Tehillim 126 and Tanna Rabbi Honi HaMe'agel

Tehillim 126 and Tanna Rabbi Honi HaMe'agel

Tehillim 126:1 “Beshiv Ad-nai et shivat Tziyon, hayinu k'cholmim” — (When the L-rd returned the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers). Throughout the life of Rabbi Honi HaMe'agel, he was troubled by the words of Tehillim: “When the L-rd returned the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers.” He said: “Is anyone capable of remaining asleep for 70 years?” — referring to the 70 years of the Babylonian exile. One day, Honi was walking along the road and saw a man planting a carob tree. “When will this tree bear fruit?” Honi asked him. The man replied: “In 70 years.” “And are you certain that you will live for 70 years?” Honi asked. The man replied: “I found carob trees in the world. Just as my ancestors planted them for me, so will I plant them for my descendants.” Honi then sat down to eat some bread. Drowsiness overcame him, and he fell asleep. Rocky formations rose up around him and concealed him from view. He slept for 70 years. When he awoke, he saw a man gathering fruit from that very carob tree. He asked him: “Were you the one who planted this tree?” The man replied: “My grandfather.” Honi said: “It seems that I slept for seventy years…” He went home and asked: “Is the son of Honi HaMe'agel alive?” They told him: “His son is no longer alive, but his grandson is alive and well.” He said: “I am Honi HaMe'agel!” But they did not believe him. He went to the yeshivah and heard someone remark during a discussion of a halachah: “This halachah is as clear as if Honi HaMe'agel himself had explained it.” “It is I — Honi,” he declared, but no one believed him; they all turned away from him with disdain. Honi lost heart and began pleading with the Al-mighty to send him death. (Babylonian Talmud, Ta'anit 23a) The exile to which David HaMelech refers in this passage from Tehillim — what occurred after the destruction of the First Temple — was the exile to Bavel. This exile lasted 70 years. The Psalmist, as Honi understood him, was saying that those 70 years during which Israel was in exile were like a dream: a fleeting, relatively insignificant period of time. For Rabbi Honi, however, the 70-year period was significant. Tehillim 90:10 states: “The days of our lives are 70 years…”. And Rabbi Honi asks: Is it possible to compare a person's life to a dream, to something lacking in significance and without essential meaning? This is precisely what troubled Rabbi Honi. (Maharsha)