תרי עשר- יונה ב

א designatedוימן-

רד''ק This fish was designated from ששת ימי בראשית to swallow יונה.

רש''י דג גדול- it was a male. יונה was standing very speciously in it and he didn’t daven. ה' hinted to the fish and it spit him into the mouth of an expecting fish. The מלבי''ם says that some fish have tens of thousands of eggs in them when expecting. He was oppressed there and he davened- we see in פסוק ב' that יונה is davening from a דגה.

"ואני אמרתי בשלוי בל אמוט לעולם"- when things were tranquil in my life, I felt that I will never move from this position. This is the same idea as what רש''י says- עמד בריוח ולא נתן לב להתפלל. We must be careful that when things are peaceful and ריוחדיק that we don’t forget about ה'.

"בצר לך ומצאןך... ושבת עד ה'"- the nature of a person is that when things are pressured and he has all kinds of צרות, he turns to ה'.

מלבי''ם וימן ה' דג גדול- why did ה' specifically choose this נס? ה' designated a very big fish to swallow יונה and it didn’t break his bones. It’s known that it is impossible to live in a fish for even one hour because a person needs fresh air from the outside. But since death was already decreed on יונה, it was considered like he was now born again and he was given the nature of an unborn fetus, that it can last for nine months without fresh air. This specific נס symbolized יונה’s rebirth.

רד''ק ממעי הדגה- the לשון of מ means מתוך. מתוך צרה he davened from deep within the fish. Other times where we see this:
1. ממעמקים
2. מן המצר

ויתפלל יונה- it was a tremendous נס that he was in the fish for three days and nights and he didn’t die. Another נס was that he wasn’t overcome with fright, but he remained with his דעת intact and he was able to daven. The רד''ק says that these two נסים were equally great, but the אברבנל says that the second נס was greater than the first.

מלבי'ם ויאמר קראתי- organizes the פסוקים in a beautiful way in order of the events that transpired.

הישועה הצרה
הדג בלע אותו
השליכוהו אל הים
הדגה בלעה אותו הדג פלט אותו לים
הדג(ה) פלט(ה) אותו ליבשה ממעי הדגה







אבן עזרא It is written in עבר, but some of it didn’t happen yet- any תפילה or ברכה of a נביא are considered like נבואה. Even though it’s not real נבואה, it’s as if it was נגזר להיות and is similar to נבואה, so it was written in עבר.

יונה was thrown into the water. He despaired that he was going to die. He was saved by a fish and he saw that ה' did a נס for him. He was then spit out of the fish, and he despaired again. He was in a צרה and he davened to ה'. He accepted upon himself to do what ה' said, and he was spit out. He then went to ננוה.

ד מצולה- עומק המים

מ''צ בלבב- means בחוזק because the heart is the strength of any human being.

מלבי''ם ונהר יסבבנו- why is it called a river? ים is water that stands still. נהר is מים המושכים. It was like a נהר- it was moving water. It went round and round like a whirlpool.

ותשליכני- You, ה', cast me over.

Waves are called:
1. משבריך- they break.
2. גליך- like a גלגל, they go round and round.

עלו עברו- at this point, he was sinking- he was under the waves.

נגרשתי- thought that he was being cast away physically and spiritually.

אך- but when the fish swallowed him, he realized that he would still be able to look at the היכל קדשיך.

ו His second צרה.

אפפוני- ל' אף. Went around him and threatened to choke him by coming into his nose.

תהום יסבבנו- physically, he was so deep down.

סוף חבוש לראשי- he had seaweed tied around his neck. We see from here that he was all the way at the bottom because seaweed is found at the bottom of the sea.

מלבי''ם ז לקצבי הרים- there are mountains so deep down below the water, and the water goes under them.

ברחי' בעדי לעולם- he thought that he was going to be locked out of the world forever.

"ותעלי" begins the second ישועה- the דגה swallowed him and he was raised up.

שחת- this can mean two things:
1. Grave, from dying.
2. גיהנום.

