Sermon for First Morning of Rosh Hashanah 5782
September 7, 2021
Many of you know that I majored in music history and theory as an undergrad, and that classical music is a big passion of mine. So, anyway, I’m in a private Facebook group ironically titled “Pretentious Classical Music Elitists.” One of the topics that frequently arises among self-described pretentious classical music elitists is whether at a classical music performance it’s okay to applaud between movements. The debate can get heated! There are those who say that the enforced silence between movements of a symphony or a concerto is just a snobby practice designed to embarrass those who might not know about that bit of bourgeois concert etiquette. And there are those who say that a concerto or symphony in several movements should be judged as an entire complete work of art, and that applauding between movements breaks the mood and the continuity of the piece. And there are those who point out that composers in the 18th and early 19th centuries expected people to applaud between movements, and that the practice of keeping silent only developed in the late 19th century so it’s best not to lump together different historical eras as if they were all identical.
I’m definitely one of those people that hates clapping between movements, but I get how it’s tempting to do so. You reach a climactic resolution and want to react to it. You want to unburden yourself from holding back your emotions with bated breath.
Anyway, that’s how I think any of us might feel when we get to the end of Chapter 2 of the Book of Jonah. (You were wondering how I was going to transition to High Holiday related material, right?)
As I wrote in my September bulletin article, as the High Holidays approached this year, I found myself thinking a lot about the lessons of the Book of Jonah, which we read on Yom Kippur afternoon. The second chapter of the Book of Jonah contains its most famous episode --- when Jonah is swallowed up by a great fish. He spends three days and three nights in the belly of the fish (which, by the way, is never explicitly identified as a whale). He fervently prays to God. And, at the end of the chapter, the fish vomits him out onto the dry land.
In the last year and a half, our lives have at times, like that of Jonah, seemed constricted as if we too were trapped inside a claustrophobic, albeit protective, container. And then, halleluyah, vaccines against the pandemic became available, the worst of the crisis seemed to have ended, and we, as it were, seemed to be on dry land again. But no – when Jonah gets out onto dry land that’s only the halfway point of the Book of Jonah. He has more challenges and existential crises ahead. And, alas, our own Covid-related challenges are not yet over either.
If Jonah, or any of us reading his story, would dare to think that he was now free and home safe after the great fish vomits him out onto the safety of dry land -- well that would be like applauding after the first movement of a classical concerto. Save your applause. We’re not there yet – not by a long shot.
Still, on the other hand, c’mon now, can’t we be happy for getting this far?
As I mentioned last night, I’ve decided this year to structure my four High Holiday sermons around the four chapters of the Book of Jonah. Last night we focused on Jonah chapter 1. This morning we’re focusing on Jonah chapter 2. Kol Nidre night it will be chapter 3 in the spotlight, and then chapter 4 on Yom Kippur morning. After all that, we’ll actually read the Book of Jonah, as we do each year, on Yom Kippur afternoon.
So, when we left off at the end of chapter 1, that complicated hero of our story, Yonah ben Amitai, had been thrown into the sea – seemingly destined to certain death by drowning. But we all have heard this biblical tale often enough over the years to know that that’s not where it ends.
Right at the start of Jonah chapter 2, scripture says Vayiman Adonai Dag Gadol --- The Eternal appointed a Great Fish --- to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
In Chapter 1 we had heard Nineveh described as “ha’ir hagedolah” (“The Great City”), and then a “ru’ach gedolah” (“a great wind”) brought up “sa’ar gadol” (“a great storm”). Now in chapter 2 we have “dag gadol” (“a great fish”). The story all but propels us along with its use of all these superlatives.
In the remainder of Chapter 2, we encounter a prayer, in poetic meter, that Jonah is said to have prayed from the belly of the fish. When the text of the prayer is concluded, all we have is just the simple report that God spoke to the fish “vayika et Yonah el hayabasha” (“and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.”)
So that’s where we find ourselves at the end of Jonah Chapter 2. Safe on dry land, but God is not yet done with us.
And that’s where we find ourselves now with that anxiety-filled year 5781 having come to a close at sundown last night;
with most of us vaccinated, at least if we are age 12 and over;
with a few of us already having received booster shots beyond the original vaccination;
with schools, restaurants, gyms, theatres open or soon to be opened.
But, no, this pandemic is not yet done with us either.
Obvious case in point --- most of you are watching me on Zoom rather than joining me here at Temple in person.
