The topic tonight is going to be the Jewish Torah view on astrology. The word astrology we know is an English word, but the truth is that in the Gemara and in the Midrashim, it is also called astrology, just the pronunciation is a little different. It's called אסטרולוגיא. That's what it's called. And the reason for that title is because the word astar means a star, as in English, the word star comes from the word astar, and I guess that's in Aramaic also. So, a person who looks into the stars, Greek, but it's probably Aramaic also, because in the Gemara they use these words. So, a person who is able to look into the stars, as we call them, the כוכבים ומזלות, כוכבים are stars, מזלות are the constellations, and is able to see what is, so to speak, written in the stars, the prediction that is there and the things that are written there that are going to happen, whether it is concerning things that are going to happen in the future, or concerning different people, when a person is born under a certain star, the certain nature that the person might have, certain characteristics that a certain might have, so a person that is able to do that is called an אסטרולוג, an astrologer, in English we would call him an astrologer. We do find in the Gemara and in Midrashim many places references to this concept of astrology. Now, I've made myself a list here of some of the places, just to read the different places where we find, whether it's in the Gemara or in the Midrashim, concerning astrology. In one Midrash, Midrash called Pesikta, Pesikta Rabbata, it says that the חכמת בני קדם, it says that in the time of Shlomo Hamelech, Shlomo Hamelech was the smartest of all, even smarter than the people from the בני קדם. And what was the greatest חכמה, the greatest wisdom of the בני קדם? So, it says that they were great astrologers, that's what the Midrash says. The Gemara in Bava Batra דף ט\"ז says on the פסוק where it says ה' בירך את אברהם בכל, that Hashem' blessed Avraham with everything, so the so the Gemara says אצטגנינות גדולה היה בלבו, he had great astrology in his heart, which, by the way, another word for astrology in the Gemara is אצטגנינות, and an astrologer is called אצטגנין or an אסטרולוג. So, it says there when Hashem' blessed Avraham with everything, it says אצטגנינות גדולה היה בלבו, he had great astrology in his heart, וכל מלכי מזרח ומערב משכימין לפתחו לשאול במזלות, and all the kings from all sides of the world would come to Avraham Avinu to ask him questions about the מזלות, to look into the מזלות, into the constellations for them. The Gemara in שבת דף קנ\"ו says that Avraham Avinu said to Hashem', when Hashem' promised him that he's going to have a son, Hashem' said to אברהם, רבונו של עולם, רואה אני באצטגנינות שלי שאיני מוליד, I see in my astrology that I will not be able to have any children. אמר ליה הקדוש ברוך הוא, ה' said to him, צא מאצטגנינות שלך, go out of your astrology. Actually, Rashi in Chumash brings it, when Hashem' said צא, come out, and Hashem' showed him look at the stars, and just like you see so many stars, that's how much your children are going to be. So, one of the peshatim is taking from this Gemara, go out, go out from where? So, go out from your אצטגנינות, from your astrology, because you see according to the stars that you won't be able to have children, so I'm telling you go beyond the stars, and I'm going to go beyond it, and you're going to see. So, here we see that Avraham Avinu had astrology. It says in the Gemara Sotah concerning the people in Mitzrayim, the Egyptians, that the Egyptians were very much into astrology. And it says, for instance, when Paro made the gezeirah, the decree, כל הבן הילוד היאורה תשליכוהו, that any son that's born, throw him into the river, the reason was because the astrologers, the Gemara says, saw that מושיען של ישראל, the one that's going to save the Yidden, will be judged through water, will be punished through water. So, they thought in that case, maybe now the one that's going to be born, let's throw him into the water, because we see that he's going to be punished by water, and that's how we're going to get rid of him. So, we see here that they saw through astrology, which is something they actually saw. Then also it says in Chumash that Paro said, when the Yidden asked him to leave, כי רעה נגד פניכם, he said, I see evil in front of your eyes, in front of your face. What he meant was, you want to go out to the desert, I'm telling you, I see blood. I see in the stars that you're going to have blood. And that was a mistake, because really what he saw was that when the Yidden entered Eretz Yisrael, they all were circumcised, and they had they were bleeding. That's what he saw, but he did see something. So here again we see Paro himself was a great astrologer. The Gemara there in the same masechet in Sotah the Gemara says that יוסף הוריד אצטגניני פרעה מגדולתן, that Yosef lowered the level of the astrologers of Paro from their position, because Paro called the astrologers to interpret his dream, and they weren't able to do it, and he did, so he lowered their level. So here again we see that Paro had astrologers, and he called them to interpret the dream, and because they weren't able to, so their level was lowered. But we see a reference to astrology. In Midrash, Bereishit Rabbah, it says that why did the wife of Potiphar start up with Yosef? Wanted to marry Yosef because she saw with her astrology that there will be a child that's going to come out of Yosef with her, from her. She made a mistake, because really it was her daughter, and that's the one that married Yosef. Asnat was the daughter of the wife of Paro of Potiphar, so she made a mistake. But she did see something with her astrology. The Gemara in a different place in Sotah says that when Paro was about to appoint Yosef as the ruler of Mitzrayim, so the Astrologinei Pharaoh, the stargazers of Pharaoh said to Pharaoh like this: עבד שלקחו רבו בעשרים כסף, תמשילהו עלינו? We see in the stars that this is a person that was bought as a slave with 20 pieces of silver, and him you're going to make a ruler over us? How did they know this? No one knew how much the pieces the people who bought him, the Yishmaelites who bought him from the brothers, they how much they paid. They paid עשרים כסף, but they saw it in astrology. It says in Melachim, as I mentioned before, ותרב חכמת שלמה מחכמת כל בני קדם, that the chochmah of Shlomo was greater than the chochmah of כל בני קדם. So it says that they were great astrologers, as I said before, and Shlomo was even smarter than them. It says in Avot DeRabbi Natan, I'm quoting these different midrashim, concerning המן, המן אסטרולוג גדול היה, המן was a great astrologer. It says in Midrash Rabbah, Bereshit Rabbah it says that the goyim at those times, when they used to buy a slave, they used to come to an astrologer with the slave and ask him, is this slave going to be successful or not? Tell me, look into the stars, and they would tell them. It says in Yerushalmi Avodah Zarah it says a story with a certain barber that he saw in astrology that the Yidden are going to spill his blood. He was very upset, so he killed many Yidden. Being a barber, having the knife in his hand, killed many Yidden. His mistake was, eventually he converted and they circumcised him, and a Jew let blood out, and that was his mistake. But still we see that there was something that he saw, the astrology that he saw. So here we see all that we find in the Chazal, in the chachamim, many references to the concept of astrology, which is the chochmah of looking into the stars and seeing the future or seeing things that happened from before, seeing things that we do not see with our naked eye out here. The question that comes up is is there any truth in what they say? And we're talking about the Torah point of view, which is obviously the true point of view. Is there any truth in what they say? And are we allowed to rely on what they say?

