Gemara Clarity

Taanis 23a

תענית כ״ג ע״א

Taanit 23a

Learn Taanis 23a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Taanis 23a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Rain in its season, the stories of חוני המעגל, and the start of the story of his grandson אבא חלקיה

Overview

This amud first finishes a ברייתא explaining that rain 'in its season' means rain on Tuesday nights and Friday nights. It proves this with two stories. In the days of שמעון בן שטח, crops grew huge. In the days of הורדוס, rain fell only at night while the בית המקדש was being built. The גמרא then tells the full story of חוני המעגל from the משנה. He drew a circle and swore not to leave it until it rained, and after a drizzle and then a flood, proper rain came. Since one may not pray against too much good, he ended the rain with a thanksgiving offering and a prayer for relief. שמעון בן שטח criticized his boldness but compared him to a beloved son, and the סנהדרין praised him with פסוקים from איוב. רבי יוחנן then tells how חוני slept seventy years and woke to find no one believed him, and רבא concludes: either friendship or death. Finally, the story of his grandson אבא חלקיה begins and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

״בְּעִתָּם״ —

"In their season" means

בְּלֵילֵי רְבִיעִיּוֹת וּבְלֵילֵי שַׁבָּתוֹת.

on the nights before Wednesday and on the nights before Shabbat.

שֶׁכֵּן מָצִינוּ בִּימֵי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן שָׁטַח

For so we found in the days of Shimon ben Shetach

שֶׁיָּרְדוּ לָהֶם גְּשָׁמִים

that rain fell for them

The steps (29)

  1. StatementWhat 'in their season' means
  2. ProofThe amazing crops in the days of שמעון בן שטח
  3. ProofNight-only rain while הורדוס built the בית המקדש
  4. StatementQuoting the משנה about חוני המעגל
  5. StatementNo rain in אדר, and חוני's first prayer fails
  6. Statementחוני draws a circle like חבקוק
  7. Statementחוני swears not to move until it rains
  8. StatementThe students say the drizzle is not enough
  9. Statementחוני asks for more, and the rain becomes violent
  10. StatementThe students say the rain will destroy the world
  11. StatementRain of blessing falls, until the people ask for it to stop
  12. Responseחוני's tradition: no praying against too much good
  13. Statementחוני brings a thanksgiving bull and prays for relief
  14. StatementThe rain stops at once and the sun comes out
  15. Statementשמעון בן שטח says חוני deserved נידוי
  16. Statementחוני is like a beloved son pampered by his father
  17. StatementA פסוק describes חוני's parents rejoicing
  18. StatementThe סנהדרין sends חוני a פסוק of praise
  19. StatementExplaining the סנהדרין's פסוק
  20. StatementThe rest of the פסוק from איוב praises חוני for saving an unworthy generation
  21. Statementחוני is puzzled all his life by the פסוק 'we were like dreamers'
  22. Statementחוני meets a man planting a carob tree for his grandchildren
  23. Statementחוני falls asleep, is hidden by rock, and sleeps seventy years
  24. Statementחוני wakes and sees signs that seventy years have passed
  25. Statementחוני returns home and his family does not believe him
  26. StatementThe חכמים praise חוני but do not believe it is him
  27. Statementחוני dies of loneliness, and רבא's saying
  28. StatementIntroducing אבא חלקיה, חוני's grandson
  29. StatementTwo חכמים find אבא חלקיה hoeing in the field