Choni the Circle Drawer: Rainmaker and Rip Van Winkle

[A patio with an inlaid circle outside of Choni's gravesite in the Galilee]


We are going to complete our current study of wonder workers and shamans of the Talmud...

Chanina Ben Dosa: Jewish Shaman
Akiba: Mystic and Miracle-Worker
Lamed Vavniks: The thirty-six righteous who sustai...
Rav Aha ben Jacob: Dragon Slayer, The Jewish Beowu...
Joshua ben Levi: Esoteric Master, Cosmic Jester

...with the figure of Choni (or Honi) the Circle-Maker. Mishnah Taanit 3:8 and the accompanying Gemara tells of this 2nd Century BCE legendary rainmaker. In a fabulous and humorous episode, Honi literally draws a line in the sand (actually, a magic circle) with God, announcing he will not move from it until God opens the heavens and brings the people Israel rain:

It once happened that they said to Honi ha-M'aggel: "Pray that rains may fall." He said to them: "Go out and bring in the [clay] ovens for the Paschal sacrifices so that they will not dissolve." He prayed, but rains did not fall. What did he do? He drew a circle and stood within it and he said before Him: "Master of the Universe! Your children have turned their faces to me, for I am like a member of your household. I swear by Your great Name that I will not move from here until You have mercy on Your children." Rains began to come down in drops. He said: "I did not ask this, but rains [to fill] pits, ditches and caves." They began to come down angrily. He said: "I did not ask this but [for] rains of benevolence, blessing and generosity." They fell in their normal way, until Israel went up out of Jerusalem to the Temple Mount [high ground] because of the rains. They came and said to him: "Just as you prayed for them that they should fall, so pray that they should go away."...Shimon ben Shetach [the Nasi, or chief officer of the Sanhedrin] sent for him: "If you were not Honi I would decree a ban upon you. But what shall I do to you, for you act like a spoiled child before God and yet He does your will for you, as a son who acts like a spoiled child with his father and yet he does his will for him? And about you the verse says: "Your father and your mother shall be glad and she who bore you shall rejoice." (M. Taanit 3:8)

Another fabulous (and this time, poignant) story (Ta'anit 23a) about Honi seems to have inspired the tale of Vip Van Winkle:

All his life, Choni ha-M'aggel was bothered by this verse, "When God returns us to Zion, we will have been as dreamers," (Ps. 126:1) [Choni is thinking about the Babylonian exile of 70 years, how could it have passed as a dream?]. "Could it be," he asked, "that a person can sleep continuously for 70 years?" One day, as he was walking, he saw a man planting a carob tree. "How long will it be," he asked the man, "before this tree produces fruits?"
"Seventy years," the man answered.
"And are you certain you will still be alive then?" Choni ha-M'aggel asked.
"I was born into a world with carob trees," the man answered. "Just as my fathers planted trees for me to enjoy, so I plant trees for my children."
Choni ha-M'aggel then sat down a little distance away, to a meal. He ate, then dozed off. A wall of rock sprung up around him, and hid him from view. No one could find him, and so he slept for 70 years.

When he awoke from his sleep, he saw the same man picking carobs from the tree he had planted.
"Are you the man that planted this tree?" he asked him.
"no," answered the man, "I am his grandson."
"I see," said Choni, "that I must have slept for 70 years." He then noticed that his donkey had been given birth to donkeys, who in turn, gave birth to still other donkeys. He went to his home.
"Is the son of Choni the Circle-Maker still alive?" he asked.
"No," they answered, "but his grandson is alive."
"I am Choni the Circle-Maker," he told them, but they would not believe him.
He went to the House of Study. There he overheard the rabbis saying, this teaching shines as brightly as in the days of Choni the Circle-Maker. For when Choni would come to the House of Study, he would solve for them in an excellent way, any difficulties they had.
"I am Choni" he told them, but they would not believe him -- and did not honor him as a scholar of his stature needs to be honored. This hurt him deeply. He prayed to God [to end his life] and he died.

In the writings of Josephus, the historical Choni meets a more mundane death at the hands of a political opponent. I like the mythic ending better.

Zal g'mor - To learn more consult the Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism: http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Jewish-Myth-Magic-Mysticism/dp/0738709050