from the Hamodia
By Rabbi Avraham Chaim Carmell
One of the many names that describe our generation is
perhaps “The Segulah Age.” Never before have so many people desperate
for yeshuos tried such a wide variety of segulos with so many
successful outcomes.
The segulos range from placing s’chach on a
particular Rosh Yeshivah’s sukkah to placing a chicken bone in
someone’s pocket at the Seder with a plethora of Tehillim, candle
lighting and other kabbalos in between.
But often, the people who have been waiting so long for
their good news don’t get excited about the new, foolproof segulah you’ve
heard about. They have tried them all, and nothing seems to help.
Nevertheless, when persuaded, they will undertake the segulah
I’m going to discuss. I can think of two possible reasons they may want to try
it. One is that it is based on a mishnah (see sidebar), hence the title
of this article. In addition, it is a long-term commitment, not something that
takes a half an hour or even 40 days. The feeling often is that if it takes a
great deal of time and effort, the segulah is more likely to bear fruit.
To illustrate this long-term-commitment concept, please read the following
story though it is not the segulah that this article is about.
The story is told about a woman who had been childless for
many years. After praying at many kivrei tzaddikim and trying countless segulos
and treatments, she came to Harav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, and
poured out her pain, disappointment and frustration. When she had finished her
tirade, Rav Shlomo Zalman very uncharacteristically said to her, “Hashem
doesn’t owe you anything!”
The distraught woman
had hoped for a brachah and words of comfort. She began sobbing again.
Rav Shlomo Zalman waited until she had calmed down and then
explained that according to her description, her chances atshe having children
naturally were very slim. She wanted Hashem to act toward her above the rules
of nature. Hashem is not obligated to do that. “However,” he added, “if you
take upon yourself to do something beyond that which is expected of you, Hashem
may respond in kind.”
The woman began making her rounds in hospital wards and
offered sandwiches and snacks to the patients and their families. A year later,
she had twins! Over 20 years later, she is still making her rounds.
Now to the segulah of the mishnayos. Rabbi
Elimelech Lubin, shlita, of Bnei Brak related the way he discovered the
following segulah. Rabbi Lubin is a 30-year activist in the Lev L’Achim kiruv
organization, but since he came upon this idea, he has devoted time to
propagating it to benefit the public.
Rabbi Lubin’s brother-in-law, Yossi Neulander, had two
children in shidduchim — a daughter aged 23-plus and one a year younger.
Suggestions came and went, but nothing materialized. One day Rabbi Lubin met
his brother-in-law in the street, and Yossi told him, “I want you to know, Dudi
and Etti are going to get engaged!” It didn’t seem they had prospects about to
be finalized. And, after all the disappointments, Rabbi Lubin doubted Yossi
would announce that with such confidence before actually finalizing.
Yet within a few weeks, Yossi’s daughter got engaged, and a
short while later, his son followed.
At the son’s engagement, Rabbi Lubin asked his
brother-in-law how he’d been so sure about these exciting developments a month
before they had happened.
Yossi told him that he had spoken to an elderly Rosh
Kollel and tzaddik in Bnei Brak, who had told him about a segulah
— to accept upon oneself to learn Shas Mishnayos at the rate of
at least three or four mishnayos a day. The Rosh Kollel had
assured him that this is a tried-and-tested segulah, and he would
definitely see positive results. That is what gave Yossi the confidence to tell
Rabbi Lubin the yeshuah was in the offing. He made the commitment, and
within a month, both children were engaged.
Rabbi Lubin continued to relate that in the office across
the corridor from his in Lev L’Achim sits a chashuve talmid chacham
by the name of Rav Yossi Cohen. He answers halachic questions under the
auspices of Harav Mordechai Gross’ beis din in Bnei Brak.
Rabbi Lubin knew that Rabbi Cohen’s daughter had been divorced three years
previously and still had not remarried. He told Rabbi Cohen about this segulah
and suggested he try it. Rabbi Cohen checked it out with Rabbi Gross, shlita,
who shared that he had once seen written in a sefer, that taking upon
oneself to learn Shas, six mishnayos a day, was a segulah
“that would help for all needs.”
Rabbi Cohen took on the project. Not long after, he burst
into Rabbi Lubin’s office and hugged him, saying, “You have given me a new
lease on life! My daughter found her zivug, and my older son who
was stuck in shidduchim is about to become engaged!”
Not long after, Rabbi Lubin was at a chasunah where
he met an old friend. He was shocked to see his right eye bulging out of its
socket. His friend explained that he was scheduled to have a huge tumor removed
from inside his skull.
Rabbi Lubin informed him of this segulah and shared
with him some new segulah stories. The next day Rabbi Lubin personally
spoke to his friend’s sons and sons-in-law and asked them to take upon
themselves to learn Shas Mishnayos. They all did, and the man had a
total recovery.
Rabbi Lubin learns every morning in the Volozhiner Kollel
under the guidance of Harav Shapiro, shlita, a great gaon and tzaddik.
