Occurrence or incident regarded as fore-shadowing a favorable or unfavorable issue in a certain conjuncture. The belief in prognostic signs is closely connected with see See DIVINATION and mantic, from which it is distinguished, however, in that it presupposes neither higher inspiration nor special knowledge. The principal characteristic of the omen is the fortuitousness of the phenomenon or of the event, which otherwise need be in no way remarkable. Usually it is even a commonplace occurrence. The belief in omens, in the more accurate acceptation of the term, is the most primitive stage of divination and soothsaying. Studying the signs of the heavens (ASTROLOGY) and predicting from the flight of birds (AUGURY) or from other circumstances (DIVINATION), were prohibited by Judaism. But this superstition was so deep-rooted that, in a form in which it did not betray its connection with idolatry and magic, it was practised in the time of the Talmud, and it is tolerated even at the present time.
The best-known examples from the Bible are the signs accepted by Eliezer (Genesis 24:14) and by Jonathan (1 Samuel 14:9), which the Talmud declared to be simple omens. "As his name, so is he; Nabal [= "disgrace"] is his name, and folly is with him" (1 Samuel 25:25), suggests the "nomen et omen." A man by the name of Kidor was distrusted by R. Meïr (about 150 C.E.) because in Deuteronomy 32:20 occur the words, "For a generation ["ki dor"] of perversity are they." Name-superstition was wide-spread, although many sought to combat it (Yoma 83b). Even the Sibylline Books (3:224 et seq.) already declared the signs of sneezing, the flight of birds, etc., to be illusory (comp. Josephus, "Ant." 19:8, § 2; Blau, "Das Altjüdische Zauberwesen," p. 164). As examples of sentences which, in accordance with the Biblical prohibition of divination (
Omens are divided into two main groupsâgood and bad omens. Examples are given in the article Augury; but there may be enumerated here some of those which are of a specifically Jewish character, showing a Jewish-monotheistic tinge. If upon rising in the morning a passage of the Bible occurs to one's mind, it is a sort of prophecy (Ber. 55b, below). Especially well liked were prognostics which were suggested by Scriptural passages recited by children (Yoma 75b et passim). The name of Mount Sinai is looked upon as a good omen for Israel (Shab. 89a). The eating of a plant the name of which means "to multiply" (
- See works cited in the bibliography to article Augury;
- compare especially Meyer, Der Aberglaube des Mittelalters und der Nächstfolgenden Jahrhunderte, pp. 132-147, Basel. 1884;
- Blau, Das Altjüdische Zauberwesen, pp. 17, 44-48, 149-150, 164, Strasburg, 1898;
- Grünbaum, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Sprach- und Sagenkunde, pp. 149, 359, Berlin, 1901.
The contents of the 12-volume Jewish Encyclopedia, which was originally published between 1901-1906. The Jewish Encyclopedia, which recently became part of the public domain, contains over 15,000 articles and illustrations.
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