Now concerning whether there is truth in what they say, it seems from the Gemara that there is, because we find a Gemara, which is also a Gemara in Shabbos in the same section that we mentioned before, the story of the daughter of Rabbi Akiva. Everyone knows the story, that the daughter of Akiva once walked by and an astrologer was sitting and they said to each other that this girl is going to die the day of her wedding. And the day of her wedding came, and a poor man came to the house, was hungry, there was nobody that had time to help him, because they were all busy with the wedding, and she herself, the kallah, walked over to him, and she gave him food. And that night, she went after the wedding, she went to sleep. As she went to sleep, she took her pin and stuck it into the wall like they used to do. In the morning, when she woke up and she shlept, pulled her pin out from the wall, a snake came out of it with the pin straight into the head of the snake. In other words, if if not for what she did, the snake would have bitten her that night and she would have died. And the Gemara says it's the zechut of tzedakah that she did the day of her wedding that she was saved. So, here we see that we do there is something there is truth in what the astrologers say. We find other story in the Gemara that the mother of Rav Nachman, famous chacham, chachamim, famous אמורא Rav Nachman, once was walking while she was pregnant with her son, Rav Nachman, she overheard two astrologers saying, \"This woman, the child that she's carrying is going to grow up to be a thief.\" And she heard it. And because of that, from the moment her son was born, she covered his head with a yarmulke. And she said, \"This would be a siman of yirat Shamayim.\" That's, by the way, the source that wearing a yarmulke gives a person yirat Shamayim. Makes gives a person fear of God. And some say, some say that this is even the reason why we call it yarmulke. Where does the word yarmulke come from? מילא כיפה. Kippah means a cover, like a like a like it's called, nu. Ah, kippah, like a cap. Kippah, it's a dome. It's a dome. So, it looks like a dome, that's why it's called a kippah. But why is it called yarmulke? So, some say it's made up of two words, ירא מלכא. מלכא is the king. In Aramaic, מלכא is the king. ירא מלכא means fear of the king. So, it's called a yarmulke. This makes fear. This gives yirat shamayim. But, but, what we so what happened was she kept the yarmulke on him all the time. Once his yarmulke fell off. Rav Nachman himself said, when his yarmulke fell off, he felt an urge to steal. So, this shows us that what they predicted actually was true. We find in the Gemara, in Shabbos, a whole section of things that will happen to a person, what kind of person he will be depending on on the which star he was born, which day and at which time, which star he was born. We find that certain times the מזל מאדים, the constellation מאדים, which actually they say is Mars, when that is overhead, that's stronger, and a person is born under that mazal, especially on Friday night, will grow up to be a רוצח, a murderer. And therefore a person who's born then should try to be a shochet or a mohel because it shows that he will spill blood. One of the reasons why we don't make kiddush Friday night, it says in Shulchan Aruch and מנהג Chabad is so that we don't make kiddush Friday night between 6:00 and 7:00 on wine Some say it's red wine, but I don't know if there's a source to it. But the reason is because it has to do with this mazal. That because of this mazal, it is an unlucky time, a bad time to make kiddush then. So, we see from here that there is something in the mazalot, in the constellations, and in this astrology. The Gemara also says, הכל תלוי במזל, everything depends on the mazal. Now, we are used to translating the word mazal as luck. But the Gemara, the mazal really means the mazalot, the constellations are called the mazalot, mazal. הכל תלוי במזל ואפילו ספר תורה שבהיכל, even the Sefer Torah in the ארון קודש also depends on the mazal. Which means that when you open the ארון קודש, and there are five Sifrei Torah and you can take out whichever one you want, and you come over and you choose one, why did you choose this one? It has to do with the mazal, the mazal of this Sefer Torah. It doesn't mean, well, this Sefer Torah was lucky. It's not luck. There are mazalot, and the mazal caused that this Sefer Torah should be taken out. I always tell this story, I remember once by the Rebbe, when after they wrote, they finished Moshiach's Sefer Torah, that Sefer Torah was written, that this will be the Sefer Torah to greet Moshiach. So, certain Shabbatot, the Rebbe would give tell the gabbai that that Shabbos, they should read from this Sefer Torah. And there's one Shabbos that he gave over that this is the Sefer Torah they should read. And when they were מכבד somebody with פתיחה, the person went over to the ארון קודש. For some reason, or they forgot to tell him that the Rebbe said to take out Moshiach's Sefer Torah, or they told him and he forgot, he took out a different Sefer Torah. As he took out the other Sefer Torah, someone ran went over to him, I think it was Rav' Meir Haarlig ran over to him and he said, \"No, no, no, no. It's Moshiach's Sefer Torah.\" And the Rebbe would always stand when they took out the Sefer Torah, would stand on his on next to his shtender and look watch the person. And the Rebbe saw this gabbai run over and say, \"No, no, this is not the Sefer Torah,\" and he was about to put it back. The Rebbe said, \"Now, you can't put it back. הכל תלוי במזל ואפילו ספר תורה שבהיכל.\" So, if this was taken out, the Rebbe used these words, \"הכל תלוי במזל ואפילו ספר תורה שבהיכל,\" even the Sefer Torah. Obviously, this is the mazal, and the is that's supposed to come out. But what do we see from here? That there is truth, it seems to be truth, in what it's in the mazalot, and also that we follow, do we do certain things according to what it says in the mazalot? The Gemara even says more. The Gemara says, בני חיי ומזוני לאו בזכותא תליא מילתא אלא במזלא תליא מילתא. בני חיי ומזוני, בני means children, chayim means life, which is health, מזוני which is parnasa, livelihood, doesn't depend on a זכות, it depends on מזל, which means on the mazalot. So, we see from here, again, that there is a concept of mazalot that we have to take in consideration. So, obviously there is truth in astrology.

