Yonah

We read the story of Yonah at minhah on Yom Kippur. What is the message of this fascinating story, and why do read it on Yom Kippur?

Ehud Ben Zvi (2004, pp. 1198-99) notes that many themes have been suggested to the book of Yonah, but he argues that none are definitive since the “book of Yonah cannot be reduced to one main theme.” This is probably correct, but we will review some of the suggested themes and suggest our own.

One very popular idea is that the theme of Yonah is repentance, as the people of Ninveh repent very quickly after Yonah told them that Ninveh was going to be flipped (destroyed), 3:4-10. This unbelievable response is surely another miracle of the story, which has numerous miracles. Their repentance is noted in the Mishnah, Ta’anit 2:1, and this theme would accord with our reading of the book on Yom Kippur. However, the verse quoted in the Mishnah is the last verse of chapter three, 3:10, and this suggests that if the point of the story was to teach about repentance, then both the book of Yonah and the reading of Yonah on Yom Kippur should have ended with chapter three, but the book of Yonah has a fourth chapter, which we read on Yom Kippur. A possible answer for this approach is that chapter four is to explain why G-d accepts repentance, that G-d cares about people, the last verse of chapter 4, 4:11. Yet, still I find this approach not satisfactory since the repentance of the people of Ninveh seems too quick to be realistic, and also it includes repentance of the animals, which also seems unrealistic.

A second idea is from Herman Melville in the great novel Moby-Dick that the point of the book of Yonah is obedience to G-d. Yonah eventually went to Ninveh, but not willingly, and hence the point of chapter four is to obey G-d. According to this idea, we read Yonah in the afternoon since after praying a full day, all that is left for us to do is say that we will follow G-d. A small proof for this idea is that the last prayers of the day are not to ask for forgiveness but to say shema yisrael, which is our acceptance of G-d. After speaking about this in my synagogue, a congregant pointed out that this idea of Yonah also accords with beginning of the Torah reading at Minhah, as Vayikra 18:4,5 records that one must follow G-d’s laws because G-d commands them.

Aviva Zornberg (2008) makes some fascinating points about the story of Yonah, and she suggests that the theme of the book is Yonah’s relationship with G-d. The book begins with Yonah attempting to flee G-d which shows his poor relationship with G-d. Zornberg notes that the name Yonah signifies flight. Yonah cannot fly but instead he went down. He went down to Yaffa, 1:3, he went down to the ship, 1:3, and he went down to the bottom of the ship, 1:5. Zornberg quotes from the Mechilta that Yonah went to the sea to die, and later he stated that that he wanted to die, 4:3,9. He did not want to commit suicide but he was hoping to die at sea.

Yonah wanted no relationship with G-d, and even during the storm, Yonah did not call out to G-d, while the sailors cried out to their gods 1:5. Yonah told the sailors that he feared G-d, 1:9, which meant that he worshiped G-d, but this seems to be a false statement because he was running away from G-d. Yonah also offered to be thrown overboard, 1:12. This is not a heroic request but as Zornberg notes (p. 281) just a manifestation of his desire to die. The sailors were afraid to do this, and they cried out to G-d, 1:14. 1:16 records that they were fearers of G-d and this was a true fear as opposed to Yonah's false fear.

Yonah wanted to die but unfortunately for him, bad luck, G-d arraigned for him to be swallowed by the big fish, which became a type of prison for him, see Uriel Simon, 2000. Yonah was trapped, he could not die and he could not leave the fish. He waited three days, and then he realized that the only way to get out of the fish was to pray, 2:1,2. Yonah offered a weird prayer where he seems to be praying about the past instead of asking to be saved. Yet, he ends the prayer by pledging to fulfill his vows, 2:10, and vows are the quintessential prayer in Tanakh. G-d responded to Yonah's prayer, and the fish brought Yonah to dry land, 2:11. It would appear that the experience with the big fish taught Yonah that he needed to have a relationship with G-d.

