Choosing Life from the Belly of the Whale (Yom Kippur Day)

Yom Kippur afternoon there’s a tradition of reading the story of Jonah who, fleeing from God’s calling, is swallowed by a dag gadol / a big fish. As we tell his story this year, we may know how Jonah felt: Having lost everything familiar to him, his world has shrunk. He feels powerless, cut off from his community. Inside the belly of the whale, he can’t do a whole lot. He becomes frustrated, then exhausted.

But Jonah doesn’t give up. At the end of our tale, after he emerges from the whale, he fulfills God’s calling for him, ultimately helping save the people of Nineveh from destruction. How is it that Jonah’s time in the belly of the whale transforms him?

In a beautiful midrash the rabbis imagine when Jonah is swallowed by the whale, he enters it “just as a person enters a great synagogue...the two eyes of the fish are like windows of glass...a great pearl…suspended inside the belly of the fish,” shining out into the depths of the sea.

As the whale descends, deeper and deeper, the midrash tells us, Jonah sees “the paths of the Reed Sea through which Israel passed”, the scene of his ancestors’ liberation. As he descends lower, he observes “the pillars of the earth in its foundations…and he sees there the Foundation Stone” that upholds all creation.

As Jonah stops running away, and begins to pay attention to his life from within his confinement, the world actually opens up to him, uncovering what had been hidden from him, so he can see his reality more clearly.

*

Over the last few months, like Jonah, we have each descended into the murky depths. And as we peered out at our world — through computers and TV screens — we, like Jonah, were dumbstruck as we witnessed the histories upon which our nation was built: the ongoing racial violence carried out by our institutions, a living legacy of slavery and dehumanization; the disparities in health care that have resulted in disproportionate losses to COVID amongst communities of color; environmental degradation wrought by corporations built on greed and plunder.

In our midrash, as Jonah beholds the Foundation Stone, he is moved to confront his limitations and ask the Source of Life for help to do teshuva, to transform himself in the time he has left. “Sovereign of the Universe!” he cries, “You who are called ‘the One who [takes life]’ and ‘the One who makes alive,’ behold, my soul has reached unto death,  now restore me to life!”

Over the last year, like Jonah, we have confronted our own limitations. We have cried out from the depths. Shaken from his complacency, Jonah transforms himself, setting aside the inner struggles that prevented him from acting, so he can save the lives of the people of Nineveh.

Now, we are called to act.

Having witnessed the danger our Black and brown neighbors face, we are called to break our silence. Having seen the fragile foundations of our democracy we are called to vote. To fight to protect it. Having beheld the catastrophic impact of climate change we are called to influence policy, and live sustainably.

May 5781 be a year when our hearts awaken to what we have seen from the belly of the whale. May we have the courage to use our power and resources to change ourselves, so we can act to bring healing to the world, and “choose life” for ourselves, the planet, and our neighbors, this year.

Amen.