On the other hand, we know the famous saying of the חזל, אין מזל לישראל, that there is no מזל to the Yidden. The Yidden don't depend on מזל. Here it says הכל תלוי במזל, everything depends on the מזל. So, everything that happens down here depends on what it says in the mazalot, and it says אין מזל לישראל, there is no מזל to Yidden. Not only that, the Gemara is in Pesachim דף קיג, the Gemara says מניין שאין שואלין בכלדיים? How do we know that we are not allowed to go to these astrologers and ask him to tell you the future or predict or give you some advice? שנאמר the Gemara quotes a פסוק, תמים תהיה עם השם אלוקיך. You should be תמים, means complete, means sincere, simple with Hashem. ואל תחקור אחר עתידות, don't go look for the future. Don't go to these to ask him. So, on one hand, it seems that there is some truth there. It would seem, we don't know, but it says don't go to them. תמים תהיה עם השם אלוקיך. So, is there some truth in it or not? Are we allowed to rely on what it says there or not? Well, here we quoted a Gemara where it says clearly that we're not allowed to go to them. So, which one is it? Now, the truth is like this: that we're not allowed to go to them is no question. It's a halacha that we're not allowed to go to astrologers to get advice from them. But we find an argument between the Rambam and the Ramban whether there is any truth to what they say. The Rambam says that it's all בבא מעשיות. There is no such thing, and what they say doesn't mean anything. And we are not allowed to go to them, and the reason we're not allowed to go to them is because there is nothing there. It's all שטותים. We have to rely on Hashem, and that's what a Yid is supposed to do. But there's nothing there. On the other hand, the Ramban says no. The Ramban says that there is truth to it. There is truth to what it says in the stars, and what the astrologers say is true, and we're still not allowed to go to them. Because the פסוק says תמים תהיה עם השם אלוקיך, you should be sincere with Hashem. So, the פסוק says don't look for the future, don't look into these things which are beyond, and don't follow what they say. The Ramban does say that if for some reason we do know somehow what is written in the stars, we have to consider it because it's true. See, this is the difference between the Rambam and the Ramban. It's not only in understanding the idea that according to the Rambam there is no truth in it and the Ramban there is, but the bottom line they're both the same because according to both you're not allowed to follow them. It's not only that, it's more than that. According to the Rambam, even if someone happens to tell you and you happen to know that this is this what the star stars say are going to happen, according to the Rambam don't care, because it's all shtusim, it's בבא מעשיות, there is nothing true, it is not true. But according to the Ramban it's not so, it is true. You are not allowed to go there, and you are not allowed to ask them to follow them, but if something happens to be known as we see the mother of Rav Nachman knew from astrology that her son will be a thief, so she acted upon it. She made sure to cover his head, which at that time not everyone did. So, we see that you could, that's what the Ramban says. So, generally speaking, there is this machloket between the Rambam and the Ramban again, that the Rambam holds that there is no truth to astrology, the Ramban holds there is. They both hold that we're not allowed to go to them. What we have to really understand is, what is the meaning behind the opinion of the Rambam? We do find, as we said before, different places in the Gemara where it tells us things that astronomers said, the astrologers said, and they were true. So, how could the Rambam say that there is no truth in what the astrologers say? Now, the Ramban's opinion we understand. He says it's taka true, but the Torah doesn't want you to follow them, that that's understood. But to say that it's not true, what does the Rambam mean? Besides the question that we asked before, that we find contradictions, it says אין מזל לישראל, there is no mazal to Yidden, and here it says the other מאמר חזל says that there is is הכל תלוי במזל, everything depends on the mazal. So which one is it? The general pshat is, the general inyan is like this: What it says in the mazalot is true. Not clear, vague, but what it says there is true, as we see from all the stories in the Gemara and the midrashim. But a Yid is not allowed to follow it anyway, because a Yid is able to change the mazal. A Yid has the power through teshuvah, tefillah, tzedakah, through repentance, through prayer, through giving charity, tzedakah, a Yid is able to change it. And that's what we mean אין מזל לישראל, there is no mazal to Yidden. Not that there is no such thing as mazal. הכל תלוי במזל, everything depends on the mazal. But a Yid should realize that ein mazal, he should not care about the mazal, because he has the power to change it. And that concept that a Yid has the power to change the mazal is actually hinted in the same saying of the חז״ל אין מזל לישראל. Chassidus explains that the words אין מזל לישראל mean not only as the simple