The Gra: an inner reading
Sefer Yonah | A symbolic overview, separate from the verse-by-verse peshat
In the Graโs symbolic reading, Yonah represents the soul and his flight represents turning from a spiritual calling towards worldly attractions. Tarshish evokes wealth and commerce; the seaโs waves evoke the troubles of human life. The biblical story becomes a way of considering what the soul seeks and what calls it back. These associations have textual anchors: Tarshishโs commerce appears in Yehezkel 27:12, and the imagery of waves overwhelming a person appears in Tehillim 42:8 as well as Yonah 2:4.
This overview follows Rabbi Elyakim Krumbeinโs account of the Graโs interpretation in โThis World and the World to Comeโ (Torat Har Etzion, lesson 12)ย . It is a summary of the approach, not a quotation or full translation of the Gra.
Questions from the text
- Read Yonah 1:3 and 2:4-5 again. Which words carry the themes of flight, distress and return in the narrative?
- Compare the overview with Radak on 1:3. How does โfrom before Hashemโ refer to a prophetic role in one reading and the soulโs calling in the other?
- In 2:5, what place does Yonah wish to face again? How does that wish connect the physical story with the theme of return?