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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: Micha Berger <micha@aishdas.org><BR>.<BR><BR>>>I
don't. I think it's because we've seen how minhag after minhag<BR>and I dare say
halakhah after halakhah is turned into a mechanistic<BR>means of getting what
you want. Narcisistic religion. Magical<BR>thinking. Lechishah. The pursuit of
segulah threatens to overwhelm the<BR>pursuit of Avodas Hashem. It creates a
desire to push the line back.<<<BR><BR><BR>-- <BR>Micha
Berger
<BR>micha@aishdas.org
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<DIV>>>>></DIV>
<DIV>My father called it "push-button Judaism." </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>He objected to this approach for a number of reasons. One is that if
you teach a BT (or FFB for that matter) that pushing button X yields result Y --
and it doesn't work -- it can lead to disillusionment with the whole
religion.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>However, there is a gray area between magic and avodas Hashem. For
example, a segulah for having children is to ask your own parents for mechilla
for anything you may have done against their kovod. This isn't so much a
magical formula as a way of correcting a real spiritual blockage that may
be the reason you haven't had children until now. I also remember a case
where a woman who had repeated miscarriages asked my father what to do, and he
advised her to start covering her hair. She did, and it "worked."
Obviously, doing teshuva or improving your mitzva performance is not exactly a
magical segulah, but it can't hurt and it can only help, if you want Hashem to
answer your tefillos.</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>--Toby Katz</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#ffffff
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PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>..</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2
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PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>=============</STRONG><BR><BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------
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