Yonah at Yom Kippur Minha
Sefer Yonah | The reading, and the question it asks of its listeners
Megillah 31a - Selected passage
בְּיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים קוֹרִין ״אַחֲרֵי מוֹת״, וּמַפְטִירִין ״כִּי כֹה אָמַר רָם וְנִשָּׂא״. וּבַמִּנְחָה קוֹרִין בָּעֲרָיוֹת וּמַפְטִירִין בְּיוֹנָה.
On Yom Kippur we read Aharei Mot and read as the haftarah “For thus says the High and Exalted One”. At Minha we read the passage concerning forbidden relationships, and read Yonah as the haftarah.
Mishnah Ta’anit 2:1 - The elder’s address (selected passage)
הַזָּקֵן שֶׁבָּהֶן אוֹמֵר לִפְנֵיהֶן דִּבְרֵי כִבּוּשִׁין, אַחֵינוּ, לֹא נֶאֱמַר בְּאַנְשֵׁי נִינְוֵה, וַיַּרְא הָאֱלֹקִים אֶת שַׂקָּם וְאֶת תַּעֲנִיתָם, אֶלָּא (יונה ג) וַיַּרְא הָאֱלֹקִים אֶת מַעֲשֵׂיהֶם, כִּי שָׁבוּ מִדַּרְכָּם הָרָעָה. וּבַקַּבָּלָה הוּא אוֹמֵר (יואל ב) וְקִרְעוּ לְבַבְכֶם וְאַל בִּגְדֵיכֶם:
The elder among them addresses them with words that move the heart: “Our brothers, it does not say of the people of Nineveh, ‘God saw their sackcloth and their fasting’, but rather, ‘God saw their deeds, that they had turned from their evil way’ (Yonah 3:10). And in the prophetic writings it says, ‘Tear your hearts, not your garments’ (Yoel 2:13).”
Key point: The Gemara establishes the reading; the Mishnah provides a direct explanation of what Nineveh teaches a community that is fasting. The following synthesis draws on those sources and on Radak: the fast should lead to changed conduct, and the possibility of mercy calls both the city and the prophet to respond.
Questions from the text
- What does the Mishnah deliberately contrast with “their deeds”? Locate the concrete change in Radak on 3:10.
- According to Radak on 1:1, why can Nineveh’s response instruct Israel? How does the Mishnah use that same city to address a Jewish community?
- Compare Yonah’s gratitude for rescue in 2:10 with his complaint in 4:2. What makes mercy welcome in one passage and troubling in the other?
- Why does the sefer continue after Nineveh repents? Use Radak on 4:6 and 4:10-11 to explain what Yonah still needs to understand.