January, 2022
The Segulah of Parshas HaMann
This past week -like many readers -I had received countless messages, all regarding the same theme. One message stated, “…opportunity to improve your parnassah…Tuesday of Parshas Beshalach is the special day of segulah taught to us by Reb Menachem Mendel of Rimanov zt”l by reading Parshas Hamon!”
Talk about a get-rich-quick program!
It is known that Rav Menachem Mendel would, incredibly, speak every Shabbos on the theme of parshas haMann (sefer Menechem Tzion, by his student Rav Yechezkel Pennet). Some even point out that each of this rebbe’s three names contain the letters for mann right near each other– Menachem, Mendel, Rimanov.
However, The popular minhag said in his name seems to be unfounded in any of his writings!
According to my friend Rav Moshe Freidman in Toronto,
in all of the many kesavim of R. Mendel Riminover zt“l –frequently all about the mann – there is not one mention of the segula of mann on Tuesday before beshalach.
“The very first source of this minhag is in the Sefer Yalkut Menchechem Chodosh, published in 1991. It states there that Rav S.W. Weinberger zt“l heard from the Stropkover rebbe zt“l in the name of Reb Menachem Mendel of Rimanov zt“l regarding this segula. After the publication of the Sefer, this Segulah spread like wildfire. All the weekly Torah pamphlets & every frum internet site and app reminded us not to forget to say parshas hamann on Tuesday of Beshalach.”
But it gets even stranger:
“At a later date, Rav Weinberger’s kesavim were found in which he writes that he heard from the Stropkover rebbe how Reb Menachem Mendel of Rimanov said the parsha on the mann twice and once with targum every day, and had in mind that his parnasa will come from shomayim. The rebbe claimed that by having this kavanah while reciting the parsha you are assured not to everlack in this area.
“Rav Weinberg then wrote that it was on Tuesday before beshalach בשלח when he met the Stropkover rebbe. The confusion came about from this one line. That is simply the day he heard this, the rebbe never said that there is a special day to say it!”
The insert contains the page of shu’t Migal Nueh (siman 1) where he goes through this history.
It must be stated, however, that the significance of reciting this parsha is not unique just to him, or to the 18th century. In fact, it is brought in the Shulchan Aruch, in its first siman! There it states that it’s a good thing to say parshas hamann each morning (Orach Chaim, siman 1). The Teshbeitz even adds that he will be a guarantor that should one do so they will see parnasa (‘sh’lo yismaatu mizonosuv…v’ani oreiv’).
So, while the segulah of saying this parsha on the Tuesday before beshalach may be of recent and somewhat mysterious provenance, the basic premise -although daily- was known for many, many centuries.
Interestingly, many siddurim -even my edition of the Artscroll -omit this from the morning section. Likely, this is based on two reasons. For one, the concept of its recital -daily or otherwise – is not found anywhere in shas.
Secondly, various pesukim and the midrash draw our focus to the negative nature and temperament to the complaints and methods of bnie yisroel in this story, giving cause to omit its special recital (Aruch Hashulchan siman 1:23, 24, with Shmos Rabbah 25:4).
Interestingly, some (see Tashbeitz and Perisha) do quote from a Yerushalmi that teaches us the value of saying this parsha daily. However, this gemara cannot be found.
But our discovery doesn’t end here. Perhaps the reader is thinking, “There may not be a source, but there can’t be any harm”. Even the first concern raised by the Aruch Hashulchan may only be true when said daily, but not once a year!
However, one must be warned of another issue.
The Gemarateaches that it is forbidden to use pesukim to heal oneself, and that at times, doing so can diminish one’s share in Olam Haba (Shavuos 15b).
The Rambam elucidates this, when he writes, “Should someone recite a pasuk as an incantation for a wound, or so that a child should stop crying, or he places tefillin next to a child so that he will sleep, not only is he in violation of the [prohibition against] forbidden incantations, but he is a denier of the Torah, for he makes the Torah into a healer of bodies when it is there to mend souls… However, a healthy person may recite pesukim or Tehillim to protect against future sufferings and prevent them from arising” (hilchos ovdei kochavim, 11:12).
Rav Moshe Sternbuch posits that the answer must be that when we recite Tehillim for someone who is ill, we are asking Hashem to heal that person in the zechus of our Torah study, not simply because of the power of the pesukim (Shu”t Teshuvos V’hanhagos 1:121).
Similarly, the Tzitz Eliezer (17:30) writes that one may learn Torah or daven for the benefit of his soul, even if he also wishes to heal a physical condition.
The last line in the Tzitz Eliezer may speak the most to the segulah under discussion here, where it seems this segula is based upon an error. “Hanach lahen l’Yisrael, im ein nev’iim heim, bnei nevi’im heim—leave bnei Yisrael as they are, for if they are not prophets, then they are at least the children of prophets.” Indeed, Rav Tzadok often wrote about the power of certain minhagim whose source is a mystery. In that sometimes, these are the most powerful.
This can be explained through the words of Rav Moshe Feinstein:
“…As is written in Bava Basra 116a, ‘Expounds Rav Pinchas Ben Chama, Anyone who has a sick person in their house should go to a scholar (chacham) and he will beseech Gd on their behalf’…And also what people request from me (Rav Moshe Feinstein), to pray for them or to give them berachos, is due to the fact that I am seen by many as a chacham.
“Now, it never helps when I tell them that they are mistaken; as I have yet to reach the level of chachamah. On the contrary (when I tell them this) they think this is coming from my modesty.
“….Therefore, even though I do not see myself as a chacham, even relative to our own times, nevertheless since the sick (and all those who seek-out my blessings) ascribe to me the imprimatur ‘chacham’, they are then following the rule of Rav Pinchas Ben Chama (to go to a chacham) as best he could.
“It is then their zechus in following (in their mind) the spirit or law of this gemara that is behind the merit that Hashem should accept my teffilos and berachos”
Perhaps, then, it is the same with many of these segulos. The engine of their efficacy is predicated upon the premise-true or not-that one is performing an act of mesorah. Just so long as that action does not interfere with halacha.
Nevertheless, it is vital that one who seeks to say the parshas hamann as a segulah only do so either to learn those pesukim (I would advise to learn it with Rashi) and not as some magic potion. Or, they can read it so that the story awakens their emunah in Hashem’s hashgacha. Anything short of this, one enters a serious question of halacha.
There is, however, a chazal that does in fact share a secret segulah for parnassa (Niddah 70). They teach that should someone wish to become wealthy they should do the following three things.
- Increase his business efforts
- Deal honestly
- Daven
Sound advice!
May we all be granted a yeshuah for all of our needs!
Shul Chronicles 
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