Conference taveng::bagels

790.0. "Food for Yom Kippur - for thought, that is." by SUBWAY::STEINBERG () Thu Oct 05 1989 18:20

I am reposting this from usenet. I think it provides a different
perspective on a little-understood book.
    
Yom Kippur -- Jonah, the Modern Prophet

by Shlomo Riskin

    Efrat, Israel -- The Book of  Jonah,  a  seemingly  fantastic
tale  of  a  reluctant  prophet  who is swallowed by a great fish
during his flight from G-d, is read publicly once a year --  late
Yom  Kippur  afternoon.  Even  a cursory reading of the career of
this wayward,  even  miserable  prophet,  raises  the  inevitable
question:  What is it about Jonah's life that makes it a symbolic
exploration of some deeper meanings of the  holiest  day  of  the
year?
    The text begins, "Arise, go to Nineve, that great  city,  and
cry  against  it...But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the
presence of the Lord and went down to Yaffo, and he found a  ship
going to Tarshish..." (Jonah 1:2)
    We can easily imagine the noise and bustle  of  this  ancient
port  city,  gateway to the world:  crowds, ships hawkers, Middle
East bazaars, all kinds of shady  characters  running  away  from
unscrupulous pasts.  And in the midst of this, Jonah pays in cash
for a niche on a boat  to  one  of  the  remotest  spots  in  the
civilized  world, Tarshish. But as soon as the ship is sea bound,
a violent storm breaks out. Forced to lighten the load, the cargo
is  rapidly  discharged.   But  one  man, even during the storm's
raging zenith, sleeps in the recesses of the ship, behavior which
confounds  the  shipmaster who expects everyone to do their share
in appeasing their gods.   Casting  lots,  the  onus  falls  upon
Jonah.   He  confesses.   For the storm to abate, he must be cast
into the sea, where he is swallowed alive by a great  fish.   For
three days and nights Jonah plunges into his own soul and, by the
end, he accepts his duty as a prophet and returns to the city  of
Nineve.  Without  much prodding the sinners repent, but does this
gratify the prophet?  On the contrary,  "...it  displeased  Jonah
exceedingly and he was vexed". (Jonah 4:1)  The reluctant prophet
departs from Nineve, making himself a shelter as he waits to  see
what will happen to the Assyrians.  The heat is powerful, and G-d
causes a castor  oil  plant,  with  its  protective  foliage,  to
miraculously  spring up overnight, providing Jonah with shade and
joy.  The following day the miracle of the plant is reversed when
a  tiny worm attacks the stem, and it withers.  Jonah then pleads
to G-d to take his life, apparently dismayed at the cruel fate of
the miraculous plant.
    The apparent moral of this encounter appears in  G-d's  final
declaration  to  Jonah:  If he could have compassion for a plant,
doesn't Jonah understand the compassion G-d must  feel  toward  a
city of 120,000 inhabitants?
    What do the above events in Jonah's life really describe?
    Jonah is basically struggling against his  destiny  to  bring
the  word  of  G-d to the Gentiles.  Isn't Nineve, the capital of
Assyria, arch-enemy of the Jews?  In his heart, Jonah knows  that
if the Assyrians repent, the new status will pose a threat to the
Jews who feel secure in the very fact  the  Nineve  is  a  wicked
city.   Jonah,  a  burning nationalist, would do anything to help
his own people, even if it meant turning  a  deaf  ear  to  G-d's
command  in order to insure that the Assyrians would remain stuck
in their own immorality.
    G-d's command  to  Jonah  astonishes  him;  he  simply  can't
believe   G-d   cares  this  deeply  for  an  arch-enemy  of  the
Israelites.  His only choice is to escape on journey to  the  end
of  the world.  According to this reading, G-d teaches Jonah (and
us) that the G-d of the Jews is G-d of the entire world, and when
G-d  commands  that  His  word  reach  the  Assyrians  --  or the
Palestinians -- there is  no  possibility  this  mission  can  be
avoided  even  if  it  is  not  in  Israel's  best  interest. The
inevitable realization comes to Jonah after his  experience  with
the  dying  gourd.   If he could feel so much concern for a plant
whose existence lasted but one day, then how could G-d  not  feel
compassion for one of the great centers of ancient civilization?
    A deeper understanding of Jonah's character emerges  when  we
examine  the  language of the text following Jonah's anger.  Upon
finally reaching Nineve, Jonah's voice does not resound with  the
eloquence  other  prophets  are  known  by.   Jonah  simply says,
"Another forty days and Nineve shall  overthrown."   (Jonah  3:4)
Nonetheless,  the  Assyrians  are  moved, and their king supports
whole-heartedly a massive, and successful, campaign for  national
repentance.
    Jonah, the text tells us, is vexed -- an odd reaction, to say
the  least.   But  the  perplexity  is  muted when we examine the
actual words Jonah utters to G-d:  "Therefore, I fled to Tarshish
for  I knew you were a gracious G-d, merciful, slow to anger, and
-- V'nicham al harah -- repentant of the evil." (Jonah 4:2)   The
attributes  mentioned above are actually a variation on the well-
known description of G-d's attributes in Exodus  34:5,  with  one
slight  difference:   the  last  phrase,  "repentant of evil", in
whose place in the Exodus version we find the word "emet", a  G-d
of truth!  Jonah, we are told in the final verse of his prophetic
account, is the son of Amitai (which means truth) so that  Jonah,
in  fact,  is  first  and  foremost a "son of truth" who can only
understand a G-d of truth, not a G-d of repentance.  And that  is
why  he  "adjusts"  the  text  in  Exodus  by  addressing  G-d as
"forgiver  of  sin".   How  dare  G-d  forgive  the  sin  of  the
Assyrians?  Truth  and  repentance, in Jonah's mind, can never be
synonymous; in a world of truth, no amount of repentance can undo
a wrong one has committed.
    Obviously,  Jonah  is  wrong  and  his  book  describes   two
journeys:   the  repentance  of the wicked city of Nineve and the
change in Jonah's own heart when  he  realizes  a  deeper  "emet"
emerging in the last verse of the Book of Jonah.
    Now we  see  how  the  paradox  of  Jonah's  life  only  adds
resonance to the Yom Kippur ritual.  What greater evidence can we
have that the deeper message of this day is a universal  cry  for
all nations to return to G-d?!  Indeed, the entire period of Rosh
Hashona to the end of Sukkot quivers with the vibration of G-d as
G-d  of  the entire world. At the same time, Yom Kippur addresses
the Jonah in all of us, the part of our being which would  rather
hide away in far-off Tarshish than face the world of the Niveans.
It's not enough to sit back satisfied with our own G-d who is the
G-d  of the Israelites, pleased with our repentance and new state
of purity.
    On this day G-d's love reigns supreme --  for  the  Nineveans
who  represent  the entire world, for lonely Jonah sitting on the
side  of  the road,  and for  his first awakening to the depth of 
G-d's awesome love.

SHABBAT SHALOM and an easy fast.
 
Copyright Ohr Torah 1989.