The Talmudic fable of Honi the Circle-Maker isn’t the only lesson on environmentalism from traditional Jewish sources, but it’s an especially fascinating–and especially strange–story. Honi, a first-century miracle-worker, had a foolproof way for making rain: He’d draw a circle around himself, pray, and the rain would come (Babylonian Talmud, Ta’anit 23a). One day, he comes across a man who’s planting a tree. […]
