We are now in our last class before Yom Kippur. One of the highlights of Yom Kippur is reading Maftir Yonah. In the Sephardic world, people pay a lot of money for the honor of reading Maftir Yonah, and it's supposedly a segulla for parnassa . What is the message of Yonah? There are different explanations. The simplest one is that Yonah was coming to Ninveh, and told them on Rosh Hodesh Elul (says the Gaon of Vilna) that in another 40 days Ninveh will be overturned. In the end, they weren't overturned. But the Rosh explains that they were overturned. The Gezera was overturned and they turned over a new leaf. So there can be a different meaning in reading into what it means that Ninveh will be overturned . And that's a message for us to do Teshuva. We can turn everything around with our Teshuva. Another explanation from the Chafetz Chaim says that Yonah tried to run away from Hashem, but in the end it didn’t work. Yonah went onto a ship, jumped off, the fish swallowed him up and spit him out….and he went through the whole process because you can't escape God's will. The Chafetz Chaim says that this concept also refers to us. We have to realize that we can't escape from what God wants from us. We have a mission in life and it's going to happen. He goes even further, saying that if it doesn't happen in this Gilgul, it’s going to happen in another one. So just do it willingly. Get to where Hashem wants you to get, because you're not going to escape. That is the second explanation. There’s a third one, based on the Bet Halevi, in his commentary on his Essay on Bitachon. He says that a person has to rely on Hashem, even if it is against nature, even if you have a sword on your neck, don't give up hope . And he brings the following: that Hashem could bring someone down to the depths, literally, and bring him out…. V’yizkor HaAdam Maaseh Yonah HaNavi/And remember the story of Yonah.” This is a lesson for us, at any time. Unbelievable. We might say, “ But I’m not Yonah HaNavi” But just as the Hovot Halevavot says, “ Remember the story about Eliyahu HaNavi,” and we aren’t Eliyahu HaNavi, we see from this that the rabbis believe that all these points are here as a lesson to us. Yonah is a beautiful sefer to learn, and read about his powerful prayer when he was in the depths of the fish, what he was thinking and what he was saying. One of the things that we say in the Sephardic communities is, “ The One that answered Yonah in the belly of the fish should answer us.” This means that it’s talking to us. We're talking to us. We have that ability to be stuck in a problem that has no natural solution- Even in the belly of the fish (according to Rabbeu Bachye, it was a dead fish that miraculously stayed beneath the ocean instead of coming to the top- it’s a fascinating concept… if anyone has the time within the next few hours, it's definitely a sefer worth learning.) So Yonah HaNavi shows us this lesson that you might have committed a sin and wandered from your Father in heaven, as Yonah tried to run away. And you get punished. But even in that situation, if you rely on Him, Hashem’s going to pull you out. That is possibly the reason for reading the story of Yonah on Yom Kippur. Because it teaches us that Hashem is the only source of refuge. And even on Yom Kippur, when a person fears judgment, he has to realize that Hashem could pull him out of the most serious situations. So we read the story of Yonah to tell us that the One that answered Yonah should answer us. The Yerushalmi, in Berachot (chapter 9), notes that a human protector can try to get his relative released from arrest, and he can try to defend him in court. But once the person has been thrown into a belly of a fish, there's nothing more that a human protector could do. But Yonah was in the belly of the fish and Hashem took him out. And this is an important lesson, says the Yerushalmi: Man is limited, there's only so much he can do, but Hashem is limitless and He can save a person from any situation. So as we read Maftir Yonah, this is one of the things to have in mind on Yom Kippur, and this is an important bitachon lesson. And the more you learn Yonah, the more you appreciate it, especially the section where he prays. There are beautiful lessons in his prayers that we should look into. If you have the time, take out a Hebrew/ English Yonah ( Artscroll has a great one) and learn a little bit about Yonah. And appreciate this ability of Hashem to pull us out the most difficult situations and strengthen your bitachon. That's what the Bet Halevi is telling us: Yonah is a source of inspiration on Bitachon and that's why we read it on Yom Kippur. Wonderful thought. Have a wonderful Yom Kippur. Tizku L’Shanim Rabot.