The World of Stars

Thinking about the following comment from the Talmud [Nedarim 32a]:

"There is no constellation for the Jewish people"

This is a recurring theme. It shows up in small events in the Talmud [a snake comes close to biting Rabbi Akiva's daughter in Shabbat 156b: 6] and covers a category of behavior in the Mishneh [Mishneh Torah, Repentance 3:7]. The Rambam states that we should not use the stars to guide our actions:

Between these two statements we begin to think about Nedarim 32a within a framework of a world that might be governed by stars and a Jewish people that should refuse to take actions suggested by those very same stars. This is curious. Why, would the Jewish people be asked to refuse the guidance of celestial bodies that are ostensibly part of creation and which impact the course of human events?

The patriarchs, it seems, took guidance from the stars prior to the birth of Isaac. Astrology- while associated today with practices that constitute idol worship and magic- should be understood in the context of the Patriarchs as a mystical practice based on the observation of the world. In some ways it may be more in line with traditional science and Jewish meditation techniques. Abraham, for example, made it his life's mission to stamp out idol worship. At the same time, the Talmud tells us that he was a knowledgeable astrologer. Per Bava Batra 16b Rabbi Elazar HaModa’i says: Abraham our forefather was so knowledgeable in astrology [itztagninut] that all the kings of the East and the West would come early to his door due to his wisdom. Where magic and idol worship seek to control the world, Astrology and its more respectable partner Astronomy are passive, focusing on observation and, in the case of Astrology, prediction.

Science, at least in the context of the Stars, has been careful to stay within the bounds of observation. Prediction, however, has sparked a natural human desire for control. It resembles the drive that led humanity to build the Tower of Babel once it had mastered the manufacture of bricks. As with the Tower, the advent of a new technology or (in this case) improved observation and understanding sparked an intense drive to rise up from the Earth and obtain power that rightfully belongs to a different world.

In the Mishneh, the story of Enosh demarcates this path from Astrology to Idol worship. Here, the stars are first praised as a reflection of H'Sehm's greatness. Over time, they become intercessories and begin to receive praises in their own right. Humanity at last confounds observation and control and in this the stars are much more amenable. Eventually we humans treat the stars and planets as idols and deities. The Rambam outlines the history of this sea change as follows:

To return to Abraham, a Midrash [Sefer Ha'Yashar] tells us that Abraham destroyed the idols in the house of his father Terah in his 50th year, soon after he returned from the house of Noah. We learn in Gen. Rabbah that that Abraham was taught by Shem, Noah's oldest son. I imagine that Shem taught Astrology to Abraham in addition to other observed facets of creation that would eventually take concrete form in the written and oral Torah. Shem and Eber (Shem's great grandson), after all, established the Yeshivah that helped Rebecca understand the struggle in her womb- the same Yeshiva that would later shelter Jacob.

What would this world of stars have looked like in Shem's time? We know that Shem and Noah and all living beings in the world were separated from the Stars during the year in the ark. In Midrash Bereishit Rabbah 2:3 we learn that "On the face of the deep (tehom)", this is the generation of the flood, as it is said "On this day all the springs of the deep (tehom) were broken open" (Genesis 7:11). "And the spirit (ruach) of God fluttered over the face of the waters" on which it is further said "And God caused a wind (ruach) to pass over the earth" (Genesis 9:1). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: "how long shall the universe accustom itself to deep darkness? Let the light come!"

So we know that the stars were hidden and we can imagine per Rabbi Yehoshua's account of Kima that the stars were at least shifted (and perhaps set back in place). Was this light different in that first night after Shem and Noah stepped out of the Ark? Did the night sky read differently? We do not know. I find it plausible that H'Shem, by blocking the stars during the flood, helped to suspend the natural hungers and lusts of all those- animal and human- aboard the ark. Whether the stars were re-cast throughout the heavens or merely hidden, we get the sense that the voyagers on the ark were taken out of the context of the world of stars. They no longer suffered the cycles of excess and starvation that were reflected in the map of the heavens.

Noah, we are told, demonstrated some knowledge of kashrut just before the flood, allowing additional kosher animals to board the ark in preparation for the sacrifice after the flood receded. We are told that the generations after Noah were able to observe the Torah and Mitzvot even though they had yet to be written. In the case of Abraham, we read in Kiddushin 82a " We found that Abraham our forefather fulfilled the entire Torah before it was given, as it is stated: “Because that Abraham listened to My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws” (Genesis 26:5), which indicates that Abraham observed all the mitzvot of his own accord and was rewarded in his old age as a result."

