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<font size=3>At 02:32 PM 4/29/2011, Micha Berger wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">I assume by now most of you have
read R' Jeffrey Saks' post at<br>
<<a href="http://torahmusings.com/2011/04/shliss-challah" eudora="autourl">
http://torahmusings.com/2011/04/shliss-challah</a>>. He gives three
reasons<br>
for the minhag:</blockquote><br>
This "minhag" is supposed to be a segulah. (My quotes
around minhag are intentional, because I am sure that many of us have
never heard of it and that in previous generations it was unheard in many
Ashkenaz communities. I really think that a discussion of this issue is
in order.) <br><br>
I will kick it off this discussion with<br><br>
The Hamodia gave me permission to post on my web site an article that it
printed some time ago about segulos. It is at <br>
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/hamodia/segulos.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/hamodia/segulos.pdf</a>) In part the
article quotes the Mezhbuzher Rav, Harav Avraham Yehoshua Heshel
Bick. According to him<br><br>
[<i>Segulos</i> ] are nothing more than <i>bubbe maasos</i>, <i>eitzas
yetzer hara </i>that<br>
give people a license to spend money way beyond their means and then
ask<br>
for a <i>yeshuah. </i>All these formulae saying <i>Shir Hashirim
</i>forty times, <i>Tehillim<br>
HaChida, </i>etc. are methods used by the <i>yetzer hara </i>to take
from us the little<br>
[spirituality] we have left.<br><br>
Prayer, on the other hand, is not a <i>segulah</i> ; prayer is a way of
communicating with the <i>Ribbono<br>
shel Olam</i>. When we use <i>segulos </i>to get what we want, it’s as if
we are stealing something from Him,<br>
something that is not rightfully ours. It reminds me of today’s Chinese
auctions at charitable events.<br>
Whereas women used to give charity without ulterior motives, they have
now replaced their <i>mitzvos<br>
</i>with Chinese auctions.<br><br>
See also what I have posted it at <br><br>
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/yated/kishke_segula_1.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/yated/kishke_segula_1.html<br><br>
</a>and at <br><br>
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/yated/kishke_segula_2.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/yated/kishke_segula_2.html</a>
<br><br>
and what Moshe Ben-Chaim wrote about segulos at
<a href="http://torahmusings.com/2011/04/shliss-challah" eudora="autourl">
http://torahmusings.com/2011/04/shliss-challah</a> <br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Yitzchok Levine</font></body>
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