הרב חוני המעגל

Choni HaMa’agel was a sage of the era of the Tannaim, best known from the tractate Taanit. There he appears in the famous account of his long sleep: upon awakening he went to his home and asked whether the son of Choni HaMa’agel was still alive, and was told that the son was gone but a grandson survived. When he declared, “I am Choni HaMa’agel,” the people would not believe him.

The passage further relates how he came to the study hall and heard the Rabbis saying that their learning had become as clear as it had been in the days of Choni HaMa’agel, for whenever he entered the study hall he would resolve every difficulty the Rabbis raised. This portrait preserves his reputation as a sage whose sharpness in clarifying Torah questions remained a byword for later generations.