The Evolution of Yonah

The haftorah recited at Mincha of Yom Kippur, the book of Yonah, is one of the highlights of the daylong shul experience.  The story is replete with complex ideas about man’s relationship with God, the role of the prophet, schar v’onesh, and many other fundamental tenets of Judaism. One of the central themes in the story is the evolution of Yonah from his original rejection of God’s mission to his expression in his tefilah of complete subservience to God. As we will see, this process demonstrates the uniqueness of Yonah, and serves as an important paradigm that penetrates throughout the atmosphere of Yom Kippur.

Most of us are familiar with the general story. Yonah receives a mission from God, directing him to warn the inhabitants of Ninveh of dire consequences if they do not repent. Yonah chooses to refuse this mission, fleeing on a chartered boat. As they are sailing, a tremendous storm erupts, and Yonah’s fellow sailors, who according to commentators were idolaters, eventually (after a series of choosing lots) turn to Yonah as the exclusive reason for this storm. Yonah instructs the other sailors to throw him overboard, and the storm subsides. While in the ocean, the following occurs (2:1):

“And the LORD prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

After this period of three days and nights, Yonah composes a tefilah (ibid 2-5):

“Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly. And he said: I called out of mine affliction unto the LORD, and He answered me; out of the belly of the nether-world cried I, and Thou heardest my voice. For Thou didst cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas, and the flood was round about me; all Thy waves and Thy billows passed over me. And I said: 'I am cast out from before Thine eyes'; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple”

There are more verses to this tefilah, but the above will suffice.

Looking at the above verses, it is clear that Yonah essentially composed a tefilah of hodaa, or thanks, to God for saving him from the certain fate of death. In fact, the tefilah is composed in the past tense, noting that God indeed had already saved him - even though he was still in the belly of the fish! Was Yonah expecting to live out his years in such an environment? The Redak’s commentary on the first verse of the tefilah gives us a fascinating peek into Yonah’s frame of mind. He writes that Yonah being alive for these three days in the fish led him to one conclusion – he was confident that God would bring him out of the fish alive. Thus, the tefilah was written as a “given” of sorts, meaning that Yonah knew with complete confidence that God would save him.

Is this the attitude someone should have when he engages in tefilah? Can man ascertain with complete certitude that his tefilah will necessarily result in a specific outcome?

We also see some other subtle problems in the tefilah. For one, Yonah makes the claim that God was the one who cast him into the ocean. However, it is pretty clear from the story that Yonah was the one who made that decision. The Redak writes that Yonah’s mention of being “cast out” was in fact a reference to his view of the death sentence given to him from God. In other words, Yonah considered himself a dead man, so he had “nothing to lose” in jumping to a certain death. Why then is Yonah pointing the finger at God?

Finally, Yonah refers to his looking again at the Beis Hamikdash. The Redak comments that the reference to the Beis Hamikdash was more than the physical temple. It was the place of prophecy and the place of hashgacha. Why is Yonah mentioning this now?

Let’s rewind a bit and return to the scene on the ship. It is pretty clear that this storm was something supernatural. Rashi points out (1:7) that the sailors noted that surrounding ships were doing just fine. The storm seemed to be centered just on this ship. At a certain point, the sailors and Yonah were in complete agreement that no other explanation could exist for this storm other than some type of Divine manifestation (their evolution from idolaters to believers is not the subject of this article). In this environment, Yonah, along with the sailors, come to a realization – God’s direct involvement with the fate of the ship was some type of expression of schar v’onesh, the system of reward and punishment. In fact, they turn to Yonah and ask (ibid 1:10), ”'What is this that thou hast done?' For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them”. They understood that there was a Divine decree being executed. Yonah understood this as well – and this was the first step in his teshuva. Yonah’s flaw emerged from a distortion of schar v’onesh. The Redak points out that Yonah’s resistance to his mission was the seeming “injustice”. Why would God want the future destroyers of the Jewish people to repent and merit saving? Better they continue in their evil ways and be wiped out. Yonah exhibited an inherent resistance in participating in this system, and he was therefore thrown right back into the very system he chose to reject. Standing on the ship, the future of all aboard clearly in doubt, Yonah makes an astounding choice. In general, we are passive recipients of God’s punishment. We do not pursue it, we do not try and expedite it; if anything, we try and avoid it. Yonah understood that his previous actions, and the present supernatural events on the ship, by definition negated his right to exist. Standing on the ship, Yonah chooses to accept his punishment. He requests to be tossed into the water, acting in line with the very fate God determined he should receive. He was a dead man, and internalized his punishment prior to its actual execution. In his tefilah, he claims that God was the one who cast him into the water. What this means is that he understood that the just punishment for him was death, and his entire being was in line with the reality of schar v’onesh.

His desire to operate within the system of schar v’onesh to the highest degree would seem to be what merited Yonah’s rescue by the fish. It was his defining act of teshuva. Upon being swallowed, it is conceivable that Yonah went through a series of different thoughts. Naturally, a person would never assume he could survive such an environment. Yonah, though, was still alive after being swallowed. Such a state of affairs would necessarily provoke a certain degree of reflection on the phenomenon and some further degree of introspection. And in this state of mine, one obviously would come to one conclusion, similar to what happened on the ship; namely, that God was still directly involved with Yonah’s fate. How does this bring us to Yonah’s perceived confidence in his tefilah?

It is possible that there are two conceptual ideas evident here, one preceding the other. The first is the mere realization that he was saved. Yonah committed an egregious sin, and his acceptance of the punishment was the catalyst to teshuva. As a human being, he acted in a way that merited being saved from death. He was alive – yes, he was in a fish’s stomach, but he was alive. The second idea is the fact that he was continuing to stay alive, and his being alive at this very moment was the direct result of God’s direct intervention. This led Yonah to one conclusion - he was capable of acting as God’s messenger once again. His complete dependence on God in this current state led him to fully internalize the selfless role required of any great prophet. He was the true eved Hashem, ready to serve God. His confidence did not stem from any sense of self, that he as an individual deserved to be saved and therefore would certainly escape from the fish. Rather, his confidence was tied to his role as a shaliyach, a confidence tied to complete selflessness. His saving had to do with just one purpose – to serve God. This could be why he references the Bais Hamikdash. As the Redak points out, it is the place of God’s hashgacha, and of prophecy. It is the place where one can express himself as eved Hashem to the highest degree. His objective, now that he was saved, was clear. Therefore, he was able to compose this tefilah with this attitude of confidence.

These ideas permeate through the day of tefilah on Yom Kippur. We enter the day not as someone who committed a sin, but as a sinner, a gavra hachoteh. We become actively involved in our fates, engaged in teshuva, imploring God for kapara. The system of schar v’onesh becomes more apparent to us, and we engage in it, rather than attempt to avoid it. As well, we stand before God as afar v’efer, understanding our place in the universe relative to the melech elyon. At the same time, we have a certain confidence in our tefilah, in our ability as man to use our tzelem elokim to engage in teshuva, to reach the highest levels of perfection. We have confidence in the system of schar v’onesh, expressing our belief that God’s justice is indeed true justice. May we all exit the day as true shavim to Hashem.