Astrology: did Rambam consider Talmudic rabbis to be sinners?

Yesterday’s Torah reading contained powerful prohibitions against occult beliefs and practices such as necromancy and divination. Rambam, who treats this subject in his Laws of Idolatry (10:8-9), explains this to include:

“A person who tries to predict auspicious times, using astrology and saying, "This day will be a good day," "This day will be a bad day,"… Anyone who performs a deed because of an astrological calculation or arranges his work or his journeys to fit a time that was suggested by the astrologers…”

Rambam’s teaching is most surprising in view of the fact that a number of Talmudic teachings explicitly draw upon astrological phenomena as providing legitimate basis for beliefs and actions.

For example we find on Shabbat 129b that:

Shmuel said: Bloodletting should be performed on a Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, but not on a Monday or Thursday. And why may bloodletting not be performed on a Tuesday? Because we know that Mars is dominant during the even hours.

Would Rambam therefore have considered Shmuel – and other Talmudic sages like him – to have been contravening biblical prohibitions by incorporating astrological assumptions into their thought systems and daily planning?

Judaism Reclaimed examines this possibility as part of its broader exploration of Rambam’s position concerning the darker arts. Citing Talmudic passages and principles, Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim seeks to establish that the Torah's prohibition against pursuing “the ways of the nations” (often referred to as "darkei Emori") includes whatever is believed by the nations to be effective for supernatural rather than scientific reasons. This is reflected by a Gemara (Shabbat 67a) which teaches that "anything which is 'refuah' is not darkei Emori". Rambam explains this to mean that any cure which was understood — even erroneously — to be naturally effective, does not belong to the prohibited category of darker arts.

Applying Rambam’s principle to the long lists of peculiar medical advice which feature in the Gemara, it would seem that the effectiveness of these cures is of little consequence. What is crucial is that they were believed to have natural healing ability and were therefore, at least during the era of the compilation of the Gemara, not subsumed within the ambit of 'darkei Emori’.

Rambam understood that, since the laws of the natural world are a product of divine wisdom, they therefore represent an important means for acquiring awe, love and knowledge of God. We are to apply our God-given intellect, to the best of our ability, in order to appreciate the Creator’s wisdom within our world. When it comes to magic and the darker arts, by contrast, "these things corrupt all paths of truth" since such trickery and fabrication corrupt man's understanding of God's world, leading him away from attaining knowledge of God.

Any practice which appears to be effective, however, should be considered to be a reflection of God's wisdom in creating the world. If magical rites actually worked, the Torah would have had no cause to prohibit them. The problem, according to Rambam, with these imagined products of trickery lies primarily in the claim that they involve the use of powers which lie above God's natural laws, therefore wielding the ability to control and manipulate them. This creates an impression of the existence of additional and distinct supernatural powers — a dark side to be served and appeased — which makes sorcery and necromancy natural bedfellows of idolatry.

In his Letter on Astrology addressed to the Rabbis of Lunel, Rambam acknowledges the existence of Talmudic statements which uphold the legitimacy of astrology (though he indicates that they reflect a minority position). Nevertheless, on the basis of his analysis in the Moreh, he would not have condemned this Talmudic belief in astrology as a breach of biblical law since it was consistent with the (albeit mistaken) science of the time. Such a belief is also evident in the writings of Ibn Ezra (see e.g. commentary to Shemot 33:21) who understood that the stars form part of the system of divinely-ordained natural laws which were set up at the time of Creation to control aspects of our world.

On the basis of extensive research into the science of his day, however, Rambam considered astrology to have been resoundingly debunked – it was no longer legitimate to claim that it played a part in God’s natural system for running the universe. Any subsequent belief, therefore, in the powers of the stars could only be based upon an idolatrous belief that the celestial bodies enjoyed supernatural power independent of God – the sort of prohibited belief detailed in the opening chapter of Hilchot Avoda Zara.

Rambam’s approach to the scientific expertise of the Talmudic sages reflects his broader position that, while statements from the prophets are taken to emerge from divine insight and are therefore accurate, later sages based some of their teachings upon the science of the societies which they inhabited and could therefore sometimes be mistaken. As he sets out in the Letter of Astrology, only rational proof and tradition of the prophets should form the basis of a person’s belief.

This insight may also be helpful to those who this week started a new cycle of daily Mishneh Torah study – a cycle which opens with Rambam’s presentation of the wonders of God’s creation. That this cycle draws heavily upon now defunct science such as the spheres should not trouble anyone. As the Yemenite-Maimonidean sage, Rabbi Yosef Kapach wrote in his commentary:

“All the ideas concerning the existence of spheres, their nature, number and ranking…all of these matters were not part of our sages’ transmitted tradition. Rather they were based on their personal understanding or on the astronomical sciences of their time…However the books which were compiled by the sages from the era of the prophets…did not reach us…”

Rather than being concerned with how to interpret Maimonidean theories of the spheres, such passages should instead prompt us to explore what the opening chapters of Mishneh Torah would have looked like had Rambam written them in the year 2023.

First posted to Facebook 30 April 2023, here.

Why the Shlissel Challah Killjoys?

It’s that time of year and Maimonideans seem to be at it again. My social media is full of seemingly sensible pushbacks: “if you don’t want to make the key-shaped Schlissel-Challah fine – why vilify and criticize a practice that others find meaningful and inspiring?” 

n a few short weeks we’ll be faced with a similar showdown – between those who find great spiritual meaning in Lag BeOmer bonfires and others who point to Talmudic sources that include dancing round fires in a list of forbidden pagan-type practices. Uman-pilgrimages, red strings, Reb Shayale prayers and segullot– the list goes on…

What is it about these seemingly harmless practices that makes many Jews uncomfortable and motivates them to protest so vehemently? 

