In this week’s parsha Bila’am says about Klal Yisrael: "כי לא נחש ביעקב ולא קסם בישראל" – "For there is no divination in Yaakov and no sorcery in Yisrael" (23:23). Rashi explains: "כי ראויים הם לברכה, שאין בהם מנחשים וקוסמים" – "They are worthy of blessing since there are no diviners or sorcerers amongst them."
This week I would like to discuss a topic which is related to this, and that is the topic of the pendulum. As we will see, some learn that using a pendulum may be a problem of sorcery, whereas, others learn that it is perfectly okay.
Iy’H this week we will discuss if it is halachically okay to use a pendulum to determine a medical diagnosis? May one use a pendulum to try and work out if a certain shidduch is appropriate? May it be used to help work out which allergies one has? If a pendulum is so reliable, why don’t those who know how to use it, use it to predict the winning lottery numbers? Does it make a difference if it is being used to determine the present, or to predict the future? Can anyone use a pendulum, or does it require a professional? How many potential prohibitions could there be with using a pendulum? How exactly does it work? Of this and lots more below.
Gemara in Pesachim
The Gemara in Pesachim (113b) teaches: "מניין שאין שואלין בכלדיים שנאמר תמים תהיה עם ה' אלקיך" - From where do we know that we don’t consult with astrologers? As it says in the pasuk "You shall be wholehearted with Hashem your G-d." This Gemara is paskened in the Beis Yosef and Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 179:1).
The Shulchan Aruch rules: "אין שואלין בחוזים בכוכבים ולא בגורלות" – "We do not make inquiries to astrological seers, nor to the fates." The Rema writes: "משום שנאמר תמים תהיה עם ה' אלהיך וכ"ש דאסור לשאול בקוסמים ומנחשים ובמכשפים" – "Because it says ‘You shall be wholehearted with Hashem your G-d.’ And certainly, it is prohibited to make inquiries to magicians, diviners, and sorcerers."
Considering the above, there is room to question if one is allowed to consult with a pendulum. The question can really be split into two: 1) Is using a pendulum to predict the future an issur of תמים תהיה, i.e. That one should be wholehearted with Hashem and not worry about the future? 2) Is using a pendulum to determine what to do in the present a problem of קסם קסמים (Devorim 18:10) which Rashi explains to mean "One holds a stick in his hand, and asks it to help determine for him if he should go or not go"?
Using a pendulum may also be considered darchei HaEmori, following in the ways of Emorites, and may also be a problem of לא תנחשו (Vayikra 19:26). What does halachah say about its usage?
What Is a Pendulum?
Before we can determine if using a pendulum is permissible or forbidden, we must understand how it works. Once we do that then we can determine its status in halachah.
A pendulum is any pendant or chain that has a crystal, stone, or other object on the end of it and is able to swing freely in all directions. Most times a crystal is placed on the end, however, other materials can also be used, including: Gold (preferably pure), silver, metal, wood — even earphones will do. (One professional practitioner is able to work with the palm of his hand!). In principle, anyone can use one; even a 3-year-old can be taught to focus on a question and receive an answer.
The primary function is obtaining yes/no responses based on the direction of swing: clockwise or straight movement signals “yes”; counterclockwise signals “no.” Some practitioners believe that the pendulum can be “trained” to communicate in reverse directions.
Experienced users pay attention to both the direction and quality of the movement - a full, clean counterclockwise circle means a “strong no,” a weak partial counterclockwise swing means a “weak no,” certain ambiguous movements express doubt, and complete stillness means no answer at all. (To better understand the movements – one can test the pendulum in advance by trying it out on something which one is certain is harmful for him such as bleach, and note how the pendulum swings, and then proceed to test it out on other food items.)
Skilled practitioners invest many years looking into the precise questions that they need to ask. The most impressive, documented results are in allergy detection. By staying current with nutritional research, forming precise targeted questions, and systematically eliminating variables, experienced practitioners claim to be able to identify allergenic foods within a handful of yes/no questions.
The pendulum can also be used for general medical diagnosis, attention and concentration therapies, and there are even stories of it being used to locate underground water or buried natural resources.
How Does it Work?
The most widely accepted explanation is that the pendulum measures the body’s internal energies, functioning as a translator of subtle changes transmitted through the holder’s muscles — specifically, a ring-shaped muscle between the thumb and index finger — relaying subconscious information to conscious awareness. Some ascribe it to external energies. However, everyone agrees that the pendulum has no independent intelligence and is simply a tool in the hands of its user.