How would they have learned to do this? My sense is that the guidance of the Torah could be obtained at that time through the study of nature. Psalm 19:1 alludes to this, stating " The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims His handiwork." - Sefaria Trans. And we read in the Likutei Moharan:

"(6) For there is a song that corresponds to the natural order, the concept of “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork” (Psalms 19:2). This is the melody and song of the natural order, the properties of the heavens—i.e., the songs and praises with which we extol God for the present manner of governance which directs the world through the natural order."

Citing Noah, we suspect that the World of Stars before the Flood did hold within its scope and course the structure of the Torah. It is a beautiful, appealing thought, that the world of stars after the flood had shifted slightly, unwinding a layer in a sense, allowing the Torah to be more easily discovered. The gates of heaven opened- even if slightly- after the Flood, allowing Abraham to see and observe ever more of the Torah in the structure of creation. What a change! Of course such an event might entail a seismic shift in the human world.

To alter course (there is a course) for a moment, we are told in Sifrei Devarim 343:6 - a halakhic midrash on the Book of Deuteronomy- that H'Shem offered the Torah to all of the nations of the world before approaching the Jewish people:

Variantly: "And He said: The L-rd came from Sinai": When the L-rd appeared to give Torah to Israel, it is not to Israel alone that He appeared, but to all of the nations. First He went to the children of Esav, and He asked them: Will you accept the Torah? They asked: What is written in it? He answered: "You shall not kill" (Shemoth 20:13). They answered: The entire essence of our father is murder, as it is written (Bereshith 27:22) "And the hands are the hands of Esav." And it is with this that his father assured him (Ibid. 27:40) "And by your sword shall you live." He then went to the children of Ammon and Moav and asked them: Will you accept the Torah? They asked: What is written in it? He answered "You shall not commit adultery." They answered: L-rd of the Universe, ervah (illicit relations) is our entire essence, as it is written (Ibid. 19:36) "And the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father." He then went and found the children of Yishmael and asked them: Will you accept the Torah? They asked: What is written in it? He answered: "You shall not steal" (Shemoth, Ibid.) They answered: L-rd of the Universe, our father's entire essence is stealing, viz. (Bereshith 16:12) "And he (Yishmael) shall be a wild man, his hand against all." There was none among all of the nations to whom He did not go and speak and knock at their door, asking if they would accept the Torah, viz. (Psalms 138:4) "All the kings of the earth will acknowledge You, O L-rd, for they heard the words of Your mouth."

The Midrash above offers an amusing and somewhat insulting set of exchanges but it is possible that- in the context of the World of Stars - the Torah was presented to all of the peoples of the world. The heavens had opened. Would anyone be skilled enough to read the night sky and see the Torah in the structure of the observed world? Abraham alone it seems possessed this skill.

Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg cites the Rambam [Mishneh Torah, Foreign Worship and Customs of the Nations 1] when writing about this in The Beginning of Desire:

When this giant was weaned, he began to roam around in his mind, while he was still small, and began to think by day and by night, and he would wonder, “How is it possible that this sphere moves constantly without there being a mover, or one to turn it, for it is impossible that it turns itself?” And he had no teacher or source of knowledge but he was sunk among senseless idol worshippers in Ur of the Chaldeans; his parents and the whole people worshipped idols and he worshipped with them. But his mind roamed in search of understanding till he achieved the true way and understood out of his own natural intelligence. He knew that there is one God who moves the spheres, who created everything, and there is none beside Him. He knew that the whole world was in error and that the cause of their error was that they worshipped idols and images, so that they had lost the truth. Abraham was forty years old when he recognized his Creator. As soon as he achieved this knowledge, he entered into dialogue with the people of Ur of the Chaldeans and contended with them about the truth of their beliefs, and he broke the idols, and began to tell the people that it is not right to worship anyone but the God of the world, and it is right to worship Him and bring sacrifices to Him, so that all future generations will recognize Him; that it is right to smash all the images so as to remove error from the people.

Translation: Zornberg, Avivah Gottlieb. The Beginning of Desire (p. 85). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Having reached an unparalleled understanding of Astrology and having found H'Shem and Torah through the wide observation of the heavens, Abraham passed beyond this World of Stars, launching the history of the Jewish people. Rava comments on Abraham's status as the first true convert in Sukkah 49b "...as it is stated: “The princes of the peoples are gathered, the people of the God of Abraham” (Psalms 47:10). The verse calls the Jewish people the people of the God of Abraham and not the God of Isaac and Jacob. Why are the Jewish people associated specifically with Abraham? Rather than referring to the three Patriarchs, the verse is referring to the God of Abraham, who was first of the converts, and therefore it is reasonable for the princes of other nations to gather around him."

