2. Escaping from God

God ordered Yona to go to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, and the largest city in the world at that time (eighth century BCE).

‘ויקם יונה לברח תרשישה מלפני ה

But Yona [did not obey the Divine order] and tried to escape to Tarshish, fleeing from the presence of God.

Surprisingly, the prophet disobeys God’s direct command and tries to run away! Before addressing the main question of this extraordinary book–why would a prophet, the epitome of a fearful Jew, refuse to fulfill God’s direct order — let us reflect for a moment on Yona’s act of disobedience.

FREEDOM OF CHOICE
Yona is not the only Prophet who refuses to become God’s agent and bring the people His message of warning– what is called in Hebrew nebua or prophecy. Yirmiyahu and even Moses tried to avoid a similar mission. But without doubt, the fact that Yona tries to flee “physically” from God, represents the most extreme form of refusal to carry out the Divine mission. At the same time, the actions of Yona show us once again the extension of the Jewish principle of “freedom of choice”. Humans have the option to obey or even disobey HaShem. God, on the other hand, manifests His will, but He does not intervene in our minds to make us His robots. He does not hijack Yona’s mind and willpower. Human intelligence, unlike artificial intelligence, allows us to think, evaluate and freely choose our actions and behaviors. What happened with Yona , in certain sense, happens every day to us if we disobey or ignore the Torah. We behave like Yona if we exercise our freedom of choice and reject God’s commands. In Yom Kippur we should reflect on this as we dedicate ourselves to recognize that when we ignore HaShem’s commandments we distance ourselves from Him. And we have to determine, exercising our free will again, to return to God and reconcile with Him.

TARSHISH
In order to run away from God, Yona tries to escape to Tarshish. Where is Tarshish, and why does Yona specifically want to flee to Tarshish? According to one opinion, Tarshish is Tarsus, a city in Turkey 15 miles from the Mediterranean Sea. Other commentators say that it could be Tyre, on the coast of Lebanon. According to the Roman historian Rufus Festo Avienus (4th century) Tarshish is “Cadiz”, a famous port city in Spain! In ancient times, the Greeks called the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula (Cádiz, Seville, etc.) Tartasus: a region famous for an abundance of minerals and metals. The prophet Ezekiel (27:12) mentions the tar, silver, iron, lead and tin that people imported from Tarshish. Now, if Tarshish is in Spain, fleeing to Tarshish in the days of Yona would be like fleeing literally “to the end of the world”. Why? Because we know that for the Greeks, or even for the Phoenicians, the Hercules Pillars, what we call today as the Strait of Gibraltar, was considered geographically the end of the world, just before the endless Atlantic Ocean. Yona tried to escape as far as possible from God (see below), to the farthest place that he could conceive.

GOD’S PERMANENT RESIDENCE
But how is it possible that Yona thought that he can flee from God? We Jews believe that God is Omnipresent: He is and exists everywhere (מלוא כל הארץ כבודו). Our rabbis addressed this question and formulated a beautiful response (a little shameful for those of us who are not yet where we should be): nebua or prophecy, the direct communication between God and a human being, is only possible in the land of Israel. That is why Yona does not flee on foot or on horseback, to the north or the south, but goes literally “overseas”. In his mind the most effective way to stop hearing God’s voice is to leave the land of Israel! God “dwells” in Israel. Israel is where His voice can be heard. Running away from Israel means running away from God.

3. Why Did Yona Run Away?

וַיֵּ֨רֶד יָפ֜וֹ וַיִּמְצָ֥א אָנִיָּ֣ה ׀ בָּאָ֣ה תַרְשִׁ֗ישׁ וַיִּתֵּ֨ן שְׂכָרָ֜הּ וַיֵּ֤רֶד בָּהּ֙ לָב֤וֹא עִמָּהֶם֙ תַּרְשִׁ֔ישָׁה מִלִּפְנֵ֖י ה‘

And Yona went down [to the port of] Jaffa; and found [there] a ship going to Tarshish. He paid for the ship and descended to it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of God

YONA IN TEL-AVIV

Yona rejected the Divine mission to announce the destruction of Nineveh, and planned to escape to Tarshish, a port-city on the Iberian peninsula, probably the farthest destination he could find. Yona arrived to the port of Yafó (in modern Hebrew “Yafo”, in English Jaffa, today within the municipality of Tel-Aviv). Yafo was for centuries the most important port in Israel. All maritime trade went through this port. King Solomon , for example, brought via Yafo the wood from Lebanon that was used for the construction of the Bet haMiqdash (Dibre Hayamim II, 2:15). In the modern Jaffa there are some things that remind us of Yona’s journey. For example, a street (see illustration above), which descends towards the port and is called “Yonah haNabí”, “the prophet Jonah”.