Those who permit using a pendulum, explain that it is not kishuf [sorcery] or hidden kochos, rather, when a person holds something that is bad for him, his body knows this and the energy inside his body is affected and this sends certain messages to the pendulum.
We still need to understand how the information gets transmitted from the person holding the item he is allergic to, to the holder of the pendulum? To explain this, they explain that just like we find that there are telepathic connections and intuition between people with close bonds — family members, close friends – and they are able to feel what is going on in the heart of the other, the same thing is with a pendulum. The holder of the pendulum is somehow able to connect to these energy changes and detect them by interpreting the way the pendulum swings.
Can a Pendulum Predict the Future?
Some practitioners claim, based on documented cases, that the pendulum can predict the future and predict things such as; how many children a couple will have, their genders, birth order etc.
Some challenge this claim, arguing that if the pendulum genuinely predicts the future, why don’t believers use it to win the lottery? The winning numbers could be decoded in advance. [One possible answer given is: Lottery tickets are treated as a single unit, and since the pendulum answers only yes/no, identifying the winning number would require millions of individual questions. If a lottery were limited to numbers 1–10, it might just be feasible.]
The truth is, if the pendulum can genuinely predict future events, then it would be forbidden to use according to all opinions, as this would prove that the pendulum is not operating through natural energies or bodily transmission and is operating through some sort of tumah or kishuf.
What Does Halachah Say?
On questions regarding the future; multiple poskim agree unequivocally that asking a pendulum is forbidden. Rashi on the pasuk - תמים תהיה עם ה' אלקיך - explains: התהלך עמו בתמימות ותצפה לו ולא תחקור אחר העתידות, אלא כל מה שיבא עליך קבל בתמימות ואז תהיה עמו ולחלקו – ” Walk with Him in wholeness and look to Him — do not investigate future events, but accept whatever comes upon you with wholeness and then He will be with you and your portion.”
There is a machlokes Rishonim if תמים תהיה is a mitzvas aseh, or if it is simply mussar and tochocha, however, when there is a dispute about a matter which relates to a de’O’raisa and there is a doubt how we rule we are stringent, therefore, we would need to be stringent here and be concerned for the opinion that it is an issur de’O’raisa.
Using a Pendulum to Decide on a Shidduch
Using a pendulum to decide on a shidduch is questionable. On the one hand the inquiry is about the future as one is asking if the marriage will work out, on the other hand it is also a present inquiry as one is asking if the two people in front of us are compatible right now? Tzorich iyun.
An Additional Concern
There is additional concern when using a pendulum. It is well known that the Steipler would say, that if a person investigates future events and learns that a negative decree has been issued against him, that itself can cause it to materialize and his zechusim [merits] and tefillos will no longer help. Normally we say: "אין מזל לישראל" – "Klal Yisrael aren’t subject to mazul", therefore, if something bad is destined to happen to a person, his zechusim and tefillos may change it. However, if a person starts investigating the future and shows that he doesn’t believe in אין מזל לישראל, then Hashem will arrange it that he is now subject to mazul, and he will no longer be able to change things.
What Do the Leading Poskim of Our Time Say About Using the Pendulum?
Poskim Who Are Against Using the Pendulum
When it comes to using a pendulum to determine present events, there is a famous pesak given by Rav Elyashiv which was written and made famous by his close talmid Rav Dovid Aryeh Morgenstern shlita who was told to publicize it: All new medical methods begin with a presumption of prohibition (chezkas issur) until verified to operate through natural means. Whether any specific method qualifies as “natural” must be examined case by case.
Rav Morgenstern himself rules that using a pendulum is forbidden as it has no logical scientific explanation, only a mystical explanation rooted in energies and hidden forces, which makes it difficult to classify as a natural medicine.
Rav Shmuel HaLevi Wosner zt”l (Shu”t Shevet HaLevi, Vol. 9, siman 174) in a letter to his son Rav Chaim Meir wrote that the pendulum should not be used due to concern for nichush and tamim tihyeh. People of refined character (נקיי הדעת) distance themselves from such practices, especially as we don’t know if it works with nature or mystical forces. Even for medical purposes one should avoid it, lest one start to use it for other matters as well. However, there is no need to object when someone uses it strictly for medical purposes, since some authorities permit healing even via sorcery when a non-Jew performs it, or in a life-threatening situation.
Rav Moshe Shaul Klein shlita (Kovetz Pa’amei Yaakov, Vol. 69, Shevat 5769, pg. 149) writes that one should refrain from using the pendulum because the way it works is not understood by the general public, therefore, there is a concern of darchei haEmori. Unlike massages and similar therapies, whose workings are publicly understood and thus permitted, the pendulum’s operation is unknown to most people and should be avoided.
