Fortune
Telling and Palm Reading are Not Part of Judaism
By
Shelomo Alfassa / January 5, 2008
Introduction
In New York City, we have both Ashkenazi
and Sephardi 'rabbis' which come from Israel to provide
'blessings' to those who visit them. These rabbis also
read palms; claim to be able to tell people when they
will be married; advise people if they are infected
with 'ayin harah' (the evil eye); promise businessmen
they will reap great rewards; advise people about their
past lives; and, advise people on their future. The
events that take place in the privacy of these sessions
between the rabbi and his unsuspecting victim often
fall under the rubric of Practical Kabbalah. The people
who come to have their fate told and who provide a donation
to the rabbi (or his yeshiva, camp or kollel), have
no idea that: 1) many times these people are not great
Torah scholars or even rabbis; and, 2) they are going
against Jewish law by visiting with these men. This
paper strives to advise people, male and female, that
these charlatans are nothing more than fakes. It is
the hope of the author that Jews will read and share
this paper, written with a Torah-grounded intellectual
(not emotional) approach, to learn for themselves, that
they are being taken advantage of by visiting with these
pseudo-rabbis. The author would like the reader to know
that by participating with these people, that they are
being taken advantage of, and are unintentionally conducting
themselves in a way that is not in line with the Torah
and goes against the desires of the Almighty.
COMMENTS
& RESPONSES FROM THE PUBLIC
"I
want to offer a hazaq ubarukh on a well researched and
well written article about the proper perspective on
fortune telling. This has become a big problem in our
city and unfortunately many of our rabbinic leaders
are too complacent about it. I cringe whenever I see
these types of ads taken out in The Jewish Press and
am at a loss as to how the JP and similar newspapers
could hypocritically reject ads for non-kosher food
yet simultaneously allow these kinds of ads on their
pages." --Rabbi A.
"There
is no evidence of such an ability and to the contrary,
much evidence of charlitanism. Palm reading, predicting
the future, astrology, none of it has anything to do
with Judaism, and it's recent upsurge in popularity
merely reflects these peoples' ability to fool others
and their victims desire to hear what they want to.
As science and civilization progresses, we are regressing
backwards by following such obvious foolishness. An
educated person, both in Torah and secular studies,
and one who has faith in Hashem should recognize these
tricks for what they are, merely vague guesses, hyped
up until the unfortunate recipient truely believes they
have made a valid prediction. To sum it up, Don't waste
your time or money." --Anonymous
"Just
wanted to warn other women about the Rabbi xxxx xxxx
who just visited New York and Brazil. I understand that
this is a second complaint about him. He had promissed
a friend of mine that only he can cure her, if she would
have sex with him. I understand that he is married and
has kids and lives in Israel."
--Anonymous
"Please
be aware. This just happened. Rabbi xxxx xxxx, from
Israel, is in New York and he has a website wehre he
claims to be an oracle to tell the past and future.
He has just acted inapropriately with a single woman,
who trusted him, and has known him for months. He is
married and lives in Israel and claims to be a student
of Rabbi Kaduri. Rabbi xxxx xxxx told this single woman
to go to the mikvah so he could sleep with her over
Shabbos! He then went on to hold her hand. She was appalled
and shattered over the behavior of a Rabbi coming on
to her. Could you check into this guy? Hopefully this
is his first misstep and he can do teshuvah."
--Anonymous
"I
could not beleive that Rabbi xxxx xxxx told me that
HE was my husband in a past life. What is this all about."
--Anonymous
At
a public lecture in Brooklyn that was attended by about
1,200 people, Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser (rabbidovidgoldwasser.com)
warned Jews to ** NOT ** visit individuals who claim
to possess CHOCHMAS HAYAD. This phrase translates into
English as PALM READING. Even intelligent Gentiles laugh
at palm readers and the people who believe them.
--Anonymous
"As
someone who is extremely aware of the supernatural issues,
the fortune teller / palm reader, etc. is coming from
ego whereas the Tzaddik is comoing from bitul (humility).
Besides the obvious and critical component that Hashem
and only Hashem runs the world, He has put people in
this world with distinct spiratual gifts. The challenge
si that someone open to spiritual gifts - is open to
both influences from "light" and influences
from "darkness". This is one of the hidden
reasons why it is so dangerous to work wth non-Jews
and even Jews who are not based in humility. From my
significant experience, the greatest challenge to those
with gifs is ego." --E.T.
"It
was very odd when the rabbi came to my house to give
me a blessing and read my hands. He came in and closed
the door behind him, this is against the halacha, he
made me feel uncomfortable."
--Anonymous
"Last
year I went to a rabbi in Brooklyn who asked me to travel
with him and help him heal people around the world.
I thought this was very odd!"
--Anonymous
"I
agree that modern western Sephardim can feel uncomfortable
with these things.....and we certainly see a lot of
this in Israel as fundamentalism grips our country,
and its religious population in particular, so all of
this is on the increase. In the Italian Synagogue Midrasha,here
in Jerusalem, we are currenty studying responsa literature
, albiet 17th century, from Rabbi Leone de Modena, concerning
the subjects of gambling, and of course, fortune telling
etc...(not that members partake in this, but rather,
I suppose, to understanbd where some of this is coming
from.) despite the fact that he is considered a very
learned scholar, ...in the range of what would later
become "modernist" or even later "haskalah"
he certainly had arguments in favor of those wishing
to partake in these activities. Of course, our country
is beset by many personal, economic and social security
problems....so one sees many people, particularly women,
engaged in constant reading of tehillim, with kissing
of the texts, etc, and countless other people go to
rabbius for "fortune telling" consultation
and advice; this is not just a Sephardi custom, but
is shared by all the communities of course, the Kabbalistic
rabbis are particularly active in this, and so to a
large extent are their Hassidic Ashkenaz cousins, and
of course, particularly in the Ashkenaz communities,
but also in the Sephardi, are the accompanying idolatrous
practices of worshipping images of the 777 house, and
its rebbe, claimed by many to be mashiach, this spilling
over to the Sephardi and oriental communities with the
displays of images of the Ari, Baba Sali, Shimon Bar
Yochai, etc., some of these images also worn on clothing,
or carried in the pockets." --N.D. Jerusalem
"I'd
appreciate a copy of your paper. There is an epidemic
of Jewish women visiting psychics in my area."
--Anonymous
If
you would like to contact me, or share your experiences
about anything
in this paper, please email at the following address:
