stillsmallvoice
August 10th 2003, 11:03 AM
Hi all!
The rabbi at our old synagogue in our old neighborhood in Jerusalem once gave a brilliant (I think) talk about Jonah. (We read the Book of Jonah during afternoon prayers on Yom Kippur, Sept. 16 this year, the holiest day on our calendar. See http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday4.htm). He talked about Jonah as a model of how we deal with God & our obligations to Him.
God has something He wants Jonah to do (go to Nineveh, but that's beside the point). The first time God wanted to get Jonah's attention (1:2), He asked him nicely. But Jonah wasn't keen; he tried to run away from God, and boarded the boat for Tarshish. God tried to get Jonah's attention a second time, this time not so nicely (i.e. He hurled a storm at the boat). Jonah still wasn't keen; he went down in the hold of the ship & went to sleep. God tried a third time to get Jonah's attention, this time very un-nicely; i.e. He cast him into the belly of the whale. Now Jonah had no choice but to pour out his heart to God & turn to Him with all his soul (because otherwise he was doomed). Our rabbi said that how often in our lives do we try to evade what we know to be what God wants us to do by trying to run away from Him (so to speak) or by going to spiritual sleep & pretending not to hear Him? When God wants to get our attention, the first time, He'll ask nicely. If we don't listen, the next time may be not so nicely. And if we still don't listen, then He may very well put us into a position where we have no choice but to turn to Him and pour out our hearts to Him.
Our rabbi made one more interesting comment. He noted where Jonah fled to. He fled to the west (Tarshish is in Spain, far to the west of the Holy Land), not to the desert to the east, or to Egypt & Syria in the south & north, respectively, but to Tarshish, in the west. When we want to run away from God and the way He wants us to lead our lives, our rabbi said, we still run to the west, to the empty materialism & permissive hedonism of modern Western culture. Like Jonah, we're still fleeing to the west.
Be well!
ssv :hi:
The rabbi at our old synagogue in our old neighborhood in Jerusalem once gave a brilliant (I think) talk about Jonah. (We read the Book of Jonah during afternoon prayers on Yom Kippur, Sept. 16 this year, the holiest day on our calendar. See http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday4.htm). He talked about Jonah as a model of how we deal with God & our obligations to Him.
God has something He wants Jonah to do (go to Nineveh, but that's beside the point). The first time God wanted to get Jonah's attention (1:2), He asked him nicely. But Jonah wasn't keen; he tried to run away from God, and boarded the boat for Tarshish. God tried to get Jonah's attention a second time, this time not so nicely (i.e. He hurled a storm at the boat). Jonah still wasn't keen; he went down in the hold of the ship & went to sleep. God tried a third time to get Jonah's attention, this time very un-nicely; i.e. He cast him into the belly of the whale. Now Jonah had no choice but to pour out his heart to God & turn to Him with all his soul (because otherwise he was doomed). Our rabbi said that how often in our lives do we try to evade what we know to be what God wants us to do by trying to run away from Him (so to speak) or by going to spiritual sleep & pretending not to hear Him? When God wants to get our attention, the first time, He'll ask nicely. If we don't listen, the next time may be not so nicely. And if we still don't listen, then He may very well put us into a position where we have no choice but to turn to Him and pour out our hearts to Him.
Our rabbi made one more interesting comment. He noted where Jonah fled to. He fled to the west (Tarshish is in Spain, far to the west of the Holy Land), not to the desert to the east, or to Egypt & Syria in the south & north, respectively, but to Tarshish, in the west. When we want to run away from God and the way He wants us to lead our lives, our rabbi said, we still run to the west, to the empty materialism & permissive hedonism of modern Western culture. Like Jonah, we're still fleeing to the west.
Be well!
ssv :hi: