תרי עשר- יונה א

We לייען this as מפתיר by מנחה on יו''כ.

יונה’s mother was from שבט אשר and his father was from זבולן. It says in ברכת יעקב, "זבולן לכוך ימים"- lived by the shore. When יונה ran away, he took a boat.

אליהו הנביא went away and he stayed at the אשה מצרפת. Her son died and אליהו revived him- this son was יונה.

He was from the עשרת השבטים.

אברבנל What is the general intention of this נבואה? What ה' wants to happen will happen- "עצת ה' לעולם תעמוד". We learn this out from the מעשה of יונה- he didn’t want to give נבואה because he knew what אשור was going to do to ב''י in the future. Because of this, his נשמה desired that אשור and ננוה should be destroyed until it’s broken. He ran away because he didn’t want to give the נבואה. ה' caused wind to come until the point that יונה had to be thrown off the boat. The fish that swallowed him watched him until he did תשובה. After he davened to ה', he left the fish and went on with his שליחות. Nothing is too wonderous for ה' to do. Everything is in His hands- like material in the hands of a designer.

משנה ברורה Why do we read this on יו''כ? A person often dispairs and says that he can’t fix himself up, and anyway if ה' wants him to die, then he’ll die. It says in פרקי אבות- "אל תהי רשע בפני עצמך". The רמב''ם says that he’ll end up going to תרבות רעה. This is a terrible mistake- in the end, everything that ה' wants from his נפש he will have to fix up, and he’ll have to come back to עוה''ז again and again. The ראי': We learn from יונה. ה' wanted him to go and give נבואה, he refused and ran away to the water so that he wouldn’t be able to get נבואה anymore. He drowned and was swallowed by a fish- it seemed that what ה' wanted wouldn’t happen through יונה. But in the end, we see that the רצון ה' was fulfilled. "ואל יבטחך יצרך שהשאל בית מנוס לך שע''כ אתה נוצר..."- don’t let your יצה''ר convince you that your grave is going to be an escape, because what ה' wants is going to happen. יונה came out of the fish- it was like he had a rebirth and what ה' wanted from his was fulfilled.

רד''ק א Why is ספר יונה written in כתבי הקדוש if it’s all about גויים and there is no mention of כלל ישראל?
1. It was written as מוסר for ב''י- a goyish nation was so close to תשובה and the first time they received מוסר, they listened. ב''י get נבואה again and again but they still don’t do תשובה.
2. To show the amazing miracles that ה' did with יונה- he was in the fish for three days and lived, the fish spit him out. We see from here the פלאות that ה' does in order to fulfill his עצה. This is a lesson for כלל ישראל.

It says his father’s name to show that he was a נביא בן נביא.

Why were the people of ננוה worthy of נבואת ה'?
1. At the end of פרשת נח is דור הפלגה. נמרד was trying to get everyone to rebel against ה'. A man named אשור didn’t like this. He saw that his sons were being influenced, so he took them away and built the city of ננוה. Because of this, they were זוכה that a נביא ה' should get them to do תשובה.
2. רד''ק ב- ה' is משגיח, even on the goyim when their wickedness with חמס becomes great. Usually, they don’t get such השגחה, but when they get so bad, ה' “pays more attention” to them. ה' pays more attention to us because we have an עתיד. גויים are so bad and the worse that they get, they are left alone by ה' to die out alone because he doesn’t care. But for us, if we act bad, we get punished. ה' isn’t משגיח a lot on the גויים except if there is חמס because חמס destroys the foundations of the world. ה' said in עמוס, "רק אתכם ידעתי מכל משפחות האדמה על כן אפקד עליכם את כל עונותיכם"- ה' loves us the most so He is משגיח on us. The גויים don’t have such a relationship with ה' and only get disciplined when there is חמס.
3. מלבי''ם ב- ה' was משגיח on ננוה because they would be the שבט אף of ה' to rule over ב''י with. ה' was providing a salvation for them so that they wouldn’t die, therefore they had to stop with חמס, so that they won’t die and could be גולה ב''י. Besides for keeping them alive, ה' also wanted to make them be זכאי over ב''י because it would be embarrassing if ב''י were disciplined by despicable people. We see from here that even גלות and יסורים are brought about with ה'’s רחמנות. ה' is always watching to make it good for us- מציץ מן החרכים. This proves that ה'’s entire reason for bringing us into גלות is His רחמנות. We were always taken into גלות by a world power- ה' did this so that we shouldn’t be embarrassed.

