2 years ago

Dont Try To Run Away, Return To G-D And Bring The Redemption

BEGIN WITH A GRIN
A teacher addresses her class two days before Yom Kippur, “Now that we finished learning about Yona the Navi
coming out alive after being swallowed by a huge fish, can you imagine anything more amazing that that?
One student says, “Yes. If Yona would have swallowed the fish …”
A FISHY STORY ABOUT A RUNAWAY
Every Jew has a special place in his heart for Yom Kippur, the day described as, “once a year.” One single time of the
year, every Jew, as he is, connects to his G-d with a strong bond, beyond any rational explanation. Those magical,
pure moments, when the heart of a Jew trembles and longingly asks Hashem to accept his teshuva and give him and
his family (and the rest of the Jewish people) a good and sweet year (amen!).
One of the most precious moments on Yom Kippur is the reading of Maftir Yona, the story of Yona the Navi whom
Hashem commanded, “Arise and go to Ninveh, the big city, and call out to it because their evil deeds have risen
before Me.” Yona tries to get out of this mission and runs away from Hashem to Tarshish. Obviously, running away
from Hashem is not possible and in the end, Yona is punished, he does what he is supposed to do, and urges the
people of Ninveh to do teshuva.
Yona ben Amitai is not a simple person. First of all, he’s a Navi who receives messages directly from G-d. Second of
all, in the Medrashim of Chazal it says that Yona was the wonder child of Eliyahu HaNavi. In Melachim (1:17) it tells
about Eliyahu being sent by Hashem to Tzorfas where he stays in a woman’s home. Her son becomes sick and dies
and Eliyahu revives him. The Talmud Yerushalmi (Sukka) says that this child grew up to be Yona.
If that wasn’t enough, in the writings of the Arizal it says that Yona’s neshama is the neshama of Moshiach ben Yosef
who will usher in the coming of Moshiach. And if that’s not enough, in Pirkei D’Rabi Eliezer it says that Yona met the
livyasan, “king of the fish,” and said to him, “Because of you I came down [to the world]… for in the future I will put a
rope in your mouth and bring you up and kill you for a great meal for tzaddikim.”
So he is not just a Navi, not just a neshama that experienced resurrection of the dead, and not just the military
general who will wave his sword at the enemies of the Jewish people as Moshiach ben Yosef, but he is the chef who
will cook chraime (or the gefilte fish, it depending on origin)!
After all that, we see we are not talking about an ordinary person. This is a giant, greatest of the great, an
inseparable part of the redemption of the Jewish people (according to the Kabbala of the Arizal) so how could he try
to escape? Is is possible that a Navi would refuse to do what G-d told him?
RUN TOWARDS NOT AWAY
Let’s add some more to the questions. Why is this attempted avoidance of listening to G-d read on Yom Kippur? Isn’t
it antithetical to what the day represents? Is the goal of this holy day not to stop running from G-d’s (will)? What’s
going on here?
A vital message is here for us and it comes specifically from someone associated with the true and complete Geula.
Yona said to himself, “I know that this nation is close to doing teshuva. They will do teshuva and G-d will send his
wrath upon the Jewish people.” This shows Yona’s great Ahavas Yisrael. He was afraid that if he got the people of
Ninveh to do teshuva, the Attribute of Judgment would be focused on the Jewish people and they would be harmed.

Therefore, Yona endangered himself by avoiding fulfilling G-d’s command just so as not to make the Jewish people
look bad.
It doesn’t end here. There is another important message which is why we read the book of Yona at Mincha on Yom
Kippur. The Gemara (Taanis) says that the teshuva of Ninveh was so honest, so true, that “Even if one stole a beam
and built it into his building, he must tear down the entire building and return the beam to its owner.” They were
willing to destroy a house and break (a head and) a wall in order to return something that was stolen and to
complete the teshuva.
If Yona managed to have such an impact on the non-Jews, imagine the power of teshuva of the Jewish people. The
Alter Rebbe paskens that the story of Yona reveals to us that “that we (us!) have the power of teshuva and one
cannot flee from G-d.” These are two elements that we need to carry with us in our daily lives, especially in
connection with Geula. As the Rebbe puts it, “First of all, a person needs to know that ‘one cannot flee from G-d’ …
as it says (Tehillim 139), ‘If I ascend to the heavens, there You are, and if I make my bed in the grave, behold, You are
there.’ Meaning, G-d is everywhere and therefore, the gashmiyus cannot flee and disconnect from ruchniyus.”
If a person says, what does he care about ruchniyus, what does he care about teshuva, what does he care about the
Geula, when he is so far from all these spiritual things, he needs to know he has the power of teshuva. Every Jew has
the ability to return in teshuva, for every Jew has a holy neshama. We learn this from the people of Ninveh. If they
could do it, all the more so can we! Despite the sins, the neshama remains connected to G-d and when it is inspired
to teshuva, even for a moment, the neshama has the power to draw the body along and bring the Geula.
TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY
We will end with a story that teaches about the power of a Jewish soul and the power of teshuva. Czar Nicholas I of
Russia decreed that the Jews had to come up with a certain number of soldiers for the army. Officers of the czar
would snatch children from the age of seven, eight and above. These children were called cantonists. They would
make the children suffer in order to get them to convert. Many of them withstood the test, some of the died from
the torture.
When they finished their army service and were released, the cantonists built independent communities in several
Russian cities.
It happened that a delegation of rabbanim went to Petersburg, the capital of Russia, to plead with Czar Nicholas to
cancel the decree. It was the time of the Yomim Noraim and in those days, there weren’t any shuls in Petersburg,
which was off-limits to Jews living there. However, there were many former soldiers, “Nikolai’s soldiers,” who had
their own minyan. The rabbanim went there to daven on Yom Kippur.
When they were up to Neilah, the rabbanim wanted one of their group to be the chazan but the soldiers said no.
They explained that one of the cantonists had made a public kiddush Hashem and underwent such tests and terrible
suffering that tzaddikim would not have withstood. He was the one who was usually the chazan for Neilah. The
soldier went over and before beginning the Kaddish with the traditional tune, he said, “Master of the universe! Your
people are standing and requesting nachas from children, health, long life and parnassa. But can we, ‘Nikolai’s
soldiers,’ ask for nachas from our children? We don’t have children. We are all unmarried. Shall we ask for long life?
Our lives aren’t lives! Shall we ask for parnassa? We are fed by the army base. For ourselves there is nothing to ask.
All we ask is for You, ‘Yisgadal v’yiskadash shemeih rabba.’”
Indeed, the power of teshuva!
Good Shabbos and a Gmar Chasima Tova!