Letter to the Sages of Provence: On Astrology

Moses Maimonides

1194

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This Hebrew letter, written in response to a query from the sages of Provence, presents Maimonides’ most thorough treatment of astrology, as well as reflections on creation ex nihilo and other philosophical doctrines that overlap with his other writings. Maimonides’ rejection of the possibility that the stars and the planets influence human behavior places him in the minority of medieval Jewish thinkers. Here and elsewhere, he asserts that magical practices and attempts to predict the future based on the stars violate biblical prohibitions due to their falsity, not simply because they are idolatrous or theologically problematic. In these excerpts, Maimonides recounts his own encounter with astrology—he studied it in his youth—and belittles its adherents.

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Related Guide

Intellectual Culture in the Early Medieval World

6th to 12th Century

Creator Bio

Moses Maimonides

1138–1204

Born in Córdoba, Spain, Moses ben Maymūn (Abū ʿImran Mūsā ibn Maymūn ibn ʿUbayd Allāh; Moses Maimonides, also known as Rambam, an acronym of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon) was a scion of a rabbinic family and the proud heir to the Sephardic tradition of learning. After fleeing to Fez around the age of ten to escape Almohad persecutions in his homeland, he moved to Fustāt (Old Cairo), where he came to head the Jewish community and to serve as physician to the royal family. An active communal leader, Maimonides’ multifaceted contributions to Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew literature include the following: his Commentary on the Mishnah (1168), Book of the Commandments and the Mishneh Torah (both completed around 1178), Guide of the Perplexed (completed around 1190), numerous responsa, important topical essays, and a voluminous corpus of medical texts. His profound influence on virtually every subsequent Jewish thinker finds expression in the popular adage that compares Moses Maimonides to the biblical Moses himself: “From Moses to Moses there was none like Moses.”

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