Why was Sefer Yonah Included in Tanach? (Part 2 of 2)

Artwork: Colossal Whale, by Adam Paquette

Why was Sefer Yonah Included in Tanach (Part 2 of 2)

Review

In yesterday's post we took up the Radak's question: Why was Yonah's prophecy recorded and included in Kisvei ha'Kodesh if wasn't for the Jews or about the Jews? 

The first of Radak's three answers is that Yonah's prophecy was recorded in order to inspire us to do teshuvah like the citizens of Ninveh. The Abravanel objected to this answer on two grounds: (1) If we aren't motivated to do teshuvah by the neviim who have been sent to our own nation, how are we going to be inspired by the account of a navi who was sent to another nation? (2) Ninveh's teshuvah was incomplete, in that they still clung to their avodah zarah; what kind of teshuvah role model is that supposed to be for Bnei Yisrael? 

We attempted to defend the Radak's explanation by pointing out how incredible it was that the Nazi-like people of Ninveh did complete teshuvah from their violent ways. While the Abravanel is correct in pointing that we typically aren't motivated by our own neviim, the teshuvah of Ninveh seems to be in a category of its own - one which would certainly seem to be inspirational in a different way than our own neviim. The Abravanel suggested his own answer: Sefer Yonah was included in Kisvei ha'Kodesh to teach us about Yonah - not about Ninveh. 

Although we weren't able to define the machlokes, we suggested that the Radak and Abravanel probably weren't arguing over the inspiration-value of Ninveh's teshuvah, but on whether such an account would be sufficient to include Yonah's nevuah in Kisvei ha'Kodesh. We left this as a tzarich iyun. Check out the comments for at least one good approach.

Answer #2: The Miracle of the Fish

The Radak offers a second explanation for why Sefer Yonah was included in Kisvei ha'Kodesh:

Furthermore, [Sefer Yonah was written] in order to make known the great miracle that God (blessed is He) did with the navi, namely, [that He enabled] him to be in the bowels of the fish for three days and three nights and live; furthermore, that He caused the fish to vomit him up.

The miracle of the fish is certainly the most well-known feature of the story. Say the name "Jonah" and most people will automatically associate to the phrase "and the whale." As far as miracles go, this was certainly an impressive one. A human being was sustained for three days and three nights in the belly of a fish, and survived even after being vomited out. 

Still, some might find this answer to be difficult to swallow. Although the Ralbag (Shemos 1:7) maintains that the derech ha'Torah is to publicize all miracles, since miracles serve as a proof of God's Existence and His role in guiding mankind, is this really enough to warrant including the entirety of Sefer Yonah in Kisvei ha'Kodesh? After all, the miracle of the fish only takes up one out of the four chapters in the sefer. 

My guess is that when the Radak introduced this answer with the word, "Furthermore ..." he did not mean to imply that the miracle of the fish would, in and of itself, be sufficient to include Sefer Yonah in Kisvei ha'Kodesh; rather, the miracle of the fish is another reason why Yonah's prophecy rises to the level of being a "Scripture-worthy" prophecy. In other words, the miracle that happened to Yonah might have been an important factor in the Anshei Kneset ha'Gedolah's decision to include Sefer Yonah. 

Answer #3: God Accepts Baalei Teshuvah

The third and final explanation offered by the Radak is my personal favorite: 

Furthermore, [Sefer Yonah was written] to teach that God (blessed is He) is compassionate to those who do teshuvah, no matter what nation they are from, and that He forgives them - especially if they are many.

There are several lessons to be gained from this explanation. First is the point which is explicitly highlighted by the Radak, namely, that God accepts all baalei teshuvah - no matter who they are, and no matter where they are from - and that He is abundant in mercy, compassion, and forgiveness. This theme is treated at length by the Rambam in Hilchos Teshuvah 7:6-7:

Teshuvah is great for it draws a man close to the shechinah, as it is stated: "Return, O Yisrael, to Hashem, your God" (Hoshea 14:2), and it is stated: "'Return to Me,' says Hashem" (Amos 4:6), and it is stated: "'If, you will return, O Yisrael,' says Hashem, 'You will return to Me'" (Yirmiyahu 4:1). In other words, if you will return in teshuvah, you will cling to Me. 

Teshuvah brings near those who were far removed [from Hashem]. Previously, this person was hated by God, disgusting, far removed, and abominable. Now, he is beloved and desirable, close, and dear … 

How exalted is the level of teshuvah! Previously, the [transgressor] was separate from God, the Lord of Israel, as it is stated: "Your sins separate between you and your God" (Yeshayahu 59:2). He would call out [to God] without being answered as it is stated: "Even if you pray many times, I will not hear" (Yeshayahu 1:15). He would fulfill mitzvot, only to have them crushed before him as states: "Who asked this from you, to trample in My courts?" (ibid. 1:12), and it is stated: "If only there were someone among you who would shut the [Temple] doors, so that you could not kindle upon My altar in vain!” (Malachi 1:10), and it is stated: "Add your burnt-offerings to your peace-offerings and eat [their] meat!" (Yirmiyahu 7:21).

