Whale of a tale on behalf of repentance

Rabbi Yosef Deutsch concludes his excellent series of compilations of Talmudic and Midrashic sources on the holiday themed books from the Bible with his take on the Book of Jonah (“Let My Nation Be Warned,” Feldheim). In a story-like style, he details the action of this work with a dramatic flair that almost rivals the original.

Rabbi Deutsch notes:

“Over the centuries the book of Jonah has become one of the most familiar of the Bible because it is recited in its entirety as the haftarah every Yom kippur during the Minchah service, before the Ne’ilah prayer begins. This is the most auspicious moment of the holy day, when we have our last chance to repent and to repair our relationship with G-d. Therefore we read the story of Jonah, which speaks of the importance of repentance.

“We are reminded that it is impossible to escape from G-d and to thwart His will. Jonah suffered greatly because he attempted to avoid fulfilling his mission. We must fulfill ours if we want to be spared negative consequences. The Chafetz Chaim explains that sinners sometimes fail to repent because they don’t believe they can really change and be forgiven. But in the end the sinner must pay for his misdeeds, and if he doesn’t repent, he will suffer.”

The author goes on to answer the following questions: Who exactly was Jonah, and what made him attempt to refuse a divinely commanded mission? Did Jonah really believe that he could really avoid this command? And, why do we read this book specifically on Yom Kippur? Read this work and you will find out the whys.

Another take on the Jonah saga can be found in an excellent essay penned by Rabbi Eliyahu Safran of the Orthodox Union entitled, “Jonah and ISIS.” Centering on the recent report that ISIS destroyed the tomb of Jonah, Rabbi Safran writes that the act railed “against G-d’s mercy and message.”