{"id":78669,"date":"2020-08-11T16:36:44","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T13:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78669"},"modified":"2020-08-12T07:01:54","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T04:01:54","slug":"habakkuk-and-honi-the-chutzpadik","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/habakkuk-and-honi-the-chutzpadik\/","title":{"rendered":"Habakkuk And Honi The Chutzpadik"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"78669","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"544","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Both behave petulantly before God\u00a0\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><div class=\"video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hRfV7XrGfBo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Habakkuk\u2019s complaints against God in Chapter 1 remain unanswered. Here, God finally replies, but only after the Prophet physically \u201ctakes a stand\u201d, demanding God\u2019s response: \u201cI will stand on my watch, take up my station at the post, and wait to see what He will say to me, what He will reply to my complaint\u201d (Habakkuk 2:1).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This verse plays a key role in the Rabbinic legend of \u201cHoni the Circle Maker\u201d (Mishnah Ta\u2019anit 3:8, Talmud Bavli Ta\u2019anit 19a, 23a). The Talmudic version (23a) begins: Once the rainy season had progressed and still no rain had fallen. The people sent a message to Honi the Circle Maker: Pray that rain may fall! He prayed and still no rain fell. He thereupon drew a circle and stood within it in the same way as the prophet Habakkuk had done, as it says: \u201cI will stand on my watch, take up my station at the post\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This brief reference to the first verse of our chapter suggests that the following narrative featuring the early Rabbinic miracle-worker, Honi, may be read as a midrashic expansion on Habakkuk\u2019s \u201cstanding upon his watch\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Talmudic story continues: Honi exclaimed before God, Master of the Universe\u2026I swear by Your great name that I will not move from here until You have mercy upon your children! Rain began to just drizzle\u2026So, he exclaimed: It is not for this that I have prayed, but for rain to fill reservoirs, irrigation canals and grottos. The rain then began to come down, but in over abundance. So, Honi then exclaimed before God: It is not for this that l have prayed, but for rain of benevolence, blessing and bounty. Then rain fell normally\u2026He said: Master of the Universe, Your people Israel cannot endure neither an excess of good nor an excess of misfortune\u2026May it be Your will that the rain may now cease. Immediately, the clouds dispersed, and the sun shone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thereupon Simeon ben Shetah [early <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nasi<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the Sanhedrin, 2<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">-1<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">st<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century BCE] sent to him\u2026I would have placed you under the ban<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">niddui<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">]\u2026But what shall I do unto you who behaves petulantly before God and yet He grants what you demand, as a son who behaves petulantly before his father and yet he grants whatever the son demands. If such a son says to his father, bathe me in warm water, rinse me in cool water, give me delectable nuts and fruits, the father immediately accedes to the son\u2019s demands. I must admit that of you Scripture says, Honi: \u201cYour father and mother will rejoice. She who bore you will exult\u201d (Proverbs 23:25).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Honi, we are told, caused rain to fall in a time of drought. While Habakkuk finally caused God to reply: \u201cWrite the prophecy down. Inscribe it clearly on tablets, so that it can be read easily\u201d (Habakkuk 2:2). This suggests that the Prophecy of Habakkuk is one of the literary results of such a divine command (see Isaiah 30:8).<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/hRfV7XrGfBo","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Habakkuk and Honi - III","main_caption":"Habakkuk And Honi The Chutzpadik","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Both behave petulantly before God\u00a0","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/hRfV7XrGfBo","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78669"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78706,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78669\/revisions\/78706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}