He approached the Rosh Kollel and said to him, “I know you have a
29-year-old daughter still unmarried.” Rabbi Shapiro corrected him that his
daughter was now 35. Rabbi Lubin related the stories about the power of a
commitment to learn Shas Mishnayos on a daily basis. On the spot, Rabbi
Shapiro began a program of six mishnayos a day; within a month and a
half, his daughter was engaged!
One day Rabbi Shapiro informed Rabbi Lubin about a kollel
member who had three unmarried sisters aged 29, 33 and 34 and asked that Rabbi
Lubin talk to him about the segulah. The young man made the commitment
right then and there. A year later, Rabbi Lubin met him in the street, pushing
a baby carriage. The avreich said to him, “See this? Yasher koach!”
He said that when he’d come home and told his wife of his commitment, she’d
said to him, “We are married seven and a half years and have not been blessed
with a child, and you are taking on segulos for your sisters!” He agreed
with her and decided to learn for themselves as well. (Rabbi Lubin explains in
the name of Rabbi Gross that each round of Shas can be for one yeshuah,
but one can learn each mishnah a few times for severl different
people.)
One young man took on the segulah in order to be
blessed with children. That year, he and his wife spent the first days of
Pesach with his in-laws. After the Seder, he came at 2 a.m. to the apartment they were staying
in. He suddenly remembered that with all the erev Pesach preparations, he
hadn’t yet learned his daily mishnayos. Because there was no Sefer
Mishnayos in the apartment, he went out and found an open shul. Fighting
the fatigue from erev Pesach and four cups of wine, he learned his Mishnayos.
Nine months later, their first child was born!
After a few years of telling these and other stories,
someone suggested that perhaps Rabbi Lubin save time and get the message out
via a phone line.
Recently someone set up a line for him. The number to call
with stories or inquiries is 053-314-3927 or 011-972-77-323-4713
Sidebar:
I told Rabbi Lubin that the basis for this segulah is
the mishnah in Maseches Avos (5:3): “Whoever accepts upon himself the yoke of
Torah, they remove from him the yoke of the government and parnassah (and other
worries).” The novelty of this segulah is that the acceptance of the yoke of
Torah in even one area can bring great salvation.
I was shown a piece written by Harav Aryeh Frommer of
Koziglov, Hy”d, the Rosh Yeshivah of Chachmei Lublin after Harav Meir Shapiro,
zt”l, passed away.
He introduced the idea of studying Mishnah Yomis to
supplement Daf Yomi with Shas Mishnayos. Originally, he suggested learning a
mishnah from Zera’im and Taharos that don’t have Gemara on them. Later he
extended it to all of Shas at two mishnayos a day for the other sedarim giving
a seven-and-half-year cycle that matches Daf Yomi.
Rav Frommer quotes the Gemara in Bava Basra (8a) that
explains the passuk in Hoshea (8:10), “Gam ki yisnu bagoyim, ata akabtzeim.”
(Literally, “Even though they give gifts to the nations [to make peace with
them], I will now gather them in.”) The Gemara reads “yisnu” to mean learning
Mishnayos, and states that if they learn all of the Mishnayos, “I will now
gather them in.” The Kozigler Rav explains “all of them” can be read in two
ways, either all of the Yidden, or each one learns all of the mishnayos.
He quotes the words of the Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh
(Bereishis 21:1) that every mitzvah has the segulah for a particular yeshuah,
and when Heaven wishes to send a yeshuah to someone, they give him the
opportunity to fulfill that mitzvah.
He writes that because Mishnayos discusses all the
mitzvos, learning all of Shas Mishnayos includes all possible yeshuos. (He
writes that through his Mishnah Yomis, Klal Yisrael will merit the greatest
yeshuah, the coming of Moshiach, which the Gemara says will come about if they
all learn the Mishnayos.) This idea gives some basis for this segulah.
Sidebar 2:
Some commonly asked questions answered by Rav Gross
and others:
Q. Can one dedicate the learning to many issues?
A. No. Each completion of Shas has to be for one issue
only. However, one can learn each mishnah a few times — a good idea anyway to
make sure one understands it well.
Q. Must the mishnayos be consecutive?
A. No. One suggestion is to have a chavrusa to study
difficult masechtos, one or two mishnayos a day, and supplement one’s quota
elsewhere on one’s own.
Q. How can women benefit from the segulah?
A. They can ask family members or perhaps offer to pay
a talmid chacham to learn on their behalf.
Q. Does one need to understand the Mishnah?
A. One has to have a basic understanding of what one
learns.
Q. Does it have to be every day?
A. Yes. The
power of the segulah is that it’s a daily commitment. A day is from nightfall
to nightfall.
Q. Can one divide Shas among a few people learning?
A. The segulah is for one person to undertake to learn
all of Shas.
Q. Can one learn more than one’s daily quota?
A. Of course! The three to six mishnayos a day is a
minimum.
Q. How long does it take to complete Shas?
A. There are well over 4,000 mishnayos in Shas. When
learning six a day, it takes almost two years, four a day, almost three years,
and three, almost four years (365 days a year on average including leap years.)