Once at the port, the prophet Yona found a boat that was going to Tarshish, probably a Phoenician ship, since they were the great navigators of the time. The text tells us that Yona paid for “the ship”, instead of saying that he paid for his own “ticket” (sekharo). The Sages observed that in his haste to escape, Yona disbursed an exorbitant sum of money and hired the boat privately.

This detail invites us to ask ourselves one more time why Yona wanted so much to escape from his Divine mission? The biblical text does NOT reveal the reason for the behavior of its protagonists. The text leaves that topic for us to explore on our own, and learn the corresponding lessons.

FOUR ANSWERS

I know four possible answers to this question. All have something in common: that Yona is acting wrongly by trying to escape from God, and in the end, God teaches him a lesson. The first three answers, each present one possible reason why Yona escaped. But I think these responses do not answer, for example, why Yona’s book is read on Yom Kippur, that is: why our Sages chose the story of Yona as the text that should inspire us to repentance on the Day of Forgiveness. Answer number 4 in my opinion, which looks at the dynamic between Teshuba, repentance, and impunity, fully solves this question and settles perfectly with the story. But this answer, to which I adhere, will have to be on a waiting list, because we have to know a little more the story of Yona to gradually discover the prophet’s ways of thinking.

Let’s see now the first three possible answers, all based on the Sages, presented briefly and with my own words.

#1 . YONA FEARED FOR HIS OWN LIFE

The prophets in general were in a catch-22 situation. They had to warn the people, usually the Jewish people, that a tragedy was going to happen if people persist in their behavior. But if God decided to forgive the people, the prophet would be regarded as an impostor! The rabbis explained that this had already happened to Yona when he prophesied in the Kingdom of Israel. Now, Yona knows that something similar will happen in Nineveh (Tanchuma Vayqra 8) with one difference: in Nineveh he will be a stranger, and his bold warning would probably cost him his life. According to this opinion, HaShem teaches Yona that saving the lives of the inhabitants of Nineveh should be more important for him than preserving his own life.

#2. YONA DID NOT WANT TO SAVE THE ENEMIES OF ISRAEL

Don Ytshaq Abarbanel (1437-1508) explains that Yona did not want to save the Assyrians, who eventually ended up destroying the city of Shomron, killing thousands of Jews, destroying the Kingdom of Israel (722 BCE) and exiling the 10 tribes. It is as if a Jew today would try to help preserving the Iranian regime, which has publicly declared its intention to erase the State of Israel from the map.

#3. YONA CARED FOR THE REPUTATION OF HIS PEOPLE

The Jerusalem Talmud (Sanh 11: 5) explains that Yona knew that idolatrous peoples are easy to convince, influenceable (קרובי תשובה) and that they would surely rectify their evil deeds immediately. This easiness to change their behavior from one day to another may be the result of the nature of pagan culture: Idolatrous people were used to following the arbitrary dictates of their priests, who would use random “bad omens” to intimidate the people and manipulate the masses with ease. A society —or an individual— that is driven by “superstitions” is ready to do anything out of fear. Yona was convinced that in Nineveh, his announcement about the destruction of the city would be processed via superstition and would be accepted immediately. Which is what ended happening. Yona thought that the imminent repentance of the inhabitants of Nineveh would be a terrible precedent for the Jews of the Kingdom of Israel. At that time the Yehudim were in a very low spiritual state. They practiced idolatry, transgressed the Torah, and ignored the warnings of the Prophets. It was very difficult to convince them to listen! Jews were not superstitious like other peoples, and might have processed “prophecy” as “bad omens” and seeing prophets as charlatans, therefore, they did not listen. The Sages said, thus, that this might have been why Yona tried to escape the Divine call: so that the repentance of Nineveh will not incriminate the Jews, exposing their rejection to listen to the prophets and to change their bad habits.

4. Hitting Rock Bottom

וה‘ הֵטִ֤יל רֽוּחַ־גְּדוֹלָה֙ אֶל־הַיָּ֔ם וַיְהִ֥י סַֽעַר־גָּד֖וֹל בַּיָּ֑ם וְהָ֣אֳנִיָּ֔ה חִשְּׁבָ֖ה לְהִשָּׁבֵֽר׃

Verse 4: And God sent a mighty wind into the sea, and it became a great storm, and the ship was about to collapse.

Yona tried to escape from the Divine word (prophecy), fleeing from the land of Israel, the only place where God communicates with His prophets. Yona goes to the sea. And although He is no longer communicating with Yona through words, God does not let Yona to getting away from his mission. The Sages noted that one of the most common instruments that God uses to intervene in nature is the wind. The wind served as an instrument of God in the Creation of the world; in the plagues, and in the opening of the Sea of Reeds. As King David said: רוח סערה עושה דברו “The stormy wind, which obeys the word of God.” And we recognize this in the Amida when we praise HaShem “who blows the wind to produce rain”. In our case, HaShem sends a powerful wind, which becomes a storm that hits the vessel. The question now is: will Yona react this time and accept the imperative Divine call? Will he resume his mission? Will Yona find any other way to escape?

