Jonah
On Yom Kippur we read about the reluctant prophet, Jonah. He is called on
a Divine mission to warn the people of
When Jonah flees by ship to Tarshish and the ship is about to break into
pieces because of a terrible storm, the sailors on that ship ask him the
questions that can direct our journey back to our true calling.
"How can you be sleeping?" they ask. There is a terrible storm
raging around us and in us. Of course the question itself has the power to wake
us up and it has the power to keep us from going back to sleep. Open the eyes
of your heart and acknowledge the storm that tosses you about. I know the storm
to be the turbulent mind that pulls me from one distraction to the next. It is
easier to sleep through the storm of the mind than to become the master of its
power. A world or a life that is ruled by this stormy master of the mind sooner
or later brings destruction to whatever it touches.
The sailors try to call Jonah and us back to our senses as they ask, What
is your work? Where do you come from? What is your land? From which people are
you? What is this you have done?
We take the journey from our sleepy unconscious state back to awareness
by remembering who we are and by inhabiting our incarnation fully and
deliberately. My work calls to me. My ancestors live inside me. The land of my
birth has left its mark on me. All of my decisions follow me. I can only hide
from the truth of who I am with the deceptive noisiness of a mind that is
running wild. When Jonah comes into awareness through these questions, he at
last takes responsibility for the storm. He asks to be thrown into the depths
of the sea. We forsake the surface mind and surrender at last to our own
depths.
Jonah’s story tells us that a great fish swallowed him and he sat inside
the fish’s belly in what might be called a forced meditation retreat or vision
quest for three days and three nights. During this time he finds his prayer and
through a close brush with death, Jonah returns to face The Presence who has
called him. Finally he accepts his Divine mission.
Life sends us on a forced retreat during an illness, an injury or when
someone near us dies. Yom Kippur is also a kind of retreat where we leave the
ordinary things of our lives and are sent to our depths to find the true voice
of prayer and accept upon ourselves the mission we might otherwise try to
avoid. In this acceptance the dry land appears beneath our feet, reminding us
of the time that the
Jonah becomes the most successful prophet in history. The people of
Although many of our holy texts describe an angry, vengeful, jealous and
judging God, at the climax of Yom Kippur, our holiest day we are reminded that
God loves us unconditionally. Those angry images are merely our projections.
Jonah runs from God because of his own anger at the people of
As you search your heart this Yom Kippur and find that there are people
for whom you’ve lost your compassion, situations that continually move you to
despair, memories that carry the burden of shame, know that Jonah is in you
choosing Death over Life. Before the gates of Neila close, listen to the
compassionate voice of God asking, (Hahetev chara lach) Is this anger good for
you?" Does the resentment that you carry keep you from "choosing
life?" And beneath the resentment is there an old wound crying to be
healed? This is the day to begin the journey of healing…. with the support of
this loving community and in the purified air of Yom Kippur.
After an argument between Aaron, Miriam and their brother Moses, Miriam
is struck with leprosy. Her brother Moses says the prayer that brings her back
to health. In the healing of her body, Moses may have been healing his own
soul. He said, "Ana El na R’fanala." Please God please heal her. Heal
the place in my soul that feels defeated and so chooses death over life.
May we hear the call that sends us onto the path of healing, healing
ourselves that we might heal the world and know its holiness.