Thread by @wordpaley

I gotta say, I did not expect to have an excuse to post this thread, so thanks Rabbi Arthur Schneier’s lucky stars, I guess?

7 Myths About Jewish Astrology, Debunked, a Thread

Myth #1: Astrology is avodah zarah (idolatry).

Fact: Astrology is only avodah zarah if you believe the cosmos control your fate and there is nothing controlling the cosmos. Or, of course, if you pray directly to the sun, moon, stars, or planets.

Even Rambam, the great rationalist, who writes trenchantly against star-worship in the first chapter of his Laws of Idolatry, believed the Zodiac was significant enough to mention in a halakhic work. He also believed celestial bodies have a higher level of knowledge than humans.

Rambam not only stops short of forbidding belief in astrology (pic. 1; he only forbids believing/serving stars as independent intermediaries between God and humans), he outright says the movement of celestial spheres affects life and other natural phenomena on Earth (pic. 2).

Myth #2: Unlike surrounding cultures, our ancestors did not practice astrology.

Fact: The Rabbis in several places (TB Shabbat 156a, Bava Batra 16b, Gen. Rabbah 44:12) explicitly say Abraham was an astrology expert and used it actively. Josephus even claimed Abraham invented it.

Myth #3: Rabbinic Judaism repudiated astrology. All synagogues found with Zodiac mosaics must have been Hellenistic.

Truth: It’s a lot more complicated than that.

First, the sources. Several statements of the Sages confirm they believed in astrology. To name a few:

1. Shabbat 156a-b: A lot here, including a list of personality traits determined by the planet one is born under and a story of God moving Jupiter so Abraham can bear a child.

2. Shabbat 75a: According to R. Yochanan, it is a mitzvah to calculate and predict the movement of the constellations, based on a verse in Deuteronomy 4:6. Another opinion says it is a sin not to.

3. Berachot 58b: The Sage Shmuel, and later the stammaitic narrator himself, attributes natural phenomena such as cold, heat, the Great Flood, and scorpion bites as being directed by G!d via the constellations and the astral order in general.

4. Moed Katan 28a: The Sage Rava, of the 4th generation of Amoraim, says that longevity, bearing children, and one’s livelihood are dependent on one’s “mazal”. Almost all commentators understand this to mean the constellations one was born under.

One more interesting source related to the rabbinic period: Roman emperor Hadrian (may his name be erased) is quoted in the Historia Augusta biographies that all the leaders of synagogues in the Land of Israel during his reign were astrologers.

There is, to be sure, criticism of astrology in rabbinic literature. But it’s almost exclusively criticism of non-Jewish astrologers, such as Pharaoh’s astrologers, and Chaldean astrologers (Pesachim 113b).

What about the mosaics? We can’t know for sure what kind of Jews actually prayed in those synagogues. We also know not all Sages agreed (Avodah Zarah 43b) that making images of astral bodies was verboten, especially 2-D ones. Some held owning was ok as long as a non-Jew made it.

Later rabbinic authorities codified the stringent opinion as normative law. But the mosaics date from 4th to 6th cent. Land of Israel, where Babylonian rabbinic law had not yet held sway and certainly not been unilaterally accepted. So we don’t have to assume Hellenistic shuls.

Myth #4: Believing in or practicing astrology is a violation of the prohibition of לא תעוננו, divination (Lev. 19:26).

Fact: The only thing that is prohibited is believing your astrological signs can predict your future or give you life advice, and/or acting on that advice.

That’s not what Jewish astrology is or ever was. Jewish astrology speaks the language of potentiality, of possibility. On a personal level, it can you what your natural tendencies or strengths/weaknesses are. BUT you can overcome all of them, your “fate”, by being One with G!d.

Which brings me to…

Myth #5: Ein mazal l’yisrael (Shabbat 156a) means astrology means nothing for Jews.

Fact: First, this is one rabbinic opinion. Other Sages, like Rava in Moed Katan, disagree. Tosafot there resolve the contradiction by saying, naturally, that it depends.

But also, the stories the Gemara brings on Shabbat 156a-b do not prove that astrology has no power over the Jews. They prove Jews can *transcend* that power. But if they do not, they’re in the same boat as everyone else.

In all 3 stories, what saves the main character from the astrologer’s prediction is a good deed, implying that without that good deed, the prediction would have come true. And in the last story, where R. Nachman didn’t cover his head, it did come true!

The point being: there is a cosmological order with which G!d runs the world. And only G!d can change that order. But G!d wants us to force G!d to change it by becoming one with G!d, so that essentially we make the decision together.

None of this makes sense if you’re a rationalist. Kabbalah says mitzvot change the higher spiritual realms, which affect the cosmos, which affect us. But you know what else doesn’t make sense if you’re a rationalist? Your consciousness. The miracle of your body. Pick a side bro.

Myth #6: Astrology was the ancients’ science. We have real science now, so it’s useless.

Fact: Astrology was never just a science to Jews. They saw it as a prism refracting the light of the Infinite. An embodiment of a higher spiritual order in a seemingly disordered universe.

Here are some Zodiac-based diagrams from commentaries to Sefer Yetzirah, one of the oldest Kabbalistic works. Medieval Kabbalists of the Abulafian school were fond of astrology. Arizal’s top student R. Haim Vital wrote a whole book of Kabbalistic astrology, “The Book of Fates”.

Myth #7: No one talks about Jewish astrology today because it’s BS.

Fact: The @OrthodoxUnion has an article! (ou.org/holidays/signi…) The @artscroll machzor for Sukkot has a piyut in the back based on the Zodiac! (thanks @twcravens for the pic) You’re just not paying attention.

And there are Jewish astrologers alive today who see real Jewish clients, including from Charedi communities! Listen to my interview with @LorelaiKude of @Astrolojew, who studied in Israel and with the great Linda Goodman, author of 70s classic “Sun Signs”, to learn more. Enjoy!

https://twitter.com/interleaved_pod/status/1452441639809605639