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Joshua HoloHebrew Union College Jewish Institute for Religion, Los Angeles
Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern
Italy
I. INTRODUCTION
It is a commonplace that our modern, tidy distinction between
astronomy and astrology does not apply to the Middle Ages. The
celestial sciences shared a great deal, not merely in the basic fact ofstargazing but also in terms of methods and applications, and this
broad overlap blurred the line between them. Even following the
definition of Maimonides (11351204), who strongly opposed
astrology and distinguished it sharply from astronomy, a certain
structural similarity emerges. According to this definition,
astronomy measures the movements of celestial bodies, observes
their influence on the natural world (such as the tides), and
calculates their cycles in relation to the passage of time. Meanwhile,
judicial astrology (henceforth, simply astrology) relies on its
cognate science, but additionally claims to interpret, and frequently
to predict, the influence of those bodies on future events and moral
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Joshua Holo292
determinations.1 On the one hand, given this complex overlap, an
authors body of workor even a single work in itselffrequently
defies characterization as either astrological or astronomical.2 On
the other hand, as Maimonides position instantiates, certain
medieval Jewish perspectives distinguished between the two forms
of heavenly investigation, and treated them, accordingly, as two
separate pursuits with differently defined religious and cosmic
applications. To be sure, not all Jewish points of view disconnected
the two sciences, but the mere fact that some did is sufficient to
prove that a retrospective merging of astrology and astronomy
poses the same historical and intellectual problems as does ananachronistic separation between them. In tracing the contours and
problems of that distinction between the celestial sciences as it
played out in certain Byzantine Jewish texts, a religious outlook
takes shape as a possible explanation for the apparently paradoxical
fact that the Jews were aware of the potentially occult
characteristics of astrology, even as they overwhelmingly embraced
its validity.
Two well known, Hebrew-language, Byzantine-Jewish literary
sources of tenth- and eleventh-century Southern Italy engage
intensely with the celestial sciences, and they provide one possible
framework for addressing this apparent paradox, in the context of a
well defined period and location. Hebrew culture in Byzantine
Southern Italy flourished in this period, the culmination of a shift in
linguistic orientation first manifest in the increased use of Hebrew
1 Moses Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, tr. M. Friedlnder, 2nd ed. (New
York, 1904), 16466 and idem, Epistle to Yemen and Letter on Astrology, inA
Maimonides Reader, ed. I. Twersky (New York, 1972), 45354, 467. Compare to
the definition of Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford,
1911), 3:24, 27. Helpful commentary on Maimonides distinction by G.
Freudenthal, Maimonides Stance on Astrology in Context, in Moses
Maimonides, ed. F. Rosner and S. S. Kottek (Northvale, NJ and London, 1993),
7790; H. Kreisel, Maimonides Approach to Astrology (Heb.), Proceedings of
the Eleventh World Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, June 2229, 1993 C/2(Jerusalem, 1994), 2532.2Y. T. Langermann, Some Astrological Themes in the Thought of Abraham ibn
Ezra, in I. Twersky and J. Harris, eds. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra: Studies in the
Writings of a Twelfth-Century Polymath (Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1993),
6574; G. Freudenthal, Maimonides Stance, 7784.
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Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy 293
on headstones in eighth-century Apulia.3 Some of the notable
compositions of tenth- and eleventh-century Byzantine Southern
Italy include the Sefer Yosippon, a Hebrew abridgement of
Josephus histories;4 Shabbetai Donnolos (c. 913 to c. 982) Sefer
hakhmoni, a commentary on the Sefer ye!irah, which is a late-
antique, mystical cosmogony based on the Hebrew alphabet;5 and
the Chronicle of Ahimaaz, penned by Ahimaaz b. Paltiel in Capua
in the year 1054, recounting his mythical and magical family story,
which stretches back to ninth-century Oriathe hometown of
Shabbetai Donnoloand which is frequently cited in the context of
Byzantine-Jewish history.6The last two works, the Sefer hakhmoniand the Chronicle, deal very explicitly with the stars, and crucially,
they attribute their study to contemporary Jewish personages.7
Additionally, both texts unambiguously embrace astrology, even as
3 S. Simonsohn, The Hebrew Revival among Early Medieval Jews, in the Salo
Wittmayer Baron Jubilee Volume, 3 vols. (Jerusalem, 1974), 85758; G. I. Ascoli,
Iscrizioni inedite o mal note greche, latine, ebraiche di antichi sepolcri giudaci delNapolitano (Turin, 1880) (originally published in Atti del IV Congresso
Internazionale degli Orientalisti tenuto a Firenze, 1878[Florence, 1880]); and H.
J. Leon, The Jews of Venusia, Jewish Quarterly Review 44 (1954), 284; R.
Bonfil, Cultura ebraica e cultura cristiana in Italia meridionale,, in Tra due mondi
(Naples, 1996), 1718.4 The Josippon (Heb.), ed. D. Flusser, 2 vols. (Jerusalem, 1980), 2:7989 in
particular for the time and place of the publication of the Yosippon.5Sh. Donnolo, Sefer hakhmoni [Il commento di Sabbetai Donnolo sul libro della
creazione], ed. D. Castelli (Florence, 1880), in Sefer ye!irah (Jerusalem, 1965),
12148. Other notable compositions by Donnolo, Sefer ha-mirqahot, ed. S.Muntner, inRabbiShabbetai Donnolo (Heb.), 2 vols. (Jersusalem, 1949), 1:723;
idem, Sefer mazzalot, embedded in Z. Frankel, in Der Kommentar des R. Joseph
Kara zu Job, Monatsschrift fr Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums67
(185758), 273; 26062, 34850. Notable also, on the periphery of the current
subject, is the eleventh-century lexicon by Nathan b. Yehiel, Arukh shalem[Aruch
Completum], ed. A. Kohut (Jerusalem, 1970).6All references to The Chronicle of Ahimaaz, ed. and Eng. tr., M. Salzman (New
York, 1924). Other important editions: Sefer Yuhasin: libro delle discendenze,
introd. and It. tr., C. Colafemmina (Cassano delle Murge, 2001); Megillat
Ahimaaz, ed. B. Klar, 2
nd
ed. (Jerusalem, 1973). J. Starr, The Jews in the ByzantineEmpire (Athens, 1939), 149, citing Donnolo, Sefer hakhmoni, 123; Sharf,
Donnolo, vii.7 In contrast, for example, to the wisdom of the stars attributed to Alexander the
Great in the version of the Alexander Romance appended to theJosippon, 1:462,
describing Alexander as accomplished in every science and the constellations.
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Joshua Holo294
they betray a keen awareness of the problem of occult practice
within Judaism.
At the same time, despite their shared orientation, these texts differ
markedly in their expression of two key relationships: that between
astrology and the occult and that between astrology and astronomy.
This stark variance between the two texts, together with the fact that
they nevertheless share a fundamentally positive outlook on
astrology, begs at least two questions about their ability to maintain
orthodox Jewish positions and still to attribute a relatively high
degree of moral and factual determinism to the stars. First, how dothey reconcile astrology with Judaisms uncompromising claims to
Gods omnipotence and human free will? And second, given that
both texts do indeed resolve that apparent paradox in very different
fashion, is there a single religious framework that we might
attribute to both of them?
From the starting point of some recent scholarship, a model
emerges for understanding Jewish astrology in the context ofambivalence. Here, the scientific overlap between astrology, with
its potential challenge to Jewish doctrine, and astronomy, which
enjoyed elevated religious status as the vehicle for calendation,
causes tension. The two sciences common ground defies, in
technical terms, a distinction that mirrors the Jewish ideological
one, and as a result, the indeterminacy of that scientific boundary
tests Jewish sensibilities. The problem with this model is that,
though it applies to the Sefer hakhmoni, it does not apply to the
Chronicle of Ahimaaz; the former expresses tension, the latter,insouciance. A single model that comports well with the view of
both texts cannot, therefore, rely on ambivalence as a defining
element. If instead we redefine astrology and astronomy in terms of
homily (aggadah) and law (halakhah), respectively, astrology
recedes to a non-binding conceptual realm that cannot impinge on
the more demanding and authoritative category of law. In fact, it
turns out that both of these Southern Italian Hebrew texts invoke
perhaps unconsciouslythese traditional categories of Jewishthought, and through them, they can share their embrace of
astrology on terms that also allow for varied approaches to the
sciences occult associations.
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Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy 295
II. THE TECHNICAL PROBLEM OF FUZZY BORDERS
Not surprisingly, astronomy and astrology exhibit what Shlomo
Sela has termed, in other Jewish medieval contexts, fuzzy
borders. Sela traces the contours of this relationship in the theory
and practice of the celestial sciences, by illustrating with technical
precision how astronomy and astrology were variously paired and
distinguished in Jewish medieval texts, depending on scientific
context and convention.8 The Hebrew language captures this
complexity, as a partial sampling of medieval usage demonstrates.
Some words apply primarily to one science or the other, while other
words belong to both but with varying application among authors.