meaning, אין means not, מזל לישראל there is not, there is no mazal to the Yidden. That's not what the peshat is, not only. That's the simple peshat, but there's a deeper peshat. אין מזל לישראל, you know what the mazal of Yidden is? אין. אין, there is a level called אין. על פי קבלה, according to Kabbalah, there is a spiritual level called אין. Usually, when we talk about the creation of the world, we say the world is made yesh me'ayin. אין and אין is the same word. Yesh me'ayin, something from אין, from nothing. What do we mean something from nothing? The world was made something from nothing? Everything comes from Hashem. Hashem is the real something. If anything, the world is nothing, and Hashem is something. So why do we say yesh me'ayin? So one of the interpretations is that Hashem is referred to as אין, because as far as what we could see with our physical eyes, with our eyes of flesh, we do not see Hashem, so that's אין, but Hashem is called אין. So אין מזל לישראל means that the mazal of Yidden is אין. That means a Yid is able to reach, through his teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah, to the level of Hashem, who is beyond the mazalot, and therefore, not to be affected. So normally the mazalot do affect a Yid, but he's able to go beyond it. He's able to reach the level of of אין. It's similar to the famous peshat in Chassidus also, when it says in פרקי אבות, עקביא בן מהללאל אומר, עקביא בן מהללאל says, הסתכל בשלשה דברים ואין אתה בא לידי עבירה. You should look into three things, and you will not come to do an aveirah. דע מאין באת, ולאן אתה הולך, ולפני מי אתה עתיד ליתן דין וחשבון. You should know from where you came, where you're going to, and who you're going to have to give a din v'cheshbon a report to. So חסידות teitch, and then he goes on to explain what it means, where you came from, what's going to happen to you, but Chassidus says, da you should know מאין באת, not from where you came, you came from אין. Every yid's neshamah comes from Hashem, who is called אין. יש מאין, אין is Hashem, and it's Hashem the way He's beyond the creation. That's where every yid comes from. Da, you should know, מאין באת, you came from אין. And you know which level we're going back? ולאן אתה הולך. There's another title for Hashem in a different level, that's called אן. ולאן, you go to the level of אן. And you know for which level you're going to have to give a din v'cheshbon? ולפני מי, and there's a level called מי. A kabbalistic level in Godliness called מי, and you will have to give a din v'cheshbon a report to the level called מי. מי, which is all within the same category. אן, לאין, אין, and אן, and מי, they're all within the same category, but different points, different levels. We find this level, מי, someplace else, just to mention, and even though it's not important for our subject. It says when by מתן תורה, when the yidden, after they heard the first two דברות, the first two sayings, statements from Hashem, they got very scared, and they said, \"We can't listen anymore.\" So Moshe told Hashem the yidden are afraid, so Hashem said, \"Okay, in that case, from now on, I'll tell you and you speak to them.\" And Moshe Rabbeinu said he was upset. Here the yidden had a chance to hear from Hashem, and here they're asking, \"We don't want to hear from Hashem.\" But Hashem told him, \"I'm happy. All it shows is that they're afraid of Me. מי יתן והיה לבבם זה ליראה אותי כל הימים.\" Simple peshat מי יתן, who could give, who could make that they should have this fear all their lives? They have fear of me, fine, I'm happy. But Chassidus says that the word מי יתן means not as a question מי, who could give, it's a fact, a statement, מי יתן. There's a level called מי, and from this level of מי, יתן that gives והיה לבבם זה ליראה אותי כל הימים that the Yidden have their heart to fear Hashem, because from the level of מי we get help to fear Hashem. Normally we know הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים. Everything's in the hands of Hashem except yirat shamayim. Yirat shamayim is in our hands. Nevertheless, the pasuk says מי יתן, the level of מי could give that we should have yirat shamayim. So there is this level of מי. So we have the level of מי, the level of אן, the level of עין, that's the פשט אין מזל לישראל, that the mazal of Yidden is אין. Now, it doesn't take away from the simple peshat that there is a mazal and that is and that it influences even the Yidden. הכל תלוי במזל, everything depends on the mazalot, but at the same time you have to remember that we're not affected, because we are able to change it. And this is the peshat in the pasuk, there's a pasuk in Tanach that says, מאותות השמים אל תחתו כי יחתו הגוים מהמה. From the signs of the שמים, of the heaven, do not be afraid, כי יחתו הגוים מהמה, the גוים have to be afraid. What does that mean? The אותות השמים, the signs of heaven refers to the stars. And the pasuk says, don't be afraid of what it says in the stars, not because it's not true, you just don't be afraid. The גוים have to be afraid, because they have no power of teshuvah, tefillah, vetzedakah that is able to change it. But you are able to change it, so don't be afraid.