But now he is clinging to the shechinah, as it is stated: "And you who cling to Hashem, your God" (Devarim 4:4). He calls out [to God] and is answered immediately as states: "Before you will call out, I will answer" (Yeshayahu 65:24). He fulfills mitzvot and they are accepted with pleasure and joy as it is stated, "God has already accepted your deeds" (Koheles 9:7), and it is stated: "Then, shall the offering of Yehudah and Yerushalayim be pleasing to God as in days of old and as in the former years" (Malachi 3:4).

This is a significant point on multiple levels. Philosophically, it is important to know that a person can completely and instantaneously change his metaphysical standing before God (whatever that means) from one extreme to the other. Psychologically, it is important for the transgressor to know that complete redemption is possible - otherwise, he might give up hope and feel "doomed" by his sins. It is also important to know how the status of a baal teshuvah is regarded from the vantage-point of Torah and mitzvos (e.g. a baal teshuvah's tefilos are answered, his mitzvos are accepted, etc.). From Ninveh in particular we see that teshuvah is so powerful that it can overturn a decree of destruction, even though the nation had descended to the utmost levels of depravity. 

Rav Hirsch, in his commentary on the haftorah, picks up on the Radak's point, but draws a different lesson from it:

We have pointed out at length elsewhere how characteristic it is of the truly broadminded universality of Judaism that it is idol-worshiping heathens whose amendment is held up to us on this day [of Yom ha'Kippurim] as a model for our own betterment.

I challenge anyone to find one other example of a religion that uses the spotlight of its holiest day to showcase "heathens" (who remained heathens) on account of their good behavior. 

But my favorite lesson to be gleaned from the Radak's third explanation may be summarized as follows: Sefer Yonah illustrates that teshuvah is not essentially a religious phenomenon, but a human phenomenon. I will attempt to illustrate this point by drawing upon my own teaching experience.

One of the biggest obstacles I face when teaching high school students about teshuvah is that they are still locked into an extremely narrow view of what teshuvah is. To many religious teenagers, "teshuvah" entails feeling guilty for speaking lashon ha'ra, klopping an al cheit for that time they ate a candy bar without a hechsher, and texting all of their friends a frantic, "Are you mochel me?" before the Aseres Ymei Teshuvah deadline is up. I have even encountered a number of freshmen who seem to think that teshuvah involves little more than regretting what you did and saying that you're sorry, whether to God or to another person.

According to my understanding, teshuvah is far broader than that. I would say that real teshuvah is a process which involves every single aspect of human development. The Rambam introduces Hilchos Teshuvah by saying "the explanation of this mitzvah, and the fundamental principles which are dragged along with it, because of it, will be explained in the following chapters" - and he is quite serious. His Hilchos Teshuvah begins with "halachic teshuvah," but goes on to describe the darchei teshuvah, how God judges the world, the criteria for entry into olam ha'ba, free will, reward and punishment, berachos and klalos, lishmah and she'lo lishmah, and many more topics. The majority of these topics are pertinent not only to Jews who observe the system of 613 commandments, but to non-Jews as well.  

What better way to illustrate this point than by focusing on a real-world instance of teshuvah which was completely "non-religious" in character, and which didn't involve any Jews? The teshuvah of Ninveh was from the transgressions of chamas (i.e. violence, theft, robbery, battery, etc.), which is bein adam l'chaveiro on the most basic societal level. By pondering their teshuvah from this sin, we will come to recognize that our teshuvah has the same fundamental objective, namely, to help us to live as human beings, which is the purpose of the entire Torah.

Conclusion

In order to fully investigate this question, we would really have to delve into the whole sugya of what makes something worthwhile to include in Kisvei ha'Kodesh. We would have to understand why the neviim that made it in, made it in, and why those who didn't, didn't. 

The purpose of these two blog posts was not to educate ourselves about the halachic criteria for "Scriptural canonization," but to gain insight into the major themes of Sefer Yonah in an attempt to understand what we should expect to gain from learning it. In that regard, I feel that our analysis was a success. 

Why was Sefer Yonah Included in Tanach? (Part 1 of 2)

I will be teaching Sefer Yonah for the first time this year. Since this is also the first time I've learned Sefer Yonah, I thought it might be a good idea to write out some of my findings, in an effort to organize my thoughts and better prepare myself for the course I'll be teaching. I hesitate to preemptively refer to this as a "series," but we'll be optimistic and see where this goes.

