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Honi Hamaagel (Honi the circle maker) was an especially pious Jewish man who lived during the first century BCE. The Talmud states that he was so pious that he had a special relationship with God and was able to be a miracle worker. He would be able to pray for rain when the populace needed the precipitation. He would draw a circle, step inside it, and inform God that he would not step out of the circle until it rained. Due to his piety, he was always successful; God did not want to see this pious man stranded in a circle.
Honi has bucked the rabbinic method of dealing with drought, and though his methods initially work, bringing the rain that is so desperately needed, the ultimate results are disastrous. The rabbis are appalled, but because they recognize Honi’s extraordinary relationship with God, they stop short of excommunicating him.
On our daf, while traveling Honi saw a man planting a carob tree. He asked him, “How long would it take (for this tree) to bear fruit?” The man answered, “Seventy years.” He then asked, “Are you sure that you will live another seventy years?” The man answered, “No. But I’m not planting this (tree) for myself, but for the next generations and the ones that follow.” Honi shrugged his shoulders and left.
Later, when he sat down to rest, he slept for seventy years. When he awoke and retraced his prior walk, he saw a man plucking carobs from a tree. He asked, “Did you plant this tree?” The man answered, “No. My grandfather planted it. My father told me that his father planted this tree for me.”
We examine the literary and folk motif aspects of rain makers and miracle workers in Aggadah and the way his intercession provides a model for petitionary prayer.
