2020/5781

Hashem answered Yonah while Yonah was still in the fish! That is certainly the impression of Yonah’s proclamation: “Karati MiTzarah Li El Hashem VaYaaneini,” “I called out in my anguish to Hashem and He answered me” (Yonah 2:3). The problem is that Yonah uttered these words while still in the fish when he was yet to be answered!  

Approach Number One - Commentaries Cited by Ibn Ezra 

Ibn Ezra cites unnamed commentators who seek to solve this problem by arguing that Yonah uttered this Tefillah after he was released from the fish. They present proof to this approach from Pasuk 2 which states that Yonah called out to Hashem “MiMeei HaDagah,” “from the belly of the fish”. They infer from the fact that the Pasuk does not say that he called “BeMeei HaDagah,” “within the belly of the fish”, that Yonah recited this prayer after he was rescued.   

Ibn Ezra rejects this view, noting that it runs counter to the flow of the Perek. Yonah’s release is recorded after the Tefilah, which implies that the prayer was said before the release. Moreover, Pasuk 3 states “MiBeten She’ol Shivati,” “from the belly of the grave I reached out to Hashem”, which implies that he called to Hashem from the belly of the fish. Rashi (s.v. MiBeten She’ol) explains that Yonah compares the fish to a grave, since Yonah felt that it was a grave to him.  

Approach Number Two - Ibn Ezra

Ibn Ezra, in turn, explains that Yonah is speaking in “prophetic past”. Since Yonah knows through prophecy that he will be released from the fish, he can speak of his release as if it already occurred. The Ibn Ezra cites many other examples in Tanach where a prophesied future event is written in the past tense to signify that since it is prophesied it is as if the event already occurred. One example he provides is “Darach Kochav MiYaakov,” “a star has issued from Yaakov” (BeMidbar 24:17) which refers to the Mashiach’s (Messiah) arrival, an event, that to this day, we continue to wait for anxiously.  

It is quite ironic, according to this approach, that Yonah is a beneficiary of a prophecy while outside of Israel, since he fled from Israel, according to many commentators, to free himself from the obligations of a prophet.  

Approach Number Three - Abarbanel

Abarbanel explains our Pasuk through a Midrash that identifies Yonah as the child that Eliyahu HaNavi revived in Sefer Melachim (see Melachim I 17:17-24). According to Abarbanel, Yonah is saying that just as Hashem answered his Tefillah when he was a child, he is confident Hashem will answer him now, in his current predicament.  

Abarbanel explains the parallel second half of the Pasuk, “MiBeten She’ol Shivati Shamati Koli,” “from the belly of the depths I cried, my voice has been heard”, as not referring to Hashem having already saved Yonah from the belly of the fish (as Rashi understands), but to Yonah being literally saved from the grave, as he had been revived from the dead by Eliyahu HaNavi.  

One could question this approach, however, since Yonah was revived as a child due to the merit of Eliyahu HaNavi and Yonah's mother for providing Eliyahu shelter. Just because Yonah was revived due to their merit does not necessarily indicate that he would be saved from the large fish, where the merit of Eliyahu HaNavi and Yonah’s mother would, seemingly, no longer stand in his stead to convince Hashem to release him.  

Approach Number Four - Radak 

Radak explains that Yonah knew he would be saved from the fish even without receiving a prophecy confirming this outcome. By the very fact that he was saved from the raging sea, he knew that he would be saved from the fish. This approach seems to be the most grounded in the text. Yonah states in this prayer that he was saved from the grave (2:3), referring, very simply, to the watery grave that was awaiting him when he asked to be thrown overboard. 

Similarly, we Jews can bolster our faith in the future redemption based on our miraculous survival until now. Just as Hashem has miraculously sustained us in the Galut, so, too, can we be fully confident that Hashem will bring about our future redemption in a miraculous manner.  

Approach Number Five - A New Suggestion 

We suggest that Yonah created his own positive momentum by visualizing his release even before it took place. One could argue that for this reason, we celebrated the first Korban Pesach in Mitzrayim, even though we were not redeemed yet. Before we could be freed we had to visualize and act as if we were already free. Celebrating Yetzi’at Mitzrayim (Leaving of Egypt) before we left generated the positive momentum that enabled us and brought merit upon us to actually leave. Yonah, in turn, merited leaving the fish since he visualized himself freed by Hashem from the fish even before it happened.  

This is reminiscent of the story of Rabi Akiva (Makkot 24) whose vision of Jerusalem once again being filled with both secure elderly Jews and Jewish children has been realized in our times to a great extent simply due to his vision. The Gemara relates: 

It happened that Rabban Gamliel, Rabi Elazar ben Azaria, Rabi Yehoshua, and Rabi Akiva went up to Jerusalem. When they reached Mt. Scopus, they tore their garments. When they reached the Temple Mount, they saw a fox emerging from the place of the Holy of Holies. The others started weeping; Rabi Akiva laughed. Said they to him: "Why are you laughing?" Said he to them: "Why are you weeping?" Said they to him: "A place [so holy] that it is said of it, 'the stranger that approaches it shall die,' and now foxes traverse it, and we shouldn't weep?" Said he to them: "That is why I laugh. For it is written, 'I shall have bear witness for Me faithful witnesses—Uriah the Priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. Now, what is the connection between Uriah and Zechariah? Uriah was [in the time of] the First Temple, and Zechariah was [in the time of] the Second Temple! But the Torah makes Zachariah's prophecy dependent upon Uriah's prophecy. With Uriah, it is written: 'Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field; [Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the Temple Mount like the high places of a forest.] With Zachariah it is written, 'Old men and women shall yet sit in the streets of Jerusalem.' "As long as Uriah's prophecy had not been fulfilled, I feared that Zechariah's prophecy may not be fulfilled either. But now that Uriah's prophecy has been fulfilled, it is certain that Zechariah's prophecy will be fulfilled." With these words they replied to him: "Akiva, you have consoled us! Akiva, you have consoled us!" (Translation from Chabad.org).

Rabi Akiva might have learned the power of a positive vision to create a better reality from Yonah’s positive visualization in the depths of the fish. The same confident approach is reflected in the king of Nineveh proclaiming “Mi Yodeia Yashuv, VeNicham Ha’Elokim,” “if one does Teshuvah, Hashem will relent” (Yonah 3:9 as interpreted by Targum Yonatan ben Uzziel).  

Conclusion

As we hear on Yom Kippur at Mincha how Yonah’s visualizing a better future brought about his salvation, we learn that visualizing ourselves as better Jews and people can help bring about a much better spiritual future for ourselves. Complete repentance requires us to confront our past, but for the process to be successful it must also be fueled by optimism and a positive vision of hope in a new and improved relationship with the Ribbono Shel Olam in the future.Yonah’s example of a positive vision despite being enveloped in the darkness of the fish summons us to do the same.