(Tanhuma [Warsaw edition] Vayikra 8)

 

 

As I bring to my mind/the word of the Prophet Jonah

Yehoshua Grant

In memory of Rabbi Ze'ev Gotthold,

may he rest in peace (5577-5669)

The Book of Jonah plays a modest role in the Yom Kippur service as the haftorah for Minchah. It does, nevertheless, have a profound and impressive presence within the multifaceted and complex structure of the day's liturgy. This slight biblical book contains a great wealth of meaning and wisdom. Attentive readers have explored it over and over again throughout the generations, finding ways to relate it to their own experience. Each generation had its say, from R. Avraham ibn Ezra, who mentions it in a poem of rebuke and troubles: "Terrors fell upon me/ and my thoughts took to fear/as I brought to mind/ the word of the Prophet Jonah"¹ to Haim Guri, who wrote in his last book of poems, Eyval: "I saw a fishing boat pulled south/to the old port, which remembers Jonah"; "And I have no indication I will be able to live even temporarily in the belly of the whale/for I am no prophet nor son of a prophet..."² The great Hebrew poets of Spain produced series of piyyutim [liturgical poems] for Yom Kippur that revolve around the story and verses of the Book of Jonah, enlivening and enriching the Bible's own concise account and explaining its eternal symbolic significance. "I am a sign and wonder for all Your creatures/ imprisoned I will not leave/ in terror I shall call upon You"³ - thus speaks Jonah in one of R. Avraham ibn Ezra's piyyutim, perhaps echoing Piyyutei Yonah written by his predecessor, R. Yitzhak ben Giyat: "He made His ways known [...] and made of them a wonder"; "You set up a foundation, for the wicked to see/ and each man shall return from his wicked path (Jonah 3:8)."⁴

By reading the Book of Jonah against the background of two stories from Bereishit, one of its most central and instructive dimensions will come to light. These stories are the Flood narrative and the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Speaking of Nineveh's populace, God says to Jonah: for their evil has come before Me (1:2). Uriel Simon explains that the expression ra'atam - "their evil" is reminiscent of a verse concerning the generation of the Flood: And the Lord saw that the evil of man was great in the earth (Bereishit 6:5), and the expression has come before me is reminiscent of a verse concerning Sodom: I will descend now and see, whether according to her cry, which has come to Me, they have done (Bereishit 18:21). However, explains Simon, in contrast to these two destructions which were not preceded by a public warning, Jonah is sent to tell those being judged of their expected punishment.⁵

Noah and his family escape the Flood in an ark built according to the divine decree. The other members of his generation were neither served previous warning nor allowed to appeal their harsh sentence before its execution. God did tell Abraham - "the most loyal of His household" - ahead of time about what was in store for Sodom. Abraham tried to hold off the calamity with his famous cry of Will you kill the righteous with the wicked, asking that the town be saved, if only for the sake of the few righteous people living in it. However, without even ten righteous men in the town, there is nothing left for Abraham to do but return to his place (18: 23-33). There remains no way to avoid the city's complete destruction. These stories are based upon an absolute, clear, and fixed opposition between the righteous and the wicked, between the innocent and the guilty. Thus, as soon as it becomes clear that the place lacks the required minimum of righteous people - it must be destroyed and God sends his angels to do away with it (Bereishit 19:13 - the Lord has sent us to destroy it).

Linguistic similarities point to a connection between the Book of Jonah - In another forty days Nineveh shall be overturned [nehepakhet] (3:4) and its "precedent" in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Bereishit: And He turned over [vayahafokh] these cities and the entire plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the vegetation of the ground (Bereishit 19:25) and in other Scriptural mentions, such as: It is like the overturning of Sodom, Gemorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overturned in His fury and in His rage (Devarim 29:22). It is hardly surprising that R. Moshe ibn Ezra restates Jonah's words in terms of that exact verse: "And he spoke a word, that Nineveh would be overturned for its sin/ like the overturning of Sodom, Gemorrah."⁶ The similarity of language, however, only serves to emphasize how different the two passages are in terms of content. God does not send angels to destroy sinful Nineveh, but rather He sends a prophet to proclaim against it (Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim against it - 1:2). Those being judged are addressed directly before the sentence ruled against them is executed. When, following his failed attempt to flee, Jonah finally carries out his mission the sinful city responds enthusiastically, undergoing an amazing transformation whose climax involves a rigorous and authentic repudiation of past sins: and everyone shall repent of his evil way and of the dishonest gain which is in their hands (3:8). No less amazingly, when faced with this new situation God cancels His planned destruction of the city: And God saw their deeds, that they had repented of their evil way, and the Lord relented concerning the evil that He had spoken to do to them, and He did not do it (3:10).

