Do Segulot Really Work? Faith, Effort, and Spiritual Growth

Stuck for years in shidduchim? Struggling to make ends meet? Dreaming of buying a home, but your bank account says otherwise? Facing a medical issue and doctors are already talking about surgery?

Don’t worry, there’s a “solution”: just perform a segulah for two minutes, and everything will be fixed. Simple, right? A little “hocus pocus,” and salvation is on its way. And if you want express delivery, just do it twice a day. (Forgive the sarcasm.)

Why Segulot Are So Popular

Who doesn’t love segulot (spiritual merits)? They’re easy, light, and don’t require long-term commitment. Usually, it’s a one-time action or something short-term.

A convenient “magic solution.” No wonder they’ve become so popular. But have we gone a bit too far?

The Real Message

With all due respect to segulot — especially those rooted in the words of our Sages, we were not brought into this world to rely on them.

When we face challenges including blockages, struggles, or things not working out as we hoped, and the only spiritual solution we focus on is a segulah, then we’ve likely missed the point.

Life’s difficulties are usually intended to awaken us to strengthen our connection to Torah and mitzvot. Not to perform symbolic acts like slicing a red apple on Friday night or putting a chicken leg in your jacket pocket (yes, those are actual examples).

If a person desecrates Shabbat, speaks lashon hara constantly, neglects modesty, and assumes that a segulah will fix everything, then something is clearly off.

Why God Sends Challenges

The obstacles God places in our lives are not there to push us toward a segulah, but to awaken us to return, to grow, and to take another step in our service of God.

When we face a problem, we are expected to look upward, remember that God is all-powerful, and reconnect.

That is the entire purpose of the challenge.

If instead of strengthening our faith and mitzvah observance, we search for an easy shortcut, we’ve missed the entire point.

The Clear Approach of the Great Rabbis

When Rabbi Shach was once asked by someone seeking healing who had already gone to a “miracle worker” without success, he answered firmly: “Torah and prayer are the tools we know. Beyond that, there is nothing else.”

And in another similar case, he said: “Strengthen yourself in Torah and mitzvot, and pray more and more. From Heaven, mercy will come. This is our path — no other.”

This does not mean that segulot have no place.

• A segulah that includes prayer, such as saying Tehillim, can awaken Divine mercy.

• A segulah that involves learning or strengthening a mitzvah certainly brings merit and spiritual growth.

Even segulot that involve symbolic actions that have a source in Chazal, may have value. They can strengthen a person’s hope and trust in God.

But they must be kept in proportion, as they are not the main path.

If God sends a difficulty into a person’s life, the purpose is clear:

• To strengthen faith

• To deepen trust

• To increase prayer

• To grow in Torah

• To improve actions and mitzvot

It does not make sense that God would send hardship just so a person wears a red string bracelet or eats jam.

The real response is not shortcuts. It’s growth.