Now to explain this a little bit more in detail, let's go back to something that we spoke about many times, and that is to the concept of avodah zarah. We're going to discuss avodah zarah, idol worship. In Gemara and in Rashi, many places when it refers to idol worship, it's called עבודת כוכבים ומזלות, the worship of the stars and the constellations, because that was the main type of idol worship that existed in those days. And the Rambam in the beginning of Hilchot Avodah Zarah comes to explain, how did this whole concept of idol worship come about to be? We imagine idol worship that a person would take a rock, make it, carve out into some image, and bow down to it to say, oh you are my god, you are my god, I don't know what they say. We think of it as not normal people. Which meshugener is going to bow down to a rock and say you are my god? Why why be crazy, this is his god? How could a rock be his god? I mean what kind of sechel is behind it? And the Rambam explains, it's not so meshuga, they had a logic. It was wrong, but had a logic. The logic was the stars and the מזלות contain everything that is going to happen to this world, it does. And they are mashpia, they influence the things that happen to this world. And therefore, when the people knew that, they were very smart, and they were able to look into the stars, and they were able to see the hashpaah, the influence the stars and the constellations had, besides the physical influence of the sun giving light, which is something that we could see with our eyes, the sun giving heat, the moon giving light and whatever the moon gives and that makes things grow, they were able to see deeper. So to them, because they saw that the stars have the power of giving different things, so they said, let's bow down to the stars. And it wasn't because they didn't believe in Hashem, they believed in Hashem the Rambam says. But they thought that Hashem had given over certain departments of His work to the stars, the constellations, and now they're in charge. So if they're in charge, so if you want something, you have to turn to the stars, because the stars will give it to you, so you ask the stars to give you. So they started praying to the stars. And then when they got something that they were happy with, you have to say thank you. So who do you thank? So they thanked the stars. Now what happened if a guy decided that he wants to pray to the stars or to the sun or to the moon at night, and the the sun is not out? So what they used to do is they used to make an image out of wood or out of rock of the sun, of the stars, and at night he would pray to it which would symbolize his prayer to the sun. That's how it developed. So originally this was in their mind. Eventually the next generation, next generation forgot the whole source, and to them it seemed as if they're bowing down to a rock, and that's how it continued. Now what we're saying here is that this is what they saw. What they saw was true. So what was wrong? Their mistake was not that the stars don't influence. That is not true, the stars do influence and are mashpia. Their mistake was that they thought that the stars has have their own power and they could give on their own. In truth is that it's not so. It's only כגרזן ביד החוצב, they're only vessels in the hands of Hashem. Hashem uses the stars to give us everything that He wants, so it's not they that give, it's Hashem who gives. And the example given of the כגרזן ביד החוצב means the ax in the hand of the chopper. Just like when a person chops down the tree and he uses a tool, he uses an ax, and it's clearly the ax that did it, but can we say the ax gets credit for it? Can someone say to the ax, \"Please chop down my tree,\" or after the ax chopped down the tree, you say, \"Thank you\" to the ax? The ax is only a tool in the hand of the person. So you ask the person to do it, you thank the person. Here also, this the stars are only tools in the hands of Hashem, and they have no say whatsoever. They're not the boss, they're not doing it. And the truth is not only are they not doing it, they're not even partners. Because when you have two partners, so even though one might be a stronger partner, the other one is a lesser partner, but the one, as long as he's a partner, he has a say. And sometimes when there is a dispute between two partners, sometimes one partner wins and sometimes the other partner wins. So he has some kind of control. In this case, they have no control whatsoever. It's all Hashem using them as tools. But they made that mistake. So the whole idea is that we do see from here that the stars have something, but we can't rely on what is there because it's only in the hands of Hashem. Since what the stars contain is only because Hashem put it in, so therefore by us turning to Hashem and doing teshuvah, or tzedakah, or tefillah, or bechlal doing any mitzvah, this reaches into Hashem, and therefore, since Hashem is the boss, Hashem is the one that made it, so certainly He could change it. Hashem is the boss of what it's in the stars. He created it. Not only He created it once, He keeps on creating it every minute. So every second, the second that the star is there now, and there is something in the star that shows what's going to happen, the prediction to what's going to happen in the world, it's all because Hashem is making it now. And a minute later, He's going to continue re-creating it again. So who says that He has to create it the way it was before? He could create it now in a way to be different. But the only thing is we have to do something that will make Him want to change it. See, He created the world with a certain nature, and if things go the way it is, it'll continue with that nature. So in order for Hashem to change the nature of the stars, we have to do something, and that is teshuvah, tefillah, tzedakah, and then we change it. And this is different, let me explain, different than the regular nature of the world. The truth is what I just explained till now is in everything. It's concerning any natural thing in the world. Anything that's there is in the hands of Hashem. Hashem keeps on creating the whole world. Hashem gives the world its nature. Hashem makes everything happen. And Hashem is not limited to the limitations of nature. He could change it. But still we say you got to be careful, you got to take in consideration what nature tells you. As a matter of fact, there is a law, a הלכה, אין סומכין על הנס, that you're not allowed to rely on miracles. So you can't rely on miracles. Why? Because naturally it's like this, even though Hashem could do miracles, and we could say the same thing that Hashem is not limited and He could do whatever He wants, so then why don't we rely on miracles? Why do we take in consideration nature? But that's what Hashem wanted. Hashem wants us to take into consideration into consideration nature because He made it. So then why can't the same thing happen concerning the stars? Since naturally it's in the stars, so we should take into consideration and act upon what we're told it says in the stars? The difference is like this, that the nature that's here is revealed. Whatever Hashem revealed to us as open nature, Hashem says, \"This is the way the world runs, and I want you to follow the laws of nature.\" It doesn't mean that you can't hope for a nes, and if something happens to a person that naturally it doesn't seem like he's going to succeed, he has to have bitachon, trust Hashem that Hashem is not limited to nature, and Hashem could make a miracle, and that's how we're supposed to believe. But at the same time, we're supposed to take into consideration nature and behave accordingly, because that's the way Hashem wants it, because it's revealed. What's written in the stars, we don't see. And if we don't see, obviously, Hashem did not give it to us as a revealed way. And, therefore, Hashem says, don't care what it says there. Cuz even if it says there do teshuva, tefila, tzedaka and you'll go beyond it. And even though normally we say we have to go along with nature, אין סומכין על הנס, you can't rely on miracles. In this case, we could. In this case of the stars, we could do it because here it's different because here is something that Hashem did not give us. But those things which Hashem revealed to us for whatever reason he had. The Gemara revealed to us that these are things that are there in the stars, we have to follow it. We have to look accordingly. Why is it that Friday night we don't make kiddush? Because of something that has to do with the stars. Always say we don't rely on it. But this is something that for some reason Hashem wanted us to know that this is the nature of the stars. All the different things that the Gemara tells us about the stars and because of that we we behave in a certain way or wants us to know because for some reason they're revealed. So they are normal nature. Really, and again, I'm trying to explain, and really what's in the stars is as much nature as everything else. And it's true whatever it says there is naturally true. And if it says there is going to happen naturally. And in order for it not to happen, a miracle has to take place. But Hashem says, I want you to rely on the miracle and do teshuva and be sure that that miracle will take place, unlike nature of the world because nature of the world that we see I showed you, and if I showed you, I want you to behave that way. But no contradiction to bitachon. If you see naturally it won't work, you've got to have bitachon and daven and do mitzvot so I'll make a miracle. But originally you have to follow it. But the nature that's in the stars which is something that's hidden unless I tell you that it's so, then don't rely on it and don't care about it. But those things that we do and, therefore, in the case where Rav Nachman's mother actually heard and she knew she knew it's true and she had to act upon it to do something to overcome it. But otherwise we shouldn't go to these people to find out. Why? Because even if we'll find out it makes no difference because we could do teshuva, tefila, tzedaka. So, therefore, we should constantly do teshuva, tefila, tzedaka and then the nature the nature of the constellation won't affect us. And I'll explain just in another moment when we do tefila, teshuva, tefila, tzedaka or mitzvot, how do we go beyond nature? Didn't Hashem create nature? And Hashem created nature in a certain way that it should stay? So, how can we do things that should change nature? This is the will of God. The will of Hashem is that things should happen naturally. So, how do we what do we do, how do we do it that we should make a change? It's as if changing Hashem's plan or Hashem's will. The answer is just in short, a little bit of chasidut, a little bit of more קבלה'דיקע עניינים.

