Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 74
I am in awe of the Prophets, their courage, their dedication, their loyalty AND, on Yom Kippur, we read the Book of Jonah; the only prophet to be a selfish, not loyal and having no courage, desire to speak God’s words, and no dedication to something greater than himself. This is, in my opinion, the epitome of Ghosting God, Ghosting Self! So, why did the Rabbis put this reading of the Prophets into the afternoon service of Yom Kippur?
In the 2nd and 3rd verses of Chapter 1, Jonah is told to go to Nineveh and preach God’s words and Jonah, being the selfish asshole that he is, gets on a ship going the opposite way! This is the epitome of the exact opposite of what Jonah is to say later when he finally speaks to the people of Nineveh, it is the epitome of the exact opposite of what every other prophet says to the People of Ancient Israel and the People of Judea! So, I ask again, what are the Rabbis trying to say to We the People on the Holiest Day of the Jewish Year? There are many ways in which I will write about in the coming days and today I want to focus on Ignorance, again! The Book of Jonah is all about Jonah ignoring the Call, the Demand of God. He is also ignoring the call of his soul, the demand of his calling in the world. He begins his ignorance of his soul’s calling, his purpose and mission by getting on that ship going to Tarshish, when the ocean is tossing the ship to and fro, Jonah ignores this too, until the Captain asks him to pray to his God so they don’t all drown. It is only when his back is to the wall that he takes action and good action it is, he knows that the seas will calm if he goes overboard, yet, he is unable to do the job himself and he makes the men in the boat throw him overboard with them feeling guilty rather than just jumping in himself. This action is reprehensible and in line with his selfishness, his caring more about himself than how his actions impact another(s).
This, I believe, is one of the reasons to read this on Yom Kippur afternoon, before the Gates of Repentance close, before the Gates of Community close, before the Gates of Return close; don’t get too full of oneself just because you have been forgiven, because you have not suffered consequences for you despicable actions. Too many of we the people go to Temple on Yom Kippur out of habit, out of superstition, out of wanting to see people, wanting to be seen and NOT to ask for, not accept the forgiveness of God, the admission of our errors, sins, etc. Too many of we the people are so spiritually immature, so enamored with our self, our rational minds, we are like Jonah-knowing there is a higher power, knowing God exists, just refusing to believe this truth has any impact on me, refusing to surrender our self-centered, egotistical desires and beliefs. Today is the 1st day of Av, in 9 days we will commemorate the destruction of the 1st and 2nd Temples, we will commemorate our inability to get past our need for power, wealth, certainty, denial of our mortality, and cause our destruction-spiritually and morally, communally and individually. Of course the Temples were destroyed by our enemies, and We the People were weaker than them, yet could there have been a different outcome had we the people not ignored God’s call to us, had not listened to and emulated Jonah rather than Hosea, Jeremiah, Micah, etc? MAYBE!
We the People are witnessing and some of we the people are participating in the ways of Jonah, ignoring the authentic call of God to us, the demand to BE HOLY, to love the stranger, to help the poor and the needy, to not be “a scoundrel within the limits of the law”, ie living the spirit as well as the letter of the law so as not to bastardize God’s words, Jesus’ words. The 1st Temple was destroyed, according to some Rabbis, because of idolatry, sexual inappropriateness, and bloodshed. Sound familiar to anyone? When Andrew Tate, who promotes inappropriate sexual behaviors/deviancy, is hailed by Baron Trump and gotten out trouble in Romania by Donald Trump, when Nick Fuentes and his Gruypers are being hailed for their hatred of Jews, women, people of color, when White Christian Nationalists like Pastor Doug Wilson (Pete Hegseth’s Minister) preach the Gospel of women not being allowed to vote, women being totally subservient to men, when ICE is celebrated for killing innocent human beings, here both legally and illegally, does it seem any different than what happened in Ancient Israel?
The Book of Jonah is here to remind us of our need to be aware and NOT IGNORE the calls, the demands, the teachings, the ways of living well taught by the Bible, taught by Christ. It is WAY PAST TIME for We the People to recover our hearing, recover our vision, recover our mission and purpose and END the SINS of the Rich and Powerful, RETURN to God, God’s ways, No longer participate in destroying our souls, rather maturing them, growing them, living into them.
GOD BLESS, STOP GHOSTING GOD, GHOSTING SELF, Rabbi Mark