Jonah is on a ship in rough seas. The sailors fear for their lives. Jonah has slept through the storm. They wake him and he realizes that the storm is a result of his attempt to flee God's command. Without fear, Jonah advises the sailors to throw him overboard. They sacrifice one person for the sake of many. Did they do the right thing? Did Jonah?
Nineveh was an enormously large cityaan enormously large city Lit. “a large city of God.” a three days’ walk across.
Jonah's prophecy suceeded in saving Nineveh but he is deeply distressed. He retreats to the shade of a sukkah with a large gourd. The gourd has a worm and the fruit shrivels so that Jonah loses his shade. Jonah is despondent and God questions Jonah's values. Does God's challenge to Jonah resonate with you as well?
אִינִי וְהָא תַּנְיָא שִׁבְעָה דְּבָרִים נִבְרְאוּ קוֹדֶם שֶׁנִּבְרָא הָעוֹלָם אֵלּוּ הֵן תּוֹרָה וּתְשׁוּבָה גַּן עֵדֶן וְגֵיהִנָּם כִּסֵּא הַכָּבוֹד וּבֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וּשְׁמוֹ שֶׁל מָשִׁיחַ
But isn’t it taught in a baraita: Seven phenomena were created before the world was created, and they are: Torah, and repentance, the Garden of Eden, and Gehenna, the Throne of Glory, and the Temple, and the name of the Messiah.
Is there an obligation for Jews to care for non-Jews? Is there a hierarchy of concern? Or is all human life of equal value such that all are due the same efforts?
(18) You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people. Love your fellow [Israelite?] as yourself: I am יהוה.
(14) And when, throughout the ages, a stranger who has taken up residence with you, or one who lives among you, would present an offering by fire of pleasing odor to יהוה —as you do, so shall it be done by (15) the rest of the congregation. There shall be one law for you and for the resident stranger; it shall be a law for all time throughout the ages. You and the stranger shall be alike before יהוה;
(16) Do not deal basely with*deal basely with Other members of your people. Do not profit by*profit by Lit. “stand upon”; precise meaning of Heb. idiom ‘amad ‘al uncertain. the blood of your fellow [Israelite]: I am יהוה.
(17) For your God יהוה is God supreme and Lord supreme, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe, (18) but upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing food and clothing.— (19) You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
When Jonah is prophecying to save Nineveh, he is likely aware that the Assyrians are about to destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Jonah must be comparing how God treats the Hebrew people with how God is willing to forgive Nineveh. Does Jonah's concern for Israel keep him from wanting to help others?
(ז) וַיְהִ֗י כִּֽי־חָטְא֤וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לַיהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֔ם הַמַּעֲלֶ֤ה אֹתָם֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם מִתַּ֕חַת יַ֖ד פַּרְעֹ֣ה מֶֽלֶךְ־מִצְרָ֑יִם וַיִּֽירְא֖וּ אֱלֹהִ֥ים אֲחֵרִֽים׃ (ח) וַיֵּֽלְכוּ֙ בְּחֻקּ֣וֹת הַגּוֹיִ֔ם אֲשֶׁר֙ הוֹרִ֣ישׁ יְהֹוָ֔ה מִפְּנֵ֖י בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וּמַלְכֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשֽׂוּ׃
(5) Then the king of Assyria marched against the whole land; he came to Samaria and besieged it for three years. (6) In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, at the [River] Habor, at the River Gozan, and in the towns of Media. (7) This happened because the Israelites sinned against the LORD their God, who had freed them from the land of Egypt, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods (8) and followed the customs of the nations which the LORD had dispossessed before the Israelites and the customs which the kings of Israel had practiced.
The second question: Why did Yonah seek to flee from before God like it says in the midrash, "Did he think he could from from before Hashem when it says (Psalms 139:7) 'where will I go away from Your spirit and how can I flee' and (Zecharia 4:10) 'the Eyes of God range across the whole land." The sages already gave two answers for Yonah's behavior. The first is that the nations were prepared to repent and he didn't want to implicate Israel. But this is weak reasoning because perhaps Ninveh's teshuva would inspire Israel to repent, and God would have mercy on their doings even more so since He had mercy on the nations. The second reason is that Yonah suspected that the Nineveh residents would repent and God would relent from His decree of destruction and they would say he was a false prophet. And this doesn't make sense to me either, since the people of Nineveh clearly believed Yonah and therefore repented based on his words and it is known that if his words inspired their repentance, that they believed his prophecy and if they didn't believe it they would not have repented. Had they not believed him, they would not have repented and then his prophecy of destruction would have come true, so there is no situation where they would consider him a false prophet. And also why does it matter to Yonah if the people of Nineveh would consider him a false prophet since he didn't live among them and after giving his prophecy could have returned to his land. Why would fear of their opinion of him cause him to flee from before God especially since he knows that a prophet that withholds his prophecy is liable to death?
והנה יונה הבין אמתת הענין הזה ולכן גמר בלבו שלא ללכת בנינוה כדי שלא ינצלו אנשי אשור מהכלייה על ידו כי איך תהיה הליכתו סבה להציל את בני אשור ולהכרית את בני ישראל ואיככה יוכל ויראה ברעה אשר ימצא את עמו על ידי האשורים, ומפני זה ברח מלפני ה' כלומר שרצה להתרחק מארץ ישראל המוכנת לנבואה בחשבו שאין הנבואה שורה בחוצה לארץ.
And Jonah understood the truth of this matter and therefore decided in his heart not to go to Nineveh so that the people of Assyria would not be saved from annihilation through him, since his going there would save the Assyrians who would later eliminate Israel. How could he do it, to see the evil that would fall upon his people by the hand of the Assyrians? Therefore he fled from God, meaning he wanted to distance himself from the Land of Israel (which is primed for prophecy) since he thought prophecy would not function outside the land. [15th c Portugal]
“Daily we should take account and ask: What have I done today to alleviate the anguish, to mitigate the evil, to prevent humiliation? Let there be a grain of prophet in every man!” (Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, “Religion and Race,” 14 January 1963)
“In a free society, only some may be guilty but all are responsible.” - Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Elie Wiesel, speaking at the Darfur Emergency Summit in July 2004:
“Lo ta’amod al dam re’echa is a Biblical commandment. Thou shall not stand idly by the shedding of the blood of thy fellow man. The word is not achi’cha, thy Jewish brother, but re’echa, thy fellow human being, be he or she Jewish or not. All are entitled to live with dignity and hope. All are entitled to live without fear and pain.”