וַיִּֽירְא֣וּ הַמַּלָּחִ֗ים וַֽיִּזְעֲקוּ֮ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל-אֱלֹהָיו֒ וַיָּטִ֨לוּ אֶת-הַכֵּלִ֜ים אֲשֶׁ֤ר בָּֽאֳנִיָּה֙ אֶל-הַיָּ֔ם לְהָקֵ֖ל מֵֽעֲלֵיהֶ֑ם וְיוֹנָ֗ה יָרַד֙ אֶל-יַרְכְּתֵ֣י הַסְּפִינָ֔ה וַיִּשְׁכַּ֖ב וַיֵּרָדַֽם:

Verse 5: The sailors feared [for their lives]. Each begged their gods and threw the load into the sea to relieve the weight of the ship. Yona, however, descended to the bottom of the ship, he laid down and fell into a deep sleep.

The sailors recognized the Divine intervention, and acted accordingly: they prayed. And threw the valuable cargo into the sea, something the crew would only do when there was no other option left. Because when sailing, the greatest danger to a boat, is sinking because of the weight of water –rainwater and seawater coming from the high waves — and the cargo.
And what did Yona do while everyone was praying?
Incredibly, and while everyone else was in panic, “Yona descended to the bottom” of the ship —now empty of merchandise— laid down and fell asleep!

To fully explore all the psychological aspects of Yona’s reaction would require to write an entire book. But, briefly, Yona is not reacting with indifference towards the storm. “Sleeping” or going to sleep, deactivating his active mind, is part of his escape from God. He knows HaShem is looking for him. The Sages observed that the biblical text uses three times the word vayered, which means “and he descended.” This descent is not only physical: it is a mental descent. It is not a descent that leads to a deeper thought. It is a descent that leads to “stop thinking”, putting your mind to sleep, anesthesia. A perfect mental escape.

In a brilliant and very beautiful way, because of the play on words, the Biblical text describes the progressive descent of Yona into a self induce mental blockage : וירד וירד וירד וירדם “And Yona descended, … and descended … and descended … and he fell deeply asleep”. This last Hebrew word vayradem describes a deep state of sleep (delta brain waves) In modern Hebrew the word “hardama” is used to mean anesthesia) in which we “lose” consciousness. Unlike the Hebrew word “vayshan” a more superficial state of sleep.
For Yona, in the middle of the storm, the only way to get away from God is by stop thinking about Him and about His call. Deactivating the mind; surrendering to sleep.

I think that we all act sometimes in a similar way. For numberless reasons, many times we want (we need!) to escape from our Divine mission. We don’t think about the meaning of our life. Going to sleep is the most innocent way to escape reality, responsibility — or God’s call. There are deeper or more modern ways to escape our existential questions: getting drunk, getting high … or, more commonly, wasting our time with entertainment and distractions to keep our mind blank and escape the existential question. Deliberately ignoring God’s call to us, i.e., His Torah. When we do that we repeat, in a certain way, the behavioral pattern of Yona.

When reaching the bottom of the ship, Yona also arrives at the end of his escape. Seemingly, he cannot get any lower. Or can he?

5. Who loaded the dice?

Yona’s ship is caught in a terrible storm and about to collapse. The whole crew is trying to get the water out and praying. But Yona fell asleep. The captain of the ship finds Yona and rebukes him:

וַיִּקְרַ֤ב אֵלָיו֙ רַ֣ב הַחֹבֵ֔ל וַיֹּ֥אמֶר ל֖וֹ מַה-לְּךָ֣ נִרְדָּ֑ם ק֚וּם קְרָ֣א אֶל-אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ אוּלַ֞י יִתְעַשֵּׁ֧ת הָאֱלֹהִ֛ים לָ֖נוּ וְלֹ֥א נֹאבֵֽד:

VERSE 6: “What are you doing asleep?” He says. “Get up and cry out to your God. Maybe God will pay attention to us and will help us to escape death. “

Yona is deeply immersed in his own denial. But he does not know it. Many times we need someone from the outside to awaken us, to save us from ourselves. The Gemara describes this type of situation with the following words: אין חבוש מתיר עצמו מבית האסורים “An individual can not free himself from prison, on his own”. The Sages use this expression metaphorically. This is what Ribbi Yochanan said when he explained why he asked for the physical and emotional help of Ribbi Chanina Bar Chama to restore him from the serious deterioration of his health. To understand the beauty and precision of this expression, remember that in ancient times “jails” were not like modern prisons. In the case of Yosef, for example, we see that prisons were “pits” (בית הבור) and you can only get out of a pit with the help of someone outside the pit. Imagine a person who suffers, for example, drug-related addiction. For him or her is like falling into a pit, and hitting rock bottom. Even if that person now decides to restore his life, it will be very difficult for him –if not impossible– to free himself on his own. He needs someone else to pull him from the outside of the pit, to free him from his “prison” (addiction, depression, escapism, etc.).

