Maftir Yonah
Maftir Yonah- The Haftara we read after reading the Yom Kippur Mincha is taken from the book of Jonah the prophet.
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Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people, as is said in the Torah
“Because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.”
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Table of Contents:
Maftir Yonah
The Haftara we read after reading the Yom Kippur Mincha (the fourth of the Yom Kippur prayer) is taken from the book of Jonah the prophet.
{at the end, three verses from the book of Micah are added)
The Haftara expresses the power of faith, and the fact that we cannot escape God.
The story of the Haftara
The bible tells of Jonah, son of Amitai, who was a prophet. God asked him to go on a special mission to the city of Nineveh and give a message to the city’s people.
The city of Nineveh was the capital of the kingdom of Assyria, the people there were misbehaving and committing transgressions. God sends Jonah to warn them that if they continue behaving this way, God will punish them.
Jonah does not wish to obey God’s command, he thinks to himself that there is no use since the city’s people will not change their ways anyway.
It is told that the prophet boarded a ship and sailed in another direction to try and escape God’s command.
A storm in the water
In the middle of its voyage, a storm begins which almost sinks the ship.
Jonah realizes that the storm is a sign that he is trying to escape the mission God tasked him with.
Jonah asks to be thrown into the sea, to assume responsibility for what he did and to save the ship’s people from his punishment.
Jonah in the fish’s belly
In the sea, a large fish appears and swallows Jonah.
From within the fish’s belly, the prophet prays to God for forgiveness and asks to be given a second chance to carry out the task.
God hears the prayer of Jonah the prophet, and the fish spits him back out onto the shore.
After that, it is told that Jonah goes to Nineveh and spreads the prophecy, asking the people to repent.
The people of the city listen to the prophet, repent and cease their wicked deeds.
The reason why the book of Jonah is read on Yom Kippur
The custom of reading this Haftara on Yom Kippur is meant to inspire us to repent, to know that there is no escaping God’s commands, and even if we strayed from his path, there is always a way to fix things.
Reading the Jonah Haftara is a virtue that grants us wealth
According to tradition, and according to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, reading the Jonah Haftara is a virtue that grants us wealth.
Also, you can read about the prayer of Neila
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