Are Signs and Omens Allowed in Judaism? The Torah’s View on Coin Tosses, Superstitions, and Fortune Telling

Judith asks: “Hello Rabbi, whenever something troubles me, I look for ‘signs’. For example, I flip a coin, and whichever side it lands on gives me the answer. Or I’ll call someone and make up a sign that if she answers within three rings the answer is ‘yes,’ and if after three rings the answer is ‘no.’ I’ve become really addicted to this and find myself doing it all day long. I’d like to know if this is permitted according to the Torah.”

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Hello Judith,

You’re asking an important question, since many in our generation mistakenly try to seek guidance through signs, or believe in omens invented by other nations to predict hidden futures, including turning to mediums and fortune tellers.

The Torah forbids all of this: “You shall not practice divination or soothsaying” (Leviticus 19:26).

• Divination (nichush) means living life according to random signs: “like those who interpret omens from weasels and birds, or if his bread fell from his mouth, or a deer crossed his path.”

• Soothsaying (onen) refers to fortune tellers who say things like: “This day is lucky to begin a task, this hour is unlucky to travel”.

The Torah calls such practices an abomination: “Let no one be found among you… who practices divination, interprets omens, augurs, sorcery, or consults ghosts or the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord” (Deuteronomy 18:10).

Of course, we must search our deeds and recognize Divine Providence in our lives, but just as the Torah forbids certain foods (there is kosher meat and forbidden meat), so too there is permitted faith and there is faith that is false and harmful.

The true faith is that God watches over all our actions and directs everything for our good. Every delay is for the best, and even when things look bad in the moment, they are intended to ultimately benefit us. Our lives are guided by God down to the smallest detail. If someone looks for money in his wallet and accidentally pulls out the wrong amount, even that tiny “mistake” was decreed from Heaven as a rectification for his soul (Arachin 16b). All the more so in greater matters.

Believing that we can predict what to do or not to do based on random, illogical signs is a very harmful approach and reflects a lack of faith in God’s benevolent guidance. One who trusts in God doesn’t need to seek arbitrary signs to secure his future, because he has a Father in Heaven who directs everything for his good. We must walk with Him in simplicity, like a child trusting his parents who know his abilities and guide him with love.

We can learn from Joseph the Righteous, who was sold as a slave in Egypt and imprisoned, yet everything ultimately worked out for his greatest good. Joseph acted with pure faith, knowing only “interpretations belong to God” (Genesis 40:8). He didn’t seek signs or omens but trusted that God would put the right words in his mouth and guide his actions on the best path.

It is arrogant to think we can peek into the hidden future. Whatever God wanted you to know, He has already revealed to you. Whatever He hasn’t, it means you don’t need to know it right now. Our uniqueness as Jews has always been that we rely on God alone, not on horoscopes, fortune tellers, or omens. We have only God, the One and Only, who alone made, makes, and will make all things.

The Torah commands us explicitly: “Be wholehearted with the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 18:13). Rashi explains: “Walk with Him in wholeheartedness, look to Him, and do not delve into the future. Accept whatever comes with simplicity, and then you will be with Him and belong to Him.”

The Torah also teaches: “The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things are for us and our children forever, to do all the words of this Torah” (Deuteronomy 29:28). Once the Torah was given at Sinai, guidance for our lives is not in omens or signs, but in learning Torah and making decisions with human reasoning according to halacha: “It is not in heaven… but very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it” (Deuteronomy 30:12).

The Talmudic Sages even rejected the use of a heavenly voice (bat kol) to decide halacha, and afterwards a heavenly voice declared: “My children have defeated Me, My children have defeated Me” (Bava Metzia 59b).

Maimonides (Rambam) codifies this as law: “We must not practice divination like the idolaters, as it says ‘You shall not practice divination.’ How is divination done? For example: if one says, ‘Since my bread fell from my mouth, or my staff fell from my hand, I will not go to such and such a place today, for if I go, my plans will fail.’ Or, ‘Since a fox crossed my path, I will not leave my house today, lest I be harmed.’ Similarly, those who interpret bird sounds, or make conditional signs for themselves — ‘If such-and-such happens, I will do this; if not, I won’t’, all these are forbidden. Whoever does so is liable for lashes.” (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Avodah Zarah 11:4)

Rambam adds that consulting fortune tellers including card readers, palm readers, and coffee readers, is also forbidden. This is not only because they are dishonest, but because seeking them undermines true faith in God, who reveals only what we need to know and conceals what we don’t need.

The Talmudic Sages taught: “Do not seek what is hidden from you, and do not investigate what is concealed from you. What is permitted to you, study. You have no business with mysteries” (Chagigah 13a). Rashi explains: “What is withheld from you, God did not wish to reveal to you.”

Jews are above fate. The Talmud states: “Israel is not governed by the stars… Thus says the Lord: Do not learn the way of the nations, nor be dismayed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed by them — but not Israel” (Shabbat 156a, Jeremiah 10:2).

Even if a fortune teller could tell you the future without error, it wouldn’t bind you. As a Jew, you can change your destiny through prayer, repentance, and charity. Rosh Hashanah is the time when decrees are overturned and destinies reshaped.

The Sages taught that charity can save from death, and even when a sharp sword rests on a person’s neck, he should not despair of prayer (Berachot 10a).

A Psychological Note

From your description, this habit might not just be about faith, but could reflect anxiety or a touch of obsessive-compulsive tendencies (OCD). Just like some people check locks or wash their hands repeatedly, others fall into compulsive rituals like “seeking signs” to calm fears.

The Steipler Gaon (Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky) addressed this in Karyana D’Iggarta and advised those suffering from such fears to ease up, stop over-checking details, and live with the basic halachic obligations. He reminded that “God does not come with excessive demands upon His creatures” (Shemot Rabbah 34:1).

If you find this very hard to stop on your own, it’s okay to seek help from a professional. Psychologists can help with mild OCD or compulsive habits, and combined with strengthening faith, you can break free from this cycle.