מלבי''ם In this פסוק, we see almost the same words as in ג:ב, but over there it says the words "וקרא אליה את הקריאה אשר אנכי דור לפניך", while we see that here it just says, “"וקרא עליה. Why? The first time, ה' didn’t give specific instructions, only the second time. Had יונה not listened the second time, he would be considered a נביא הכובש נבואתו"- a נביא who ignores נבואה, and he would have been חייב מיתה. But the first time, he wasn’t חייב מיתה. We see here that יונה wasn’t a פורק עול, he just couldn’t bring himself to do this. He ran away so that he wouldn’t get a second נבואה because that one he couldn’t ignore.

It says מלפני ה' and not מפני ה'- it says in תהלים, "ואנה מפניך אברח"- where can you run away from ה'? It doesn’t say מפני because you can’t run away from ה', but you can run away מלפני- from right before ה'.

יונה defends כלל ישראל- "תבע כבוד הבן ולא כבוד האב". His devotion to them didn’t let him save אשור. He was מוסר נפש both his physical and spiritual life. He knew that what he was doing wasn’t good, but he couldn’t bring himself to do this to ב''י.

אברבנל Rather then save the people of אשור, he would rather choke himself to death in the ים. His intentions were רצוות, but his actions weren’t.

ג יפו is a port city.

רד''ק באה תרשיש- the טעם is under the א, which means that this word is מלרע. מלרע shows הווה. But he was in יפו, so how could he see a boat coming to תרשיש- He couldn’t see it coming to תרשיש, he could only see it leaving יפו! The boat was ready to leave יפו and come to תרשיש- it’s a process.

מלבי''ם באה תרשיש- he now found a boat that was arriving from תרשיש. יונה came to יפו and as he came, he saw a boat that was arriving from תרשיש. It would have docked, but יונה paid the fare for a full boat. Why?
1. He was in a hurry.
2. He knew that the boat was at risk and he didn’t want to endanger any more people than necessary. When יונה left, it wasn’t a מרידה against ה' and it wasn’t because he was on a רוחניותדיק low- it was just something that he couldn’t do.

It says שכרה and not שכרו- he paid the fare for the full boat. We learn out from here that נבואה only rests on a rich man.

Two ways that יונה made sure not to get נבואה:
1. He left א''י.
2. He went by boat because those that travel by route of sea have a certain lack of מנוחת הנפש.
3. לבוא עמהם- he specifically travelled with עכו''ם because the שכינה doesn’t rest with them.

פרקי דרבי They saw that all the boats were going peacefully and there was a certain השגחה with their boat.

מלבי''ם ה' stirred up the sea, but only around this boat.

רש''י חשבה להשבר- appeared as if it were breaking.

רד''ק חשבה להשבר- it’s an expression. The people on the boat thought that the boat would break.

ה מלחים- ל' of מלח because they go in salty waters.

רש''י איש קל אלוהיו- there was a representation from all seventy nations and each one called out to his god.

מלבי''ם First they made a רוחניותדיק השתדלות- they called out to their gods, then they did the physical השתדלות of throwing everything off of the boat.

אברבנל Included in what they threw over was their ע''ז.

ספינה- מל' ספון= צפון. It means covered or hidden. יונה went to the bottom, covered part of the boat. He went there so that if the boat flooded, he would be the first to drown and everyone else will be saved.

יתעשת= think. Maybe ה' will think of us for good.

מלבי''ם ז Whoever the lot falls on is either guilty or knows who is guilty. They cast many lots- if it falls out on a different person every time then we’re all guilty, but if it always falls out on the same person, he is the guilty party or knows who’s guilty. The פסוק switches to use a ל' of יחיד because it always fell on יונה.

ח They asked him four questions:
1. What is your business?
2. From where do you come?
3. What is your land?
4. Which nation are you from?

אברבנל If someone does something wrong, either what he did was bad or who he did it to was bad. They asked him four question:
1. What is your business- because maybe you have done something bad.
2. From where do you come- maybe you are carrying a חטא from your ancestors.
3. What is your land- maybe you wronged your land.
4. Which nation are you from- maybe you did something wrong to your nation.

ט He told them that it has nothing to do with anyone else- ה' did this and I am being held responsible to Him.

עברי- uses this ל' to show that he was עובר על פי ה'.

י יראה גדולה- they had יראת שמים, which was brought about when they saw what ה' did.

מלבי''ם יא They wanted to help יונה do תשובה, so they asked him if they should bring him to א''י or to ננוה and you’ll do תשובה?