When did Abraham leave the World of Stars? It seems that Abraham passed beyond this world with the birth of Isaac. From Nedarim 32a:9

The Gemara expounds the verse “and He brought him outside” (Genesis 15:5): Abraham said before Him: Master of the Universe, I looked at my constellation and according to it I will have only one son, and a son has already been born to me, i.e., Ishmael. He said to him: Emerge from your astrology because there is no constellation for the Jewish people, as they are not subject to the influence of astrology.

Emerge. Abraham is not told to abandon Astrology but rather to emerge from it, to move from one place to another. To leave a cave for a wider world. In a sense, Abraham leaves the World of Stars with is metronome tick of action and reaction, for a World closer to H'Shem. What worlds are these? While we typically use the term Olam HaZeh (עוֹלָם הַזֶה) for our present world, I want to use this world to refer to a World slightly closer to H'shem, a world that lies beyond the context of the post-flood World of Stars. The subtlety of this new world circumscribes prediction in favor of trust. The comment in Nedarim 32: that "There is no constellation for the Jewish people" is followed closely by a comment on wholehearted service- something that requires trust:

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: Anyone who conducts himself with wholeheartedness, the Holy One, Blessed be He, treats him with wholeheartedness, as it is stated: “With the devout You act devoutly, and with the one who is strong in his wholeheartedness You act wholeheartedly” (II Samuel 22:26).

And;

Rabbi Hoshaya said: Anyone who acts wholeheartedly, time will stand for him, i.e., he will be successful, as it is stated: “Walk before Me and you should be wholehearted” (Genesis 17:1), and it is written: “And you shall be the father of a multitude of nations” (Genesis 17:4).

We should note that the concept of trust was central to the miracle of Manna, the miracle that sustained the Israelites in a daily basis. In Egypt, planting and harvest times had been an important focus of Astrology. We read that Astrologers had been called into to work with Pharoah toward the interpretation of his dreams about corn and starving cattle. In the end, Joseph understands this as a single dream about a harvest cycle. See also for example, Quack, Joachim Friedrich. 2019. “The Planets in Ancient Egypt.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Planetary Science, May. "A typically Egyptian procedure is the observation of the heliacal rising of Sirius, which had a special relevance for Egypt because its date coincided more or less with the onset of the annual inundation of the Nile which was essential for agricultural fertility. There is a substantial body of preserved manuscripts, most of them unpublished (Quack, 2017a). In most cases, the position of the planets in the zodiacal signs is the determining criterion for the forecasts. [**Joachim Friedrich Quack is a Professor of Egyptology and Director of the Institute for Egyptology at the University of Heidelburg ]. We should note that Manna, by comparison, removes the need for such Agricultural Astrology.

To return to Abraham, the great scholar and critic Ibn Ezra expounded [ in (about) 1160] on Abraham's departure from the World of Stars:

Ibn Ezra posits H'Shem as an intercessory, one who changes outcomes so that they no longer match the momentum of the constellations in the starry sky. The Torah, however, offers some evidence that Abraham and his generations actually resided in a different world after the birth of Isaac. Prior to Isaac's conception, H'Shem casts Abraham into a deep sleep and informs him of this separation ( Genesis 15) :

And it came to pass, that, when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a dread, even a great darkness, fell upon him.

And He said unto Abram: ‘Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Later, in Exodus 12:40 we read: "The length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years;"

This is a curious statement. The Israelites spent 210 years in Egypt. Rashi famously explains this discrepancy as follows:

"Altogether from the birth of Isaac until now were 400 years, and we must reckon from that event, for only from the time when Abraham had offspring from Sarah could the prophecy (Genesis 15:13) “Thy offspring shall be a stranger” be fulfilled; and there had been 30 years since that decree made at “the convenant between the parts” until the birth of Isaac. It is impossible to say that this means that they were 430 years in the land of Egypt alone [...] You are compelled to admit, even though unwillingly, that the other settlements which the patriarchs made in lands other than Egypt come also under the name of “sojourning as a stranger” (גרות), including also that at Hebron, even though it was in Canaan itself, because it is said, (Genesis 35:27) “[Hebron] where Abraham and Isaac sojourned”, and it says, (Exodus 6:4) “[the land Canaan], the land of their sojournings wherein they sojourned”. Consequently you must necessarily say that the prophecy, “thy offspring shall be strangers… [four hundred years]” began only from the time when he had offspring. And only if you reckon the 400 years from the birth of Isaac will you find that from the time they came into Egypt until the time they left it, was 210 years (as alluded to in Genesis 15:13).