Assyrian Archers

Why was Sefer Yonah Included in Tanach? (Part 1 of 2)

The Question

The Radak begins his commentary on Sefer Yonah with a basic question:

One might ask: Why was this prophecy [of Yonah] written in the Kisvei ha'Kodesh, seeing as how (a) it is entirely about Ninveh, which belonged to the gentile nations, and (b) it contains no mention whatsoever of Israel? There is nothing like this in all of the Neviim.

Before we tackle this question, it would be prudent to review Chazal's general criterion for which prophecies were included in Kisvei ha'Kodesh and which were not: 

Many prophets arose for Yisrael - twice as many as the [number of Jews who] left Egypt - but only those prophecies which were necessary for [future] generations were written down, while those which were not needed for future generations were not written (Megilah 14a).

Rashi (ad loc.) explains the phrase "a prophecy which was necessary for [future] generations" to mean "[a prophecy which was necessary in order] to teach teshuvah or horaah (instruction)." 

One might think that this statement of Chazal paves the way for an answer to the Radak's question, namely, by allowing us to infer that Sefer Yonah was written and included in Kisvei haKodesh in order to teach some lesson in teshuvah or horaah to future generations. Upon further scrutiny, however, we see that this statement of Chazal is the basis of the Radak's question. Chazal introduced their principle with the words: "Many prophets arose for Yisrael." The Radak is bothered by the fact that Yonah didn't "arise for Yisrael" at all! He prophesied to Ninveh, and didn't even mention Yisrael! 

Radak offers three answers to his own question. The Abravanel objects to the Radak's first answer, and provides an answer of his own. We will examine the Radak's first answer and the Abravanel's answer in Part 1 of this blog post, and we will take up the Radak's second and third answers in Part 2.

Answer #1: Catalyst for Teshuvah

Radak's first answer is probably the most well-known: 

It is possible to explain that [Sefer Yonah] was written in order to serve as a mussar (disciplinary teaching) to Yisrael, for behold - a foreign nation which has no relation to Yisrael was close to doing teshuvah, and they actually did teshuvah shleimah from their evil the first time they were rebuked by a navi. [On the other hand,] Yisrael was rebuked day and night by neviim, and didn't do teshuvah from their wickedness. 

In other words, Sefer Yonah is meant to serve as a standing rebuke to Bnei Yisrael by drawing our attention to Ninveh as a paradigmatic response to a navi's call to teshuvah and inspiring us to follow in Ninveh's footsteps. 

This explanation is reflected in the selection of Sefer Yonah as the haftorah for minchah of Yom ha'Kippurim. Why else would we read this sefer on the final day of teshuvah, if not to inspire us to do teshuvah like the people in the story? Similarly, back when public fasts were decreed on account of catastrophes (e.g. droughts, plagues, wars), Sefer Yonah played an integral part of the halachically mandated communal teshuvah procedure, as outlined by the Rambam in Hilchos Taaniyos 4:2:

Afterwards, one of the wise elders [of the community] stands before them while they are sitting. If there is no wise elder, a man of wisdom should be chosen. If there is no man of wisdom, a man of stature should be chosen. He should speak words of rebuke to them, telling them: "Brethren, it is not sackcloth and fasting that will have an effect, but rather teshuvah and good deeds. This is evident from [the story of] Ninveh. It is not stated with regard to the people of Nineveh, 'And God saw their sackcloth and their fasting,' but rather, 'And God saw their deeds' (Yonah 3:10). Similarly, in the words of the prophetic tradition, it is written, 'Rend your hearts and not your garments' (Yoel 2:13)" He should continue in this vein according to his ability until they are humbled and turn [to God] in complete repentance.

Abravanel doesn't buy the Radak's explanation:

If we were to explain that [Sefer Yonah] was written as a mussar to Yisrael, to motivate them to do teshuvah like the citizens of Ninveh, this would be an extremely weak explanation. If Bnei Yisrael won't take mussar from the mitzvos of the Torah and the words of the Neviim, how will they take mussar from the actions of the citizens of Ninveh? 

Furthermore, nowhere is it mentioned that the bamos (altars), pesilim (graven images), and false gods were removed from Ninveh, because they still held fast to all of these things, in spite of their teshuvah. What, exactly, is the mussar that Bnei Yisrael are supposed to take from that [partial kind of teshuvah]?

The Abravanel is bothered by two points: (1) if the neviim sent to our own nation failed to motivate us to do teshuvah, then the neviim sent to another nation will certainly won't motivate us; (2) how can we look to Ninveh as our role model for teshuvah if their teshuvah wasn't complete? They neglected to do teshuvah for the most severe sin of avodah zarah! What kind of message does that send to Bnei Yisrael? That's like trying to inspire a teenager to become a straight-A student by pointing to another student who raised her grade in Art Class from a D to an A, but who flunked out of Math, History, and English! (Reminder: I'm preparing to teach Yonah to high school students; please excuse any mashalim which you find to be #unrelatable.)

Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing how the Radak would respond to the Abravanel's objections. The best I can do is offer my own defense of the Radak's answer, and suggest a framework for understanding their machlokes.

In order to defend the Radak's explanation, we must recognize who the people of Ninveh were, and appreciate the impression that their teshuvah would make on us, as members of the Jewish people. Ninveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire - one of the most savage, ruthless, horrific nations in the Ancient World (as detailed by this gruesome article on Assyrian torture practices). Moreover, the Assyrians were the ones who would eventually go on to conquer the Northern Kingdom of Israel and bring about the exile of the Ten Tribes. According to my chavrusa (who happens to be quite the historian), the closest contemporary analogue to the Assyrian Empire is none other than Nazi Germany: a notoriously brutal and powerful regime which targeted the nation of Israel for destruction. 

Now, imagine what would happen if, in the middle of World War II, a Jewish leader traveled to Berlin and called for the Nazi's to repent from their evil ways ... and think about what it would be like if they did. Imagine seeing the entire population of Nazi Germany - led by none other than Hitler himself - don sackcloth, fast for three days and three nights, and cry out to Hashem for forgiveness. Imagine the Nazis voluntarily closing up the camps, freeing the Jews, returning their homes and possessions, showing genuine remorse for their actions, and expressing their regret to such an extent that the Jews of Europe actually forgave them. Wow, right? Seems impossible. But that's exactly the type of teshuvah that the barbaric Assyrians of Ninveh did:

The people of Ninveh believed in God, so they proclaimed a fast and donned sackcloth, from their great to their small. The matter reached the king of Ninveh; he rose from his throne, removed his robe from upon himself, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes, and had it promulgated and declared in Ninveh by the counsel of the king and his nobles, saying: "The man and the animal, the herd and the flock shall not taste anything; they shall neither graze, nor drink water. Both man and animal shall cover themselves with sackcloth; and they shall call out mightily to God. Every man shall turn back from his evil way, and from the robbery that is in their hands. He who knows shall repent and God will relent; He will turn away from His burning wrath so that we not perish." And God saw their deeds, that they had repented from their evil way; and God relented concerning the evil He said He would bring upon them, and did not do it.

The Abarbanel is correct in saying that we Jews have a bad track record when it comes to listening to calls for teshuvah from our own prophets. However, if we saw our enemies do real teshuvah, that would have a different sort of impact on us - one which might actually inspire us to do teshuvah ourselves. That, I believe, is the type of inspirational message that Sefer Yonah is intended to convey. In my opinion, that is far from "an extremely weak explanation."

And how would the Abravanel respond to this? I really don't know. I would like to think that he would agree, in principle, with my defense of the Radak, but that he would nevertheless maintain that this isn't sufficient to warrant including in Kisvei ha'Kodesh a prophecy which was directed at a gentile nation, and which doesn't even mention Yisrael. 

In other words, if Radak and Abravanel sat down to discuss why Sefer Yonah was included in Kisvei ha'Kodesh, I would not expect them to argue about whether or not Bnei Yisrael would be inspired by the teshuvah of Ninveh; rather, I would expect them to argue about whether that inspiration would be a sufficient basis for including Sefer Yonah in Kisvei ha'Kodesh. 

Unfortunately, my chavrusas and I were unable to define the root of the machlokes any further. If you have any insight, I would love to hear it.

Answer #2: Yonah's Piety (etc.)

In the meantime, the Abravanel offers his own explanation for why Sefer Yonah was included in Kisvei ha'Kodesh: 

Rather, according to what I have explained, Sefer Yonah was written [and included] among the Kisvei ha'Kodesh not on account of Ninveh, but on account of Yonah, and the strength of his piety, and the miracle that was done on his behalf, and in order that we should know that the word of God will forever be established.

Whereas the Radak's answer places Ninveh in the spotlight, the Abravanel maintains that Ninveh is merely the backdrop for the lessons to be learned from the prophet Yonah and his odyssey, with all of its ups and downs. 

I think that these two views of Sefer Yonah lead to two different experiences when learning the sefer. Based on the Radak's answer, our focus in learning Sefer Yonah should be the lessons about teshuvah that we learn from Ninveh. According to the Abravanel, our main focus should be on Yonah's struggle and Hashem's dialogue with him. 

Thankfully, I find myself drawn to different aspects of both approaches, and plan on learning Sefer Yonah using the commentary of the Radak and the Abravanel - among others. And that's just fine with me.