מלבי''ם יב The sailors were afraid that ה' brought the storm because of them also because they had been transporting יונה, who was doing wrong. יונה reassured them that ה' wasn’t angry with them.

יג They still tried to continue going and they plowed through the water with oars because they wanted to get back to dry land, but they couldn’t.

מלבי''ם They wanted to bring יונה back to א''י against his will, even though he told them to dump him into the sea. But they couldn’t because ה' didn’t quiet the storm because יונה still didn’t do תשובה.

יד The sailors tried so hard not to find fault in יונה and to stop the storm. At this point though, there was nothing left for them to do. So they davened to ה' that:
1. Not to be found guilty and die because of יונה.
2. Not to be considered guilty of spilling innocent blood.

מלבי''ם "כי אתה ה' חפצת עשית"- it’s Your doing if יונה dies because we’re only doing this because You brought the storm and we had no choice but to do this. We know that every action that someone does to another, they are the שליח but it’s coming from ה'. However, the שליח is still held accountable. But here, they tried so many things so that they wouldn’t have to come to doing this. So it’s really like they were forced. It’s all in Your hands, ה', because You are forcing us to do this- it’s not our responsibility.

פרקי דרבי Why does the פסוק say "וישאו" and not just "ויטלהו"? First, they were מטיל him part of the way and the ים stopped, so they picked him back up, but the storm began again. This happened again and again- till his knee, neck and shoulders. After this, they couldn’t take him back up again because it was already three times- חזקה. Finally, they threw him completely in and the storm permanently stopped.

רד''ל Why does it say "עומד מזאפו" and not "מסערו" if in the rest of the פסוקים it says סער? It says in תהלים, "יקם סערה לדממה ויחשו גליהם וישמחו כי ישתקו" (קז: כט-ל). After a storm stops, the waves quiet down, the sea is finally quiet and the sailors are happy. Here, the storm stopped instantly, which is not בדרך הטבע.

ט''ז The sailors now had real יראת שמים. They brought קרבנות to ה' and were מנדר נדרים.

רד''ל This פסוק really happened at the end of פרק ב, but it was put here because we’re talking about the sailors.

It was a three step process:
1. פסוק ה- "וייראו"
2. פסוק י- "וייראו... יראה גדולה"
3. פסוק טז- "וייראו... יראה גדולה"

Why is there a double לשון- "ויזבחו זבח"? Because you could explain it in two ways:
1. Brought קרבנות.
2. Were מקבל to make ברית.

Why is there a double לשון- "וינדרו נדרים"? Because you could explain it in three ways:
1. To give money to the poor.
2. To be מתגיר.
3. They promised that they and their families would come to יונה’s ה' . Story- שמעון בן שטח returned a pearl to make a קדוש ה', the גויים said, "ברוך ה' אלקי שמעון בן שטח". If we make people say this about us, they may want to become followers of our ה'.

רד''ל Even though יונה was trying to run away from ה', he really made a קדוש ה' when he admitted to them what he did and asked to be thrown off so that the rest of the boat could be saved and proved to them that ה' sees your חטאים. He caused a קדוש ה' to the point that they became גרי צדק and יונה had the זכות of being the one who caused it. These are the famous, eternally mentioned גרים in "על הצדיקים... ועל גרי הצדק".

שיחות מוסר יונה was sent on שליחות to ננוה to give נבואה that they would be destroyed. He ran away from ה' to חו''ל because the שכינה doesn’t rest there- when he left, he went down in מדרגה so the שכינה couldn’t rest on him. For יונה to give up נבואה is tremendous מסירת נפש because נבואה is the ultimate closeness to ה'. And he did all this just so that he shouldn’t be קטרוג against ב''י! Even after the fish swallowed him he didn’t daven. Only when he was in the female fish that was expecting and the physical suffering was impossible to tolerate did he daven- he was so willing to suffer just so that he shouldn’t be קטרג. The whole chain of events was unbelievable נסים. After all this, why did ה' let him remain a נביא? Because he ran away and was willing to give up his high מדרגה and his life just so that he shouldn’t be קטרוג against ב''י. This elevated him to an even higher מדרגה and he became extremely endeared to ה'. Therefore, ה' insisted that he remain a נביא- he earned this position because of his devotion to ה'. If this is what happens to someone who tries to prevent prosecution and was עובר on what ה' wanted from him, imagine someone who does something right and gives כלל ישראל merits, can you imagine how dear he is to ה'?