The connection of Hashem to the world has two ways, and to use the חסידישע terminologies, סובב כל עלמין וממלא כל עלמין. סובב כל עלמין is Hashem who surrounds the world very generally and his connection is in general way, and ממלא כל עלמין is the connection is in a more specific way, and I'll explain it in simpler terms. ממלא כל עלמין, מ מ ל א כל, כ ל עלמין, ע ל מ י ו נ. And the second one is סובב כל עלמין, ס ו ב ב. Surrounds. What it means is, in simpler terms, Hashem himself is completely beyond the creation. In order for Hashem to create a world, he had to put himself, to use kivayachol, simple terms that we could relate to, in a frame of mind to connect himself to the concept of a world, which is something completely not connected to him because a world is an an entity that's separate from him. So, he, Hashem himself, as far as he's concerned, there's no such thing as a world. So, he had to, first of all, put himself, generally speaking, to a frame of mind that there will be a world. And then there is a process of how the world was created through סדר השתלשלות. His connection, his first connection to the world which is the general idea that he want there should be a world which makes it puts into himself a concept of a world, that's called סובב כל עלמין. So, he's connected to the world in a very general way that there is a world. Then, specifically, when he starts making a סדר השתלשלות, it means specifically he starts creating one world and another world, and it gets lower and lower and lower, less light and less light and less light of Hashem. And different worlds are created, and as it goes on, the world become lower and lower and lower till finally there was created the this סובב כל עלמין, this this עולם הזה I mean, which is the lowest world. So, ממלא כל עלמין refers to Hashem as he is connected connected to every single world specifically. סובב כל עלמין is Hashem's general connection to the world, which is beyond the specifics of every world, which is to give a mashal, an example, when you have a person, a great scholar, and he has deep ideas which are far, far beyond an ordinary person to understand, and he decides he wants to explain it to a person. So there are two stages here. Number one, he has to put himself in the frame of mind of wanting to connect to a student, because on his own, he's far beyond. What does he have to do with students? He has, in his own mind, he doesn't have anything to do with simple folks who are removed from him. So he puts himself in this in a frame of mind that now he's going to connect himself to other people, and then he starts the process of taking his deep ideas and bringing it down, and first to a level that only great scholars could understand, then it goes lower to other people could understand, finally, a simple person could understand. And the same thing with Hashem: He first has the סובב כל עלמין and then the ממלא כל עלמין. Now, when a person normally lives in this world, the connection we have to Hashem is ממלא כל עלמין, because Hashem, the process was, and eventually came down that there is a world as we have it, and that's the connection that we have to Hashem, the way He is in this specific world, in this specific level, which is a very low level of godliness. When a Yid does teshuvah, or tefillah, or tzedakah, what he does is he's able to connect himself not to the level of ממלא כל עלמין, which is Hashem the way He is contracted, so to speak, to the level of this world, but the way He is completely, completely beyond in the first level of connection, where Hashem just decided to connect Himself to the world, which is a very general connection, and all the limitations of the different levels do not apply there. So normally, the nature applies to us, because that's part of the way Hashem contracted Himself, was מצמצם Himself to nature, so we live with nature. But if we're able to do something that should bypass it all, we have a bypass, and we pass by all these levels and we go directly straight up to Hashem as סובב כל עלמין, then these limitations don't count, and therefore all the limitations that are there into nature, including in the stars, will not work. Just also to use an example for that too, the example would be, it says when a in Chassidus it says that when a person faints, almost like in a coma, and you try to revive him and nothing works, the next thing to do is you should call him by his name, whisper his name into his ear, and that is a eitzah, an advice, a segulah how to bring it back. And it works, not always, but many times it works. So let's understand, what did we do here? Why is this person in a why did he faint? When he fainted, he's still alive. He's still alive, that means that his חיות is still there, his life is still there. What's missing is that the life has to come into every individual part of the body and work according to what that part of the body is supposed to do, and that doesn't work. Because in the human being, we have the same thing. We have the נפש, and this נפש is supposed to come into the גוף, into the body. There are two stages. There is סובב כל עלמין and ממלא כל עלמין, similar. There is first the general level that the נפש stands in a level of coming into the body, very general, and that is called חיות כללי, the general life. The fact that a person is alive, that's the general connection between the נפש and the body. I'm afraid to say anything, we have a doctor here. Then we have the part of the נפש that goes into each part specifically: into the brain comes in a certain part, and into the eyes, another part, and another another part. When a person faints, see, when a person dies, God forbid, that means that the נפש left the body completely. But when a person faints, the נפש is still there. If he's still there, so how come his eyes don't work? How come his brain doesn't work? What happened was the נפש left that second level, the level that it goes into every specific part of the body and does the function of that part of the body. It left and came back only to the first level, which is the general connection that the person's nefesh has to the body. So he's still alive, and it doesn't function because only the סובב is there, the general, חיות כללי, the general life, but not what we call חיות פרטי, the individual life. When we whisper the name, what it says is, in order to bring back that the nefesh should start