Jonah's story is read in full on Yom Kippur [as the afternoon Haftarah reading]. Surely its message is perfectly suited to this day of primeval uniqueness and his story is one that bears the message of a repentance that only God could fathom. How?

The date of Jonah's mission to Nineveh is not known. According to the Midrash (Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer), it took place after his missions to Jeroboam and Jerusalem. At any rate, it almost certainly took place during the reign of Jeroboam, from 646-607 B.C.E.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the Iraq of the present... For a variety of reasons, God wished to bring a spirit of repentance to Nineveh. As His emissary, He chose Jonah. But Jonah did not wish to go. Why?

The nations were 'near to repent' -- i.e. they could be easily motivated to repent. They would heed Jonah's call and earn God's mercy. But if that were to happen, it would point the most accusing of fingers at sinful Israel. God had appointed a multitude of prophets to chastise Israel, yet it refused to heed their call. God's chosen people, His first-born, spurned His pleas for their repentance. How could anyone justify Israel's obduracy in the face of Nineveh's compliance? Were Jonah to go to Nineveh he would be the instrument of a terrible condemnation of Israel.

Jonah had to choose between obeying God and defending the honor of Israel. In order to shield the child from the wrath of its Father, he chose not to go to Nineveh...

Noam Elimelech comments homiletically that the Yonah, "dove" in Hebrew, is a bird which maintains an inviolable loyalty to its mate. The dove is used in parables of the Sages to symbolize Israel's loyalty to God. God says of Israel: "Unique is she, My constant dove" (Song of Songs 6:9).

Jonah the prophet is so named because he, too, represents total loyalty to God. His flight to the sea was not an effort to deny that bond or break it. Rather it was an attempt by Jonah to lessen his own receptivity to the spiritual heights of prophecy: on the sea and away from the Land of Israel, the spirit of prophecy does not rest on man.

Against that backdrop we can best appreciate the self-sacrifice of Jonah's flight. Only a prophet can appreciate the spiritual bliss of prophecy. To be worthy of such a state is beyond the dreams of even great people; Jonah was there and he chose to give it up in order not to shame Israel by the comparison of its stubbornness with the obedience of Nineveh to the warning of God's prophet. It was not from God's authority that he fled; had he not recognized God's sovereignty, there would have been no need to flee. His own country, tragically, was filled with people who refused to acknowledge the word of God.

They had no need to seek passage to Tarshish to evade the word of God; they flouted it in Samaria, in Judah, even in Jerusalem. Jonah fled because he was close, because he believed, because he was exalted. He fled not to diminish the Word of God, but to diminish his own receptivity to prophecy...

Why is the Book of Jonah read on Yom Kippur? The Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 3:8) tells us, in the words of Rabbi Yannai:

"From the beginning of the creation of the world, God looked at the deeds of the righteous and the deeds of the wicked. 'And the earth was empty' (Genesis 1:2) -- these are the deeds of the wicked. 'Let there be light' -- these are the deeds of the righteous. 'Day' -- the deeds of the righteous. 'Night' -- the deeds of the wicked. 'One day' -- God assigned one [unique] day. Which? The Day of Atonement."

The time for repentance is always, but Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement is unique. From the beginning of creation, God foresaw that the world would be a confusing mixture of good and evil, of righteous and wicked. Indeed, it was His will that this be so, for man was created to surmount the challenge of this confusion, to choose light and reject darkness.

God created Yom Echad, one day, a unique day, an indispensable day -- a day which was necessary for man's ascension out of the darkness and into the light: Yom Kippur.