The "alchemical" power of repentance appears here in a very clear fashion. It can transform the wicked into righteous and consequently overturn a sentence of punishment decreed by God. This power finds no expression in the stories of the Flood and of Sodom, which are written in terms of an essential and static dichotomy between the righteous, who are bound for salvation and the wicked, who are doomed to punishment. The message of Jonah, in contrast, reminds us of how R. Meir's wife Bruriah told him to pray for sins to be rescinded through the power of repentance rather than to pray for the sinners' death: "Sins will be destroyed from the earth [and the wicked will be no more] (Psalms 104:35). Is sinners written here? Sins is written! When Sins will be destroyed - the wicked will be no more [i.e., the wicked will no longer be wicked]. Ask for mercy towards them that they will repent" (Berakhot 10a). How different this dictum is from the story of the Flood and the total destruction it brought upon the entire world and its inhabitants: And it [the Flood] blotted out all beings that were upon the face of the earth, from man to animal to creeping thing and to the fowl of the heavens, and they were blotted out from the earth (Bereishit 7:23). The final verse of Jonah (4:11) seems to rise in protest against such total destruction: Now should I not take pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are many more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and many beasts as well? Of course, Bereishit itself already presents the flood as a terrible catastrophe that God promises will never be repeated: and the water will no longer become a flood to destroy all flesh (Bereishit 9:15), and the Zikhronot section of Mussaf for Rosh Hashanah mentions the love, salvation, and compassion with which God remembered and visited Noah during the flood, and how through their power Noah's remembrance comes before Him "to multiply his seed like the dust of the earth and his descendants like the sand of the sea."⁷ It seems that the door opened towards repentance for the inhabitants of Nineveh - as it is opened for each human individual and society and as it is opened for us - is the deepest and most profound expression of the "word of salvation and compassion" sent by God to man.

At first Jonah is sent to Nineveh to announce its destruction, to proclaim the coming of the oppressing sword [literally: the sword of Yonah] (Jeremiah 46:16; 50:16). Now, at the end of the day - unintentionally, under duress, perhaps even to his displeasure - he is announcing peace, heralding good tidings (Isaiah 52:7) to that very city, like the yonah - the dove - which was sent from the ark and returned to him at eventide, and behold it had plucked an olive leaf in its mouth; so Noah knew that the water had abated from upon the earth (Bereishit 8:11). The grace of life and renewal as embodied in the olive branch is also signified by the short-lived shade of the gourd which grew up over the prophet Yonah ben Ammitai: it is the truth embodied in the story of his seemingly falsified prophecy.

1. Y. Levin, Shirei Kodesh shel Avraham ibn Ezra, Jerusalem 5640, pg. 81.

2. H. Guri, Eyval, Shirim Tel-Aviv 5669, pp. 55, 58.

3. Y. Levin, Shirei HaKodesh shel Avraham ibn Ezra, Jerusalem 5740, pg. 80.

4. S. Bernstein, "Piyyutim Hadashim LeRabbi Yitzhak ben Giyat," Tarbiz 11 (5700), pp. 323, 325.

5. U. Simon, Yonah, im Mavo UFeirush (Mikra LeYisrael), Tel Aviv and Jerusalem 5752, pg. 43.

6. S. Bernstein, Moshe ibn Ezra: Shirei Kodesh. Tel Aviv 5617, pg. 259.

7. Especially appropriate here are the two biblical images which represent the stability of settled land as against the sea's morass. Concerning this passage in general, see: Y. Heinemann, Iyyunei Tefillah, Jerusalem 5741, pg. 59.

Dr. Yehoshua Grant teaches at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Lately he has been researching the Book of Jonah in medieval poetry.

 

The Limits of Power and the Danger of its Glorification

How can one [person] pursue a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their [Mighty] Rock has sold them out, and the Lord has given them over?

(Devarim 32:30)

 

Israel's lack of power and failure to resist its enemies could have proved to them that their easy victory did not come to demonstrate their superiority arising from their national genius, but that they rather vanquished Israel because it had been cast aside and deserted by God. Until now the Lord was its rock of salvation and the surety of its strength, and now Israel was, once again, unworthy of its Rock's help.

...our enemies sit in judgment - oyveinu plilim. Plilim - see my commentary (Bereishit 48:11) - pilel and the noun palil are never used anywhere in the sense of the application of state power. These terms always refer to decisions and legal rulings based upon judgment and the drawing of conclusions.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch Devarim 32:30-31)

 

Our yeshiva students of Zion have taken upon themselves to glorify and exalt this disgraceful era and to establish in the world a positive attitude towards war. During all the ten years since the war (World War I) these yeshiva students of Zion have never ceased to sing songs about the new heavens and new earth created by the war.

How great is the pain! How terrible the loss! If there were only one truth in the world it was the Congregation of Israel, pining for Isaiah's vision: Nation will not raise up sword against nation. Now our young Balfourists have come and contaminated it as well...For the sword has never left the hands of the nations for even a moment, and they are sunk in feuds and attacks from generation to generation. The force of inertia pushed them to wars. But the Jews who suddenly love the beauty of "the hero's thigh" girded with a sword - they aggressively blaspheme the prophet Isaiah.