Here, I want to suggest that the "Land that is not theirs" does not correspond to a particular geographic location but rather to the World of Stars. After the birth of Isaac, Abraham's extended family- from Isaac and Jacob to Amram and Moses and beyond- was no longer governed by the cycles of increase and decrease that governed the rest of the world. What should we call this separate world? We should call this new world governed by proximity to H'Shem the Olam HaZeh. The timeline of the Jewish people within Olam HaZeh would become longer and more obscure, growing rich under Jacob and falling thereafter into slavery before a miraculous flight to the desert and eventual increase in Israel. Beginning with the birth of Isaac, the Jewish people would experience event after event that would confound normal astrological predictions.

The greatest of these events take place in Egypt [Mitzrayim, translated as the confines or the narrow straits], the seat of the astrological world. Having moved toward an Olam HaZeh beyond the World of Stars, Abraham's descendants soon find themselves drawn first into the elite circles of the Pharoah's court and then into slavery. Egypt is the cradle of Astrology, the place where the rule of constellations is at its height and where the most learned astrologers in the world practice their divination. Andreas Winkler, an archeologist and Egyptologist at the University of Stockholm writes: “The connection between astrology and Egypt was already recognised in antiquity: the Egyptians were often credited with the discovery of astrology. The invention of the art was ascribed to the higher echelon of Egyptian society. The adjutants of royalty or the royals themselves were said to have revealed the arcane art in a glorious past. The famous sage Imhotep, son of Ptah, in the time of Pharaoh Djoser, is found among the names of the discoverers.[6] …Such attributions placed the birth of astrology in the great centres of Egyptian learning, such as Heliopolis, Memphis, and Thebes. This image is common to both Egyptian language sources and Greek papyrological ones.[9] …It is clear that the art of astrology was highly revered; it had a place in the intellectual sphere much on the same level as medicine, magic, various other types of divinatory techniques, and several religious texts. Its place in Egyptian society was clearly tied to the temple.[13] The priests were the keepers of knowledge and wisdom, the “scientists” of Egyptian society." --Winkler, Andreas. 2021. “Stellar Scientists: The Egyptian Temple Astrologers.” Journal of Ancient near Eastern History 8 (1-2): 91–145. https://doi.org/10.1515/janeh-2020-0017.

We should remind ourselves that our knowledge of pre Hellenistic Egyptian Astrology is limited. The Zodiac, for example, did not play a role in Egyptian Astrology until 1500 years or so after the Exodus. We know that Egyptian Star Tables were used during the First Intermediate period and tables have been found on coffins dating to ca. 2150–1850 BC and ca. 1250–1100 BC. [Richard A Parker, an Egyptologist from the University of Chicago remains the main source of this research. Dates taken from Depuydt, Leo. "Ancient Egyptian star tables: A reinterpretation of their fundamental structure". ] The night sky at this time was mapped to set so stars called Decans. Theresa Ainsworth (Queen's University, Kingsston Ontario Canada) provides a useful overview: "The decans were thirty-six individual stars or small constellations that rose and set at different times of the year, acting as a means of telling time throughout the night for the ancient Egyptians. They were eventually incorporated into the Babylonian zodiac by Hellenistic scholars, astrologers, and priests in Alexandria and beyond. Three decans were assigned to each of the twelve zodiacal signs. Because of their incorporation into an astrological system, they were seen as relevant astrological elements alongside the planets, the constellations, and the zodiac. As hour-markers, the star or constellation that made up each decan was seen as a lesser protective god, akin to a daimon." - Ainsworth, Theresa. 2018. “A Timeline of the Decans: From Egyptian Astronomical Timekeeping to Greco---Roman Melothesia.” For this reasons we should be cautious about the assertion (see Ramban on Exodus 12:3:1) that Sheep were selected as the Passover Meal in defiance of Aries, the Ram.

‌

Moses is warned of the preeminence of Egyptian Astrologers when he confronts Pharoah. In Menachot 85a we read: “One of the places the mishna mentions as having good-quality produce is Aforayim. The superior quality of its produce was so well known that Aforayim was used as an example in colloquial aphorisms. In Moses and Aaron’s first meeting with Pharaoh, Aaron cast his staff to the ground, whereupon it turned into a serpent. Pharaoh’s necromancers then duplicated the feat using their incantations, only to then be confounded when Aaron’s staff swallowed up all of theirs (see Exodus 7:10–12). The Gemara relates the conversation that took place: Pharaoh’s two leading necromancers, Yoḥana and Mamre, said to Moses: Are you are bringing straw to Afarayim? Performing necromancy in Egypt, the world leader in sorcery, is like bringing straw to Afarayim, which is rich in the finest grains. Moses said to them: It is as people say: To a city rich in herbs, take herbs. If you want to guarantee that people will appreciate your merchandise, bring it to a place where they are familiar with it."