Returning to Yona, the ship’s captain awakens Yona literally and psychologically. He awakens him from his sleep and makes him aware of the danger that he and the entire crew are in. It is also ironic that the captain of a ship — a gentile –is the one that “wakes up” and encourages the prophet of Israel, “a professional awakener”, and encourages him to pray to God. is it possible that at this point, Yona begins to change his negative opinion about the gentiles of Nineveh, whose lives he refused to save? Perhaps Yona sees now that not everyone is evil in the “Sin City” of the 8th century BCE.

And what does Yona do once he wakes up?

We still do not hear any word from Yona. The prophet is no longer in the bottom of the ship, he is on the surface with the other crew members. But mysteriously (or not), the text remains silent regarding Yona’s reaction. Does this mean that Yona was still not praying? He keeps escaping the Divine call, and now ignoring God’s calls for his attention (the storm)?

וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל-רֵעֵ֗הוּ לְכוּ֙ וְנַפִּ֣ילָה גֽוֹרָל֔וֹת וְנֵ֣דְעָ֔ה בְּשֶׁלְּמִ֛י הָרָעָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את לָ֑נוּ וַיַּפִּ֙לוּ֙
גּֽוֹרָל֔וֹת וַיִּפֹּ֥ל הַגּוֹרָ֖ל עַל-יוֹנָֽה:

VERSE 7: “Then the sailors said to each other, come, let us cast lots to know for whose sake this calamity has come to us. And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Yona. “

The sailors somehow understand that the storm is not fortuitous, and they decide to cast the lots (goral) in order to find by the omens who is responsible for this tragedy. This type of practice, divination through oracles, was very common among pagan peoples. The Torah, however, forbids it.

Why? Let’s think about throwing a coin or casting lots.

1. When the intention of the person tossing the coin is “to reveal the Divine will” through the coin, the Torah considers it as a form of Aboda Zara, called in Hebrew nichush, “divination”. One might think, for example, that if God is Almighty and Omnipresent, chance does not exist. And if chance does not exist, it is God who decides on which side the coin will fall. And if God intervenes in the way the coin falls, I can reveal His will with the coin. “Heads, means that God wants me to do X; and tails, means that God wants me to do Y.” This is essentially an idolatrous reasoning (לנסות את ה, or cleromancy): the mechanism through which pagan peoples “forced the gods to express their will”. (For more see Maimonides, MT Aboda Zara, chapter 11) and therefore is strictly forbidden.

2. Now, casting a lot is allowed as a way to resolve, and especially “avoid”, conflicts. For example, when flipping a coin is agreed by the parties as an objective way of assigning something, such as when they flip a coin in a football game to decide who starts the game, etc. In this case, the parties previously agreed to settle the matter surrendering themselves to equal statistical probabilities, with no intention of cleromancy, i.e., to force the revelation of the Divine will. This type of resolution is common in Jewish tradition (division of lands, allocation of the functions of the Kohanim, etc.) and King Solomon mentioned it positively in Mishle 18:18 “מִדְיָנִים יַשְׁבִּית הַגּוֹרָל, וּבֵין עֲצוּמִים יַפְרִיד”. “The goral, [= flipping a coin, etc.] solves conflicts and separates [peacefully] the contenders.”

But unexpectedly in the case of Yona, HaShem, “changes the rules of the game” and loads the sailor’s dices to assign the blame into Yona

6. Jew or Hebrew?

עברי אנוכי ואת ה’ אלקי השמים אני ירא

Jewish law rejects the notion of invoking divine intervention in chance, with the purpose of divination. This practice, technically known as “cleromancy” is considered a form of idolatry. In Yona’s story, however, God “changes the laws of the game”; intervenes in the casting of the lots, or “dices”, that the sailors threw to find the culprit, and assigns the blame to Yona. The prophet now has no escape. His has been dis-covered by HaShem. Now he realizes once again that the mission he has to carry out, saving Nineveh, is time sensitive.

Verse 8: The [sailors] said to Yona: – Tell us why this tragedy is happening to us. What is your occupation? Where you come from? What is your country? What land are you from?

The sailors overwhelmed Yona with questions. And now, for the first time in the book, we listen directly to the prophet’s voice.

Verse 9: Yona said to them, “I am a Hebrew. And I worship (lit. fear) HaShem, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.

I AM A HEBREW, OR AN ISRAELITE

Some biblical commentators explain that Yona’s response, “I am a Hebrew,” answers all the questions at once. Let’s see.

In those times, we Jews dedicated ourselves to work the land (the great international traders were the Phoenicians!). A Jew would usually dedicate himself to farming and spend a large part of the rest of his day to serving God (praying, studying Torah, doing acts of kindness). We could reread this verse, with the additional implied answer, in this way: “Who are you? What’s your occupation? “- the sailors asked Yona- “I am a Hebrew, and my main occupation is to worship HaShem… “.