Hebrew expresses astronomical methods mostly in terms of
calculation ("eshbon).9Meanwhile, words linked with interpretation
tend to refer to astrological methods; for example, one understands
(mevin) the hidden message of the stars.10 The act of observation
("azot), logically common to both undertakings, appears in
Abraham bar Hiyyas work in association with the order, measure,
and reckoning of celestial motions, that is, astronomy, while forMaimonides, the term has the distinctly negative overtones of
pseudo-science.11 A related verb, habit, to see, similarly refers, in
the Chronicle, to earthly predictions based on celestial
observation.12
Hebrew terms for the scientists themselves and the celestial bodies
they studied also pose similar difficulties. Most pithily,
Maimonides use of the Talmudic word i!#agnin (pl. i!#agninin)embodies the simultaneity of the overlap of, and distinction
8S. Sela, The Fuzzy Borders between Astronomy and Astrology in the Thought
and Work of Three Twelfth-Century Jewish Intellectuals,Aleph1 (2000), 80, 94
100.9Ahimaaz, 11 (Heb.); Starr, Jews, 20809. Moses Maimonides, Mishneh Torah,
ed. T. Preisler (Jerusalem, 1985), Laws of the New Moon, 17:24.10Ahimaaz, 16 (Heb.); K. von Stuckrad, Jewish and Christian Astrology in Late
Antiquity, Numen 47 (2000), 6, argues that the sense of astrology is itsdetermination of the qualityof time, as well as its correspondences to this world.11Sela, Fuzzy Borders, 90, citing Abraham bar Hiyya, Sefer surat ha-are!, 45;
S. Stroumsa, Ravings: Maimonides Concept of Pseudo-Science, Aleph 1
(2000), 146, 163.12Ahimaaz, 16 (Heb.).
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Joshua Holo296
between, astronomers and astrologers. In his exposition of the laws
of calendation, Maimonides uses this term to refer to those whose
calculations confirm the calendrical cycle as observed in the phases
of the Moon; here, the judgment of the i!#agninins study is clearly
positive. But he also connects the i!#agnininto those who attribute
propitiousness to certain times, and in this case, Maimonides
unambiguously disparages them as celestial diviners ("ovrei
shamayyim).13 Also multivalent, words that denote the celestial
bodies and their groupings may additionally connote the power they
exert over this world.14Such is the case with the word mazzal (pl.
mazzalot), which may mean either star or constellation, and kokhav,which includes the concepts of both star and planet.15At the lexical
level, therefore, Hebrew offers ample opportunity for confusion
between the sciences, but also real opportunity for distinction
between them. The latter is particularly true when the terms are
contextualized, at which point even the only-partial specificity of
the vocabulary may legitimately justify a functional distinction
between the two sciences, despite the obligatory commonality of
the sciences themselves and of the words that represent them.16
Selas apt concept of fuzzy borders therefore helps to concretize
the problem of understanding astrology in a Jewish context, and it
also leaves room for another, complementary view of the problem.
Unlike natural astrology, which, as per Isidore of Seville, is simply
occupied with sublunar bodies in the same fashion that supralunar
bodies fall to astronomy, judicial astrology relates to astronomy on
entirely other terms.17Judicial astrology is, by its very definition, a
composite science, one that necessarily relies on raw astronomical
data, and then proceeds from that data to offer an earthly
13Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of the New Moon, 2:4, as against Laws on
Idolatry, 11:910; Sela, Fuzzy Borders, 6780.14 Donnolo, Sefer hakhmoni, 123a-b; Maimonides, Guide, 164; W. M. Feldman,
Rabbinical Mathematics and Astronomy, 3rded.(New York, 1978), 79.15Maimonides, Guide, 168.16
Feldman, Rabbinical Mathematics,6379, provides a list of the zodiacal signs,as does Donnolo, Sefer hakhmoni, 141a-b. The opposite contexts of these texts
render the distinction clear.17Cf. Isidore, Etymologiae, 3:27, where he defines two categories, astronomy and
astrology, the latter itself being made up of two components, the natural and the
judicial, the latter necessarily building on what we would today call astronomy.
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Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy 297
interpretation. From the point of view of judicial astrology, any
distinction between itself and astronomy belies their logical
identity. Conversely, astronomy limits itself to the science of
observation and calculation, and eschews the type and degree of
interpretation that characterizes astrology. On its own terms,
astronomy occupies a distinct place, without any reference to
astrology and not serving as its handmaiden, at which point we can
fairly speak of it as a distinct undertaking. There is, therefore, in
addition to fuzzy borders, a prevailing asymmetry between the
celestial sciences that only further complicates their relationship in
technical terms. So it is fitting that Byzantine-Jewish texts fromSouthern Italy should offer a comparably complicated ideological
relationship to the sciences.
III. THE IDEOLOGICAL PROBLEM OF FUZZY BORDERS:
ASTROLOGY AND THE OCCULT
Andrew Sharf, in his major work on Byzantine-Jewish astrology,
imputes to the Jews the following ideological distinction between
the two sciences: astronomy was mandated by God, and astrology
was simply another foreign import with which the Jews had to find
a modus vivendi.18 In other words, the ubiquity of astrology
overwhelmed Jewish qualms about it, which were based on its
implications of an intermediary power in the universe, especially in
terms of moral predetermination and free will.19 Though decades
prior to Selas technical argument, Sharfs exposition nevertheless
echoes it from an ideological perspective. As per Sela, the boundarybetween the sciences, though discernible, suffers from a notable
lack of definition, which ultimately bespeaks underlying technical
similarity. In corresponding fashion, ideological rejection, which
necessarily distilled the judicial astrology out from astronomy,
merely responded to overwhelming Jewish acceptance of both
18A. Sharf, The Universe of ShabbetaiDonnolo (New York, 1976), 1617; idem,
Shabbetai Donnolo as Byzantine Jewish Figure, in Jews and Other Minorities inByzantium(Ramat-Gan, 1995), 17172.19 A. Marx, The Correspondence between the Rabbis of Southern France and
Maimonides about Astrology, Hebrew Union College Annual3 (1926), 35458.
To a lesser degree, about the prediction of events, as Saadia disparages in H. Ben-
Shammai, Saadias Introduction to Daniel,Aleph4 (2004), 7074.
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Joshua Holo298
sciences, which conflated or married them as natural truths of a
larger system.20In short, Sharfs description of ambivalence largely
depends on the tense simultaneity of two of astrologys qualities: 1)
its association with meritorious astronomy and implied dissociation
from the occult, and 2) its distinction from astronomy and
concomitant association with the occult.
In general terms, it is not at all clear that astrology necessarily falls
under the heading occult from the Jewish perspective, though it
undoubtedly may. Consequently, the underlying uncertainty of
astrologys occult status opens up the possibility for conflationbetween it and, as Sharf points out, unimpeachable astronomy. The
astrologers claim that the stars and planets affect us at a spiritual
and moral level by its very nature flirts with the occult, if we
understand occultas embracing two defining elements: esotericism
and a challenge to traditional Jewish doctrine of Gods omnipotence
(by virtue of the apparently competing power of astral
determinism).21 Nevertheless, this flirtation represents a threata
potentialitythat may or may not be realized, so that the occultstatus of astrology defies easy determination.22 Supporting the
argument of ambivalence, a brief survey of sources on the subject
concludes that the Jewish legal position regarding astrology, from
Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages, was inconclusive.23Even
Maimonides halakhicexpression against astrology may be read as
20 On the distinction between astronomy and astrology, for the purposes of
condemning the latter, the newly published commentary on Daniel by SaadiaGaon, edited by Ben-Shammai, Saadias Introduction to Daniel, 2122, 6870;
also of note, ibid., n. 47, is Qirqisanis distinction between astronomy and
astrology, for the same purposes.21 E. Urbach, The Sages (Cambridge, Mass. and London, 1979), 27778; Sela,
Queries, 89190.22Kreisel, Maimonides Approach, 29.23 See the concise survey by Y. Schwartz, Jewish Implications of Astrology,
Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society 16 (1988), 623. Also, examples
from Abraham ibn Ezra in R. Jospe, The Torah and Astrology According to
Abraham Ibn Ezra, Proceedings of the Eleventh World Congress of JewishStudies, Jerusalem, June 2229, 1993 C/2 (Jerusalem, 1994), 1724; not to
mention the concerns of the Provenal rabbis, and their citation of the Geonim
Sherira and Hai, in S. Sela, Queries on Astrology Sent from Southern France to
Maimonides, Critical Edition of the Hebrew Text, Translation, and Commentary,
Aleph4 (2004), 99101.
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Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy 299
the exception that proves the rule of acceptance.24In this vein, it is
particularly telling that the letter from the Provenal sages to
Maimonides, which inspired his famous reply known as the Letter
on Astrology, inquired about the legitimacy of astrology in terms
of the reliability of its information. The French sages apparently
took for granted that no legally binding prohibition pre-empted their
question.25
In parallel fashion, other speculative realms exhibit similar
indeterminacy in Judaism. Even magic, broadly conceived of as the
invocation of supernatural forces, falls under the occult onlysometimes. Many forms of mystical theurgy and wonderworking
walk a fine line between the occult and the orthodox, insofar as they
appear to call on competing deities and forces, but claim to rely
only on God. Depending on his orientation, a given Jewish
authority may view such magic with horror or approval. The
Chronicle, for example, condemns transfiguration and resurrection,
but it embraces magical travel and astrology.26Admittedly, at least
in Jewish circles, astrology was occasionally guiltyor perceivedto be guiltyof association with those less ambiguous activities of
the occult such as the invocation of the divine Name for personal
24 Maimonides, Sefer ha-mi!vot, ed. T. Preisler (Jerusalem, 1985), no. 32, where
astrology is defined as the ascription of propitiousness to a given day or hour.25 Sela, Queries, 12223, If there is foolishness in our questions and the
conclusion of our utterances is silliness, though the sages consider, pp. 22425,
Maimonides awaited-for response to be authoritative, as halakhah given to
Moses on Sinai, and they recognize serious halakhicconsiderations in the orbit ofastrology, such as the fear of saying a prayer in vain, 10305. But, though these
problems derive from astrology, they do not necessarily inhere in it.26Ahimaaz, 6566 (Eng.), 45 (Heb.), on the sin of magical resurrection, as well as
the generally positive quality of Aaron, who made use of his wonderworking
wisdom, to do very difficult and astonishing things; 75, 77, on the acceptable use
of the Divine name for magical travel; G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish
Mysticism(New York, 1961), chap. 4; M. Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives(New
Haven and London, 1988), chaps. 78; M. D. Swartz, Scholastic Magic(Princeton,
1996), 1822. R. Brody, The Geonim of Babylonia and the Shaping of Medieval
Jewish Culture(New Haven and London, 1998), 144, cites a famous reference byHay Gaon, the leader of Baghdadi Jewry in the first half of the eleventh century, to
the credulity of Byzantine Jewry in matters magical. Maimonides is unequivocal in
his condemnation of judicial astrology in his Guide for the Perplexed, 333;
Mishneh Torah, Laws on Idolatry, 11:910; and his famous Letter on Astrology,
46373.
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Joshua Holo300
gain, certain types of healing, divining, necromancy, etc.27
Additionally, astrology relied heavily on pagan sciences and
implied some powerful intermediary between God and man, which
required careful rationalization.28 Astrologers thus inspired some
weighty theological challenges, most notably those of Maimonides
and Saadia Gaon (882942). But it is worth noting that they only
rarely faced a definitive accusation of illegality.29 The key legal
issue, Star-worship, an unambiguous contravention of basic Jewish
law, lurks behind astrology; scholarly arguments, including
protestations both against and in favour of astrology, frequently
betray an appreciation of this peril. But the mere fact of astrologysgeneralized acceptance indicates that it passed muster among the
majority of Jews; it appears to fill some, but not all, of the criteria
for occult status in terms of theology.30
27Mishneh Torah, Laws on Idolatry, 11:910. Magic and astrology frequently
went hand-in-hand; see R. Barkai, Significado de las aportaciones de los judos en
el terreno de la medicina, la astrologa y la magia, in A. Senz-Badillos, ed.Judos entre arabes y cristianos(Cordova, 2000), 8485. Byzantine Jewish magic,
moreoversuch as we can discern itfits at least two of the three components of
magic, as defined for Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages by Swartz,
Scholastic Magic, 20. Medieval interpreters of the Talmud, Pesahim 113b,
translated Chaldeans as either necromancers or astrologers.28The very pointed effort to distinguish oneself from the idolatrous astrologers of
the pagan past reflects the consciousness of the connection; see Barkai,
Significado, 82.29 Maimonides famous polemical letter presents a rationalistic argument against
the folly of astrology and the halakhic problem it raises. See Freudenthal,Maimonides Stance, 87 and R. Lerner, Maimonides Letter on Astrology,
History of Religions8/2 (1968), 147. Halevis Kuzari, 1.79, does invoke heresy in
relation to astrologys association with divination, as does Bahya ibn Paquda, The
Book of Direction in the Duties of the Heart, tr. M. Mansoor (London, 1973), 282
84. Interestingly, Mansoor notes that the section on astrology occurs only in the
original Arabic, and is absent in all the mss of the Hebrew version by Ibn Tibbon.
In contrast, Saadia, in his Introduction to Daniel, see Ben-Shammai, Saadias
Introduction to Daniel, 2728, restricts himself to the rationalistic charge and
remains silent on the halakhah, as does Maimonides in other contexts.30
None captures the fine line between astrologys orthodoxy and heresy better thanJehudah Halevi, The Kuzari, tr. N. D. Korobkin (Northvale, NJ and Jerusalem,
1998), 1.7879, where celestial speculation contributes to a matrix of ideas that are
both the root of faith and the root of heresy. If its source is divine revelation,
celestial calculations are acceptable; otherwise, they are erroneous. Cf. C. Sirat, A
History of Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages(Cambridge, 1985), 127.
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Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy 301
Equally weak is the sense of esotericism that surrounds astrology.
The persistent popularity of astrology among both the educated and
uneducated classes implies a certain degree of public access that
somewhat vitiates the notion of esotericismeven if the specific
skill-set of celestial interpretation was not available to all (as a
probable etymology of the word i!#agnin implies).31Similarly, the
thriving of astrology under the noses, as it were, of religious
officialdom indicates that its audience was indeed a public one. In
all, judicial astrology seems to hover somewhere on the line of the
occult, perhaps straddling orthodoxy and heterodoxy, esotericism
and public access; and this ambiguity seems to have undermined aclear-cut distinction between it and astronomy, thereby smoothing
the way, at least in some measure, for its broad acceptance.
This background evidence of ambiguity supports Sharfs inference
of ambivalence in the aggregate, but individual opinions may
evince no ambivalence whatsoever. In the present examples, the
Sefer hakhmoniand the Chronicle of Ahimaaz, ambivalence in the
former contrasts with unburdened credence in the latter. Donnolo,
for his part, propounds astrological study, even as he both betraysan awareness of Jewish rejectionism and, further, obliges himself to
offer an apology. In contrast, the Chroniclepointedly differentiates
between astrology and unacceptably occult practices.
Donnolo reveals his quandary in at least two interesting ways, both
of them within the larger context of the foreign origins of the astral
sciences, including both astronomy and astrology. First, in his
introduction, Donnolo acknowledges the dubiousness of astrology
from the Jewish perspective, using the concept of foreignness as
code for idolatry:
A few Jewish sages were wont to dismiss the books by
Jewish authors on the constellations as without substance,
because [these sages] did not understand them. They argued
that the books dealing with the wisdom of the stars and
constellations are the province of the gentiles, and that these
books were not written in accord with the worldview of Jewish
literature.32
31 S. Sela, Queries,,133, ! "#$%&'(), citing J. Levy, Wrterbuch ber dieTalmudim und Midraschim(Darmstadt, 1963), 1:118, I*+agninin.32Donnolo, Sefer hakhmoni, 123b.
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Joshua Holo302
As if buying in to this view, Donnolo gives up on those incredulous
Jewish sages, but remains determined to learn, to travel and to
seek out the wisdom of the Greeks and that of the Muslims, and the
wisdom of the Babylonians and Indians. In other words, Donnolo
acknowledges that Jewish intellectuals viewed astrology with
suspicion; and more than that, he hints that he, too, originally
accepted the fact of astrologys associations with idolatrous
peoples, Muslims notwithstanding.33
In his second expression of ambivalence, Donnolo goes to great
lengths to correct this perception of astrology as a foreign science.His method is simply to preempt this ideological challenge, by
reversing the common wisdom regarding astrologys origins. In the
course of his studies abroad, Donnolo recounts that he
discovered that those [foreign books] were congruent, in every
matter concerning the astral sciences, with the books of the
Jews. Furthermore, I realized from these books that all
science of the stars and constellations is based on theBaraita ofSamuel the Interpreter, and even the books of the gentiles
agree with it. Samuel, however, purposely obfuscated in his
book; so after I finished copying the books, I travelled the
world in search of gentile sages, knowledgeable in the science
of the stars and constellations, in order to learn from them.
Eventually I found among them one Babylonian sage by the
name of Bagdash, all of whose wisdom jibed with the
Baraita of Samuel, with all of the books of Israel and with the
books of the Greeks and the Macedonians. But [in contrast to
theBaraita of Samuel,] the wisdom of this sage [i.e., Bagdash]was clear and accessible in the extreme.34
33Ibid.34 Ibid. This baraita, or rabbinic tradition extraneous to the canonical Mishnah, is
attributed to Mar Samuel (c. 177257), student of Judah the Prince (who compiledthe Mishnah, c. 220), leading light of the Babylonian academy of Nehardea and
eminent legist and astronomer. The Baraita of Samuelis briefly quoted by Sharf,
Universe, 185, from edition in J. D. Eisenstein, O!ar midrashim (New York,
1915), 54247. I infer purposely from the gist of the sentence, which implies
that Samuel was being coy in the sensitive matter of mysteries.
