12 votes
Accepted

Was Yonah able to visit the Beis HaMikdash? What about other prophets of his time?

Your question assumes that there were guards blocking anyone from crossing from Judah to Israel. The background of the assumption is probably the following two sources: Sanhedrin 102a, according to ...
b a's user avatar
  • 24k
10 votes

Could Yonah's "whale" have been a whale?

The only Rishon I saw who identifies the Dag Gadol in his commentary is [R Eliezer of Beaugency to Yonah 2:1][1], and he identifies it as a "בַלְיינְא וכיוצא בו", which is a baleine (etc.) in French (...
רבות מחשבות's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

Does anyone comment on why Yonah needed the kikayon when he already had shade from his sukkah?

Radak says: ואף על פי שעשה לו סוכה לצל, אולי יבשו עצי הסוכה, כי ישב שם עד מלאות לו ארבעים יום. And Mezudat David: כי צל הסוכה הוא דבר שאינו מתמיד, כי הולך ומתייבש מחום השמש; ולא כן הקיקיון, היונק ...
nbubis's user avatar
  • 612
5 votes
Accepted

Does Jewish tradition hold the book of Jonah to be depicting historical events?

Mikra (the TaNaCh), as opposed to Aggadaic Medrashim and Talmudic passages, are not allegories. Even when the verse is hinting a lesson, we learn that אין מקרא יוצא מידי פשוטו, the verse does not ...
HaLeiVi's user avatar
  • 4,988
5 votes
Accepted

Should animals not be fed on Yom Kippur?

Does this mean that we, literally, should not feed animals (including Livestock and Pets, even Service Animals) on Yom Kippur or are animals not considered people (and are exempt from fasting) despite ...
msh210's user avatar
  • 73.5k
4 votes

Pharaoh ruled Nineveh for 500 years?

In Otzar Hamidrashim there's a midrash called Divrei Hayamim Lemoshe which says: "...ויוליכוהו לנינוה העיר הגדולה, וימלוך פרעה על נינוה ד׳ מאות שנה." Translation: "...And they led him ...
Harel13's user avatar
  • 24.9k
4 votes

Maftir Yonah riches?

The minhag definitely seems to have some roots in the Lubavitcher chassidus. HoRav Gavriel Zinner shlita in his Nitei Gavriel on Yom Kippur 62:16 writes as follows: העולה לתורה שלישי מפטיר בספר יונה ...
Dov's user avatar
  • 30.3k
4 votes

What kind of 'bottoms of mountains' are these in Jonah 2:7?

Yonah 2:7 To the bottom of the mountains I descended, the earth-its bars are closed on me forever; but You brought up my life from Gehinnom, O Lord, my God. Rashi says To the bottoms of the ...
sabbahillel's user avatar
  • 42.9k
3 votes

Why is Jonah so displeased?

Yonah didn't want to tell Nineveh to do teshuva, because he knew that if they would do teshuva (as they ended up doing), and then if the Jews don't do teshuva (and they had multiple prophets), they ...
Dani's user avatar
  • 1,539
3 votes

Why did Yonah not command circumcision on the people of Ninevah, especially in the light of the message of Teshuvah?

The people of Ninveh weren't Jewish. They weren't obligated in circumcision, and thus circumcision wouldn't do anything for them, spiritually. Circumcision is not a component of repentance. (Well, ...
Shalom's user avatar
  • 131k
3 votes
Accepted

How does prolonged (multiday) fasting work?

I don't see (in my Lublin-style Mikraos G'dolos) any commentary note how many days the Nineveh folks fasted. I'd have to assume, absent other knowledge, that they fasted until the end of the day the ...
msh210's user avatar
  • 73.5k
3 votes

How does prolonged (multiday) fasting work?

According to the Maharal in Ohr Chadash (on Megillas Esther) it means that you fast at the end of the first day, the whole 24 hours of the second day and a part of the third.
HaLeiVi's user avatar
  • 4,988
2 votes

Why did those on the ship ignore what Yona told them?

They did not disregard Yonah's suggestion, they were trying to work out the best course of action. What could be perceived as them ignoring Yonah is actually them hesitating as they grappled with an ...
Dov's user avatar
  • 30.3k
2 votes

Why do we read Yona on Yom Kippur?

R' Samson Raphael Hirsch says, in his extended commentary on Leviticus 16:10, that goats represent the God-given human power to resist, and that the Azazel goat used in the Yom Kippur service ...
Isaac Moses's user avatar
  • 47.8k
2 votes

Why did Yonah run away?

R. Saadia Gaon explains (Emunot V’Deiot 3:5) that Yonah had fulfilled his mission: If, furthermore, one were to ask, “But how was it that Jonah was chosen to carry out a mission from which he ran ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 49.1k
2 votes

Why did Yonah not command circumcision on the people of Ninevah, especially in the light of the message of Teshuvah?

The Kli Yakar on that verse in Bereishit says that Yosef's action was done for a reason irrelevant to the people in Ninveh. According to the Kli Yakar (I'm summarizing from the text I found on sefaria....
rosends's user avatar
  • 37.8k
2 votes

Omitted Part of Yonah?

"Let My Nation be Warned" explains that this is why we throw in three pesukim from Michah at the end of the Haftarah. Although this is the end of the Sefer, those three pesukim were Yonah's response.
DonielF's user avatar
  • 34.1k
1 vote

Why is the King of Nineveh in Yonah unnamed?

Every single letter in Torah teaches us something. There was nothing to be gained by noting the name of anyone left unnamed, and if there was something to be gained but not in the way of the possuk, ...
הגוי קדוש's user avatar
1 vote

Was the "three days and three nights" in the prophetic book of Jonah a complete span of 72 hours?

The Da'at Mikra commentary (written by Elyakim Ben-Menachem) on this verse says that it means three full days (ie. 72 hours): ‮אִלו אמר שלשה ימים, לא היה במשמע שלשה ימים שלמים, אבל כשהוא אומר ימים ...
magicker72's user avatar
  • 9,777
1 vote

Did Yonah Hanavi destroy Ninveh?

I found this reference online (italics mine): Pirke deRabbi Eliezer 42 Rabbi Nechunia, son of Hakanah, said: Know the power of repentance. Come and see from Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who rebelled most ...
rosends's user avatar
  • 37.8k
1 vote

Why did Yonah run away?

This question was posed to Radbaz (Shu"t 2:842). He essentially has three suggestions. 1) It was not considered withholding his prophecy (which is punishable by death) because he hadn't yet received ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 49.1k

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