Hemerological omens in Talmud (1)

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The hemerological omens are common to both Akkadian and talmudic sources, defining lucky and unlucky days in a month. The Talmud makes reference to various days of the month or year which are lucky or unlucky for medical procedures, or for blood-letting, or even mentions foods which should or should not be eaten on certain days of the month. These notices probably go back to Akkadian hemerologies which specified days of the month in which certain foods could not be eaten, or when one could be seen by a doctor, as well as other patterns of behaviour which were deemed to be appropriate on some days and not on others. These hemerologies were based upon a complex system of astral magic which presumed that the movement of stars affected human events, and it is not surprising to find such notions in the Talmud as well, or even a reaction against such ideas in the form of a statement that ‘Israel has no constellation’; the word for ‘constellation’, mzl, is a pun on the word for ‘good fortune’. Such statements usually refer to celestial omens, of which a large number are known from Akkadian compendia Enūma Anu Enlil.

Bibliography

Mark Geller

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