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Donnolo argues that the real roots of astrology lay close to the
bosom of Israel, and he thereby attempts to reassure his readership
that there is nothing about which to feel ambivalent. If astrology
lost to the Jews as part of the punishment of their exileappears
pagan, it is only because nobody in his generation had apprehended
the Jewish Baraita of Samuelas the root of all astral science.35So
Donnolo defends his research, but in presenting this apology he
both confirms the prior problem of suspicion among his co-
religionists and seems to fear the same attitude among his
readership. As such, Donnolos introduction to his patently
astrological commentary on the Sefer ye!irah confirms Sharfsoverall impression of Jewish ambivalence towards to the topic.
The Chronicle of Ahimaazalso muses on destiny and the stars, and
also embraces astrology, but, unlike the Sefer hakhmoni, the
Chronicleevinces no tension whatsoever with the occult. Quite the
contrary, it differentiates astrology from other, more explicitly
occult pursuits, which the Chronicleopenly criticizes. For instance,
whereas Paltiel, a master of astrology, earns accolades for hisastrological acuity, other figures are chastised for their magical
indiscretions.36 An accursed sorceress who turned a boy into a
mule is called a wicked woman. In another example, a young
man who cheated death by manipulation of the divine Name is
required to confess his sin upon succumbing to death.37 Hananel,
one of the storys other heroes, also missteps in this regard; he
preserves a bodyaccidentally revivifying itby placing the
divine Name under the corpses tongue. An angel comes in a dream
to condemn Hananels action, asking why do you vex the Lord
God?38 In its attitude toward these occult sciences, the Chronicle
does not present a fine, porous line between them and astrology.
Rather, it seems to confer legitimacy on astrology in direct measure
35 Donnolo, Sefer mazzalot, in Frankel, 6:273; partially repr. and tr. in Sharf,
Donnolo, 45, 184.36
Ahimaaz, 16 (Heb.), 88 (Eng.):!"#$%&'(")("#*(*#. Seebelow for fuller expositionof Paltiels astrology, p. 310, n. 56. Salzman, in his intro. toAhimaaz, 21, refers to
Paltiel as so exceptionally favored, that his is the most conspicuous figure in the
chronicle.37Ibid., 35 (Heb.), 6466 (Eng.).38Ibid., 10 (Heb.), 77 (Eng.).
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to its condemnation of unauthorized magic, implying a firm and
unambiguous boundary between astrology and the occult.
In brief, even though both Donnolo and the Chronicle remove
astrology from the realm of the occult, they do so in very different
ways. The former is subject to considerable ideological tension,
while the latter accepts astrology without reservation. In order to
dissociate astrology from the occult and neutralize its ideological
threat, the Chronicledoes not acknowledge the connection, whereas
the Sefer hakhmoni faces it and defangs it. In these different
approaches to the difficulty raised by astrology, the two texts do notadequately corroborate the general impression of religious
ambivalence; they place, rather, ambivalence side-by-side with
more nave acceptance.
IV. THE IDEOLOGICAL PROBLEM OF FUZZY BORDERS:
ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Just as Sefer hakhmoni and the Chronicle of Ahimaaz relate
astrology to the occult on the basis of very different assumptions, so
too, do they relate astrology to astronomy. Donnolo implicitly links
astronomy with astrology, but the Chronicle clearly differentiates
between prognostication and calculation, even though they both
relate to the stars and both predict, in effect, future events. In their
incongruity on this topic, Sefer hakhmoni and the Chronicle of
Ahimaaz again provide very dissimilar models for absorbing andneutralizing astrologys inherent ideological difficulties.
Much of Donnolos work functions in the overlapping sphere that
occupies both astrology and astronomy; most notably, perhaps, he
relates the so-called dragon, i.e., the path between the lunar
nodes, to moral values. Donnolo explains that
when God created the firmament above us, which is divided
into seven firmaments, he also created the dragon from waterand fire, in the form of a great monster like a great curved
serpent, and he extended it through the fourth celestial level,
which is the middle firmamentand all the stars, luminescent
bodies and constellations are fixed in it. Indeed, it is
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appointed king over all of these [bodies], to guide them, in
goodness and evil.39
Donnolos work interweaves observation with interpretation of the
celestial bodies effects on matters of moral concern. Building on
these premises, Donnolo produces an entire cosmology in which the
stars correlate to the human character and body.40 This
correspondence, in turn, justifies Donnolos claims to zodiacal
melothesia, according to which the movements of these celestial
bodies ultimately govern human physical and spiritual affairs.41
Donnolos system depends on a daring interpretation of Scripture,by means of which he establishes that there are divine, disembodied
forces that complement physical ones. Both sets of forces
administer the human condition, in that the divine force ultimately
moves us while the physical forces constitute the stuff of our
existence. Accordingly, our physicality distinguishes us from God,
while our higher spiritual and moral plane (in diminutive measure
as compared to Gods) distinguishes us from the beasts.42 Thus
framed, Donnolos cosmology affirms orthodox Jewishmonotheism, but cannot avoid walking the tightrope between
heresy and orthodoxy in regard to the potential problem of
dualism.43 His scriptural basis for this cosmology (Genesis 1:26,
Let usmake man in our image, after our likeness) does not shy
away from that dualism, but seemingly pushes the envelope even
further. Donnolo clarifies:
39
Donnolo, Sefer hakhmoni, 146a; cf. above, p. 303, n. 35.40For a partial parallel in Midrash, in which homologies relate natural phenomena,including celestial ones, to the human body, see The Fathers according to Rabbi
Nathan, tr. J. Neusner (Atlanta, 1986), 18990; Hebrew version: Avot deRabbi
Nathan, ed. S. Z. Schechter (Vienna, 1887), chap. 31, 9192.41For a full exposition of Donnolos homology, see A. Sharf, Notes on a section
from Shabbetai Donnolos Sefer hakhmoni (Heb.), inJews and Other Minorities
in Byzantium(Ramat-Gan, 1995), 1934.42Donnolo, Sefer hakhmoni , 125a-126b, 127b.43Sharf,Donnolo, 7393; Genesis Rabbah, 8:3, explicitly addresses the capacity of
the biblical passage, Let us make man in our image and likeness, to inspireheretical dualism: R. Samuel bar Nahman [handed down the following tradition]
in the name of R. Yonatan: in the course of Moses writing the Torah, he was
writing each days act [of Creation]. When he arrived at the verse And God said
Let us make man, he said, Master of the Universe, why are giving the
heretics an opportunity to argue?
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Here is the explanation for the verse, Let us make man in our
image. After God created the entire universe, the supernal
heavens, the angels, all the ministers of His glory, the land, thefirmament, the waters, the trees, the grasses, the lights, the
stars, the fish, the sea monsters, the fowl, and the animals that
creep in the waters[etc.], He took counsel with His holy
spirit to create man, who would be the appointed guardian and
lord over all the creaturesto rule over the world, to reign and
oversee all of created heaven and earth, and to praise Him. So,
He said to His [newly-created] universe, Let us make man in
our image, after our likeness. In My image and in your image,
after My likeness and after yours.44
In this extraordinary argument, Donnolo claims that the created
universe joined God as partner in the creation of human beings,
with each partner defining one component of our nature and
abilities.
God, the initiator and senior collaborator in the project of mans
creation, defines our position in the universe:
Just as God is superior to and rules over man and the entire
universe above and below, so too shall man do, as long as he
follows his Creators will. Thus, for example, to our master
Moses, peace be upon him, the Blessed Creator said regarding
the [Golden] Calf, Allow me, and I will destroy [the Children
of Israel].45
By invoking the divine aspect of our constitution, Donnolo
illustrates two critical aspects of the divine-human relationship.
First, he explains that human propagation into perpetuity isdependent on conformity to Gods will. Our success in living up to
the standard of the divine within us can be measured in terms of our
ability to use the evil inclination to transform those things
normally generated by it into [acts characterized by] the fear of
God, without sin or offense.46 When we do so, we act as the
deputies of God, which is the second characteristic of the
relationship as Donnolo sees it. Quoting Deut. 9:14, Donnolo
argues that God needed to confer with Moses before destroying the
44Donnolo, Sefer hakhmoni, 126b.45Ibid.46Ibid., 127b, 129a.
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Israelites for the sin of the Golden Calf. In the end, God deferred to
Moses, not only in asking him beforehand but also in subsequently
honouring His prophets preference to preserve the Israelites. God
respects, in effect, the extension of His own authority that He
delegated to us. The health of that relationship relies, however, on
our success in living up to Gods aspirations for us.
The correlation between the human body and the universe that
created it accounts for our physical and mental makeup and, by
extension, whether or not we live up to those expectations.
