As human beings we are fallible, and therefore, in need of opportunities for learning and growth, for repentance and renewal. In classical Jewish thought the process through which we reflect critically on our behavior, acknowledge our mistakes, and (re)commit ourselves to doing better is called teshuvah, “return.” The choice of this Hebrew term is reflective of a fundamentally optimistic worldview in which people are understood to be essentially good, despite our (seemingly boundless) capacities for sin. Though we may stray regularly from the path of righteousness, there is always the possibility of finding our way home. The ancient rabbis were so committed to this idea that they taught that God created teshuvah before fashioning the world (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Pesahim, 54a). Our sages could not imagine a world in which teshuvah was not woven into the very fabric of being.

One sign of the abiding importance of teshuvah to Jewish religious life is the fact that it is the animating theme of the High Holidays — Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Beginning one month before the Jewish New Year (see more on this below), we are enjoined to begin a process of soul searching and making amends. This journey leads into, and is intensified during, the High Holy Days, also known as “The Days of Awe,” reflecting the gravity of the season. It is no accident that this coincides with the onset of fall (in the Northern hemisphere), as the natural world turns and changes, beckoning us to join in this grand autumnal procession. The ancient rabbis also insisted that teshuvah must be part of our daily lives, and that this vital work not be left for just one period of year. They spoke in direct and challenging ways about the need to take responsibility for our misdeeds, to ask others for forgiveness, and to forgive those who have wronged us. In so doing, the sages argued passionately that change is possible.

The Book of Jonah: A Key Biblical Source for Teshuvah

The transformative power of teshuvah is nowhere better illustrated than in the Book of Jonah. As the contemporary Hasidic writer, Rabbi Menachem Posner states, “G-d spared the people of Nineveh although He had already decreed that they would be destroyed because of their evil ways. This teaches us that no matter our past behavior, G-d’s benevolence and mercy awaits us if we only repent full-heartedly.”

Here are the relevant passages from the biblical text:

Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
–Jonah 3:4-10

As this excerpt indicates, the people of Nineveh—“from the greatest to the least”—heeded Jonah’s warning and engaged in a thoroughgoing process of teshuvah. And the Divine responded compassionately.

While one would expect that the prophet would be pleased by this outcome, this was not the case.

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to God: “Is this not what I said, God, when I was still in my home country? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, who relents from sending calamity.”
–Jonah 4:1-2

The contemporary Jewish scholar, Dr. Devora Steinmetz, makes the following observation about this unexpected response:

Change, it seems, has no place in Jonah’s religious paradigm. Jonah is a man of truth. His full name, Yona ben Amitai, means “Jonah son of truth (emet)” … Jonah, son of truth, criticizes the God who shows mercy—willingness to change the divine decree in response to human change—rather than emet.
–Beginning Anew, p. 308

It is no wonder that we read this text during the afternoon service of Yom Kippur. As the day wanes and hunger and fatigue set in, we might wonder if all our penitential efforts actually matter. The emphatic answer of the Book of Jonah is yes! Part of what makes this story so powerful (in addition the theatrics of Jonah being swallowed by a “big fish”) is that the prophet is the one who must learn the value of mercy, rahamim. 

Read more at Hebrew College’s blog.