The Talmud (Shabbat 156b) tells the story of a woman who consulted astrologers about her newborn son. They told her with certainty: "Your son will be a thief." She was devastated. Her child's fate, they said, was written in the stars.
Being a pious woman, she raised the boy with extra care. She taught him Torah, kept him away from bad influences, and prayed constantly that the astrologers were wrong. The boy grew into a fine young man — learned, honest, generous.
One day, years later, the young man was sitting under a palm tree. He reached up to adjust his head covering, and as he did, a thorn pricked him and dislodged a date from the tree. The date fell into his lap. He ate it without thinking.
Technically, the date belonged to the tree's owner. Technically, eating it was theft.
The astrologers had been right — but only in the most trivial possible way. The "theft" written in the stars amounted to an accidentally dislodged date. The mother's piety, her prayers, her devoted upbringing had not changed the stars, but they had reduced the decree to its absolute minimum.
Rabbi Hanina drew from this the teaching: "Israel is not subject to the stars." The heavenly configurations have real influence, but they can be overridden by merit, prayer, and righteous action. The astrologers see the potential. Torah determines the reality. A destiny of theft can be shrunk to a single date — if the person lives a life devoted to God.