Yom Kippur: Yona- Getting a Second Chance
Halacha requires us to read the entire book of Yona during Minha in the afternoon of Yom Kippur. The story told in this book is an extraordinary one, with many important lessons that are directly applicable to the observance of this special day. Yona is read on Yom Kippur so that we can learn and internalize these lessons as part of our efforts to repent and earn a favorable judgment.
Yona was a prophet, a student of Eliyahu Hanavi, and God instructed him to journey to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, and warn the people that the city would be destroyed forty days later unless they repented. But Yona feared that if the townspeople repented upon hearing his warning, this would cast Beneh Yisrael in a very negative light. Beneh Yisrael had committed many sins despite the repeated warnings of the prophets, and thus Nineveh’s immediate response and repentance would be a source of condemnation against the Jews. Yona therefore tried to "escape" from God, and boarded a ship that sailed away from Eretz Yisrael. God brought a violent storm to the sea where the ship sailed, and Yona understood that the storm was God’s response to his attempt to escape. He informed the people on the ship who he was and why God had caused the storm, adding that the only way to stop the tempest was to cast him overboard into the sea. The people on the ship reluctantly threw Yona into the water, and the storm subsided. Yona was devoured by large whale, and he miraculously lived despite the absence of oxygen. He prayed to God from inside the whale, and the whale exhaled, sending Yona ashore. Yona then went to Nineveh to fulfill the mission which God had assigned him.
The story of Yona is the story of a second chance. Yona was given a mission, and he tried to run away from it. God "captured" him, and he then prayed for a second chance. The Almighty accepted his prayers, and once Yona left the sea, he fulfilled his pledge and took advantage of the second chance God had granted him.
When we begin Yom Kippur, we find ourselves "trapped," much like Yona. Realizing that we have not fulfilled the spiritual mission for which we were brought into the earth, we understand that we face God’s strict judgment. With this mind, we – like Yona did – pray and plead to God for a second chance. We ask Him to rescue us from the "water," from His harsh judgment, and give us another chance to fulfill our responsibilities.
This is a critical point to keep in mind as we enter Yom Kippur: we cannot simply pray for another year, for health and success. We pray, like Yona, for the opportunity to do what we should have done this past year, for a chance to correct our mistakes and do it right the next time around.
Later in the story, we read of Nineveh’s positive response to the prophet’s warning. The city’s leadership ordered a citywide period of fasting and repentance, and commanded everyone to return stolen property to its rightful owner. The verse states that Hashem "saw their deeds" (3:10) and annulled the decree against the city. The decree was changed not because of the people’s fasting and prayers, but because of their "deeds," the substantive changes that they made in their conduct and lifestyle.
Our prayers and pleas on Yom Kippur must similarly be geared toward making a real change in our lives. God will give us a second chance if we make a commitment to use the opportunity for the right purpose, to improve our characters and our level of Torah observance. If we, like the people of Nineveh, make this commitment to change, then God will, in turn, change any harsh decrees issued against us into decrees of great blessing, success and prosperity for us and the entire Jewish nation.