Accordingly,
God made for [man] a spherical head, like the firmament of
heaven that is above the firmament of this world. He gave him
the upper palate above the mouth, in which the teeth and jaw
are planted, in the likeness of the firmament of this world,
above us. And just as He separates this firmament that is above
us between watersbetween the upper waters and the lower
watersso too, does the upper palate of the mouth separate
between the humour of the head and that of the upper digestive
tract, called the stomach. Similarly, just as God rested His holypresence in the upper heavens, which covered the waters, as it
says in Scripture, He who roofed the waters with His rafters
(Ps. 104:3), so too, He placed the animated soul, knowledge,
and discernment in the membrane of the brain, which is
wrapped around the brain and its humour. This is evident,
because if the brain is ruptured, a person will die immediately,
for there resides the life-force. [Further,] just as God placed
the two lightsin the heavenly firmament, so too, he put two
eyes in mans head. The right eye is like the Sun and the left
resembles the Moon. And just as God made the celestialdragon in the universe and stretched it out over the firmament,
from east to west, from end to end, as well as the stars and the
constellations and everything in the universe that is branching
from it, so too, He made the spinal cord inside the vertebrae,
extending from the brain to the pelvis.47
Here, it is the microcosmic analogy of the physical universe to man
that accounts for the relationship of celestial bodies to our own,
which shapes the power of those bodies over us.48 This power, in
47Ibid., 127b; Sharf,Donnolo, 55, 17072.48Donnolo, Sefer hakhmoni,127a-b, 129b. From 129b: Just as the universe is full
of Gods glory, as it is written (Jer. 23:24), Man cannot hide among secrets,
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the form of the celestial dragon, reigns in the universe like a king
on his throne, and below it, a descending hierarchy rules over the
two bodies of light, the five planets, and over every deed in the
universe, both good and bad.49Thence, each part of the body, as
well as our appetites and inclinations, reflects the motions and
qualities of celestial bodies.50 So it is that, by dint of its
participation in our creation, the physical or celestial universe exerts
significant power over uson the face of it a rather audacious
reading of the creation of man and one that seamlessly interlaces
the observational and the interpretational, like the warp and weft
on the weavers beam.51
In very different fashion, the Chronicle of Ahimaaz treats judicial
astrology and astronomy as separate undertakings, with different
methods, purposes and results. Equally as bold as Donnolo in many
respects, the eleventh-century Chronicle presents side-by-side
portraits of the astronomer and astrologer for ready contrast.
Although the Chronicle, from the social-historical point of view,
poses many challenges inherent to its legendary content, from theperspective of cultural history it provides an unselfconscious
account of this distinction between the celestial sciences.52
Two relatives, protagonists of the Chronicle, play the all-but-
unrelated roles of seer and scientist. The elder of the two, Hananel,
was the second son of the family patriarch, Amittai, and lived in the
latter half of the ninth century. He, like his brothers, looms large in
the Chronicle as a pious wonderworker and learned mystic. One
without My seeing him, says the Lord; Do I not fill both heaven and earth? says
the Lord. Thus is the living spirit of man, which is like a microcosm, from his feet
to his head, from end to end, to the tips of his fingers and toes. Though this
appears to be a spiritual comparison, it is in fact a physical comparison of the
universe to man, insofar as both are analogously filled with Gods glory. Cf.Sharf,
Donnolo, 31, 52.49Donnolo, Sefer hakhmoni, 147b.50Ibid., 147a.51
Ibid., 146a, 147b, referring to I Sam. 17:7; Sharf,Donnolo, 183.52 Historical analysis of the mythological aspect of the Chronicle by R. Bonfil,
Mito, retorica, storia: saggio sul rotolo di Ahimaaz, in Tra due mondi(Naples,
1996), 12133; and idem, Can Medieval Storytelling Help Understanding
Midrash? The Story of Paltiel: a Preliminary Study on History and Midrash, in
The Midrashic Imagination, ed. M. Fishbane (Albany, 1993), 22854.
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Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy 309
story, however, ignores the mystical and presents, rather, a very
this-worldly picture of astronomical calculation. In an encounter
with the local archbishop, Hananel finds himself in a
discussion of the calculations that were prescribed for
determining the appearance of the new Moon. On the morrow
of that very day there was to be a new Moon, which according
to Israels custom, was to be held sacred. [The archbishop]
asked [Hananel] in how many hours the new Moon would
appear. R. Hananel answered by naming a certain hour, but he
was mistaken. The archbishop disputed his opinion and said,
If that is your calculation on the appearance of the Moon, youare not skilled in calculation. R. Hananel had not given
thought to the time of the appearance of the new Moon, but the
archbishop had calculated it and knew; he had cast his net for
R. Hananel, and would have caught him in his snare had not
the God of his salvation come to his aid.
Still unaware of his error, Hananel takes the archbishop up on a bet,
according to which he agrees to apostatize if proven wrong. Then,
Hananel goes home, where
he went over his calculation and found his error, by which he
had failed in his reckoning. As the time of waxing
approachedhe called, in distress and tears, upon Him that
hears the supplications of His beloved, O God, Ruler of the
universe, nothing is hidden from You. I have not been
presumptuous, but have innocently erred and committed
folly. Forgive my error and pardon my wrongdoing.53
God obligingly intervenes to save Hananel, by shifting the Moons
phase to vindicate his erroneous calculation and to confute the
archbishops correct one. Gods intervention notwithstanding, this
anecdote deals in objective, astronomical reality that respects
neither religion nor man, nor does it presume to impinge on matters
of moral or spiritual orientation.
Hananels astronomical problem differs fundamentally from that
which his descendant later faces. Unlike Hananel, who is described
as a legal expert as well as a mystic, his great-grandson Paltiel
53Ahimaaz, 7880, 94 (Eng.); 1112, 1920 (Heb.), where he feels that the
scholars should not defer to him.
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engages in lexicallyand narrativelymarked astrology, and bears
the soubriquet understander of mysteries, without corresponding,
explicitly rabbinic credentials.54In fact he seems to enjoy a position
of privilege expressly distinct from that of the scholars. As his story
develops, Paltiels astrological prowess, like the astronomical skill
of his great-grandfather Hananel, comes out in relation to a non-
Jewish leader.55 In the mid-tenth century of the Chronicles
reckoning, al-Muizz, the future caliph of Fatimid Egypt, invades
Southern Italy, including Oria. There he encounters the Chronicles
protagonists, and Paltiel, prominent among them, rises to a position
of trust in al-Muizzs entourage. Now the conquerors advisor,Paltiel takes an evening stroll with his master, and gazing at the
stars they see
the commanders star consume three stars, not all at one time,
but in succession. And al-Muizz said to [Paltiel], What
meaning do you find in that? R. Paltiel answered, Give your
interpretation first. The commander replied, The stars
represent the three cities Tarentum, Otranto and Bari, that I am
to conquer. R. Paltiel then said, Not that, my lord; I seesomething greater; the first star meansSicily, the
secondAfrica, and the third, Babylonia. Al-Muizz at once
embraced him and kissed him, took off his ring and gave it to
him, and took an oath saying, If your words come true, you
shall be master of my house and have authority over my
kingdom.56
When al-Muizz dies after realizing the prophecy, Paltiel stays on
as vizier to the new caliph, and together they repeat the evening
stroll:
R. Paltiel and the king were walking in the open and they saw
three bright stars disappear; in an instant their light had
vanished. R. Paltiel said, The stars that have been eclipsed
represent three kings who will die this year; and they will soon
54Ahimaaz, 62 (Eng.); 3, 20 (Heb.): +('(, !"#-S. Benin, Jews, Muslims, and
Christians in Byzantine Italy, in Judaism and Islam, Boundaries,
Communications, and Interactions: Essays in Honor of William M.Brinner, ed. B.Hary, et al. (Leiden and Boston, 2000), 3031.55 For the considerations of the family tree, see the most recent translation and
historical interpretation of Paltiel and al-Muizz in C. Colafemminas introduction
to Sefer yuhasin: libro delle discendenze, 3138.56Ahimaaz, 8889 (Eng.); 1617 (Heb.).
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be taken off. The first king is John the Greek, the second, the
king of Baghdad, in the north, then the king hastening to
interrupt him said, You are the third, the king of the south,but [Paltiel] replied to the king, No, my lord, for I am a Jew;
the third is the king of Spain. But the king said, You are in
truth the third as I say. Sure enough, in that year Paltiel died. 57
The patently astrological nature of these accounts requires only
brief comment.58 From the point of view of narrative, the
indeterminacy of interpretation comes through in clear distinction
from the natural fixedness of Hananels astronomical calculation.
