Lech Lecha: Reflections on Judaism and Israel

A quick note about some intriguing parallels between the Biblical stories of Yonah and Noah:

- 40 days (it rains for 40 days in the Noah story; Ninveh are given 40 days to repent)

- the animals saved (Noah saves the animal kingdom, and strangely, the animals in Ninveh are dressed in sack-cloth to indicate their repentance)

- shelter from water (Noah is saved by an ark he builds at God’s instruction; Yonah is saved by a whale sent by God)

- nakedness (Noah plants a vine, gets drunk and exposes his nakedness; Yonah receives shelter from a “kikayon”, then loses his shade and is exposed to the sun – a form of ‘nakedness’).

- Yonah means dove, and the story of Noah finishes with a dove

Uriel Simon has suggested that Yona is a continuation of Noach, or is actually the same story, with one crucial difference – the repentance. This repentance, celebrated on Yom Kippur by reading of the Yonah story in the afternoon, is made possible by the promise God makes to not destroy the world at the end of the Noah story. Whereas in the Noach story, the promise comes only after the word is destroyed, it might be that with Yonah, the ancient promise affords the inhabitants of Ninveh the opportunity to repent.