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<font size=3>At 02:39 PM 8/21/2012, R. Joel Rich wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">A very rationalist approach
(which suits me just fine) BUT (and perhaps very much to the point of the
Aishdas society) there is obviously something rotten in Rationalistland
if we have large groups of people who are seeking the eit ratzons of R'
Nachman assumedly because they are not finding fulfillment in tfila
and doing mitzvot because we are so commanded and doing them is what
pleases HKB"H. Unfortunately I don't think there are quick
fixes to this issue and I'm not sure we won't be yotzeh scharo bhefsedo
if we try to discourage these practices without something more than just
people should understand better what HKB"H wants of
them.</blockquote><br>
There is a tendency in some circles to think of Judaism as some sort of
"magical hocus pocus," which it most certainly is
not. I think to some extent this results from people thinking that
Judaism is a religion like other religions, which again it is not.
RSRH points out that religion is man's thoughts about the Creator,
whereas Judaism is the Creator's thoughts about man. Thus to
categorize Judaism as a religion is to do it an injustice. See
RSRH's essay Sivan I at
<a href="http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/sivan_1.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/rsrh/sivan_1.pdf</a> for more on
this.<br><br>
I agree that "there are no quick fixes to this issue."
More than this, everyone of these "Segulas" that
are being presented with more and more frequency these days feeds this
view of hocus pocus as being a part of Judaism. <br><br>
The 9 Sivan 5768 issue of Hamodia Magazine featured an article about
segulos. (The Hamodia kindly gave me permission to post the article
on my web site, and it is at
http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/hamodia/segulos.pdf ) 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>
Another contributing factor to the belief that Judaism is some sort of
magical hocus pocus is, IMO, the fact that children are often
taught in yeshiva the most fantastic of midrashim and given the
impression that they are to be taken literally. Thus, from a
young age the idea of magical hocus pocus is implanted in people's
minds.<br><br>
R. Avigdor Miller would "push away" all fantastic
stories. I once asked him why, and he replied, "Our
minds are strained enough by what we are required to believe, to
add to this is not wise." I think that this is an
important thing to keep in mind when it comes to one's approach to
Yahadus.<br><br>
YL</font></body>
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