Al-Muizzs deputizing of Paltiel is conditional, pending therealization of the latters prediction. Similarly, the narrator does not
telegraph Paltiels death as predetermined truth in the same way
that he categorically defines Hananels calculation as error. The
protagonists discover the truth and error of Paltiels respective
prophesies at the same time as the reader does, whereas Hananels
mistake constitutes a narrative fact of the story, established before it
even dawns on Hananel himself. The Chroniclegrants that the stars
have real power, no doubt, but humans interact with that power onterms unrelated to those that govern astronomical calculation.
Taking the Sefer hakhmoniand the Chronicle of Ahimaazwith their
very different understandings of astrologys connections to
astronomy and the occult, the thesis of fuzzy borders proves too
limited. The Sefer hakhmoni works within an astrological set of
assumptions that directly and seamlessly relies on astronomy; the
Chronicle of Ahimaazonly implicitly recognizes the overlap, and at
every turn treats the two sciences as utterly separate undertakings.In parallel fashion, the Sefer hakhmoni engages in astrology with
religious ambivalence towards its occult associationsperhaps
even revealing the authors own misgivings. Meanwhile, the
Chronicle casts no occult shadow on the science of astrology
57Ibid., 9697 (Eng.); 21 (Heb.).58 On the lexical indicators, in the first case the Chronicle uses hibit, and the
second h!
ozim, both referring to visual perception, and both subject to contextual
interpretation as regards either astronomy or astrology. For comparison to other
usage, see S. Stroumsa, Ravings, 146, 163, in the context of Maimonides; for
Abraham bar Hiyyas use of the second word in the astronomical sense, see above,
n. 11.
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whatsoever. In sum, if the common geographical, linguistic,
chronological and religious origins of both texts justifies a search
for some shared sensibility regarding ASTROLOGY AND
ASTRONOMY, WE MUST LOOK ELSEWHERE FOR IT.
V. HALAKHAH AND AGGADAH
We can only surmise a religious worldview that accounts at once
for the divergent attitudes of the two texts and their shared
conclusion in favour of astrology. Still, within that limitation, we
might imagine a radical conceptual break between the celestial
sciences, instead of attributing religious ambivalence to astrology as
a function of scientifically fuzzy borders between it and astronomy.
Such a break may be drawn along lines that correspond to the
border between two deeply engrained modes of Jewish thought
known as halakhah(pl. halakhot; binding legal norms of behaviour
and ritual) and aggadah (pl. aggadot; non-binding, non-legal,
speculative or homiletical interpretations and literature). Such aheuristic redraws and solidifies the border between the sciences,
because it is unconcerned with the technical and ideological
manifestations of ambiguity and ambivalence. Halakhah, as
correlated to astronomy, is concerned only with calculation as the
tool for the measurement of time; aggadah embraces everything
else, including not only astrology but also astronomy that feeds into
it (as opposed astronomy that serves the calculation of time). The
merit of this halakhah-aggadah heuristic is that it provides aplausible model, in which both the Chronicles unburdened
embrace of, and the Sefer hakhmonis ambivalent accession to,
astrology make sense. This, because in either case, astrology-as-
aggadahallows significant theological latitude without encroaching
on the halakhic demands of astronomy.59
59
A. Rosenak, Aggadah and Halakhah (Heb.), in A Quest for Halakha, ed. A.Barholz (Jerusalem, 2003), 28694; L. Silberman, Aggadah and Halakhah, in
The Life of the Covenant, ed. J. Edelheit (Chicago, 1986), 22334; Y. Nafha, On
Halakhah and Aggadah (Heb.), Derekh ephratah3 (1993), 183203; Z. Kagan,
Halakhah and Aggadah: The Paradoxical Connection (Heb.), Mehkere mishpat
18 (2002), 21318.
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Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy 313
Halakhah and aggadah, though frequently associated with
particular genres of literature, also function as primordial
epistemological orders of relevance. In this hierarchy, halakhah
reigns unchallenged; it is the this-worldly enactment of divine Law
in all its possible permutations, applicable to every eventuality in
life, including, for example: diet, worship, sexual relations, ethical
behaviour, and the religious calendar. As Jacob Neusner puts it, I
assign priority to the Halakhah for the same reason everyone else
who has ever studied Rabbinic Judaism does. The Halakhah defines
the practice of the faith, the norms of conduct, and these bear the
message, the professions, of the faith as well, embodying belief inconcrete behaviour.60 It spells out, in other words, the Jews
specific contractual obligations in their unique covenant with God.
Halakhah, therefore, by its very nature enjoys immediate and
compelling relevance, not only as a system of religious values but
also as a guide for daily life; and among the various realms of
halakhah, none touched upon the lives of individuals and
communities in the Middle Ages more directly and universally thanthe measurement of time. In serving this halakhic function as the
metronome of Jewish time, with its myriad implications for social
organization, the calendar embodied the social and spiritual
function of halakhah as a compulsory code of life. Many of the
divine Commandments are time-bound, in particular the celebration
of the Sabbath and holidays; their proper observance entails not
only detailed ritual, but also dietary restrictions, such as the Yom
Kippur fast and abstinence from leaven on Passover. Additionally,
work and travel are strictly forbidden on holidays, a fact that
directly governed commercial and communal interaction. In
addition to these underlying the social and legal concerns, the
Pentateuch, beginning with Creation, clearly describes the calendar
as the existential rhythm of the cosmos, which lends time a
numinous quality. For all these reasons, the calendar eventually
inspired a desire for uniformity among the Jewish people, to which
they responded in the ninth century and definitively in the tenth,
with the development of a standardized calendarone which pre-
60 J. Neusner, Major Trends in Formative Judaism, Fourth Series, Category-
Formation, Literature and Philosophy(Lanham, MD, 2002), 66.
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empted regional halakhicdiversity that applied to other matters of
similarly quotidian bearing.61
Jewish leadership, during a long and complicated process, gradually
replaced direct lunar observation with astronomical calculation, for
the purpose of determining the lunar cycles and intercalating them
with the solar cycles.62 In this way, since the fourth century C.E.,
astronomy played an increasing, if controversial, role in
predetermining the Jewish lunisolar year.63And though the precise
mathematical formulae and the applications remained in flux for
some centuries, the principal of calculation based on astronomyprevailed.64 The final stage of standardization took the form of a
fierce dispute between Saadia Gaon, the pre-eminent Iraqi
authority, and Aaron ben Meir, his Palestinian counterpart,
ultimately settling in favour of the former.65The bone of contention,
i.e., the determination of the length of the year A.M. 4682 (C.E. 921
922), utterly presumed both the common principles of astronomical
calculation and the fact of their applicability as Law to the entire
61 S. Stern, Calendar and Community (Oxford, 2001), 23241. E.g., one of the
most glaring aspects of halakhic diversity, the question of polygyny came to the
fore as a legal matter around the turn of the first millennium in the Rhineland but
not in Muslim lands. In custom, European Jewry had abandoned polygyny some
time prior, but de jure, only in that period did R. Gershom, Light of the Exile,
outlaw it; L. Finkelstein, Jewish Self-Government in the Middle Ages(New York,
1924; repr. 1964), 2036.62Stern, Calendar,24175.63
S. Gandz, Studies in Hebrew Astronomy and Mathematics (New York, 1970),74, dates the shift to calculation to 359, according to a reference by medieval
Hebrew astronomer Abraham b. Hiyya, Sefer ha-ibbur, 3:7. Stern, Calendar, 139
54; idem, Fictitious Calendars: Early Rabbinic Notions of Time, Astronomy and
Reality, Jewish Quarterly Review 87 (1996), 10329, examines the dissonance
between empirically erroneous calculations and the assumptions and claims that
they reflected reality, demonstrating the difficulties of the undertaking and the
gradual process of codification into the Middle Ages.64 For the Talmudic evolution of the calendar, see Feldman, Rabbinical
Mathematics, 178210; the Babylonian Talmud itself reflects the problems of
jibing the computed with the observed lunar phases in one of its most famouspassages, Rosh Hashanah 24a-25b. Most importantly, S. Stern, Calendar, 98, 170
75, 254.65H. Malter, Saadia Gaon (Philadelphia, 1921), 6988; Stern, Calendar, 26468;
M. D. Cassuto, About What Did Saadia Gaon and b. Meir Dispute?(Heb.), in
Rav Saadia Gaon, ed. J. L. Fishman (Jerusalem, 1943), 33364.
