Justice, Kindness, and the Gourd: The Root of Empathy
View the full discussion in the forum (8 messages total)
Opening message from the rabbi
Justice, Kindness, and the Gourd: The Root of Empathy
Posted on 27/9/2004
| |
Justice, Kindness, and the Gourd: The Root of Empathy
On the Day of Atonement last year, a somber thought occurred to me. As is well known, the entire Book of Jonah revolves around the dispute between God, who wishes to bring the inhabitants of Nineveh to repentance, and Jonah, who vehemently opposes this and demands the implementation of the attribute of justice. Jonah is a man of truth, and he is prepared to fall into the sea if the great storm is on his account, so long as he does not give up his position.
Now the climax of the book is the verse in which God causes the gourd to wither, and when Jonah protests over it, God answers him: “You had pity on the gourd, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow, and shall I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city…?” (Jonah 4:10–11)
And the difficulty immediately leaps out: Jonah had pity not on the gourd but on himself. What proof is there here in favor of the attribute of mercy?
In other words: this is a refutable a fortiori argument. What sort of a fortiori argument is it from Jonah’s pity for the gourd to God’s mercy upon Nineveh?
Before I offer my own wares, I would be glad to hear from the sages of the forum. May our words be acceptable before the Lord of all.
Source (the ‘Stop Here, Think’ forum): http://www.bhol.co.il/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=1126061