“I am Hebrew” also answers the questions “where do you come from”, “what is your land” and “where are you from”. The answer to these the questions is one single word: “Israel”, which is also implicit in “I am Hebrew”, since up to 722 a.e.c. all Jews of the world lived exclusively in Israel.

Now: Why does Yona say: “I am a Hebrew” and does not say “I am a Jew”?

At that time, 8th century before the common era, the Jewish people were divided into the Kingdom of Israel (the 10 tribes) and the Kingdom of Yehuda (Judea), which included Jerusalem, the Bet haMiqdash, etc. The inhabitants of Yehuda (or Judea) were later known as Yehudim, or Jews, as seen in the book of Esther. But Yona belongs to the Kingdom of Israel.

Some commentators explain that “Hebrew” was the word (the patronymic) that non-Jews used to refer to Jews, as opposed to “Israelite”, Am Israel, bene berit, etc. which is how “we” refer to ourselves. Now, the Torah mentions the word “Hebrew” several times, mainly when the Egyptians refer to some member of the children of Israel (Yosef, Moshe, the midwives, etc.). It is fascinating to notice in this context that in the Amarna documents, the letters from Amenhotep IV (1350-1330 BCE) which is, so far, the oldest non-biblical reference to Am Israel, the Egyptians refer to us as “Hebrews” (habiru or habriu).

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANTISEMITISM

Fast-forward, one of the first symptoms of the final separation between the first Christians and the people of Israel is when the former begin to refer to the Jews as “Hebrews” (as “Epistle to the Hebrews). Although later and for 17-18 centuries the church deliberately referred to us as “Jews”, because of the similarity between “Jew” an “Juda”, the greatest ‘traitor’ who betrayed Yeshu (also a Jew!), and the word “judío”=Jew. The association in unmissable: “Judios” like “Juda” are traitors. And this is why in some parts of Spain–like Melilla, the birthplace of my wife– Jews called themselves “Hebrews.” But I think that, unlike Yona, Melilla’s Jews did that to protect themselves and try to minimize the allergic and demonizing connotation that the term “Judio” inspired (inspires?) in the minds of Spanish-speakers who were exposed for 15 uninterrupted centuries of systemic anti-Semitism. In this context it is worth remembering that Spanish dictionaries for centuries defined the word “Jew” as “stingy” and “usurer”, and “judiada” (acting Jewish) as an act of “betrayal”. Although in modern times the Royal Spanish Academy still has it, with a slight “euphemization” (see here): “judiada” Mala pasada o acción que perjudica a alguien. (judiada–acting Jewish– Bad acting or action that harms someone).

After this long digression, let’s go back to Yona.

The prophet of Israel introduces himself to the sailors using the patronymic that non-Jews used to identify the Israelites: “I am a Hebrew!”

7. Yona and My Mission Statement

י וַיִּֽירְא֤וּ הָֽאֲנָשִׁים֙ יִרְאָ֣ה גְדוֹלָ֔ה וַיֹּאמְר֥וּ אֵלָ֖יו מַה-זֹּ֣את עָשִׂ֑יתָ כִּֽי-יָדְע֣וּ הָאֲנָשִׁ֗ים כִּֽי-מִלִּפְנֵ֤י יְדוָד֙ ה֣וּא בֹרֵ֔חַ כִּ֥י הִגִּ֖יד לָהֶֽם:

The storm threatens to sink the ship and end the life of the crew. The sailors, in a state of panic, understand that they are not dealing with an abnormal climate event, but with a Divine intervention. The celestial intervention has also point to Yona as the sole responsible for what is happening. The sailors want to know more, and they asked Yona: “What have you done?” Yona confesses his crime: I’m escaping from the Divine call. Yona also realizes that, although not with words, but through a storm, HaShem will keep “calling’ for him (and pushing him) to carry out his urgent mission: saving the lives of the inhabitants of Nineveh.

HOW DO YOU ESCAPE FROM GOD?
Escaping from God means escaping from what He expects from you. In general, and especially in our privileged times, HaShem grants us a generous shower of blessings: material abundance, health and talents. Many times we are not able to recognize the “Divine intervention” in everything we have. HaShem then might use other resources. A friend of mine sent his son to study at a university abroad. The father deposited money in his son’s account every month so that he would not be lacking anything. But the son did not have a word of appreciation or gratitude towards his father: he took the money for granted. After a few months the father stopped sending him money. And then, the son called: “Dad, how are you doing? How is everything? Such a long time we don’t talk. I wanted to thank you, by the way, for all your help. I have not enough words to thank you for your generosity. … Oh! and incidentally, I wanted to ask you a question: Is it possible that you forgot to deposit money for me this month? “

The Sages suggested that, just as this father, HaShem, may retain His blessing since some times, as Yona, the only thing that awakens us and pushes us back to reconnect with God is a “storm”.