Rav Nissim Karelitz zt”l also ruled that the pendulum is forbidden. Rav Moshe Halberstam zt”l is also quoted as saying that the pendulum is forbidden.
Rav Menashe Yisrael Reisman shlita gave a shiur about the topic, and he said after comprehensive research into alternative medicine, he leans toward forbidding the pendulum, if not from a halachic perspective at the very least from a hashkafic standpoint. A person who has a pendulum stops turning to HaKadosh Baruch Hu and simply consults it for everything. He related a story about a man who refused to finalize his son’s shidduch without first consulting the pendulum. He also related that there are businessmen who consult it before every major deal.
Rav Nosson Kopshitz shlita is also quoted as saying that one shouldn’t consult with a pendulum and that it is not the proper conduct for a Yid.
Poskim Who Permit Using the Pendulum
On the other hand, some talmidim of Rav Elyashiv hold that even within his framework, using a pendulum is permitted. It is clear that any mechanism which works in a manner which can be explained according to nature is okay, like the Rishonim write when it comes to using a magnet. The way a magnet works is invisible to the human eye, however, since it is a natural phenomenon there is nothing wrong with using it. Similarly, no one forbids talking on a cell phone, or using electrical power simply because the underlying forces are imperceptible. No one says that using such things is considered darchei HaEmori. The reason these things are okay is because although the way they work is invisible, people know and understand how they work. HaKadosh Baruch Hu embedded many forces into creation and there is nothing wrong if non-Jews are the ones who discover them, on the contrary "חכמה בגוים תאמין" – "Wisdom among the nations — believe it". Once such force is energy, and the pendulum works using this energy, therefore, although it is not visible it doesn’t mean that it is a problem.
A certain talmid chocham went to Rav Elyashiv to determine if it is mutar to use the pendulum, and Rav Elyashiv told him to analyze and go through the sugya with Rav Mordechai Gross shlita and determine if it is considered something that works via natural means. This talmud chocham sat with Rav Gross for six hours and he concluded that using a pendulum for medical purposes is allowed, and testing for allergies is included in the heter of medical purposes. Using the pendulum to predict the future is a problem, however, medical testing and allergy testing are considered something which is in the present and it is permissible to use a pendulum for it.
Rav Elyashiv added a critical condition: Whenever conventional medicine conflicts with the pendulum’s reading, conventional medicine takes absolute precedence. The pendulum may only be engaged in situations of “if it won’t help, at least it won’t hurt.”
I saw brought down in the name of Rav Shlomo Zalman Ullman zt”l that using the pendulum is allowed even without medical need and only future predictions are forbidden due to tamim tihyeh. Rav Shamai Gross shlita similarly permits. Many prominent Rabbanim in Yerushalayim use it themselves and permit its usage.
Rav Pesach Eliyahu Falk zt”l (author of Machzeh Eliyahu) and Rav Gavriel Kraus shlita (Former Av Beis Din in Manchester) both permit the pendulum without reservation, treating it as pure science. The Admor of Pshevorsk (מפשעווארסק) gave permission for a certain woman in London to use the pendulum, although he said it may only be used for allergy testing and not for predicting the future.
Pendulum Believers
Those who believe in the pendulum say that regardless of what the skeptics say, in the end of the day it works! (When the train was first invented, people called it sorcery, saying that it is impossible for a wagon to travel without a horse. We all know, that those people are long gone, and the train continues on.) When wheat is planted in the ground, whether the one who places it there understands how it works or not, it will grow. The same thing is with a pendulum, whether one understands it or not, it works.
The Rishonim already write that there is no issur to use a magnet even though the way it works is invisible, as at the end of the day it is a natural phenomenon. Those who are for the pendulum argue that it is no different to a magnet and it is also natural. The above is so clear, that there is even a natural-food store operating in the heart of a Charedi neighborhood in Yerushalayim which sells food based on results given after being tested with a pendulum.
Rav Menashe Yisrael Reisman shlita related in a shiur that there was a person who wasn’t allowed to eat sugar, and they prepared not in his presence 10 cups of coffee; 9 with sugar and 1 with a sugar alternative. They then mixed all the cups together, and within a few short seconds with the help of the pendulum, he managed to work out which cup of coffee he was able to drink, and he drank it and quenched his thirst.
Practitioners warn: We agree that in the end of the day it is only about 80% reliable, however, it is the same with all medical procedures in the world, and nothing is 100% reliable.