It sucks.
But still, isn’t some applause deserved, even between movements?
We’re in better shape -- less scary shape --- today than we were on Rosh Hashanah 5781. Last year we could only hope and pray for the development of vaccines. This year they are here. And the scientific know-how already exists such that, as variants develop, those vaccines can be tweaked and modified to target the variants that arise.[1] We do that every year for the annually mutating flu virus I have no doubt that it’ll get done for the new Coronavirus variants, including the Delta variant that is currently throwing so many of our previous plans awry. And meanwhile, we wait anxiously for vaccines to be made available to our children under age 12.
But getting back to our friend Yonah ben Amitai. The Bible tells us that he was inside that big fish for three days and three nights. Seems a little nightmarish if you think about it, but better than drowning, right? And our friend seemed to have time to think deeply about his life and about the direction he had been heading. I’m sure that the same is true for many of us who spent weeks and months in relative isolation in earlier phases of the pandemic, and as well for some of us who are still lying low out of concern for our health or that of our families.
As I said last night, we run the spectrum in terms of our relative comfort or discomfort with risk. But where the you-know-what hits the fan is when we get to the matter of some people’s personal choices endangering others. I don’t think it’s a real problem among the members of our congregation, but, in American society at large, we well know that vaccine hesitancy is causing big problems. And that we might have been much further along in getting past the pandemic by now had it not been for the failure of some of our fellow Americans to get their Covid shots.
Shame on them.
And shame on the political leaders who have tried to ban mask mandates and other health initiatives when those initiatives would be prudent by any fair analysis.
But I digress. Let’s get back to Jonah. His prayer from the belly of that great fish is so poignant. It’s so striking in that it’s a prayer of thanksgiving that he recites even while he is still, let’s face it --- SWALLOWED UP INSIDE A BIG FISH!
How many of us can find the serenity to be thankful for our blessings even when we are still in the midst of crisis?
Jonah could.
He proclaims from amidst those narrow straits:
In my distress I called to the Eternal,
Who answered me;
From the belly of Sheol I cried out,
And You heard my voice.
You cast me into the depths,
Into the heart of the sea,
The current engulfed me;
Your billows and waves
Swept over me,
I thought I was driven away
Out of Your sight:
Would I ever gaze again
Upon Your holy Temple?
The waters closed in over me,
The deep engulfed me.
Weeds twined around my head.
I sank to the base of the mountains;
The bars of the earth closed upon me forever.
Yet You brought my life up from the pit,
O my Eternal God!
When my soul was about to faint away,
I remembered the Eternal;
And my prayer came to You,
To Your holy Temple.
They who cling to empty folly
Forsake their own welfare,
But I, with thankful voice
Will sacrifice to You;
I will fulfill my vows,
For deliverance comes from the Eternal.[2]
--- says Jonah.
– from inside the belly of a great fish!
It’s only after reciting this prayer, not before, that God commands the fish to deliver him up to the safety of the dry land. Pretty amazing. Pretty inspiring.
Of course, this is the stuff of myth. Are we really supposed to believe that this story really happened? I sort of doubt it. And I sort of doubt that our ancestors in the days of the writing of the Tanakh believed it really happened. Biblical literalism and fundamentalism are relatively late developments -- and not particularly Jewish developments either.[3]
We love our Tanakh, our Bible, but we are not Bible thumpers.
Rather, Jonah uttering a faithful prayer of thanksgiving while stuck inside the belly of a great big fish --- This is a metaphor, a model, for all of us – that we can retain faith and hope and equanimity even when life throws its hardest punches at us.
That is indeed worthy of heartfelt cheers and applause.
Even if the story is not over yet.
*******
On Kol Nidre night, I’ll plan to share some thoughts on Jonah chapter 3. When he finally carries out his mission to the inhabitants of the Great City of Nineveh --- to surprising results.
In the meantime, may each and every one of us be blessed with health, happiness, and fulfillment in this new year 5782. A time for renewal, even as we remain well aware that, for any of us, we are still in the midst of a story in progress.
L’shanah tovah tikatevu!/ May you be inscribed for a good year!
© Rabbi David Steinberg
(September 2021/ Tishri 5782)
[1] https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/pfizer-biontech-announce-development-of-vaccine-targeting-covid-19-delta-variant
[2] Jonah 2: 3-10
[3] See, e.g., https://rabbidaniellapin.com/do-orthodox-jews-interpret-the-bible-literally/
