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Devar Torah - Shemini

Friday, 21 March, 2014 - 9:00 am

We will not waver; we will not tire;
we will not falter from our demand for Moshiach
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik

This Shabbos is Chof Adar. On this same day in History, an event occurred and is recorded in Megllias Taanis (Chapter 12). The story is as follows.

Once there was a drought and the people turned to Choni HaMe'agel and asked him to pray for rain. He prayed, but no rain fell. What did he do? He drew a circle and stood within it and called out; "Master of the Universe, Your children have turned to me because I am like a member of your household. I swear by Your great name that I will not move from here until You have mercy upon Your children."

A light rain began to fall. His students then said to him, "It seems like rain is only falling so you can be freed from your oath”. He then turned to Hashem again in prayer and said; "It is not for this that I have asked, but for rain to fill cisterns, ditches, and pools." The rain began to come down forcefully. He said, "It is not for this that I have asked, but for rain of favor, blessing, and bounty."  The rain then fell in the normal way.

It rained so much that everybody in Yerushalayim went to the Temple Mount to escape the flooding. They told Choni HaMe'agel, "Just as you prayed for the rain to fall, pray for the rain to leave." The Nassi, Shimon ben Shetach, sent a message to Choni, saying, "Were it not that you are Choni I would have decreed upon you nidui (a ban). But what shall I do to you? You make demands before G-d and He fulfills your wish like a son who demands from his father and his father fulfills his wish."

The rain then fell on the 20th of Adar after 3 years of drought and famine, and it became a day of rejoicing. The addition to Choni’s name, “HaMe'agel-the circle maker" is usually associated with this story.

The Rebbe asks the following questions about this story. Why didn’t Choni HaMe’agel’s prayers cause the rain to fall in the proper fashion in the first place? Why was the rain slow and prolonged to the extent that his students had to come to him and say; "It seems like the rain is only falling so you can be freed from your oath”?  Also, certainly it is known on high what kind of rain is needed down here. Why didn’t Hashem just answer Choni HaMe’agel’s prayers in the way they needed the first time he asked? Why did it have to go through so many steps?

The way things look from above is very different than from below. From above, when the rain falls it’s a bracha, it’s the true good, whether it’s in the form of a drizzle or in the form of a flood. From below however, it depends. It can be the greatest good, but it has to be in a way that can be accesable, absorbed and then be made useful. And that depends on the conditions down here. Therefore it was his students, those familiar with the conditions below that needed to tell Choni that changes were necessary.

In the prayer on Yom Kippur we say to Hashem; “M’otzarcha hatov lanu tiftach- please open for us your goodly treasure”. We say “for us”, meaning that your goodly treasure should reach us in a way that are able to see it and assimilate it as well.

The Rebbe explains that once this story has occurred and become part of the Torah it is a lesson for each and every one of us. Choni HaMe'agel has opened up the channel for each and every one of us, man, woman and child.  Choni's relationship with the Creator was like that of a son to a father. Although we may not feel that we are on the level to pray the way that Choni did, nevertheless because the channel is now open it is possible, and necessary for all of us to pray in this way. From Choni we learn the great power of prayer. We learn that we can and should pray for the greatest good of all, Geula and Moshiach, revealed in a way that we can see and assimilate. We learn from Choni HaMe'agel that even if it doesn’t happen the first or second time, we need to ask again and again. We should not move or waver in this demand in the zechus of all of the Tzaddikim and the entire Jewish people. May we merit to see the full and complete revelation of Moshiach now with happiness and revealed good.

(Adapted from Sichos Shabbos parshas Parah, 20th of Adar 5744-1984).

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