{"id":35896,"date":"2014-02-25T20:36:04","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T20:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=35896"},"modified":"2016-09-20T11:01:19","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T11:01:19","slug":"significance-astrology-judaism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/significance-astrology-judaism\/","title":{"rendered":"Significance of Astrology in Judaism"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Judaism, Astrology is not regarded as “idol worship,” even though the generic name for “idol worship” is<\/strong> “Avodat Kochavim U’Mazalot,” Worship of the Stars and the Signs of the Zodiac.”<\/p>\n

From the Jewish perspective, the stars are not unrelated<\/strong> to events on earth. It is not irrelevant whether one was born on Pesach, or Yom Kippur, or Lag Ba’Omer or on any particular day. Each day is special and has a unique imprint.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if an individual was born under the “sign” of Mars, the Talmud says that he will have a tendency to spill blood. This tendency can be realized in a number of very different ways, however, which are subject to an individual’s choice. In this case, options might be a soldier, a surgeon, a murderer, a “shochet,” a ritual slaughterer of animals, or a “mohel,” one who performs ritual circumcisions. These options correspond to a potential hero, a healer, one who violates the “image of G-d,” to those who do “holy work” of different types.<\/p>\n

There is a principle, “Ayn Mazal L’Yisrael,” “Israel’s fate is not determined by the stars.” The Jew, raised in his People’s traditions and Torah values, feels the reality of “freedom of choice” in his bones. So deeply ingrained is this knowledge and feeling, that the Jew rarely has cause to think about astrological factors.<\/p>\n

It is the belief that one cannot escape<\/strong> from the grip of the stars that distinguishes Astrology from “Worship of the Stars and Signs of the Zodiac.” It is always possible<\/strong> to define one’s fate, by choosing behavior which is guided by morality and integrity, within the parameters – intellectual and emotional, physical and spiritual\u00a0–\u00a0which a person is given to work with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Judaism, Astrology is not regarded as “idol worship,” even though the generic name for “idol worship” is “Avodat Kochavim U’Mazalot,” Worship of the Stars and the Signs of the Zodiac.” From the Jewish perspective, the stars are not unrelated to events on earth. It is not irrelevant whether one was born on Pesach, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":730,"featured_media":41817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[362],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-months"],"yoast_head":"\nSignificance of Astrology in Judaism - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The stars are not unrelated to events on Earth but it is always possible to define one's fate by choosing behavior guided by morality and integrity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/significance-astrology-judaism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Significance of Astrology in Judaism - Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The stars are not unrelated to events on Earth but it is always possible to define one's fate by choosing behavior guided by morality and integrity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/significance-astrology-judaism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-25T20:36:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-20T11:01:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/Zodiac-Signs-e1474369133991.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"758\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"505\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"OU Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"OU Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/significance-astrology-judaism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/significance-astrology-judaism\/\",\"name\":\"Significance of Astrology in Judaism - 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