There is perhaps a wealth of lessons that may be culled from Sefer Yonah. The GRA even wrote a book on it.
Here is a really simple p'shat from a literary point of view.
The text states that Yonah ran away from Hashem. Every Jewish child knows this is impossible, so a navi would CERTAINLY know that one may not flee the Divinity!
Yet flee - Yonah did. And so what did he REALLY flee? He fled his Divine assignment, his destiny, his mission. He didn't flee G-d, rather he fled G-d's WORD.
What was the immediate result of Yonah's flight? The sea turned stormy and Yonah had to be cast aside
Rabbotai, we have Divine Missions and Assignments in life. When we flee them, our life turns stormy.
If we feel turmoil, it's likely that there is a mission we are avoiding.
For example, if we were meant to be a rabbi and we get into business, we will experience agitation.
The Yishuv hada'at will follow our surrender to what Hashem has mapped out for us
Sometimes the difficulty lies in identifying what that mission is.
Yes, we have free choice. And so we CAN run away. But we do so at our own peril.
And this is the lesson of Yonah to me
Shalom
RRW
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