Admittedly for some there may be an element of superiority complex which leads them to suppose that their “rational thought-through” approach to Judaism is inherently better and more sophisticated than the “uncultivated uneducated superstitious” practices of others. But for those who truly understand the worldview of Rambam (and those Geonim-Rishonim who share his approach) the matter is far deeper – it goes to the very heart of what Judaism stands for. 

The universe we inhabit, to an untrained human mind, is a chaotic and confusing place. Human nature is guided by primal fears and a powerful imagination to identify numerous existential threats and dangers at every turnn, and to perceive a pagan system of forces and powers that are seen to lie behind them. Rambam, in his opening chapter of Hilchot Avoda Zara (and elsewhere) describes how pagans looked up to the heavens and imagined the celestial bodies as multiple competing sources of power that toyed malevolently with helpless humans. 

These imaginary powers, further propelled by dark human fears, were gradually developed into more complex belief systems with accompanying modes of worship of and appeasing these predatory forces. The celestial bodies were represented by symbols, talisman and temples, and methods of worship were concocted – some of which involved extreme acts of cruelty and immorality. Torturing and sacrificing children in the belief that the tears would prompt the “rain gods” to shower abundance, licentiousness and appalling acts of sexual abuse visited upon virgin girls – often by priests in temples – in the belief that this would generate blessing from the gods of fertility. 

Omens and divinations are almost limitless when the human mind is guided primarily by the imagination rather than rational intellect. The pagan mind could easily lead itself to imagine that success or failure had been caused (rather than correlated with) an encounter with specific animals or the recitation of a magic formula to an idol. Even in modern times there are those who insert imaginary meaning into the patterns found in stars, tarot cards, crystals, animal entrails and the palms of people’s hands and alter their conduct accordingly.

Judaism Reclaimed describes how the Torah’s most basic and fundamental function, according to Rambam, is the repudiation of this imagination-based way of perceiving the world as pagans did (and to an extent continue to do). Avraham Avinu is the “Founding Father” of the Torah’s monotheistic revolution. He looked at the same universe as did the polytheists and instead perceived with his intellect a cohesive and comprehensive system – all created and coordinated by a single supreme Deity. As depicted in the Midrash, while Nimrod proposes that each natural force in turn be deified, worshipped and appeased, Avraham firmly refuses to recognize such a chaotic pantheon of rival natural forces, seeking instead the single Supreme Power that instituted and governs them.  

The Torah, which was revealed to Avraham’s descendants, contained a set of laws designed to wean them away from pagan imagination-led thinking and fortify them against the sorts of superstitious practices that this led to. In the parshiyot we are currently reading, we are repeatedly commanded not to copy the type of actions that the Egyptians and Canaanites pursued; the Chukkat HaGoyim of the surrounding nations. Not to seek out and follow imagined omens, magic, necromancy and divinations but to “be perfect with Hashem your God”. A later parashah even prohibits bringing idolatrous objects and symbols into one’s home: as explained by Rishonim this recognizes the overwhelming tendency of the human imagination to attribute success or failure to ritual objects and subsequently develop religiously meaningful beliefs and practices around them.

The system of commandments devised by the Torah to replace pagan beliefs and rituals is a strict legal system rather than a loose collection of imagination-led rituals. Some of these commandments, such as sacrifices, are explicitly described as being intended to guide the people away from pagan practice:

“the kohen shall dash the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting…And they shall no longer slaughter their sacrifices to the satyrs after which they stray.” (Vayikra 17:6-7).

Others such as Tzitzit and Tefillin are commanded, in the Torah’s own telling, in order to ensure collective recollection of key national historical and religious occasions. Crucially, there is little scope for individuals to alter these commandments based on their imagination – adding a passage to the Tefillin or changing details of a korban invalidates the commandment and is often an additional prohibition in its own right.

In contrast to the pagan cults with their emphasis on imagined rituals to appease and bribe the gods in order to achieve worldly success, the Tanakh and its prophets consistently taught that it is a relationship with God and mirroring His path of righteousness, justice and kindness which are of primary importance. Yeshayahu repeatedly railed against those who oppressed and ill-treated the weak yet thought their ritual observance bore any significance to God. Shabbat, korbanot and fasting, he maintained, are all meaningless until one feeds and clothes the poor and brings them into one’s home.

So returning to Shlissel Challah and its ilk. Even if it cannot be proven to have pagan origins or to have been unwittingly developed to mirror Easter key-breads which symbolize belief in the resurrection of Jesus. Even if there is no association between Lag BeOmer bonfires and the pagan circling-fire practices alluded to by the Tosefta – they still represent to many the antithesis rather than the goal of Judaism.

By elevating the importance of uncommanded and non-understood rituals. By imagining that key-shaped bread rituals (rather than observance of God’s commandments) can bring financial success and blessing they are seen as subverting the Torah’s message and project. Closer to “Bechukotaihem lo telechu [in their statutes you shall not walk]” and further from what Jewish observance should represent: “Chochmatchem uvinatchem be’einei ha’amim [your wisdom and discernment in the eyes of the nations]”.

First posted on Facebook 5 May 2024