Choni HaMe’agel, “Choni the Circle-Drawer,” lived in the 1st century BCE, in the time of the Second Temple. He was famous for the power of his prayer.
The Mishnah and Talmud (Taanit 19a, 23a) tell that during a drought he drew a circle in the ground, stood inside it, and declared that he would not move until God had mercy and sent rain. The rain came. Shimon ben Shetach, the head of the Sanhedrin, rebuked him for his boldness yet acknowledged that he was like a child before his father.
The Talmud also tells that Choni saw a man planting a carob tree that would bear fruit only after seventy years. He fell asleep and woke seventy years later to see the man’s grandson eating its fruit. When no one recognised him, he prayed to die, and the sages said: “Either companionship or death.”