ח This is the third צרה.

בהתעטף- comes from ל' עטיפה- to wrap.

רד''ק אל היכל קדשיך- שמים.

מלבי''ם אל היכל קדשיך- בהמ''ק.

את ה' זכרתי-
1. I remembered to daven.
2. Do תשובה.
3. Promised that I will keep what ה' wants- going to ננוה.

ותבא אליך תפילתי אל היכל קדשיך- חז''ל say that יונה was in the water underneath הר ציון, which the בהמ''ק stands upon. "לקצבי הרים ירדתי''- referring to the בהמ''ק.

מלבי''ם ט משמרים- now that he accepted to go to ננוה and rebuke them like ה' wanted, he was comforting himself.
1. משמרים הבלי שוא...- talking about אנשי ננוה. They believe in ע''ז. Is it possible that they are going to leave חסדים- their ע''ז? ע''ז is called חסד because you do חסד with them- bring them all kinds of goodies. For sure they aren’t going to return from their ע''ז.
2. Even though they are going to do תשובה at this time, but at the end "חסדם יעזבו"- they are going to leave their good ways.

רש''י חסדם יעזבו- talking about the sailors. They left their bad ways and were נתגייר.

מלבי''ם י אזבחה לך בקול תודה- they must bring a קרבן תודה because this is one of the four reasons that you would have to:
1. ירדי ים
2. הולכי מדברות
3. Someone freed from jail.
4. Someone who was sick and was cured
I am going to do what I promised- go to ננוה. I was scared about what they were going to do to ב''י, that’s why I held myself back from going. I am still worried and I hope that ה' will save כ''י from their צרות.

מ''ד יא ויאמר- ה' made the fish’s heart want.

פרקי דרבי From when he did תשובה until he was spit out, the fish carried him 965 פרסעות. This פסוק- "לה' ויאמר... יונה"= 965.

ילקוט He went into the mouth of the fish like a person goes into the בה''כ. A בה''כ has very big doors- he was able to go into the fish’s mouth standing up. It is also compared to a בה''כ because יונה was going to end up davening in the fish. The two eyes were like windows- were like bright flashlights for יונה. ר' מאיר says that there was a gem in the stomach of the fish and it was like the sun at its fullest for יונה and he was able to see everything in the ים and תהומות. The fish told יונה, today is the day that I am supposed to be eaten by the לויתן. יונה said, bring me to the לויתן and I’ll save both of us. יונה went to the לויתן and said, I came to see where you live. Eventually, I’m going to come down, fish you out and make you into a סעודה for צדיקים. I am a part of כ''י and ברית of א''א. When the לויתן saw, he ran away two day worth. יונה said to the fish, I did you a favor- I saved you. Pay me back by showing me everything in the ים and תהומות. First he showed him a tremendous נחל of the ocean- "ונהר יסבבני" and the paths of the ים סוף- "סוף תבוש לראשי". He showed him where the waves come out of- "כל משבריך וגליך עלי עברו". He showed him the pillars of the world- "הארץ בריחיה בעדי לעולם" and he showed him שאול תחתית- "מבטן שאול שועתי". He showed him גיהנום- "ותעל משחת חיי" and he showed him היכל ה'- "לקצבי הרים". He showed him the אבן שתי' and בני קרח standing on it and davening. He was in the fish for three days and nights and he didn’t daven. ה' said, I expanded the fish so that he wouldn’t be in pain, but he didn’t daven. I’m going to put him into a pregnant fish with 365,000 x 10,000 fish in her. The גדה said to the דג that the נביא that’s inside of you is supposed to be inside of me now and if you don’t, I’ll swallow you. The דג said, how knows if what you’re saying is true? The דגה said that it’s true. He asked the לויתן and he said that it’s true. The דג said, when did this happen and the לויתן said within the last three hours.

אברבנל Nothing stands before תשובה- we see this from the fact that when יונה did תשובה, the fish carried him 965 פרסעות. When he decided to do תשובה, nothing stopped him- he took him back to ננוה.