Why do we read the book of Yonah at mincha on Yom Kippur? If you say it is to read about repentance, then why not read about King Hezekiah (Isaiah 38) who was ill, whose death was foretold and who by repentance was healed and given a second chance. If you say it is to read about communal repentance, then we should read the book of Esther. There the Jews fasted and prayed and cried out to Hashem and were saved. There is also the link between Purim and Yom Kippur—Yom KiPurim. If you say, as does Rav Soloveichik, that it is to remind us that all peoples are Hashem’s children and all have the capacity for repentance, then let us read the haftorah for Shabbat Rosh Chodesh. There Hashem describes how all nations will gather to Him and all will worship Him. Why read the book of Yonah? The title character is a lousy example.
Consider that Hashem gives Yonah a command to prophesy against the non-Jewish city of Nineveh. Rather than obey the command,Yonah tries to run away. On the ship, in the midst of the storm, Yonah does nothing to try to save the innocent men on the ship. When it is discovered that Yonah is the one responsible for the storm, rather than throw himself overboard, he forces that task on the sailors. In the belly of the great fish that swallowed him, Yonah prays to Hashem for salvation. Yonah promises that if saved he will offer sacrifices in Jerusalem. Although he is saved, we never read of Yonah fulfilling the promise.
Begrudgingly, Yonah prophesizes to the city of Nineveh and then repairs to a hill overlooking the city to await its fate. Yonah constructs a sukkah for shelter. Yet even this task he performs so halfheartedly that Hashem must cause a tree to grow to give Yonah shade. When Hashem destroys that tree, Yonah, suffering in the sun and the heat, prays to die. Was this suffering really worse than being the belly of the fish? Has Yonah completely forgotten the kindness that Hashem did for him? Is this the kind of example we are to have on Yom Kippur, a man who seemingly underestimates Hashem’s power, ignores Hashem’s commands, fails to fulfill his vows to Hashem, is indifferent to the suffering of others, and ignores or fails to appreciate the kindness that Hashem has been bestowed upon him? Why do we read about such a person?
Generally, it is easier to recognize faults in others than in ourselves. We are guilty of the same failings as Yonah. Year after year we fail to obey Hashem’s commandments. Year after year we sit in the sanctuary and make promises to Hashem and we fail to fulfill them. Year after year we underestimate the power that Hashem has over our lives. Year after year we fail to appreciate the gifts Hashem gives us. Year after year we fail to make use of the second chance He offers to us. We can see these failings in Yonah; can we finally see these failings in ourselves?
There is one more failing that we find in Yonah which is perhaps the most serious. The midrash tells us that Yonah tried to avoid his mission because he feared its consequences to the nation of Israel. Yonah is said to have known that the non-Jewish city of Nineveh would repent and be saved. Yonah is also said to have known that the Jews would not repent. According to the midrash, Yonah feared that non-Jewish city of Nineveh speedy repentance would be a sharp and harsh contrast to the Jewish nation’s failure to repent. Yonah, the midrash reports, did not want to be a part of making the Jewish people look bad. Yet in taking this approach Yonah let down his people.
Yonah was unwilling to do the hard work of engaging his people. Yonah should have seized upon the opportunity to preach of Hashem’s mercy upon the city of Nineveh. Yonah should have returned to Israel and told the story about how Nineveh changed its ways and was saved. He should have talked of how he himself was saved in the belly of fish and shouted in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem about how powerful is repentance and how merciful is Hashem. Yonah, however, did not want to do that hard work. He tried to take an easy way out and he failed. How often have we, since last Yom Kippur, also taken what seemed to be an easy way out and thus failed to fulfill the promises we made last year?
The book of Yonah, however, is not about failure. According to Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer (33:2), Yonah is none other than the child Eliyahu resurrected in Melachim Aleph 17:17-23. Yonah is a prophet of second chances. His own existence was a second chance. He was given yet another second chance when he survived days in the belly of a great fish. The book of Yonah ends ambiguously. It ends with Hashem teaching Yonah a lesson in compassion. It ends with Hashem giving Yonah yet another chance. However, it ends without telling us if Yonah seized upon that opportunity. Why does the book in this way, why is it open-ended? It is so we can write our own ending to the book. We are not to write an end to the book of Yonah but to the book of our own fate.
On Yom Kippur, we decide by our prayers and subsequent actions whether we will be written in the Book of Life for a year of prosperity or written down for some terrible alternative. We decide whether or not we will learn from Yonah and seize upon the new chance, the opportunity Hashem is offering us. Hashem is giving us an opportunity to decide which book we will be written into.
May all of you, and may our entire community and the entire house of Israel, be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for your good and blessing.
William S.J. Fraenkel received a Bachelors of Arts in Religion and a law degree from NYU and served as a Board member and officer of several orthodox shuls. The opinions expressed in this devar Torah are solely his own.
