Q&A: Casting Lots Based on the Holy Letters
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Casting Lots Based on the Holy Letters
Question
What does the Rabbi think about casting lots based on the Holy Letters?
Answer
Without any doubt, it is forbidden as a severe Torah prohibition (an adjunct of idolatry). See Maimonides, Laws of Idolatry 11:4.
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Questioner:
Regarding the prohibition of divination from Maimonides, Laws of Idolatry 11:4, it is not proven that the Holy Letters fall under the prohibition of divination, because all the things he mentions are indeed a person’s feelings toward reality, but something like this, which comes from holy writings (not that the Talmud calls it that), perhaps Maimonides would agree with it.
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Rabbi:
I did not understand the claim.