What I Learned from Honi the Circle-Drawer

Honi the Circle-drawer



It happened that they said to Honi the Circle-drawer:
--"Pray for the rains to come!"
He prayed, but the rains did not come. What did he do?
He drew a circle, stood in it and said before (God):
-- "Lord of the world, your sons have turned their faces to me,
for I am like a son of the house before you.
I swear by your great NAME: I will not move from here,
until you have compassion on your sons!"
It began to drizzle.
He said:
-"I didn't ask for rain like this, but for rain to fill cisterns, wells and caverns!"
A downpour threatened.
He said:
- "I didn't ask for rain like this, but for rain of good-will, blessing and grace."
It rained as it was supposed to, until, on account of the rain,
Israel had to go from Jerusalem to the temple mount...
Simeon ben Shetach [the leader of the Pharisees] sent to him and said:
--"If you were not Honi, I would have you excommunicated.
But what can I do to you?
You are presumptuous before the Creator and yet he does as you wish,
like a son presumes on his father and he does whatever he wishes."

--- Mishna, Ta'anith 3.8 (source was found here)

I have liked the story of Honi since I first read it a few years ago. It was a neat story, it was catchy and it was interesting. Over the years I've thought of Honi several times, most recently during a search for a TR topic for our EfM class and I remembered having read about him when a student. I decided to pull him out, dust him off and look at him again.

Honi was a person of respect and trust. People went to him when their very lives were threatened by lack of rain. Probably they'd tried praying for rain themselves but apparently God wasn't listening. So, like brothers and sisters in a family who knew who had more clout with Mother or Dad, they went to Honi to ask him to ask on their behalf. "If you ask Mom she won't say know. She likes you best anyway." Ok, ask Dad, since this was a period where Mom had little control of much of anything other than to incubate, raise the kids and take care of the house. Dad did all the decisions -- including whether somebody would get what they asked for, who would inherit the whole show and how much dowry to pay to get the girls married off.

Honi asked Dad but no rain. Finally, in what seems like almost a fit of petulance ("I'm gonna hold my breath until you say yes!"), Honi drew a circle and stood inside it, daring God to refuse him again. Well, the rest of the story is in the Misha. It rained. The people had their needed water, Honi was more revered than before and even the local head of the Pharisees admitted Honi had more connections than a mob boss.

I like Honi. He had guts. I learned a lot from this story because it is a teaching story as much as a story to record an event long ago. Lesson #1 is that it always helps to know somebody with more connections than I have in case I can't get a problem resolved on my own. But I have to try to resolve it myself first.

Lesson #2 , persistence pays off. Ask once and it may not work. Ask twice and the chances of an answer get upped a bit. Nag and it might try the parent's patience but like water dripping on a rock, but eventually I will get an answer.

Lesson #3, be specific. Honi needed water to fill the underground cisterns and reservoirs. A drizzle wouldn't soak in because the ground was too hard-packed and dry. A torrent wouldn't soak in for the same reason, the difference being that the torrential rain would run off quickly, seeking out crevices, cracks, dry stream beds and the like, causing flooding and possibly a lot of damage to mud-brick houses and the people in them. It would also contaminate the cisterns by washing dirt and rocks into the water supply. Honi stuck to his guns; he knew what kind of rain he needed and so did God.

Lesson #4, the text chapter for this week contained references to the ancient belief (which is also a modern one) that God wills it, Deus vult. The name for this is voluntarism and it's common in the three major religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam. God wills a drought so no rain falls. God wills an earthquake and the ground shakes. You get the picture. Honi decided to challenge the voluntarism and ask directly for what was needed. It was a massive poker hand and Honi raised the stakes. We know how that hand turned out.

Lesson #5, be specific. If I need something, ask for it but ask in detail. Heck, it worked for Honi.

Lesson #6, don't be afraid to argue if necessary. Abraham did and Moses had a few words to say to God about something he disagreed with. God didn't whack'em for that; God even changed his mind on one and found an alternative way with the other. There's more than one way to ... (no, I will NOT say "skin a ....")

Lesson #7, and probably the most important one, I won't always get what I ask for. I may not be God's favorite daughter (because God has daughters and pro ably like a lot of fathers, has a special bond with them) but I'm still one of God's daughters so I have a right to ask without fear. I am still a daughter of God, loved and watched over, even if I stamp my foot and pout. I am a daughter of God. If that is all I bring away from the encounter with the circle-drawer, that will be enough.

Thanks for the lessons, Honi.