The Circle and the Rain

Once the people turned to Choni HaMe'agel and asked him to pray for rain. He prayed, but no rain fell. He then drew a circle, stood inside 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. He 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 with force. He said, "It is not for this that I have asked, but for rain of favor, blessing and bounty." Then the rain fell in the normal way.

It rained so much that everyone in Yerushalayim went up to Har HaBayis to escape the flooding. They said to Choni, "Just as you prayed for the rain to fall, pray for it to leave."

The Nassi, Shimon ben Shetach, sent word to Choni: "Were it not that you are Choni, I would have decreed a nidui (ban of excommunication) upon you, because you troubled Hashem about the rain so many times. But what can I do to you? You importune Hashem and He grants your request, like a son who importunes his father and his father grants his request."

The rain fell on the twentieth of Adar, after three years of drought and famine, and the day became a day of rejoicing.