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Jewish world; the disputants merely challenged one anothers
determination of the mathematically-defined threshold of the
Jewish New Year. That the prestige and power of the disputants
hinged directly on this debate merely reflects its centrality for the
entire Jewish world, crossing all boundaries of geography or class.66
Thus, by the tenth century, and the lifetime of Shabbetai Donnolo,
astronomical calendation under girded the very functionality of
Jewish life, so that, despite the patent overlap between the celestial
sciences, medieval Judaism necessarily distinguished between them
in terms of the indeterminacy of astrologys occult status, on the
one hand, and astronomys halakhicnecessity on the other.67
The legal and practical implications of astronomically based
calendation find eloquent and pithy expression in the Karaite-
Rabbanite debate.68The Rabbanites, the large majority of Jewry and
heretofore referred to simply as Jews, constituted the mainstream
of Judaism and defined themselves by their adherence to both
Scripture, also called the Written Law, and Talmud, or the Oral
Law. Their opponents, the Karaites, had coalesced in tenth-centuryPalestine into an important dissenting group that rejected the
authority of the Talmud, its adherents and its masters.69Rabbanites
and Karaites recognized one another as Jews ethnically, religiously,
nationally, and linguistically; but the stumbling block of differing
religious authority prevented mutual acceptance in many matters of
66
Later stages only ratified the conclusions of the tenth century. The eminenttwelfth-century halakhistand critic of Maimonides, Rabad of Posquires, disputed
questions of astronomy, unafraid of engaging in the question of foreign (read:
idolatrous) astronomy, in for the sake of establishing the law and the calendar. See
the analysis of I. Twersky, Rabad of Posquires (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), 264
68. Though later, the example of Maimonides is also instructive, Sefer ha-mi!vot,
positive commandment no. 153: To sanctify the months and to calculate the years
and months only by the power of the rabbinical court, as Scripture says (Ex. 12:2):
This month is for you the first of the months; first is it for you among the months
of the year.67
Stern, Calendar, 26468.68 For an apt discussion, see Z. Ankori, Karaites in Byzantium (New York and
Jerusalem, 1959), ch. 7.69See P. Birnbaum, ed., Karaite Studies (New York, 1971), esp. the repr. of the
classic articles by S. Pozna,ski, The Anti-Karaite Writings of Saadiah Gaon,89128, and The Karaite Literary Opponents of Saadiah Gaon, 129234.
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Joshua Holo316
doctrine, practice and law.70One emblematic point of dispute was
the calendar. The Karaites reckoned their calendar based on direct
observation of the new Moon associated with Passover and the
arrival of agricultural spring in the Land of Israel, in accordance
with ancient practice and the biblical text.71 Meanwhile the
Rabbanites increasingly, and by the tenth century completely, relied
on uniform astronomical calculation of the phases of the Moon and
intercalation with the solar calendar.
Various primary sources, including a Byzantine letter from the
Cairo Genizah, capture the deep rift between the two factions,especially as relates to the ongoing struggle of each side to justify
its own calendar.72 A Hebrew, Rabbanite missive dated to the
eleventh century on paleographic grounds and attributed to
Byzantium on the basis of its mention of the Byzantine coin, the
hyperpyron, illustrates the practical and legal implications of this
longstanding debate. In it, the unnamed author complains of Karaite
politicking, pointing out that
the Karaites again fought against us last year. They
desecrated the divine festivals, and celebrated the New Year in
the eighth month [i.e., one month late by Rabbanite reckoning],
for they had received letters from Palestine stating that the
barley-ripening had not yet been seen in Nissan [the appointed
month of Passover], so the Passover had to celebrated in Iyyar
[the following month]. A violent enmity developed between us,
and many disputes took place. The Karaites slandered [us,] the
Rabbanites, and [our] congregation was fined almost one
thousand dinars hyperpyra.73
70 J. Olszowy-Schlanger, Karaite Marriage Documents from the Cairo Genizah
(Leiden and New York, 1998), 47.71Exodus 9:31, 34:18.72See L. Nemoy, Karaite Anthology(New Haven, 1952), 5, 38.73 Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter 20.4. First published by J.
Mann, Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature, 2 vols. (Cincinnati,
193135), 1:51. Present translation adapted from Starr, Jews, 18284; Starr reads
.""/.0"1(YPRNYYR),
which does not correspond to -./0.10&. However, close examination of themanuscript clearly reveals the letters ."0.0"1(YPARPYR), which correspond nicely
with 1.$0.10.
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Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy 317
This fortuitous document not only captures the halakhicimmediacy
of the calendar, but more trenchantly, places astronomical
calculation in the forefront of competing claims to orthodoxy.
Echoing the irreducible demands of calendrical adherence, the
Chronicle of Ahimaazapproaches physical astronomy in a way that
highlights its halakhic function. Lexical and narrative elements of
the story of Hananel reflect both a purely astronomical orientation
and a specific set of legal associations. First of all, the language of
calculation, as opposed to interpretive stargazing, is quite precise,
and matches terms that appear in other texts on astronomy.74
Second, the story treats a situation in which objective knowledge is
either right or wrong; that is, a natural set of truths applies to the
cosmos independently of religious claims. More to the point,
adherence to the natural order of time imposes particular strictures
on the Jew, and indeed, the stakes are higher than at first they
appear. Hananel brings the quandary of apostasy on himself, insofar
as he accepts the bet, but this self-imposed peril actually sets the
stage for the real crisis, namely, the commission of a sin. Hananelerrs in a matter of law, and he must submit himself to Gods mercy,
by means of a formal prayer, forgive my error and pardon my
wrongdoing.75
Ignoring such legal concerns, astrology as described by both the
Sefer hakhmoni and the Chronicle of Ahimaaz falls to the very
different mode of aggadah. Aggadah constitutes an altogether
looser and less authoritative category than halakhah.76Late-antique
and medieval Talmudic authorities, the primary tradents of both
halakhah and aggadah, agree that no halakhah can be derived
from aggadot, thereby freeing individuals to accept or reject non-
halakhic traditions as their conscience demands.77And this freedom
correlates to aggadahs great breadth; all lore that falls outside the
essential and binding category of halakhah may be said to fall
74
In reference to both Maimonides and Bar Hiyya, see Sela, Fuzzy Borders, 72,82. Specifically, Maimonides,Mishneh Torah, Laws of the New Moon, 17:24.75Ahimaaz, 7880 (Eng.); 1112 (Heb.).76J. Frenkel,Midrash and Aggadah(Heb.) (Tel-Aviv, 1996), 2122.77Peah 2:6, 17a; Maaser Sheni 3:9, 51a; Shabbat 16:1, 15c; Hai Gaon in B. M.
Lewin,O!ar ha-Geonim(Jerusalem, 192843), 4:5960.
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Joshua Holo318
under the category of aggadah.78 Aggadah is also identified,
imprecisely, with the genre of late-antique, rabbinic literature
known as Midrash, though Midrash in fact includes both aggadic
and halakhictexts, just as aggadahalso peppers the predominantly
halakhic corpus of Talmud.79 More than merely a literary genre,
therefore, this catch-all refers to the affective mode of Jewish
thinking that is characteristic of legends, homilies, ethical lessons,
parables, mysticism, etc.80Cast thus, astrology is cordoned off and
comparatively unmoored as aggadah. It cannot possibly speak to
the basic and obligatory considerations of law, and cannot,
therefore, inspire any responseeither positive or negativeofcomparable moment.81 Aggadah certainly has the capacity to
challenge and test orthodoxy by means of risky ideas, but if
anything, it functions as a safe context for daring theological
speculation, because once distinguished from halakhah, it cannot
materially menace it. As an aggadic approach to interpreting the
78 H. L. Strack and G. Stemberger, Introduction to Talmud and Midrash(Minneapolis, 1996), 23740.79A typical example is Pesiqta Rabbati, ed. R. Ulmer (Atlanta, 1997), 40819, in
which Creation unfolds in terms of the zodiacal year and each constellations
characteristics. J. H. Charlesworth, Jewish Astrology in the Talmud,
Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Early Palestinian Synagogues,
Harvard Theological Review70 (1977), 18388, describes the variety of opinions
in the Talmud. This variety does not, in and of itself, correlate to either halakhah
or aggadah, insofar as both leave ample room for disagreement. The difference
lies in what one does with the disagreement. In matters of halakhah, one cannot
simply abstain from opining; a choice must be made regarding the course of actionin fulfilment of the Law. In matters of aggadah, by contrast, one may expatiate,
challenge, or simply ignore. Charlesworth also briefly discusses a Shabbat 156a-
156b where the topic arises in typically aggadicmode. Other well known passages
include Nedarim 32a and Bava Batra 16b.80There are points at which halakhah and aggadah seem to overlap, see D. Gordis,
Scripture and Halakhah in Parallel Aggadot2, Prooftexts 5 (1985): 18391, eventhough the categories are generally invoked as fundamentally different.81Cf. Maimonides, who attacked astrology in public and halakhic contexts, in an
effort to frame his argument more forcefully and perhaps to hide his secret agenda,
according to Freudenthal, Maimonides Stance2, 85, 87. But, even taking hisobjections to astrology at face value as simple rejections of judicial astrology, theycan do no more than establish astrology as a danger to halakhah or a slippery
slope. Idolatry proper is not identified, wholesale and halakhically, with astrology,
but it does threaten to lead to it; see Y. T. Langermann, Maimonides Repudiation
of Astrology, inMaimonidean Studies(New York, 1991), 2:1289.
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Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy 319
heavens, astrology opens a space for ambiguity, ambivalence and
even heterodoxy.82
In stark contrast to astronomy and the halakhic concerns that
surround it, aggadah defines the astrology of Donnolo and the
Chroniclealike. Donnolo is aware of the fact that his case for the
collaborative generation of man at the hands of God and His created
universe risks offending Judaisms core monotheistic sensibilities.
