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Thought for the Day: Proper Attitude Toward Using סגולות - Just My Opinion

When a TftD -- which is all, basically, my opinions -- has "just my opinion" right in the title, you may just want to surreptitiously hit Delete and/or Close and move on. I probably would. On the other hand, you might find it a refreshing "truth in advertising" and so stick around just for that.

In a recent TftD (Havdala for a Jew Who Didn't Keep Shabbos), I spoke in disparaging terms about a non-religious Jew who wanted to do Havdala just because he thought it was a סגולה for good eyesight. I said he was basically using Havdala as some sort of voodoo. I would like to clarify: My disparaging has nothing to do with his level of religiosity; it has everything to do with using a mitzvah as a trick to get some benefit via a shortcut. Gaming the system, in modern parlance. (Modern for me, anyway; so I may sound like a someone calling "groovy" a modern expression. Oh well.)

I am not the only one that feels this way. (But mom... all the kids are doing it!) A nice listing (in Hebrew) that makes this point can be found here: סגולה לפרנסה: ללמוד מקצוע הרשימה המלאה. Which means (more or less): a סגולה for making a living is to learn a trade. It is a tongue in cheek poke at people using סגולות to "game the system". Other סגולות include: Marital harmony -- patience and love. Health -- visit your doctor. Long life -- follow a healthy life style. All quite fun and all with sources.

On the other hand, there certainly are סגולות sanctioned by Chazal. In that same list you will find: Having children -- daven. Reverence for the Creator -- learn Torah. Davening and learning Torah sure seem like "gaming the system" to me. So what is it? Are סגולות appropriate or not?

Yes. Using a סגולות to game the system is not going to work. As it turns out, you can't outsmart the Creator. So why does that list seem to have things that are just plain "work hard" (learn a trade) and others that feel like cheating (just daven)? Because learning a trade is no more a guarantee of making a living than praying to win the lottery. The difference is that HaShem created a natural looking world and He placed us here to come close to Him. There are things that work and things that don't. Human logic doesn't dictate either. What works is what HaShem tells us works; everything else is only illusion.

Which brings us to the 10th and final סגולה on that list: Don't trust in the סגולות, trust in HaShem. That could and should be emended with: and also don't trust in yourself; trust in HaShem. When all is said an done, there is nothing else. That's not my opinion, that's the opinion of the wisest man who ever lived, Shlomo haMelech, himself: קוהלת יב:יג/Ecclesiastes 12:13.
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