Segulahs

        Did you say Parshat Hamon this past Tuesday? According to many sources on the internet (well, from where do you get YOUR information?) reciting the section that describes the manna from Parshat Beshalach on the Tuesday before Parshat Beshalach is read in shul is a good omen for parnasa, for a successful and plentiful livelihood.  Upon closer examination, the more often-quoted version of this practice is to recite Parshat Hamon daily. For example, Rabbeinu Bachya (Shemot 16:16) writes: “it is a tradition in the hand of the sages that whoever recites the parsha of the Mon each day is assured that he will not lose out in this world of his livelihood.” The Tur (in OC Siman 1:5) cites this tradition in the name of the Yerushalmi in Brachot. The Mishna Berurah (1:13) also cites this source. The problem is that we have no such practice quoted in any extant version or manuscript of the Yerushalmi. One possibility is that the version of the Yerushalmi that the Tur had is lost.

         I must admit that I have some ambivalence when it comes to these once-a-year segulahs where the connection between action and impact is difficult to understand. For instance, there is a custom that folding one’s tallis right after Shabbat on Saturday night is a segulah for Shalom Bayit, domestic harmony. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner quotes a story (attributed to either the Satmar Rebbe or Rav Chaim Shmulevitz) that one Saturday night, the Rebbe saw that one of his students was the last one in the Beit Midrash and was folding his talis with great precision. The Rebbe asked him what he was doing. The student said that he saw in various books that care in folding one's tallis is a Segulah for Shalom Bayit. The Rebbe responded: “A better Segulah is to go home and help your wife wash the dishes.”

         Are there any segulahs for ensuring that our children follow a Torah path? Rav Chaim Kanievski related that someone once came to the Brisker Rav and asked for a blessing that his son should be a Torah scholar and G-d-fearing. The Brisker Rav said: he will be a Torah scholar based on how much you (the father) learn with him, and he will be G-d-fearing based on how many tears his mother sheds while davening for him.

        Rav Aviner also tells the story that before they had children, Rav Hershel Schachter and his wife went to Israel, and they visited the Steipler Gaon, Rav Yaakov Kanievsky. Rav Schachter asked the Steipler for a blessing for children, and Rav Kanievsky blessed him. Rav Schachter then asked for a blessing of success in his Torah studies.  The Steipler said: “All the blessings in the world will not help. Rather sit and learn and you will succeed.”

        I would suggest that when it comes to segulahs associated with saying particular verses, the words are not powerful as some sort of incantation or magic spell. Rather, by saying certain verses or paragraphs every day (or multiple times per day, like in Ashrei and Aleinu), we are meant to internalize the messages and lessons contained therein. It is through developing these perspectives on life that we benefit from the recitation of Parshat Hamon, for example.  What is unique about the manna, more so than the other miracles we experienced? Rav Saadia Gaon in the introduction to his Emunot v’Deiot explains that the Mon was a miracle that was of a daily occurrence. The other miracles were less frequent and more transient. Perhaps the lesson we are supposed to internalize from the manna is that we are the beneficiaries of God’s interventions (ie miracles) on a constant basis. With that attitude in mind, we are well on our way to developing a mindset that will find a measure of success in all circumstances.