INTRODUCTION TO HONI

If we are to reclaim an indigenous Hebrew/Jewish spirituality, we need to reclaim the models from our tradition that have bubbled up despite their repression by a patriarchal monotheism that sought to bury them. 

Honi the circle maker is one such model.  There are basically two famous stories surrounding Honi.  Each of these stories gives us something indigenous to build upon as we seek to repair our relationship with the more than human world.  Honi is important as the exemplar of a land ethic, as represented in the famous story of Honi and the carob tree.  Honi is also important as a religious specialist with rain magic including the practice of casting a circle, as exemplified in the story of him making a circle and praying for rain. Just as Elijah was a prophet who was radically different from the other people termed prophets such as Jeremiah, so Honi was a rabbi who was different than the other Rabbis of his era.  There are no laws or even legal opinions that bear his name. The Rabbinic leadership of the time, as we will see, is not at all comfortable with him, but recognizes his spiritual power.

I’m going to tell the two stories for which Honi is famous, with a deeper analysis of the ecological details of the rain story.  As I tell you the rain story, I want you to think about circles in ritual and about prayer.  As I tell you the carob tree story, I want you to think about the price of mobility in our society.  If we want to be earth based Jews, we have to find ways to be rooted in a particular eco system and even in a particular place, so we know that someone with whom we are connected will enjoy the benefits of a tree we plant in 80 years.