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Q&A: On the Segulah of the Passage of the Manna

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This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.

On the Segulah of the Passage of the Manna

Question

With God's help,
Hello,
Attached is the passage of the manna, whose recitation is considered a great segulah for livelihood.
You've probably already received an email or WhatsApp or a Facebook share
urging you to say these wonderful verses…
and promising us livelihood.
 
So two things—
First, the purpose of reciting the verses is to remind us
that the source of all abundance is from the blessed God!
It is not the recitation of the verses alone that works as a segulah, but rather
faith and trust that God “satisfies every living being with favor,”
together with our own effort, as we were commanded—
“Six days shall you labor and do all your work”—
these are what will bring good livelihood.
 
And second,
if you've already received this segulah from other sources as well,
be happy—
there are more people, like me, to whom you matter and who want
your good. Fortunate are you!
 
And now to the verses themselves:
 
I'm sending you the text that is customarily said today—
Tuesday of the portion of Beshalach,
and our sages even went so far as to say that anyone who recites
the passage every day will not lack livelihood.
Before reciting the passage, one says the “May it be Your will.”
 
The passage is recited in the format of “twice Scripture and once translation.”
(The verse appearing on the right should be said twice, and after it
once the Aramaic translation appearing on the left.)
Personally, I try to read Rashi’s commentary in place of
the Aramaic, which I don’t really understand…
and that way it is assured that we will truly understand and internalize the virtue of trust in God.
 
With God's help, may we act and succeed,
and with God's help, abundant blessed livelihood!
 

Answer

You wrote and cautioned that we must internalize that all abundance is from the Holy One, blessed be He, and that the verses are not what make it happen. I wonder how that fits with the instructions to say this דווקא on Tuesday of the portion of Beshalach, and specifically these verses and not any other verse or a statement in my own words asking for livelihood? And if I say the verses without the translation—which in any case most people do not understand—will that also help? So then the time invested in the translation is a waste, no? In that same time one could say the verses twice more and really become Bill Gates.
Now I wonder what follows from your words: is the segulah for livelihood the recitation of the verses or the turning to the Holy One, blessed be He? Because if that is the segulah, then one can do it in any form and at any time, no?
I also wonder: if livelihood is “guaranteed” to us, as you wrote, how do you know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, who grants abundant livelihood to anyone who says something on Tuesday of the portion of Beshalach? And perhaps, after all, this “guarantee” indicates that you do see the verses themselves as the cause and not the Holy One, blessed be He…
 
By the way, did you check whether it works? Did you take a sample group and a control group and measure how the condition of those who said the verses changed, and of those who did not? Do you think that throughout history there were no poor people who tried their luck and remained poor? 
 
Now a bit of halakhic background, really in a nutshell. The Talmud in Shevuot 15b says:
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said these verses and slept. How could he do so? But Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that it is forbidden to be healed through words of Torah! Protection is different.
Meaning: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said verses to protect himself, but the Gemara says that it is forbidden to say verses in expectation of healing (and likewise for livelihood). Simply put, such a thing is forbidden as an accessory of idolatry, as Maimonides ruled in Laws of Idolatry 11:12:
One who whispers over a wound and recites a verse from the Torah, and likewise one who recites over a child so that he not be frightened, or places a Torah scroll or tefillin on a child so that he may sleep—not only are they included among diviners and charmers, they are also among those who deny the Torah, for they make the words of Torah a remedy for the body, whereas they are only remedies for the soul, as it is said: “And they shall be life to your soul.” But a healthy person who recites verses or a psalm from Psalms so that the merit of their recitation will protect him and save him from troubles and harm—this is permitted.
We see that protection is permitted, but healing is forbidden. And in the context of livelihood, it is permitted to say verses so as not to become poor, but not in order to get out of poverty. So it would be good to update the public. See also Maharsha on the Gemara there.
True, some have wanted to distinguish between seeing the verses as healing (or providing livelihood) and using the verses to direct oneself to the Holy One, blessed be He, that He heal and provide livelihood (see Sefer HaChinukh, commandment 512), but as stated, if it is only a use of the verses to turn to the Holy One, blessed be He, then one should not speak of proven segulot and fixed times and “efficacious” verses. When one speaks this way, then it is certainly an accessory of idolatry. And in the Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah 179:8 and 12, it clearly implies that the matter is completely forbidden in any case. It does not distinguish between different intentions (whether the verses heal or whether the Holy One, blessed be He, acts through the recitation). This is the way of idol worshipers, and therefore it is forbidden regardless of intention, like all idolatry.
However, the Rema writes there:
One who whispers over a wound or over a sick person and spits, and afterward recites a verse from the Torah, has no share in the World to Come. And if he does not spit, there is still at least a prohibition. And if there is danger to life, everything is permitted.
Gloss: And some say that all this is forbidden only when he recites the verse in the holy tongue, but in a foreign language, no. (Rashi in the name of his teacher, and Beit Yosef.) But regarding spitting, it is good to be careful in every case, especially if one mentions the Divine Name, for he has no share in the World to Come (as is implied by the Tur according to Rabbi Yosef). 
From the words of the Rema one can infer that if one says only the translation without the verses, perhaps there is no prohibition in it. 
It is hard to believe that the Holy One, blessed be He, would assist the livelihood and healing of a person who is committing idolatry for that purpose, no? And even if one manages to get around the halakhic prohibition, and perhaps there is no prohibition in the matter, I still find it hard to see that this would really help. Instead, one can simply turn to the Holy One, blessed be He, and ask for what one wants, and not engage in sorcery and divination in these ways (though I wouldn’t build on that either, and this is not the place to elaborate).
 
