Often when our members travel to other congregations for
life cycle events, they bring me regards from the rabbi they met at the event. Our
members will tell me what the rabbi they met said about me:
“Your rabbi is Steven Bob, oh he’s the Obama rabbi.” “Steven Bob, oh he’s the Bobblehead rabbi.” “Steven Bob, oh he’s the Jonah rabbi. It seems that I have a variety of names.
According to a Midrash, “There are three names by which a person is called. One which his father and mother call him, and one which people call him, and one which he earns for himself. The best of all is the one that he earns for himself.”
What name have you been earning for yourself? What is your reputation among your friends? Among your relatives? Among your co-workers?
Simcha is my given Hebrew name. My parents named me Simcha, after my mother’s father. Simcha means joy. It is a perfect name for me. I am as positive and happy a person as exists. Simcha is the name my parents gave me. And it is a name I earn every day. A biblical phrase applies to me, “Kain K’mo Shmo Hu, He is just like his name.”
This phrase comes from the book of Samuel. Abigail is speaking to King David. Abigail explains her husband’s character to King David. She says, “He is, just what his name says, his name means boor and he is a boor.”
In the Bible, as in other literature, the characters’ names often tell us a lot about them. Tomorrow afternoon we will read the Book of Jonah. His name tells us a lot about who is.
In English we call him Jonah. By calling him Jonah we miss out on the meaning of his name. His real name in the original Hebrew is Yonah. Yonah means dove. Where else in the Hebrew Bible does a Yonah play a part? In the Noah story in Genesis Chapter 8. In that story, Noah sends the dove, out from the Ark, three times. Once it comes back with nothing. The second time it comes back with a “freshly plucked olive leaf.” The third time it does not return.
In the story of Noah’s Ark the dove represents the possibility of a new beginning, of new life on dry land after the flood. From its first venture, the dove returns having failed to find any evidence of the possibility of dry land. The dove succeeds on its second try.
Our Yonah, Jonah the prophet, also succeeds only on his second try.
The
first time God calls him to go to Nineveh he runs away. After the Big Fish
deposits Jonah back on dry land, God calls him a second time. That time he
succeeds. He goes to Nineveh, triggering the repentance of the Ninevites, a new
beginning for them.
Our story of Nineveh and the Noah story of the flood, both involve a group of people who have become so evil that God decides to destroy them. Both stories involve trips over the water in boats. These are only two stories in the Hebrew Bible which feature boats.
All these connections between these two stories convince me that the author of the Book of Jonah intended for us, the readers, to make the connection. He wants us to see the prophet Yonah as an extension of the Yonah of the Ark story.
A major difference is that the Book of Jonah presents Jonah as the main character. In the Noah story, the dove is a secondary character.
We
do not think of the flood story in Genesis Chapter 8 as, "The Dove and the Ark."
We could imagine restructuring the story told in the Book of Jonah from the point of view of the Ninevites. In the restructured story,
Jonah would become a supporting character. The real active central characters would be the repenting people of Nineveh.
Jonah would be a secondary character in this Nineveh
story. Like the dove, he would be a messenger. Jonah would show up only for his
brief scene in Nineveh to announce that, “In forty days Nineveh will be
overthrown.”
In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, are minor characters. They are friends of the prince. Tom Stoppard wrote an inventive play retelling the story from a different point of view. The title of the play shifts from Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
In Stoppard’s play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern become the center of attention. And the main characters from Hamlet become the supporting players. In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Hamlet himself has only a small part.
We see ourselves as the star of the show that is our life. In truth, we are also secondary characters in the lives of all the people we know. In these other stories we play small parts.
I may be the central figure in the Simcha Bob story but in the story of your life I play a supporting role. I may play a minor role. I may play a recurring role. For some of you I am a new character.
We are all secondary characters in much larger stories. We are part of a larger narrative than the story of our individual lives. The meaning of our existence is not expressed simply in our individual accomplishments. We have lasting impact beyond limits of our lifetime.
We contribute to many stories, the stories of our families, of our friends, and our co-workers. We even play a role in the lives of people we encounter briefly, people who never even learn our names.
In the credits at the end of a movie the list of players begins with the main characters. Then come the supporting characters. And finally the characters, who are not given names. The credits refer to them as, “The security guard” or “The woman in the green dress.” We play a role in the lives of people for whom we remain anonymous.
In “As You Like It”, Shakespeare tells us, “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts.”
The Book of Jonah presents Jonah as a man of one part. The rabbis, however, understand Jonah as “a man of many parts.”
What do we know about Jonah as the story begins? The Book of Jonah opens with, “And the word of the Eternal came to Jonah ben Amittai.” The Biblical text does not introduce Jonah or provide the reader with any background as to who Jonah is or why God is speaking to him. Is this the first time God has spoken to Jonah? What names has Jonah earned before the events described in the Book of Jonah?
The 15th century Bible commentator, Don Isaac Abarbanel provides a full backstory for Jonah by turning to the Midrash. In the Book of Kings, we read the story of a widow whose son dies. The widow summons the prophet Elijah. Elijah brings her son back to life. The Biblical next does not include the name of the boy. He remains anonymous. The Midrash imagines that this anonymous boy is actually the young Jonah.
Abarbanel turns to another story of an unnamed biblical character. According to the Bible the prophet Elisha appoints an unnamed prophet to anoint Yehu to be the ruler of the northern kingdom of Israel. In the Midrash, rabbis identify this anonymous prophet as Jonah.
So for Abarbanel, Jonah has a special relationship with God before the events described in the Book of Jonah begin. And Jonah has a connection to God’s main representatives of that time and that place, the prophets, Elijah and Elisha. Jonah’s very existence is due to a miracle performed by Elijah. And Elisha, Elijah’s apprentice and successor, views Jonah as an appropriate agent to carry out God’s will in anointing Yehu.
We can try to imagine the role we play in the lives of those for whom we remain anonymous. The strangers we encounter everyday. We may perform a small act of kindness or we may mutter harsh words of criticism. In either case, we make an impact.
As we reflect on the influence we have in dramas in which we play a minor role, we should consider the significance of our impact on the stars of those stories. Have we been giving award winning performances as supporting players?
There are three names by which by which we are called. One which our father and mother call us, and one which people call us, and one which we earn for ourselves. The best of all is the one that we earn for ourselves.
During these hours of Yom Kippur, We should ask ourselves, what is my name? What name am I earning for myself? And what parts have I played in the lives of the people around me?
Then we should ask ourselves, what do I want my name to be? And what parts do I want to play in the lives of the people around me?
On its second journey from the Ark the dove returned with an olive twig expressing the hope of a new life on dry land. May we emerge from these 24 hours of fasting, prayer and reflection filled with the hope of a new life on dry land.