The friction between the World of Stars and Olam HaZeh begins long before Moses enters Pharaoh's court. From the point of Joseph's decent into Egypt, we read that the Egyptian court Astrologers- the most skilled Astrologers in the world at that time- consistently misread the stars when dealing with Abraham's descendents. Trends are visible but details are are either unavailable or misread. Per Sotah 13, After describing that Judah “went down” from his greatness, the Gemara discusses a similar term employed with regard to Joseph, as the verse states: “And Joseph was brought down [hurad] to Egypt” (Genesis 39:1). Rabbi Elazar says: Do not read the word as “hurad,” meaning that he was passively brought down, but rather read it as horid, meaning: He, Joseph, brought down others, as Joseph brought down the astrologers [itztagninei] of Pharaoh from their position of eminence because he knew the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams when they did not.

The tendency to misread becomes worse as we approach the Exodus from Egypt and as the Court Astrologers focus on the Israelites. In the birth of Moses, Court Astrologers recognize the event but fail to understand the role of water [ Rashi on Exodus 1:16:3 and Rashi on Exodus 1:22:1 "For on the day when Moses was born his astrologers said to him, “To-day their deliverer has been born, but we know not whether he is born of an Egyptian father or of an Israelite; but we see by our astrological art that he will ultimately suffer misfortune through water”. Pharaoh therefore made a decree that day regarding the Egyptians also, as it is said here, “Every son that is born [ye shall cast into the river]”, and it is not stated “[every son] who is born to the Hebrews”. They (the astrologers), however, were not aware that Moses was ultimately to suffer misfortune through the waters of Meribah and not through the waters of the Nile (Exodus Rabbah 1:18; Sotah 12a; cf. also Rashi on Numbers 20:13).]

This war with astrology swells once Moses enters Pharaoh's court. A competition with sorcerers within the court quickly gives way to a series of incredible plagues. The sorcerers, whose coteries include Balaam (Of Moabite fame, who earlier advised Pharaoh to kill all sons born to the Jewish people [Sotah 11a:13] , and his sons Jaanes (Jannis) and Jambres use illusion [Ibn Ezra on Exodus 7:11:3- Scripture indicates a difference between what Moses did and what the magicians did. Moses really changed the staff into a serpent. As for the magicians, Scripture reads, with their secret arts...It56 refers to an illusion of lightning and passing fire.] to counter Moses when H'Shem turns his staff into a serpent.

It is important to remember that Pharaoh was himself a leading astrologer and it would seem that his interactions with other Astrologers were marked with this expertise. From Rabbeinu Bahya, Shemot 10:10:2, "Pharaoh foresaw in his astrological charts that the Jewish people would suffer a blood bath in the desert. He warned them that their leaving Egypt would prove worse for them than their remaining in Egypt...The wicked Pharaoh who was an expert astrologer called the star in question רעה. He attributed all misfortune in the world to the influence of that planet. He himself became a victim of that planet’s force as part of G’d’s retribution of measure for measure. When he foresaw a blood bath facing the Jews, he did not realize that this was the reference to the Israelites who would be killed because they served the golden calf."

Curiously, an expert like Pharaoh fails to see the difference between the miracle wrought by Moses and the Magic orchestrated by the Sorcerers. He dismisses both, as if both were beneath him. This role as an expert among experts may have made it easier for Pharaoh to do this. The line of reasoning might go "If my sorcerers can match Moses and I am better than my sorcerers then I am better than Moses. Thus my position has not been compromised" His own expertise and his failure to see through the phenomena in front of him hardens his heart. There is an interesting parallel between this inability to see the difference between miracle and illusion and the inability to see the fate of the Israelites in the stars.

These contests come to a head over the subsequent months as the plagues roll over the Egyptian people. Pharaoh hardens his own heart after each of the first five plagues and from that point forward he remained in fixed in position, unable to stop or slow the second set of five. H'Shem further takes responsibility for hardening Pharoah's heart (Exodus 8:15)

While reading, we should remember that these plagues reached beyond Pharaoh to the Egyptian people, their non-Jewish servants and even visitors who were not themselves Egyptian. In contrast, Abram and Sarai escaped Pharaoh with a single plague [Rashi writes that this plague "was the disease of Raathon for which marital relations are harmful." From Sforno "וינגע ה' את פרעה נגעים גדולים, only Pharaoh was struck with “great” afflictions whereas his household suffered lesser afflictions. This was arranged by G’d so that the Egyptians, when they saw that only Sarai had remained completely immune to these afflictions, would conclude that the afflictions were on account of her and her fate."

