[Avodah] Tefillos and Segulos

[Micha Berger]

The discussion about segulos on Areivim raises issues that belong here.

Tefillah is an obligation.

Lechishah is an issur.

Both can involve using pesuqim. Both can be about getting something we
don't have.

But there is a real difference between making a baqashah of Hashem and
trying to use the metaphysical force the pasuq has / taps into to get
what you want.

Lechishah shows that working on things usig metaphysical engineering is
starkly different than a similar act aimed at building a relationship
with and beseaching the Almighty.

And different than physical engineerng. How it's different is another
question. After all, while lechishah is assur, weari a qemai'ah is not.
So, what's prohibited manipulation of non-physical forces and what isn't?

Also, the line between physics and metaphysics, or that between science
and magic, often comes down to a matter of opinion. I don't think
that people living in the Sassanid empire (the culture that surrounded
amora'ei Bavel) thought of sheidim all that differently than physicists
today think about fields.

But, some kind of difference between physical and metaphysical engineering
must exist, or else why would lechishah be assur?

Which brings us to segulos. They, like quoting a pasuq, could be done
as a physical expression of a tefillah, or in stead of approaching the
Almighty. People who vehemently criticize segulos rarely have problems
with simanei milsa. Or to put it another way, if dipping an apple in
honey is just about putting more gravitas into the baqashah when you say
"Yehi Ratzon", who says segulos aren't cut from the same cloth?

So instead of objecting to segulos, object to their oversimplification. To
the people who use them as a short-cut to getting a desired goal rather
than turning to the Borei.

To be frank, it seems to me such complaints have more to do with people
of one derekh trying to find reasons to dismiss other derakhim. And had
it not been about that, the question wouldn't be tauted as an upshlug.
(And perhaps not brought up with such frequency.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Today is the 18th day, which is
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   2 weeks and 4 days in/toward the omer.
Author: Widen Your Tent      Netzach sheb'Tifferes: What is imposing about
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                           balance?