Devar/5771/Yom HaKippurim
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< Devar | 5771
עברית
English
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me (Jonah 1:2)
God commands the prophet Jonah son of Amitai to go to a foreign people, and to send them a message: either repent your evil deeds, or be destroyed. Jonah does not want to go to them, and he flees from God -- because he suspects they will indeed repent, and God will be merciful to them. Whereas the Jewish people did not repent, and this would be as it were a "point for the prosecution".
As is known, the people of Nineveh did repent; they wore sackcloth and ashes, they fasted and changed their behavior. And it is written: And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, which He said He would do unto them; and He did it not (ibid 3:10). From this we learn that God judges man based on his deeds and not his thoughts. And we learn that indeed, true repentance is effective in changing harsh decrees from Heaven. And there is another deep message to be taken, which few people pay attention to.
Since Jonah knew that God is merciful and prone to forgive, he did not want to accept his mission. Even though he eventually did go (since God forced him to!), he complained about it. Therefore God caused a plant to grow up and shade him from the sun, and wither away the next morning -- and Jonah complained again. Then God tells him the following words: And the LORD said: 'Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night; and should not I have pity on Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?' (ibid 4:10-11). The Creator of the Universe informed him (and us as well!) that He has mercy on all his creatures. We learn therefore that God may He be blessed is King of the entire world, and desires good for all humans -- not just for the Children of Israel. His mercy even extends to all living creatures! May it be His will that this year, he inundate all his creation with His mercy, and magnify His forgiveness, and bring an end to all the trouble and woe in the world.
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