functioning in each individual part, we have to find something that will help us reach directly into that higher level. Because usually when we deal with a person, we don't deal with that חיות כללי, with that general חיות, we deal When a doctor, he deals with the eyes, he deals with the head, he deals with all the different parts of the body the way the nefesh is involved in that individual part, specific part. Here, that doesn't work. So when we're going to reach into any part of the nefesh the way it's in the specific parts, we won't accomplish anything, because in that part it's not there. In order to bring it back, we have to reach all the way into the חיות כללי, that general חיות, which is still there, the person is still alive, because if it's not there, you can't revive him. But if it's still there and we reach into there and we try to draw it out from there, bring it back, it should come into the different parts of the body. So one of the eitzot is that we say the name. The same thing is k'vayachol with us and Hashem. If we're only connected to Hashem the way he is limited in the limitations of this world, the way he put himself in limitations, so then we are limited to these limitations. To say that it's not true, that there's nothing to astrology, when we find so many times in the Gemara and the midrashim that there is such a thing, the Rambam does not mean there is no truth to it. The Rambam was in such a high level that the Rambam to begin with looked at everything from the level of this אין. He when, since he knew that a Yid is able to change it through tefillah, teshuvah, tzedakah, and if you're at such a high level, to begin with you don't care about it as if it doesn't exist. So in his level, basically, it didn't exist. In his level, there was nothing there because you're beyond it. It's similar to the famous story they tell about the Rambam. There's another thing that the Rambam writes which is also very strange, and everyone argues against the Rambam. The Rambam writes there is no such things as shedim. There's no such thing as demons. And every mefaresh, all the commentaries argue on the Rambam, they say, how could you say such a thing when there are literally hundreds of places, hundreds of places in the Chazal, in the Gemara and the midrashim that talk about shedim? How could you say there's no such thing as shedim? And there are all kinds of explanations, but there is a story told that people, some of the other chachamim who were arguing with the Rambam, not only tried to prove it to him from the Gemara, they wanted to prove it to him physically. There was a house in the city that the Rambam lived, there was a house at the end of the city which was a ghost house. It was empty and everyone knew that there are shedim there. People were afraid to go there. Anybody who went there got hurt. There were shedim, so they said to the Rambam, \"You know what? You claim there are no shedim, we'll show you.\" So the Rambam said, \"Fine, I'm ready to see.\" So they took the Rambam there, and what happened was, when the Rambam came, they disappeared. The Rambam walked in, no shedim. He says, \"You see? No שדים.\" The kedushah of the Rambam was so great that his holiness made them disappear. Same thing here, the Rambam's level was so great that to him, when he said that doesn't, it's not true, he meant the same thing we could say that the Ramban meant. He just looked at it in different words. To him, because of that high level that we don't care and we're able to overcome with the mazalot, so he was there to begin with, so he says there is nothing there. So the bottom line is we have to remember as astrology is true and there is a lot to it, but we are not allowed to go ask. If someone happens to know something, he should do extra tefillah, extra teshuvah, because if he knows, obviously Hashem revealed it to him, then it becomes nature. And there are certain things that the chachamim revealed to us because that's what Hashem wanted. So that is nature, and we have to take it into consideration and work accordingly, but not to worry about it. Why? Because a Yid has the power to overcome it. And I'll finish just with the famous story, which I told a few times already also, that when the Rebbe once, I forgot already which year, came out with a proclamation that there should be a fast day, a half a day fast day, the Rebbe said, a certain, a תענית שעות. And the Rebbe said, \"Because things are not good in Eretz Yisrael.\" Actually, at that time we didn't see specifically that the situation was worse than other times, but nevertheless, there was a תענית שעות that was done, and all the shluchim all over put into the newspaper that the Lubavitcher Rebbe asked that people should fast a half a day on this and this day, etc., etc. One of the shluchim in France got a phone call after this day, and someone called and asked him, \"Is this Chabad?\" He said, \"Yes.\" \"Are you?\" He said, \"I want to know a little bit more about the Lubavitcher Rebbe.\" So he said, \"Come over.\" The guy came over and he started talking, he said, \"I'll tell you the whole thing, why I'm asking.\" He said, \"I am a priest, and I am a head of a group that were into astrology.\" He said, \"We're into and we look into the stars and we see. And we saw in the stars a certain terrible disaster that is going to happen in Eretz Yisrael, and it was there, and it was there. And then we saw in the newspaper that this Lubavitcher Rebbe asked that on this and this day we should fast, and that's the day that we saw in the stars that the disaster is going to happen. And after this fast day, we looked into the stars and we saw that it was all wiped out. So, we know that this Lubavitcher Rebbe has some power. Who is this Lubavitcher Rebbe? And this is it. So, the Rebbe saw and he knew that this is, and he was able to guide us and to tell us what to do. But the bottom line is that Hashem makes it always that there should be things that should make us aware, if we have to be aware, of what's going to happen, and we have to add in teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah, and then we just disregard what the stars say, and we fulfill תמים תהיה עם ה' אלקיך, that we're sincere and straight with Hashem and we don't look for the future, we just do what Hashem wants, and if we do what Hashem wants, Hashem will do what we want of Him and He will send us