The broad scope of the plauges makes for a puzzling read. H’Shem, we read, hardens Pharaoh's heart. At the same time H’Shem is not pleased with the suffering of the Egyptian people. We read in Megillah 10b:

And similarly, Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And the one came not near the other all the night” (Exodus 14:20)? The ministering angels wanted to sing their song, for the angels would sing songs to each other, as it states: “And they called out to each other and said” (Isaiah 6:3), but the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: The work of My hands, the Egyptians, are drowning at sea, and you wish to say songs? This indicates that God does not rejoice over the downfall of the wicked.

Maybe the plagues at the time of Moses were bigger because hundreds of thousands were rescued instead of one. Maybe they were bigger because Pharaoh hardened his heart after each of the first five plagues. The second round of Plagues, however, were less personal than the first plague at the time of Abram. While plagues of lice and darkness are notable and severe, they are far less intimate than sealing up the orifices of the body. As such, it may have been easier for Pharaoh to fight against the release of the Israelites, prolonging the war.

And so this was a difficult method. It entailed immense suffering for the Egyptian people, something that H’Shem did not desire. The only explanation that I can imagine is that something very large is happening- something that would impact bystanders less by design than sheer proximity. Mystics implicitly recognize the gravity of this event by relating the 10 plagues to 10 manifestations of the light of H'Shem in creation. Elsewhere we read that the parting of the sea was one of the miracles included in the original creation of the world.

While Kabbalist literature attempts to find common themes between the Sefirot of creation and the 10 plagues, those exercises are beyond my understanding. This is unfortunate. Such an understanding might aid a defense of the idea that the 10 Plagues are manifestations of a creation cycle where the world of the Jewish people was separated from the World of Stars (of course it could also challenge and injure this view). I hope to return to this as my own learning improves. Interested readers may want to start by looking here and here. In the interim, I want to remain focused on the role of the Astrologers and passages that suggest that they could no longer make predictions regarding the fate of the Israelites, a people without a constellation.

Rabbi Yaakov Lorberbaum (1760-1832), the Maaseh Nissim gives us an overview of the plagues that may be helpful here:

Rabbi Yehudah abbreviated the plagues with their initials: What purpose is served in grouping the plagues together in this fashion and abbreviating them?

Organizing and abbreviating the plagues in this fashion is a way of showing the overall order of the plagues. The plagues are grouped into three subsets of three plagues each with the final plague a climax to the all of them. Each subset follows a pattern of two plagues with warnings and the third without any warning at all. Each subset of plagues was meant to teach the people a lesson unique to that group of plagues. The lesson is not complete and obvious until the third plague in each grouping of plagues.

D’ztach - Blood, Frogs, and Lice: The first group of plagues was meant to teach the people that God punishes those who transgress the will of God. The Egyptians were warned twice and only in the third plague do the magicians and the people of Egypt acknowledge God’s great power when they say of the plagues, “It is the finger of God!” (Exodus8:15) Only with the third plague do they realize that one can’t defy the will of God.

Adash – Wild beasts, Pestilence, and Boils: The second group of plagues is singled out because we are told that they struck the Egyptians but not the Israelites. (Exodus 8:18) The magicians of Egypt could only protect themselves from these plagues until we reach the sixth plague.” The Magicians were unable to confront Moses because of the inflammation…” (Exodus 9:11)

Ba’achav – Hail, Locusts, Darkness, the Death of the First Born: The final group of plagues taught the Egyptians that these plagues were not merely chance or a product of the astrological signs (Mazel ), but the actual hand of God. First, these plagues are so extraordinary and out of the normal course of nature that they must be a product of divine. And second, the plague of darkness proves that it is not simply bad astrological signs changing the luck of the Israelites and the Egyptians" (Rabbi Mark Greenspan, translator)

What happens on the opposite side of these plagues? Pharoah hardens his heart. From Sforno we read that the expression “harden” should be read as “become stronger” ie more courageous.

