Efrat, Israel - “... Neither shall you practice divi¬nation nor soothsaying ...” (Lev. 19:26).

What does the Torah say about the skies of the Zodiac whose predictions grace the pages of so many daily newspapers and maga¬zines? Columns on astrology have become as common as the sports section.

Most of us believe that because we’re living in the first decade of the 21st century, idol worshiping is dead, just a shadow of what it once was, limited to corners of the Far East or among prehistoric jungle tribes. But accord¬ing to Maimonides’ understanding of idol worship, if you’ve ever changed your path because of a black cat, or altered a decision because of an astrological reading, then you’re trafficking in some form of idolatry, and what seems an innocent, harmless superstition is actually a forbid¬den transgression.

 In this week’s Torah reading, Kedoshim, G-d forbids the Jewish people to practice divination or rely on soothsayers, mediums (mediatory, as it were, between the world of the living and the world of the dead) or arbitrary signs which affect future events. Rashi, quoting the Talmud (B.T. Sanhedrin 60) forbids “people who divine using weasels or birds, or bread that fell from his mouth or if a stag crossed his path,” he would or would not go to a certain place, or do a certain thing.

Maimonides, in his formulation of idolatrous practices (Laws of Idol Worship, Ch. 11:4) also seems to reflect the account in Trac¬tate Sanhedrin when he writes of those who say “... since my bread fell from my mouth I’m not going to such and such a place ... or since a fox passed on my right side, I’m not leaving the house today ....”

In the same paragraph, Maimonides continues with his discussion of what happens when someone makes signs for himself by saying: “If this and this occurs to me, I will do it....” And the example he uses to illustrate what he considers to be divining or following signs is rather astonishing: he cites Eliezer’s agency to find a suitable wife for Isaac. Now we usually think of Eliezer’s mission as virtuous and not tainted by an idolatrous shadow. Let us review Eliezer’s “act of divination:”

Arriving at the outskirts of the city, Eliezer stops near the well, aspiring with all his strength to find the right wife for his master Abraham’s son. He comes up with the following plan (test): “If I say to a damsel, ‘Tip over your jug and let me have a drink,’ and she replies, ‘Drink and I will also water your camels,’ she will be the one You have designated.” (Gen. 24:14)

Maimonides’ inclusion of Eliezer is based on the Talmudic Tractate, Hulin 95b, which quotes Rav: “Divining that is different from Eliezer, the slave of Abraham, and Jonathan, son of Saul is not called divining,” a passage that implies that both Eliezer and Jonathan’s behavior were unacceptable in the eyes of the Bible.

The Ra’N (Rabeinu Nissim) disagrees. In his Hidushai HaRa’N (Hulin95b), he points out that when the Torah forbids devising signs or omens, it depends on whether the sign is logical or arbitrary, the former being permissible and only the latter forbidden. After all, there is a world of difference between bread that falls from one’s mouth, or a black cat crossing one’s path, and Eliezer’s sign that was based on common sense and loving-kindness. In the words of the Ra’N, “If someone says ‘If it rains, I won’t go outside,’ this can’t be called divination because such conduct is the way of the world. And Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, and Jonathan, son of Saul, behaved this way.... Eliezer knows the wife for Isaac must be perfectly suitable, and he takes as a sign that if she acts graciously and wholeheartedly, not only restoring his soul by quenching his thirst, but offering water to the camels as well, she is heaven-sent,” she is then the most fitting wife for Isaac!

The Jonathan incident referred to by the Ra’N occurs when Jonathan faces a Philistine garrison, and addresses his armor-bearer: “Behold, we will pass over to these men ... and if they say to us, ‘Tarry until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place but if they say to us, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, for the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this shall be a sign to us ....” (1 Samuel 14:8-10).

The Ra’N is not worried that Jonathan calls this a sign; he interprets the dialogue logically: “If the enemy will say, ‘Come up to us,’ it means they are looking upon Jonathan and his men as their enemy, and are afraid of an ambush; Jonathan was confident in his strength that he and the armor-bearer would defeat them, because the nature of the world is that two or three chiv¬alrous soldiers can attack and overcome an enemy who fears them. But if   they say, ‘Tarry until we come to you,’ it would seem from their words that they have not fear, and in such an instance it wouldn’t be right to risk his [Jonathan’s] life ....” For the Ran, any such logical sign is quite alright.

Maimonides however, is uncompromising. He forbids any kind of mediation, any formulation whatever which suggests that any specific human or animal action is a sign from G-d.   We dare not second guess the Divine, presume to understand His will on the strength of what is even a logical occurrence, or test Him with a sign of any sort. Had Eliezer formulated his plan as his test of suitability for a wife, it would have been perfectly acceptable; the moment he attributed it to a sign from G-d, it bordered upon idolatry. As Rabba bar Chana says in the name  of R. Shmuel ben Marta, “How do we know that we aren’t allowed to make inquiries of astrologers [Chaldeans]?  Because of the verse, ‘You shall be wholehearted with the Lord your G-d,” (Deut. 18:13). Act in accordance with G-d’s laws which He devised; do not presume to understand His ways by means of signs (even logical ones) that you may devise!