I will conclude with something I once heard from my late father. There were people in our family who ran after segulot for livelihood, and it did not really work out for them. My father told them that he knows one good, proven segulah for livelihood: go to work (for some reason they didn’t try that one).
 
I am sure that these things are said and circulated with good intentions, as clearly emerges from your words about caring for others, and that is certainly something blessed. My words too are written from the same motivation. Remove the stumbling block from before My people. I cannot promise that whoever listens to me will merit livelihood, but I can tell him that he will probably be spared a prohibition. And I hope that the merit of being careful with the commandments will protect him, so that he merits to go to work and earn an abundant living from his boss.
 
Good luck to all of us.

Discussion on Answer

M. (2017-02-09)

Many thanks for your words, my neighbor Rabbi Michi.
This is a light break from work for a brief look at words of Torah, which may perhaps exempt me from the obligation of reciting the passage of the manna.
It’s just that in the passage of the manna there seems to be more room for the world of feeling, with turning to the Holy One, blessed be He, something that can also give room for the “I” within me to grow a bit and merit additional good, even on the economic plane.
In the worst case, as a friend once told me—a professor of computer science, who worked with me and also headed a technological academic institution—this is something called “lili”: if it doesn’t help, it doesn’t hurt.

Something nice that was sent to me and is connected to the topic:

In recent years, the Israeli public has shown a surprising thirst for old and new segulot. If people so badly want segulot that will save them from their troubles, who are we to criticize them.

For the public benefit, Rabbi Chaim Navon prepared a short list of useful and proven segulot. The list includes only segulot that appear explicitly in Scripture or in the words of our sages.

“All the segulot mentioned here have been tested, by me or by people known to me, and were found amazingly effective. Proven and tried!” writes Rabbi Navon.

1. Segulah for livelihood: learn a profession (Genesis 3:19; Kiddushin 29a).

2. Segulah for healing: go to a doctor (Bava Kamma 46b; Berakhot 60a).

3. Segulah for long life: maintain a healthy lifestyle (Maimonides, Laws of Character Traits 4:20).

4. Segulah for marriage: look for a spouse. (Kiddushin 2b).

5. Segulot for domestic peace: love, patience, and compromise (Sanhedrin 7a; Bava Metzia 59a; Leviticus Rabbah 9:9).

6. Segulah for children: pray to God. (I Samuel 1).

7. Segulah for fear of Heaven: study Torah. (Avot ch. 2, mishnah 5).

8. Segulah for spiritual elevation: toil in Torah and commandments. (Megillah 6b).

9. Segulah for focused prayer: stand for prayer with seriousness. (Berakhot ch. 5, mishnah 1).

10. Segulah for pure faith: do not believe in segulot, but in God. (Deuteronomy 18:13).

Avi (2017-03-18)

I think this is simply about reinforcing awareness that livelihood comes from the Holy One, blessed be He, and that there is a dependence between it and fear of Heaven. As for the fixed date, how is it different from… International Women’s Day? There’s no sanctity to a specific day here; rather, the very fact that a certain day was set when everyone discusses it helps focus attention.

Michi (2017-03-19)

To your health.

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