While this lacks backing, it seems that the Stars themselves may have fortified Pharoah’s resolve. Rashi, in a response to Exodus 10:10 (But he said to them, “יהוה be with you—the same as I mean to let your dependents go with you! Clearly, you are bent on mischief.) relates a Midrash as follows:

“ראו כי רעה נגד פניכם Understand this as the Targum takes it: See, the evil you are about to do wilt turn against yourself. I have heard a Midrashic explanation: There is a certain star the name of which is רעה “Evil”. Pharaoh said to them, “By my astrological art I see that star rising towards you in the wilderness whither you wish to proceed. It is an emblem of blood and slaughter”. Consequently, when Israel sinned by worshipping the calf and the Holy One, blessed be He, intended to slay them, Moses said in his prayer, (Exodus 32:12) “Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, He brought them forth together with רעה (i. e. under the influence of the star רעה); this is, indeed, what he (Pharaoh) has already said, “See, the ‘רעה’ is before you”. At once, “the Lord bethought Himself concerning ‘רעה’”, and He changed the blood of which this star was an emblem to the blood of the circumcision because indeed Joshua had them circumcised. This is the meaning of what is said, (Joshua 5:9). “This day have I rolled from off you the reproach of the Egyptians”, for they said to you. “We see blood impending over you in the wilderness. (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 1:392; cf. also Rashi on Joshua 5:9.)”

What evil would Moses and the people of Israel do? They would escape Pharaoh under the guise of heading to the desert to worship. Pharaoh notes correctly that the Israelite children should not perform sacrifices. It is worth noting that Pharaoh's language reaches beyond the perspective of a simple ruler. The term evil carries more than an administrative connotation. It is a fundamental evil, the sort of evil that might result from transgressing a holy command. Pharaoh, it seems, has looked at the Stars as a deity might and has pronounced that Moses’ flight into the desert circumvents the order of his world.

In this context, it is easier to understand why Pharaoh might harden his heart. As the plagues progress- as Olam HaZeh separates from the World of Stars- the stars themselves may have become clear, their misdirected message stronger. If the magicians and Astrologers were confounded by boils, Pharaoh is taking a longer view. He sees that the Israelites will die in the Desert. He sees the miracles of the plagues and admits the greatness of H’Shem but the Stars above paint a picture of eventual failure. Pharaoh, by contrast, will remain, a deity within the World of Stars. In this view, H’Shem does not directly harden Pharaoh's heart. Instead, though the creation of Olam HaZeh, H’Shem hardens the brilliance of the stars in the sky above Pharaoh's head.

At the same time, we should ask whether it was impossible to see the future of the Jewish people? Of course not. Jacob sees the need to the acacia wood, for the cedars of Lebanon, in the construction of the Beis HaMikdash. That one visions could be so accurate and detailed while another was so hazy (even if one vision was given by H'Shem and the other by the stars) suggests a level of concealment.

The conflict between the World of Stars and Olam HaZeh comes to a head just before the Israelites plunge into the sea of reeds. They have turned back from Etham and have encamped “before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.” (Exodus 14:2)

Ibn Ezra makes an interesting comment on this passage, writing: “BEFORE BAAL-ZEPHON. Some say that the Egyptian magicians made bronze images which drew power from the stars, and that Baal-zephon was a statue that no slave fleeing Egypt was able to pass by. They held that Baal-zephon was an image on the border of Egypt which supernaturally prevented fleeing slaves from crossing it.” (Ibn Ezra on Exodus 14:2:2)

While I have not been able to find follow-up commentary on this assertion of Ibn Ezra (baal zephon is mentioned in other texts including the Targum Jonathan and the Mechilta), Claude Shaeffer’s discovery of a palace at Ras Shamra and the subsequent discovery of a series of texts on the myth of baal written in 1300 and 1200 BCE casts baal as a deity who governed both the sea and the weather and who served as a popular protector of maritime trade. Otto Eissfeldt and others have suggested that the parting of the sea of reeds is evidence of H’Shem symbolically defeating baal. In the context of this essay we instead suggest that the power of the stars would have had little impact on the Israelites who had already stepped into Olam HaZeh. The Egyptian Army, however, as residents of the World of Stars, would have been subject to this pent up power after the Israelites achieved safe passage. Right now, however, this remains little more than one possible avenue of thought. There are other, more direct texts that suggest the separation between Olam HaZeh and the World of Stars.

[As an aside, it is worth remembering that I am not asserting the existence of any independent Deity. Pheonomeae ascribed to Deities would have been within the scope of the World of Stars, a world solely created by H'Shem]

When Pharaoh and the Egyptians arrive at Baal-zephon, the Messenger of H’Shem [Michael according to Ibn Ezra] moves with the pillar of cloud, shifting from a position in front of the Israelites to a position behind them. Rashi writes “ויסע עמוד הענן AND THE PILLAR OF CLOUD WENT [FROM BEFORE THEM] — When it became dark and the pillar of cloud handed over the camp to the pillar of fire, the cloud did not go away as it was accustomed to go away altogether in the evening, but it went and betook itself behind them to make it dark for the Egyptians. [Rashi on Exodus 14:19:2].