HOW TO FACE A STORM?
What should I do when the generous Divine rain turns into a dangerous flood? Raba said: אם רואה אדם שיסורין באין עליו יפשפש במעשיו. “When you perceive that you are suffering, you must examine your behavior.” When ח”ו one suffers an illness, economic hardship, or other type of crisis—apart from looking for the practical ways to solve the problem and praying for Divine assistance—one has to examine his actions and his goals. And like Yona, refocus on what God expects of him or her.

DISCOVERING MY MISSION
We Jews have two existential goals. First, to observe the covenant, a commitment, I have with HaShem, learning and observing His Torah. But beyond this obligation I also have another mission. This goal is not as obvious as the first. I have to discover it. By looking into my special talents and virtues, innate or acquired, that I possess and stand out from others. And when I discover my talents, I discover my personal mission statement in life. Suppose I I have a high level of intelligence, and I use it to shine and become popular in video games and card games. Wouldn’t that be a great wasting of the talents that God granted me? Wouldn’t God expect me to use my IQ to study Torah, teach it, counsel others or find a cure for cancer? The same happens with an individual whom HaShem has blessed with money, or with deep empathy or eloquence. All these resources and talents must be channeled to the achievement of what God wants from me.

Yona evidently had the talents and skills to go to Nineveh and announce the people God’s word.

To ignore our unique talents and resources is to neglect our potential, and to escape, as Yona did, from what HaShem expects from us.

8. The Day After the Storm

ויאמר אליהם שאוני והטילני אל הים וישתק הים מעליכם כי יודע אני כי בשלי הסער הגדול הזה עליכם

VERSES 11-15

“[As the storm continued to worsen] the sailors asked [Yona]: – What should we do with you to stop this storm? ‘Throw me to the sea’, answered Yona, ‘and calm will return. I know that I am the only one to blame for this terrible storm that stalks you’. The sailors rowed hard to try to take the ship to the mainland, but the storm was so violent that they did not succeed. Then they cried out to HaShem, the God of Yona: ‘O HaShem’ they begged, ‘do not let us die for this man’s sin, neither hold us responsible for his death. HaShem, You have sent this storm over him and only You know why’. Then the sailors took Yona and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm [finally] stopped!

THE LESSON OF THE STORM

Every day when we recite the Shema Israel (vehayá im shamoa’…), we mention that rain is a blessing from HaShem, and its absence, drought, a synonym of starvation and death. But when rain is excesive is not a blessing anymore. The reward from heaven becomes a dangerous storm that causes destruction. In Yona’s story the storm is a means of Divine intervention, which, as we can see in the verses mentioned above, achieves its pedagogical objective: to teach Yona that he should not run away from a special mission he has to accomplish.

THE BEFORE AND THE AFTER OF YONA

Before the storm, Yona thought that he could escape from God. That where His word is not heard—outside of Erets Israel—His Presence is not manifested. Now Yona discovers that God is Omnipresent.

Before the storm, Yona ignored the direct call of HaShem, His “voice”. Now, Yona is able to decipher God’s subtle call in an extreme climate event.

Before the storm, Yona disobeyed God. Now he is ready to “jump into the sea” and entrust himself to the mission assigned by him.

And what seems more significant:

Before the storm, Yona does not think it is important to save the lives of the thousands of pagan inhabitants of Nineveh. The new Yona, however, is willing to sacrifice his own life to save a handful of sailors.

Thus, reading the text very carefully we discover that the Yona that we find after the storm is not the same Yona that we met before the storm. In an ironic sense, the escape and the storm helped Yona to be more prepared for his mission.

STORMS AND TORMENTS

There are several types of storms. There are weather storms and life storms. King David in Tehillim (127) used the metaphor of storms and floods to describe life challenges whose solution are beyond our control.

Storms are sometimes caused by ourselves: our bad habits, our bad decisions, like associating with those we should not, as happened to Shimshon with the Philistines.

Sometimes our torments are caused by other people, like Yosef who was sold as a slave by his own brothers. Something that unleashed an indescribable storm of collateral damages and pain not only to Yosef but also to his father and his entire family.

The storms, can also be isurim (יסורים מאהבה), providential sufferings not related to anything wrong we had done. Difficulties beyond our responsibility.

WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM YONA AND THE STORM?

Storms and challenges we face in our lives teach us and define us. And many times they show us who is who. A friend of mine, a physician, learned this lesson from a real weather storm. New York. “Sandy”. October 2012. The terrible storm destroyed his medical office, and it would take months to fix or find a different location. At that time a professional of the same specialty “took advantage” of my friend’s problem to promote his own practice, trying to steal some of his patients. But on the other hand, another colleague offered my friend a small space in his own office, so he can still see his patients until he has his own office back.

