Astrology

Astrology is a system based on the belief that the stars and constellations moving in their orbits in the heavens influence everything that happens in the world, because life, with its good and its bad, flows from on high through the positions of the stars and constellations. The stars (kokhavim) are the seven heavenly bodies that were considered planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon (the Hebrew acronym: ShTzaM ḤaNKhaL). The constellations (mazalot) are twelve series of distant stars that form a kind of shapes in the heavens, after which they are named: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. Since the stars of the heavens move in their orbits, their influence changes at every moment according to the positions of the stars and constellations, with each month having its own constellation and each day and hour its own arrangements of stars; and according to the combination among them, astrologers draw up a person’s birth chart and foretell his destiny. Likewise regarding the destiny of peoples and states: according to the positions of the stars at the time of their founding, or at the time of important events that happened to them, they determine what events, opportunities or difficulties await them in the future.

For thousands of years the sciences of astronomy and astrology were intertwined, and the sages of the nations of the world, including the sages of Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt and Greece, believed in astrology. Over time, scholars arose who challenged the reliability of astrology, until, in a gradual process, a clear division formed between them. Astronomy developed as an exact science that advances with the help of sophisticated telescopes, by means of which one can see distant stars, star systems and galaxies, and on the basis of observing them one can calculate their orbits and the gravitational forces acting upon them. Astrology, by contrast, is a system that its believers have not succeeded in proving scientifically, and therefore many hold that there is no truth in it.

In general, in the days of the Talmud, when there was a general consensus among the sages of the nations of the world that astrology was a true science, the Sages of Israel did not dispute them. The Talmud (Shabbat 119a) even cites stories that rely on this conception, such as the story of “Yosef who honors Shabbat,” who lived in a place where a gentile with many possessions lived. The Chaldeans (stargazers) told that gentile that all his possessions would fall into the hands of Yosef. The gentile wished to prevent this, so he sold all his possessions, bought a precious pearl with the proceeds, and hid it in his hat. As he was crossing the river, a wind blew and sent his hat flying into the water, and a large fish swallowed the pearl. Some time later that fish was caught and brought to the market close to the time Shabbat began. Since everyone had already bought what they needed for Shabbat, no buyer could be found for it. The fishermen said: Presumably Yosef who honors Shabbat, who is accustomed to go out of his way to buy every good food in honor of Shabbat, will want to buy it. They brought him the fish and he bought it. When he opened the fish, he found the pearl. He sold it for an enormous sum and became rich.

In the days of the Rishonim, when there were already some among the sages of the nations of the world who held that the system of astrology was mistaken, there were also some among the Sages of Israel who held so (see below note 1). And one should not be surprised that the Sages of Israel take the scholars of the nations of the world into account, for Torah scholars do not presume to decide scientific questions on the basis of the Torah, because the aim of the Torah is to teach us the most important things – what is good and what is bad, what is forbidden and what is permitted – and not to decide scientific questions.