As it is written in Exodus:

Commentators on this passage express a common understanding that the pillar of fire provided light for the Israelites while the pillar of cloud covered the Egyptian position. Both the light of the fire and the darkness of the cloud would have had the effect of blocking any view of the stars above. The darkness may have been severe and oppressive. Rabbi Louis Ginzberg comments in Legends of the Jews 2:4 (19091) That “The last day of darkness overtook the Egyptians, not in their own land, but at the Red Sea, in their pursuit of Israel. The darkness was not of the ordinary, earthly kind; it came from hell, and it could be felt..” Later in Section 3:1 he writes “ To prevent the enemy from inflicting harm upon the Israelites, He enveloped the Egyptians in profound darkness, so impenetrable it could be felt, and none could move or change his posture. He that sat when it fell could not arise from his place, and he that stood could not sit down. Nevertheless, the Egyptians could see that the Israelites were surrounded by bright light, and were enjoying a banquet where they stood, and when they tried to speed darts and arrows against them, the missiles were caught up by the cloud and by the angels hovering between the two camps, and no harm came to Israel.”

When we read about the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, we should imagine that both the cloud and the fire overwhelm and block the light from the stars. Neither the Egyptian mystics in the military camp nor the mystics who hid among the Israelites would have been able to perform astrological prediction. Even celestial navigation lay beyond the means of the Egyptian army. As Chizkuni writes in his commentary on Exodus 14, "ויבאו אחריהם, “they followed after them;” They might not have done so knowingly, but seeing that everything in front of them was darkness, they did not realise that they had done so until they were into what had been sea moments before."

Can we point to the moment where Olam HaZeh was fully drawn from the World of Stars? A precise moment seems impossible to establish, but the behavior of the water in the sea of reeds serves as a line of demarcation. Rabbeinu Bahya offers an interesting comment on the splitting the sea, writing "You should also appreciate that the very word מים is an allusion to the attribute of Mercy. The reason that the waters split, i.e. lost their cohesion, was that they failed to receive the input from the very attribute that enabled them to act as a constructive force. The celestial agent responsible for water (שרו של מים) is one of the disembodied forces as we can prove from the Jerusalem Targum which translates the words קפאו תהומות בלב ים, as בגו פלגס דימא רבא, “they froze inside the high seas of the great ocean. [Shemot 15:8]"

And so we can draw a line. If the Israelites were not fully in Olam HaZeh when they emerged from the Sea of Reeds, they had at least left the World of Stars. They had entered a new world where the endless march of the starry sky was interrupted every seven days with Shabbat and then on every seventh year and then every 49 years. This interruption, this dislocation, extended to manna - a food that itself disobeyed the cycles of increase and decrease laid out in the stars- and eventually to family life. The procession of stars might even be held back or altered to assist the Israelites, as we read in Midrash Takuma [Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 28] “And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun (Exod. 17:12). Since time was calculated by means of the stars, what did Moses do? He stopped the revolution of the sun, the moon, and the coming of nightfall in their tracks, as it is said: The sun and the moon stand still in their habitation (Hab. 3:11).” Rashi mentions this event as well in his commentary on Exodus [Rashi on Exodus 17:12:5: “שמש UNTIL THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN — Because the Amalekites had calculated the hours by astrology, as to which hour they would prove victorious, Moses held back the sun against them and brought the hours into confusion (Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 28).”] H’Shem more famously provided a similar miracle on behalf of Joshua during the battle with the Amorites.

What can we say, in brief, about this new world? I have a few conjectures which will (I hope) be addressed more thoroughly elsewhere:

1. Olam HaZeh may have been created by H’Shem but it was maintained in partnership between H’Shem and the Jewish people. What is the best evidence for this? That the Israelites were given the Torah, a blueprint for the creation of the world.

   1. We should pause for a moment and think on the gravity of this particular gift. It is one thing for H’Shem to assist the Jewish people in their flight from Egypt. It is a very different thing for H’Shem to join in partnership with the Jewish people in order to create a new world. We should say “Thank you H’Shem for having the faith in us to join hands in the creation of this world.”

2. While the “purpose” of the original act of creation remains opaque to us, we should consider it a matter of faith that the purpose of creating Olam HaZeh is discoverable and comprehensible. Just as Abrhaham read the Torah in the map of the starry sky, so I hope that some future scholar might be able to read in the Torah the purpose of Olam HaZeh.