G-d then called out to Yonah a second time, and Yonah now fulfilled G-d's command, 3:1-4. However, after the people of Ninveh were saved, 4:1 records that Yonah was angry that G-d saved Ninveh, which demonstrated that Yonah's relationship with G-d was still deficient. Yonah then partially quoted the 13 attributes of G-d, and explains why he ran away, 4:2, which indicates that Yonah had moved forward in his relationship with G-d since now he expressed his reason for running away. Yet, instead, of seeing G-d as good and giving life, he wanted G-d to be harsh and cruel, and he wanted G-d to kill him, 4:3. As has been noted by many (see Zornberg, p. 294), Yonah’s second name refers to emet, truth, 1:1, and he leaves this attribute of G-d out in 4:2. Yonah is disappointed with G-d since he thought that G-d was not running the world based on truth.

G-d asked Yonah whether he was angry and Yonah did not respond, 4:4. Instead, Yonah left Ninveh and camped outside the city to see what would happen, 4:5. What was he expecting to happen? Goldman (1948, p. 148) and Henshke (1998a, p. 81) suggest that Yonah thought that the people of Ninveh would revert to their evil ways that their repentance was false. Yet, I wonder whether he could see this from outside the city. Also, surely Yonah must have known that if all the people repented so quickly then their repentance was an act of G-d. My guess is that Yonah went outside the city of Ninveh to see whether G-d would listen to him and overturn the city.

It is clear that the lesson of the big fish was insufficient, so G-d devised another lesson with the gourd (some type of tree) and the worm, 4:6-8. (Note, the same word, va-yiman, appears by the two lessons, by the big fish, 2:1, and by the gourd/ tree three times, 4:6-8.) In this case, Yonah had built a sukkah, 4:5, but apparently it did not give great shade, so he was happy when G-d had a tree grow above the sukkah, 4:6. G-d then had a worm devour the tree in one night, which was another miracle, and then sent a strong wind, which seemed to have destroyed the sukkah, 4:7,8.

After Yonah was depressed again due to the withering sun, 4:8, G-d repeated the previous question are you angry (4:9, 4:4)? Finally, Yonah responded that he was angry, 4:9, which shows some relationship with G-d, but his understanding of G-d and hence his relationship with G-d was still wanting. G-d attempted to explain His ways to Yonah. G-d asked Yonah that if he cared about the tree, then surely G-d cared about the people and animals of Ninveh, 4:10,11.

For the reader maybe the point of the story is that G-d is good and cares about people and animals, his creations, and hence man is supposed to cry out and establish a relationship with G-d, as did the sailors, the people of Ninveh and possibly Yonah. This message of establishing a relationship with G-d is appropriate to Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur, man prays to G-d and separates from the world, which should lead him to establish a relationship with G-d. (Is repentance the way to establish a relationship with G-d or after one has a relationship with G-d then one repents?) Furthermore, we repeatedly state as part of the selihot that G-d is good and does not wish evil on us, exactly the opposite of Yonah's claim. Thus, maybe we read Yonah at minhah, towards the end of Yom Kippur, to encourage us to pray fervently, in the fleeting moments of the day, to G-d, who is good and who will listen to our prayers.

While this is a nice reading of Yonah, we do not know Yonah's response to G-d’s statement in 4:11. Did he get it? Did he understand that G-d is good or did he continue in his beliefs about truth and being exacting? Was he able to establish a relationship with G-d?

The numerous animal elements in the story offer another or different perspective on the story of Yonah. First, there is the great fish that swallows Yonah, and then the worm, one of the smallest creatures, eats the tree in one night. Secondly, when the people of Ninveh repent, also the animals fast and wear sackcloth, 3:7,8. Thirdly, the book ends by recording that G-d cares about many animals in the city of Ninveh, 4:11. Fourthly, the name Yonah, is a name of a bird. What is the point of these references to animals?

Significantly, when the sailors ask Yonah to explain himself, he says he fears G-d who created the sea and the land, 1:8,9. While it is hard to take Yonah’s fear of G-d seriously, still his statement that G-d created the sea and the land could be the main or a theme of the book. The story shows how G-d controls the wind, 1:4, 4:8, G-d controls the vegetation, 4:6, G-d controls the seas, 1:4,15, and G-d controls the animals. Also, the people of Ninveh believed that G-d had the power to flip and destroy their city. Thus, the book shows G-d’s control of the world. This could also be an appropriate message for Yom Kippur as in many of the prayers, we refer to G-d as the ruler of the world, and a recognition that G-d controls the world, should cause people to repent and worship G-d.