Storms that we live are also opportunities for change. They transform us and sometimes, like Yona, they help us to rediscover our own Divine call: the power to help others. Recently, a friend of mine suffered one of those storms, cancer, and after a painful period of thunder, lightning and hail, the storm ended. And he, BH, survived. Now he is a different person. And among other things he dedicates to helping those who go through these types of storms. And he became their savior. Because for those who are drowned under an endless rain of medical problems, there is nothing better than being helped by someone whose clothes are still wet.

Finally, we also learn from the story of Yona that even the most powerful and destructive storm, eventually stops.

9. The lesson we learned from the first chapter

We are finishing the first of the four chapters of the book of Yona

THE TORAH AND THE SEA

One of the most fascinating elements of the biblical texts is that its stories contain much more than the narrative tells. In a way that only the Torah can do it, the plot of the story also hides a number of sub-stories, moral ideas and philosophical concepts that are interwoven with the narrative, and that a distracted reader would not able to perceive. When we read a Biblical text thinking that the message is limited to the story at hand, we are looking at the surface of the sea, ignoring its oceanic depth. The book of Yona is no exception.

Seemingly, the first chapter tells the simple story of a man escaping from Israel (God’s residence) by sea. But between the lines of the text we find several sub-stories containing moral concepts and dilemmas of not easy solution. For example: Can a man ignore his Divine call? What is the extension, and what are the limits of a man’s free will? What is the relationship between escaping from God and Yona’s psychological denial? What resources does God use to redirect us when we lose our way? Can we interpret natural phenomena, a storm, or misfortunes, as vehicles of Divine intervention or Divine calls? And if so, what are the rules of the game of these interpretations? And much, much more.

I would like to explore now what might be the most relevant and extensive sub-topic of this chapter. The behavior of the gentiles in the story of Yona.

WHO DESERVES TO BE SAVED?

Remember that the mission God assigns Yona is saving Nineveh, a non-Jewish city. Yona escapes from this mission, but the text does not explain why. We already mentioned three possible scenarios. The classic explanation, which most rabbis follow (see Radaq), is that Yona considered that if the inhabitants of Nineveh repent, the reputation of the Jewish people, who unfortunately almost never listened to the warnings of their prophets (there is no prophet in his own land?), is going to be badly affected.

And what happened on the ship seems to be aimed to modifying Yona’s ideas. Making him to see that, despite the price that Israel will be forced to pay, HaShem still wants to give the people of Nineveh the opportunity to be saved. As the story unfolds, Yona discovers that the non-Jewish sailors are not horrible people. On the contrary; when the sailors become convinced that Yona is the culprit of the storm, and that the only way to save their lives is to get rid of Yona, they do not rush to throw Yona into the sea. They try to return to the mainland, and do all in their hands to keep Yona safe and alive. Rabbi Isaac Abarbanel explains that Yona now discovers the great compassion of these gentile sailors. They were willing to risk their lives to save the life of a Jew! It would be very difficult to deny that this gesture of the sailors did not make Yona reassess the objective of his mission in a more positive way…

LEARN TESHUBA FROM WHOEVER DID IT

When the storm does not stop, the non-Jewish sailors pray to HaShem (not to “their gods”), recognizing the God of Israel. Before throwing Yona into the sea, the sailors ask HaShem not to consider them guilty of the death of an innocent man. Likewise, in the last verse of the first chapter, when the storm stops, the sailors offer sacrifices to HaShem, and dedicate their vows and promises. Some commentators explained, based on all these invocations to HaShem—the God of Israel, as opposed to Eloqim, a general name for “God”— that the sailors embraced Judaism. Yona must have noticed now that Gentiles can recognize HaShem, repent and avert a tragedy. His mission is feasible.

Perhaps Yona sees now that, if not able to learn from our own experience, the Jewish people might need to learn the greatest lesson about repentance from a story that involves gentiles. Which is what really ends up happening! The story of Yona — a Divine prophecy addressed to gentiles and their positive reaction to it— contains what the Rabbis considered to be the most important lesson for our own repentance on Yom Kippur. הזקן שבהן אומר לפניהן דברי כיבושין אחינו, לא נאמר באנשי נינוה, וירא האלקים את שקם ואת תעניתם , אלא וירא האלקים את מעשיהם כי שבו מדרכם הרעה. When the people of Nineveh repented …”God did not pay so much attention to the people’s prayers and fasts. God paid attention to their actions! He saw that they changed their bad behavior and improved their moral ways, and He forgave them.”

And that is the greatest and most important lesson for Yom Kippur.

ADAM and DAVID: A 70 Years Gift

By Shemuel Bitton (edited by Tehila B.)

We know that Adam, the first person created, lived a long life of 930 years. But our Rabbis tend to analyze every tiny detail in the Tora and ask why Adam did not reach the more “perfect” number of 1000?