So he tempers his reading with an unobjectionably orthodox
exposition of Gods ultimate power and free will.83But in any case,
all of his astrological and cosmological daring never leaves the foldof the established interpretive tools of aggadah. Genesis Rabbah, a
classical, verse-by-verse, aggadic reading of Genesis compiled as
early as the fifth century, already addresses the same scriptural
problem in similarly bold terms and by means of the same
exegetical methods.84The rabbis, the interlocutors of the text, test
out various interpretations to account for the troubling plural
subject of the Genesis verse, Let usmake man in ourimage. They
ask, With whom did God take counsel? R. Joshua b. Levi said,With the created heaven and earth did He take counsel. The
continuing exposition then goes in a very different direction from
that of Donnolo, but the exegetical infrastructure of classical
rabbinic aggadah obviously underlies his own. Equally explicitly
and directly aggadic is Donnolos fragmentary, largely
astronomical work, Sefer mazzalot. There he explicates the motions
of the Pleiades and Ursa Minor by means of a mythical reading of
Genesis and the book of Job.85 Additionally, Joseph Kara, in his
82 On similar lines to those proposed by Y. T. Langermann, Acceptance and
Devaluation: Nahmanides Attitude towards Science2,Journal of Jewish Thoughtand Philosophy 1/2 (2001), 22345. Rabbis variously rejected and accepted
judicial astrology: Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 156a, is the classical rejection of
astral powers over the Jews, Israel has no constellation, but Genesis Rabbah,
10:6 attributes to every blade of grass a constellation that empowers it to grow.83On Gods repositioning of the stars to call off the rains of the Biblical Flood, see
Donnolo, Sefer mazzalot, 2:26162, and below, n. 85.84
Genesis Rabbah 8:3; Strack and Stemberger,Introduction, 279.85Donnolo, Sefer mazzalot, 7:349: When the Holy One, Blessed be He, brought
forth the flood on the earth, He took two stars from the Pleiades, and the flood
broke forth on the earth. When the Holy One, Blessed be He, sought to remove the
waters from the face of the earth, he took two stars from Ursa Minor and he filled
in the vacant spaces of the two stars in the Pleiades. For that reason, Ursa Minor
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Joshua Holo320
commentary on the book of Job (the only extant source for the Sefer
mazzalot) takes Donnolos astronomy in precisely this aggadic
sense, and specifically quotes Genesis Rabbahin the same section
of that midrash where R. Simon avers that no blade of grass exists
except as under its constellationin order to interpret, together
with Donnolo, the movements of the Pleiades.86 In brief, Donnolo
explicitly frames his entire cosmology and judicial astrology in
these standard and familiar aggadic terms, where ambivalence and
theological daring can flourish, without encroaching on the
fundaments of Jewish doctrine and law.
The Chronicle, in similar fashion, casts Paltiel as the interpretive
astrologer, whose skill profits him, but whose interpretations do not
impinge on the realm of divine law.87 His endeavours as an
interpreter of the heavens belong to that broad category of
aggadahnot in the sense of Donnolos classical exegesis, but
rather in the default sense of aggadah as all that which is not
halakhah. Paltiels readings are indeterminate, and the concept of
transgression, which befits the breaking of the law, does not applyto his failure. Unlike Hananels calculations, Paltiels interpretive
leeway removes astrology from astronomys halakhicPURVIEW.
VI. CONCLUSION
If the heuristic lens of aggadahoffers one model for understanding
the complexity of astrologys place in both the Sefer hakhmoniand
theChronicle of Ahimaaz, it is not because aggadahand astrologyare necessarily or exclusively linked. That is to say, in other
contexts, legal issues do arise around the topics of prognostication
and the reading of the stars, even if they do so with considerable
collective ambiguity.88Tractate Pesahim, 113b, asks: How do we
follows after the Pleiades and demands the two stars back, saying Give me my
children, give me my children. The prooftext comes from Job [38:32]: Can you
lead Ursa Minor with her sons? Donnolo is probably making a pun on 2/+,,which can mean Will you lead? but pointed differently, can be read as Will she
[i.e., Ursa Minor] be consoled?86Ibid., 350, citing Genesis Rabbah, 10:5.87See above, p. 310.88J. Halbronn,Le monde juif et lastrologie (Milan, 1979), 239.
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Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy 321
know that one should not consult Chaldeans [i.e., necromancers or
astrologers]? Because of the Biblical passage (Deut. 23:13) that
states You shall be perfect with the Lord, your God. Echoing this
attitude, a document from the Cairo Genizah denounces astrology in
terms reminiscent of Maimonides, explicitly prohibiting the
practice.89 Other considerations in the Talmud, however, enter the
debate as though into an aggadic matter, with correspondingly
varied opinions and without the determinative judgments of
halakhah. Such is the claim of Rava, who argues that three things
are dependent, not on merit but onMazzal[zodiacal sign]: lifespan,
offspring, sustenance.90
The matter is further complicated, moreover, by the fact that in the
Palestinian Talmud, which historically enjoyed primacy over its
Babylonian counterpart in the context of Roman Jewry, also
equivocates in the matter of astrology. R. Eliezer b. Jacob grants
that one should neither divine nor augur (Lev. 19, 26). And yet,
even divination may convey an accurate omen, especially after
three occurrences of the sign.
91
This indeterminacy only grows, asthe argument proceeds along a more aggadicpath. The students of
R. Hanina go out to cut wood, when an astrologer (i!#rologin)
declares that they will not survive the excursion. It turns out that his
prediction would have been realized, had the students not averted
the decree by an act of charity along the way.92 In sum, if the
Palestinian Talmud passes judgment on astrology, it also grants the
stars poweralbeit a power subordinated to divinely inspired
deeds, such as those of loving kindness.
Further clouding the matter, astrology and astronomy, distinguished
or elided, may serve yet other purposes in other contexts. Such is
the case as argued by Josef Stern, regarding Maimonides stance on
astrology. According to this view, commandments that resist a
logical rationale are explained in the Guide in light of the
historical context in which the Mosaic Law was legislated, the
89 Joseph b. Judah ibn Aknin, Cure of Sick Souls, in The Jew in the Medieval
World, selected and tr. J. R. Marcus, revised ed. (Cincinnati, 1999), 431.90Moed ka+an, 28a.91Shabbat 6:9, 8d.92Ibid.
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Sabian culture centred on star-worship.93Being the first step on the
slippery slope to star-worship, judicial astrology therefore becomes
a hermeneutical tool in halakhic investigation. In similarly complex
fashion Maimonides, in his monumental halakhic work, the
Mishneh Torah, details celestial and earthly phenomena of only
peripherally halakhicinterest.94
The argument, therefore, is not that aggadah necessarily defines
astrology, rather that Donnolo and Ahimaaz b. Paltiel wrote as
though it did. Donnolo and the Chronicle steer clear of the
Talmudic ambiguities, and in marking the sciences as expressionsof prevailing modes of Jewish thought, they obviate, rather than
resolve, any potential tension. Their application of the line between
halakhah and aggadah to the sciences does not merely cleave
observation from interpretation but more pointedly between
observation for the purpose of calendation and everything else.
Donnolo, who engages with astronomy as a component of
astrology, subsumes both of them under the Baraita of Samueland
describes the astral forces in unmistakablyeven classicaggadicterms. Meanwhile the Chroniclecounterpoises fortune-telling to the
astronomical calculation of the new Moon, which in turn invokes
expressly legal concerns. The firm and familiar distinction between
aggadic, affective and optional astrology on the one hand, and
halakhic, essential and compulsory astronomical calculation on the
other, not only precedes any scientific similarity, but it also pre-
empts astrologys potentially-occult aspect from threatening
orthodoxy, and thereby at least partially accounts for its general
93J. Stern, The Fall and Rise of Myth in Ritual: Maimonides versus Nahmanides
on the Huqqim, Astrology, and the War against Idolatry, The Journal of Jewish
Thought and Philosophy 6 (1997), 20103.94 Even the descriptive, non-computational aspect invoked law, according to
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws on the Foundations of Torah, 3. In this
halakhic work par excellence, Maimonides gives a brief outline of the physicaluniverse. Though he attributes a quasi-angelic consciousness to the higher celestial
bodies, he clearly treats the universe in a descriptive manner, without attributing
any judicial power to the bodies; see Langermann, Repudiation, 93, argues that
Maimonides did not intend his condensed cosmology in this section to be
definitive.
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Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy 323
acceptance.95In the larger, ongoing question of monotheism and its
relationship to astrology, the Chronicleand the Sefer ye!irahadd a
rich and organically Jewish dimension when viewed in this light.
95 Thus obviating the problem, as presented by J. Charlesworth, Jewish
Astrology, 199, of the polarization and irreconcilability of the positions on
astrology in the Talmud.
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