Mashiach Tzidkeinu. Amen. Yes. Okay. Shabbos. שבת דף קנ״ו, page קנ״ו. נ״ו, 156. Mazal means constellation. That's the real definition. Right. And when we tell a person you should have a mazal tov, you should have good mazal, that's exactly what we mean, because we want that the mazalot should be good. And by a Yid wishing another Yid a bracha, that overcomes the mazal. And that's one of the ways to help that if the mazal is not good, that you should overcome. Because if it's not good, chas v'shalom, then something could happen. Yes. Good, fine, yeah. Palm reading is a different, that's a chochmah, it's a different type of chochmah. It says there is חכמת היד, it's called, chochmah. The chochmah of looking in, not palm reading of seeing the future, but palm reading of seeing the nature and the characteristics of a person, the qualities of a person. That's a chochmah. Some people know that chochmah. There is חכמת הפנים, what you call, I call it חכמת הפרצוף, you can look into the face, and some people have the ability of from the face telling. There's חכמת הכתב. Someone actually, they say, wrote to the Rebbe, is it, is there any truth in חכמת הכתב, in the chochmah of handwriting? So, the Rebbe said, \"Yes, and I'm also familiar with it.\" You're also what? \"I'm also familiar. I also know it,\" he said. But the truth is, there is truth to this, but not everybody who says he knows it really knows it. Sometimes people are just meshugaim and they think they know it. Somebody wrote to the Frierdiker Rebbe that he knows חכמת היד. This guy must have been a little bit tzu-dreyt, a little bit nuts. And he wrote he knows חכמת היד and he looks into his hand and he sees all kinds of things that he should do, all kinds of weird things. So, he asked the Rebbe, the Frierdiker Rebbe, \"So, how do I go about it? What should I do?\" So, the Rebbe answered him, \"What you should do next is visit a good psychiatrist.\" So, the Frierdiker... No, היד, looked to the palm of his hand and you looked at the lines and, yes. You didn't speak about it, but we spoke about it before you came today. It doesn't change. See, it's not exactly to the month, because the mazalot, it seems, work according to the twelve months of the year of the solar month, not the lunar. In other words, it's twelve twelve sections of 365. So, but it fits. בדרך כלל, usually, it comes out that way. But it's always a little, you know, it overlaps. So, in a year of 13 months, so it overlaps, so we put them together. That's what it is, that's what it seems like. Adar is דגים, fish. דגים, fish. So, yes, and that year it's a big fish, you know. Double fish. A double fish. Maybe. See, see if you don't believe what they say anyways, you can look. You shouldn't. You can look. Well, that's it. But not not to look like for the future, for the... Yeah, that's just a that's just a play. Right, right. So, and we know that, so we don't believe it anyway. No, one of the things that could change your mazal is משנה מקום משנה מזל, your place, and the name. That's why you add a name when someone is sick or you add a name, or when someone moves to a different place. I know the Rebbe, when people would write to the Rebbe they're moving to a different place, so the Rebbe would, a lot of times, first few times people in what it means. He would answer, the Rebbe didn't want to waste time, so everything he answered in short. So he answered, a person wrote, he wrote: מ מ מ מ ל ת ו. משנה מקום משנה מזל לטובה ולברכה. Yes. I'm looking at this horoscope thing and you were born on one day. It's just that every year, not every year it comes out the same. So you look according to the Hebrew date. When it says that on a day of a birthday the mazal is strong, it says the mazal of a person is strong on the day of his birthday, it means the Hebrew birthday. I know, but in the papers the horoscope is English. I know, so, so don't look. Isn't the horoscope according to the solar? Yeah, but it's the way we relate to it is through, because by us the ikar is the Hebrew. And it says בנוגע דיום הולדת that on the day of the birthday the mazalot are strong, your mazal is strong, it means the Hebrew one. Now I don't know, l'chorah it should connect it to the other one also. And I once said that it could be that there is something in the English birthday also. But I don't know, yes. It's more nature, that's. No, that's more natural, what's what's there already. So that's not mazal? I don't know what that has to do with the mazal. But yeah, that's not mazal, that's. Huh? Yeah, yeah, that's חיה, that's. What's the קמיע for, is that? No, that's not, that's, see that's the some segulah that a person should have a brachah. What's giving a brachah? When a tzaddik gives a brachah, what does that do? It's not mazal, that has to do with just being mashpia giving hashpaah, yeah. If you're referring to a person can change their mazal by by tefillah. Don't do anything, just continue being good. Don't ruin it! So you can't go according to to that anyway. Right, right. No, but it's true, whatever is there is true. But if you're afraid if something wrong with that you could change it. If something is good then there's no, that's why we say mazal tov, you should have a good mazal. But there's other things that can affect your mazal. Good, well, any mitzvah. I mean, in a bad way? Ayin hara, things like that? Well that's not mazal, that's an ayin hara is a different that's a different. That affects the mazal, no? I don't know if it affects the mazal, it affects the person! I don't know if it has to do with the mazal. Yes. So if we're not allowed to look for the mazal, we should always pray, pray Hashem should. Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, there's no. That's why we say אין מזל, right, that there is, we refer to there's no mazal. But you know we always say a gutn mazel we should have. Yeah, a gutn mazel we say, but not to be worried, we're. A gutn mazel we want to have, too. Right! Because the good mazal we want and it's true, yeah. Alright. Okay. One more. More of an observation on your remark than a question, you mentioned the story with the tree. So, they saw something when they do astrology, I mean So! Yeah, yeah. doesn't that would imply that then their behavior has a direct effect on the physical Yes, yeah, yes! We change nature. We change nature, exactly, yes, yes, yes. That shows our power, exactly. Yeah.