Letters Nov. 2026

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

Amulets: Superstition Defies God

Reader: While everything you wrote makes sense, you seem to ignore the extensive discussion of effective amulets in the gemara. Whether they’re kadosh, can they be carried on Shabbat, healing people, and even their effectiveness against ayin hara (which is another topic that you obviously wrote about not being a real spiritual force). Rambam also codifies it in his laws of muktzeh. But if it’s been proven effective, you can move it on Shabbat. Shulchan Aruch says the same.

How are we to understand all of this? Amulets clearly existed in the Jewish world and [Jews] believed it worked and had some way of proving its effectiveness. 

Rabbi: Permitted amulets are of two categories. One is a script or sentences and the other is organic substances that have medicinal value. Some amulets work psychologically—if a certain sentence or verse calms the person's mind, that is a real effect, so they're allowed to be worn. And the other amulet is medicinal, such as a root from a certain herb. But without some effect—psychologically or physically—then that amulet, like a horseshoe, falls into the category of superstition and is prohibited.

Reader: Thanks for the response. Seems like at the end of the article you end in the same question that I have which is that it had to be written by a specific person for it to be effective. So you can go as far as to say that psychologically, if a specific person or rabbi wrote it you would feel better. But I think on the surface level it seems to be that just by wearing it , there is some sort of spiritual protective benefit.

Rabbi: “Spiritual protective benefit” is idolatrous. That's why I believe the amulets have to be effective three times. This validates either its psychological value or its medicinal value. But something not validated is a superstitious belief.

Another fundamental problem amulets present is that if there were powers that can produce good fortune for a person, that he can have success and health even if he is a wicked person, this opposes the fundamental of reward and punishment, that our benefits and misfortunes are due to our relationship to God alone and not to imagined powers.

Amulets II: Abraham’s Healing Stone

 Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai said, “A precious stone hung around the neck of Abraham our forefather; any sick person who looked at it would immediately be healed. When Abraham our forefather died, the Holy One, Blessed be He, hung this stone from the sphere of the sun” (Baba basra 16b).

Abraham's identity is the individual who was on one side of the world: world population was idolatrous, while Abraham was a monotheist. Certainly he would be the one person who would not endorse idolatry or superstition by wearing a healing stone. Another blatant clue that this is an allegory is that “God hung the stone on the sun” for succeeding populations to be healed after Abraham's death. 

What is suggested by the location of the stone, Abraham's neck? The neck is from where speech originates. This means that the “healing” that this Talmudic portion refers to is Abraham's speech, that healed people's wrong opinions. He spoke against idolatry. After he died the lesson of monotheism was learnt from nature, as Abraham taught, such as the sun having a creator. 

What is God?

Man’s Capacity to Know God vs. Knowing God’s Will

Reader: We say that Hashem is qualitatively different than any thing we can imagine, “Who is like You? Who is similar to You?” recited 3 times daily in Shmoneh Essay. There is no similarity between God and His creations, including man. However, that’s not true. I know that 1=1, and so does God.

Question: What is reality? Two possible explanations:

1.  What we call reality is actually real: 1=1. Logical deductions teach us reality (assuming the premises are true).

The problem: this means that God’s knowledge is not qualitatively different from ours: we both share mathematical knowledge. 

2. We think we have knowledge but really it’s not true. It’s like we’re playing monopoly. We have to follow the rules of the game but it’s all made up. 

Rabbi: We must distinguish between what God “is,” and what God “knows.” God told Moses “You can’t know Me while alive,” plus what you quoted, “Who is like You? Who is similar to You?” These quotes all refer to what God is…we cannot know what God is. However, what God knows is in fact shared with man. God gave man senses to distinguish truth from fantasy. He communicated in language we share with Him. The prophets warn that we must follow His word. This all means that God wishes man to assess God’s will as true and accurately understood. Thus, God says we can know what He knows, just not “all” He knows. What we call reality is accurate. God created it and wishes man to accept what he sees and comprehends as real and true. God doesn’t fool man. God is emess, truth. His goal for man is to attain as much of His truth and wisdom as he can. We don’t live in a simulation or a Monopoly game, as that would mean God fools us. 

Reader: You’re separating God and His knowledge. But aren’t they one thing?  So, if I can’t know God, I can’t know His knowledge.

Rabbi: The distinction is not within God, but within human knowledge. Maimonides says, God and His knowledge are one. Additionally the phenomenon of separation is a physical phenomenon which cannot exist in God. The distinction is between human knowledge of God Himself, vs. human knowledge of God's will. God told Moses that “man cannot know Me while alive.” But simultaneously God gave us an entire Torah, which means His knowledge is something that can be understood man. So while it's true we cannot know what God is, we can know His will for man. 

Human Nature: Happiness Demands Exertion

“Couldn’t God have bestowed upon His creatures complete bliss and permanent happiness without giving them commandments and prohibitions? Surely it would seem that His kindness would, in that case, have contributed even more to their well-being because they would be relieved of all exertion for the attainment of their bliss.” (Saadia Gaon, The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, pages 138-139).

Saadia Gaon answered “No.” He held that exertion is required to enjoy the best existence, referring to engaging in God’s wisdom. How so? 

In terms of knowledge and wisdom, passivity or no exertion refer to an inactive mind. Saadia Gaon says there’s no equality between one using his mind and one who doesn’t. God cannot create man in a way to enjoy existing, to enjoy ideas without mental activity. The very nature of thought is an exploration, analyzing, deducing, inducing, exploring…active mind states, not a static or passive state. If one is not exerting his mind, he is not involved in thought, and cannot be happy. God can’t make a mind both active and passive simultaneously. That’s like making a ball in motion and stationery at the same moment. 

So no, God can’t make man needless of exertion and also happy. The greatest pleasure and excitement in life is realizing new truths, which, by nature, is an active mental state. 

Zohar: Reincarnation Problems

People are afraid to challenge what’s accepted, a book that so many quote. That’s deification of man. Zohar is man-made so it can have defects. A rabbi recently quoted Zohar, saying that Moses was a reincarnation of Noah: 

“Noah failed to have concern for people and needed to remedy a personality flaw. Therefore he returned as Moses, who defended people when he asked God not to kill the Jews for the Golden Calf sin. Noah deals with an ark, and Moses was placed into an ark (basket).”  

Using such circumstantial parallels teaches no ideas. Instead of making pointless correlations, Torah study must engage in principles. Why not simply give Noah extra years to correct his flaws, why not tell him his flaws? Reincarnation is an unnecessary step, and it is also unsubstantiated. Furthermore, Moses never recalled being Noah, that he might correct previous life’s flaws. And God says we're punished and rewarded for what we do in “this” life…not a former imaginary life. 

Reincarnation denies God's words. The belief in reincarnation reduces God’s threats of death to a joke. For if you come back to life, what punishment was death?