HONI AND RAIN MAGIC
Let’s turn to the rain story. Here’s the story and then I will dig into it. (BT Taanit 19A and 23A)
There was a drought in the land. Neither prayer nor fasting weren’t breaking the drought, so the people turned to Honi the circle maker. He drew a circle, stepped inside it and vowed he would not move until it rained. Immediately it started to rain, but so lightly you could count the drops. That wasn’t going to cut it to break the drought, so he exclaimed “not for this gentle rain did I pray, but for pouring rain that would fill cisterns, ditches and caves.” It starts to absolutely pour, so hard that everyone was afraid of its power. So Honi again exclaimed “It is not for this that I prayed, but for rains of benevolence, benediction and grace.” The rains moderated and fell steadily, to the point where the people had to seek high ground. Honi was implored for help in stopping the rain and prayed to the Master of the Universe for relief and the rains stop.
A great story. Now let’s go into some details. We must understand that for ancient Israel, as indeed for all of us, water is life. Israel depends upon the seasonal rains that come in the six months between the end of Sukkot and the beginning of Passover for all of their moisture during the year (like California) and without these rains, the land flowing with milk and honey becomes the land of famine that (mythically) forced our ancestors down to Egypt where they depend on irrigation instead. Water is life.
The powers that be only turned to Honi at the end of Adar. Adar is the fifth month of the six month rainy season. This is a serious drought. It’s supposed to start raining after Sukkot and rain for the exactly 6 months between Sukkot and Pesach. Here we are, less than a month from Pesach, after Purim and no rain. The theology of our ancestors was that bad things happening in the more than human world, such as a lack of rain, was a function of their moral failings. We see this eloquently expressed in Deuteronomy, a portion of which we recite following the Sh’ma. (Deuteronomy 11:8-17—Fox translation)
“So you are to keep all the commandments that I command you today in order that you may prolong your days on the soil that YHVH swore to your father to give them and their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.
For the land that you are entering to possess, it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you went out where you sow your seed and water it with your foot like a garden of greens, but the land that you are crossing into to possess is a land of hills and cleft-valleys; from the rains of heaven it drinks water…
Now it shall be if you hearken, yes, hearken to my commandments that I command you today, to love YHVH your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your being; I will give forth the rain of land in its due-time, showering rain and later rain, you shall gather in your grain, your new-wine and your shining-oil; I will give you forth herbage in your field for your animals, you will eat and you will be satisfied.
Take you care lest your heart be seduced so that you turn-aside and serve other gods and prostrate yourselves to them and the anger of YHVH flares up against you so that he shuts up the heavens and there is no rain and the earth does not give forth its yield and you perish quickly from all the good land that YHVH is giving to you.”
Water is life. That’s why, as Reb Zelig Golden teaches, the whole Jewish calendar is pointing towards Sukkot when we pray for rain. The oneness of the people with the divine that is the aim of Yom Kippur is to ensure that the life giving rains fall. Water is life.
So a months long drought would have been met with a lot of response before they got to Adar, five months into the sixth month rainy season, and the month before the end of the rainy season and Pesach. But they waited until Adar, the month of Purim, the month of joy, only there is no joy if there is no rain, to turn to Honi. This is a move of desperation, a last chance hail Mary to use a football metaphor. They are out of options, so they turn to Honi.
So you might think Honi would be a nobody. But the text, in some subtle ways, refutes that. The action of the text has Honi’s “disciples.” These disciples intercede twice in the story. First they tell Honi that the drizzle he produces initially isn’t enough because while it would release him from his vow and allow him to leave the circle, it’s not going to help the people. So then he prays again and it starts pouring and they complain that it will overwhelm them, so he backs off the rain to something that seems manageable. Only it isn’t, and the people (rather than his disciples) then ask him to stop them. Honi asks them to bring him a bullock for a thanksgiving offering.
Thanksgiving offerings are designed to be in response to individual events that would feel kind of miraculous, such as recovery from illness or a safe crossing of the desert, following Rabbinic commentary on Leviticus 7:12. However, Honi’s miracle is a public one on behalf of the people. That’s not the usual material for a thanksgiving offering at all. Another feature of the thanksgiving sacrifice is that it is supposed to lead to a communal feast with the sacrifice being consumed within 24 hours. But once it stopped raining, instead of having a feast and consuming the offering, the people went into the fields to gather mushrooms that had popped up because of the rain. So something is off.
All this miraculous rain draws the attention of Shimon Ben Shetach, a great Rabbi and highly connected individual of the time. He was the head of the Sanhedrin, the council of Rabbis, and his sister was the Queen to Yanni, a Hasmonean king. She actually succeeded him, becoming the Queen of Israel.
Shimon says to him “Were you not Honi, I would place you under a ban.” (that is excommunicate you from the community) Why? Shimon continues, “For were these years like the years of Elijah, when the keys of rain were entrusted in Elijah’s hands, and he swore it would not rain, wouldn’t the name of Heaven have been desecrated by your oath not to leave the circle until it rained?” Thus Honi is directly tied as the successor to Elijah but one who challenges the power of YHVH. Shimon continues “But what can I do to you, seeing that you ingratiate yourself with Him who is everywhere, who then grants your wish?” (BT Taanit 23a). There’s not a chance that Shimon wasn’t involved in working to get the people to repent, pray and fast in order to break the drought. But what he and the people did failed to break the drought. Honi did what Shimon could not get done.
Now, Shimon’s complaint isn’t that Honi had divine forces act through his prayers. Here’s a story. Shimon had a dispute with the king, his brother in law. One of the king’s slaves had committed murder and Shimon compelled the king’s attendance in court and demanded of his peers, the other sages, to sit in judgment against the king because the owner of a slave is responsible for what he does (Exodus 21:29). The king comes but refuses to rise and let others testify against him unless the other sages agree with Shimon about the king’s responsibility. The other sages, understandably enough, develop a great fascination with their sandals and say nothing. So Shimon calls upon the angel Gabriel who “immediately came down and smote them to the ground so that their souls left them.” Shimon was able to pray and have the divine kill the other sages because of their cowardice in face of the king’s power.
So what is Shimon’s complaint about Honi? The Talmud never tells us, so we can only speculate. But there is clearly something about how he practices that is barely tolerated by the Rabbis of the time. It is not hard to imagine that this is because he is a certain kind of religious practitioner who can’t be readily controlled by the Rabbinic establishment.
The next part will discuss Honi and an indigenous land ethic. Then we will conclude with some practices we can do based on Honi’s example to reclaim our indigenous heritage.