There is a beautiful midrash providing us with an answer. Adam Harishon was originally granted 1000 years of life on this earth. He was privy to see all the neshamot which would reside on earth after him; but one neshama was not shining as brightly as the others, it was flickering. Adam asked HaShem about this odd soul. God responded, telling Adam that this neshama belongs to someone who will die immediately after he is born; and what a shame that is, because this soul happened to have great potential. Adam immediately asks HaShem to take 70 years off of his own life and grant it to this neshama, which just so happened to belong to David Hamelech.

Ok, very nice. Adam lived to 930, David lived to 70; together it equals 1000.
But surely there is more connecting these two Biblical characters other than the ages they reached.

Let us look back to the most famous, or rather, the infamous story of Adam. The sin of the forbidden fruit.
Adam and Chava are told that they can enjoy all the wonders of Gan Eden, and take from any tree they want- except for one! And of course, they go ahead and eat from that very tree.

Many Rabbi’s tell us that when HaShem told Adam and Chava not to take from the forbidden tree, HaShem knew they would fail to listen. After all, it is simply within the grounds of human nature to succumb to fault.,

So if HaShem really intended them to eat from this tree- was that really their sin?

Once Adam eats from the tree, HaShem calls out to him asking him what he has done. Adam responds trying to turn the tables on God- it was the woman YOU gave me who convinced me to eat the fruit! Why am I at fault??
He took zero responsibility, and managed to blame HaShem for his own mistake!
Most of us are in shock from this ordeal- how could he blame the faultless Creator? But this is in fact a sin in which many of us are guilty ourselves- we blame the circumstances we are put in (undoubtedly by God) for our own mistakes.

However, this is not something David Hamelech ever did.
Our king David is known for his ability to admit to his sins and apologize for them. After the incident with Batsheva, the prophet Natan goes to David and publicly calls him out, saying he is deserving of great punishment! David could have very logically concluded that he is king, and any man- prophet or not- audacious enough to rebuke him is deserving of death! Or at the very least, he could have kicked Natan out and ignored him. But David opens his mouth, and the first two words which come out are, “Hatati LaHaShem,” I have sinned to Hashem.
David took responsibility for his actions.

Perhaps in his 70 years of life, David did not only compensate for Adam’s 1000 years, but he also in a way compensated for his actions. He mastered the main trait Adam was lacking in.

Every single one of us is going to make mistakes; we are all going to do things that are not ok. HaShem knows that.
So what will we be judged on?
How we act after we make those mistakes.
Do we flail our arms around frantically, pointing fingers at anyone but ourselves? Or do we step up and admit to fault?

Once we recognize our mistakes, we can not only move past them, but learn from them, and we are less likely to repeat them in the future.

After all, this is the whole point of Asseret Yeme’ Teshuva. We first must recognize and admit to our sins, and then make a plan to change and grow from them.

Be’Ezrat HaShem may we all learn from David Hamelech and be able to imitate his humble ways as we stand before God on these precious days.

Hilkhot Teshuba 3:1-8 Teshuba and the tipping point

In the third chapter of his Hilkhot Teshuba Maimonides explains that in terms of religious behavior, there are three categories of people: rasha’, tsadiq and benoni. The rasha’ (the bad guy) is the person whose balance of good deeds against bad deeds is negative. The tsadiq (a righteous person) is the one who has done more good than harm. And the benoni (the average person) is defined by Maimonides as the person whose good and bad deeds are in a state of equilibrium (3:1). At a later Halakha (3:4) Maimonides explains that the calculation of our own fault and merits is inaccessible to us. This estimate does not depend on the number of Mitsvot we have done, as if the Tora would be a system of “points” in a scoreboard. Actually, this calculation is only known to God. Why? Because He is the only one who knows, for example, what our real positive potential is. If my potential is 10 and I reached 7, I have less merit than the person whose potential is 5 and reached 5. In another example, only HaShem knows the intensity of the negative psychological forces that might be driving a person to do what he or she does. The more intense these forces are, the more merit has the individual who overcomes them. For one person, it may not be very difficult to avoid stealing because he might have a natural inclination to honesty. For another individual, not stealing or lying might be a huge challenge. The balance of our merits and faults, says Maimonides, is only known to God. This thought leads Maimonides to the following question: Since I cannot know if in God’s eyes I am or am not a righteous person, how do I have to see myself? If I see myself as a great guy, I might rely too much on my merits and remain in a state of inertia, doing nothing to improve my life. On the other hand, if I see myself as a bad guy, I might think I’m already beyond redemption (= ye-ush, a state in which we give up) and will do nothing to improve. Maimonides concludes (3:8) that a person should always perceive itself as a perfect 50/50. As if my good and bad deeds are at a delicate balance, between merits and sins, permanently. Knowing that I am in that state of equilibrium, the next action I do will definitely count! What I will do in the next few minutes is extremely important because it will determine whether I am a good or a bad person. Thus, my next action becomes the tipping point of my entire personality. What I do next will determine who I really am.