(R. Shmuel Tamrat - Knesset Yisrael. Quoted in Eli Holtzer: Herev Pipiyot BeYadam pg. 151)

 

Repentance from Love and from Fear

Reish Lakish said: Great is repentance, for it makes deliberate sins count as accidental ones, for it is said, Return, O Israel to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in sinning (Hosea 14:2). A sin is deliberate, but he calls it a stumbling block!

Could this be?

Did Reish Lakish not say: Great is repentance, for it makes deliberate sins count as merits, for it is said, And when a wicked man turns back from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by virtue of these (Ezekiel 33:19). It is not a problem: Here [-the latter - refers to repentance] out of love [of God], here [-the former - refers to repentance] out of fear [of God].

(Yoma 86b)

 

Repentance raises a person up from all of the low-places of the world, but even so, it is not a stranger to the world. Rather, it lifts up the world and life with itself. It refines sinful tendencies. The powerful will, which breaks through all limits and causes sin is itself transformed into a living force that performs great and lofty works for the good and for a blessing.

(From Rabbi A.I. Kook ztz"l, Al Ha-Teshuvah)

 

The repentance which brings about a radical transformation of a whole way of life leading to a rebirth of the personality is repentance of redemption; another type of repentance, unlike this kind, is directed against a specific sin - it is repentance of expiation.

(Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, On Repentance, Pinchas H. Peli, editor, pg. 174)

 

On the eve of Yom Kippur, one should devote his attention towards placating all those against whom he has sinned, since Yom Kippur atones for sins between man and God, but Yom Kippur cannot atone for sins between man and his fellow, until he assuages him. Even if he merely teased him with words, he must appease him, going to him. If he is not appeased the first time, he must return again and a third time. Every time he should take three people with him to assuage him, in order that he forgive him, And if, after three attempts, he will not be appeased, there is no reason to continue cajoling him. These words are true of his fellow, but in the case of his rabbi, he must bring many friends (to intercede) until he is assuages. If he dies, he shall bring ten people and stand them by his grave and say, "I have sinned to the God of Israel and to so-and-so whom I have offended. This is done so that the heart of each person of Israel will be content with his fellow, so that there will be no room for Satan to speak against them.

(Tur Orah Hayyim, 606)

 

Good and upright is the Lord: the Option of Correction is One of God's Graces 

Good and upright is the Lord . How is He good? In that He is upright. How is He upright? In that He is good.

They asked wisdom: What is the sinner's punishment? It said: Evil will pursue the sinners (Proverbs 13:21).

They asked prophecy: What is the sinner's punishment? It said: The soul which sins shall die.

They asked the Torah: What is the sinner's punishment? It said: Let him bring a guilt-offering and it will be atoned.

They asked the Holy One, blessed be He: What is the sinner's punishment? He said: Let him repent and it shall be atoned for him, as it is written: The Lord is good and upright; therefore, He leads sinners on the way, [meaning] that He shows sinners the way for them to repent.

(Yalkut Shimoni Tehilim 25, 702)

 

 

 

 

If you enjoy Shabbat Shalom, please consider contributing towards its publication and distribution.

• Hebrew edition distributed in Israel $700
• English edition distributed via email $ 100

Issues may be dedicated in honor of an event, person, simcha, etc. Requests must be made 3-4 weeks in advance to appear in the Hebrew, 10 days in advance to appear in the English email.

In Israel, checks payable to Oz VeShalom may be sent to Oz VeShalom-P.O.B. 4433, Jerusalem 91043.

US and British tax-exempt contributions to Oz VeShalom may be made through:

New Israel Fund, POB 91588, Washington, DC 20090-1588, USA

New Israel Fund of Great Britain, 26 Enford Street, London W1H 2DD, Great Britain

Please note that the NIF is no longer accepting donations under $100

PEF will also channel donations and provide a tax-exemption. Donations should be sent to P.E.F. Israel Endowment Funds, Inc., 317 Madison Ave., Suite 607, New York, New York 10017 USA

All contributions to either the NIF or PEF should be marked as donor-advised to Oz ve'Shalom, the Shabbat Shalom project. For Donations to NIF, please mention that Oz veShalom is registered as no. 5708.

 

About us

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom is a movement dedicated to the advancement of a civil society in Israel. It is committed to promoting the ideals of tolerance, pluralism, and justice, concepts that have always been central to Jewish tradition and law.

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom shares a deep attachment to the land of Israel and it no less views peace as a central religious value. It believes that Jews have both the religious and the national obligation to support the pursuit of peace. It maintains that Jewish law clearly requires us to create a fair and just society, and that co-existence between Jews and Arabs is not an option but an imperative.

4,500 copies of a 4-page peace oriented commentary on the weekly Torah reading are written and published by Oz VeShalom/Netivot Shalom and they are distributed to over 350 synagogues in Israel and are sent overseas via email. Our web site is www.netivot-shalom.org.il.