“It is not in Heaven that you should say, ‘Who shall go up for us to Heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it, and do it?’” (Devarim 30:12)

There are many people who look for the easy way to try to accomplish things that usually need blood, sweat and tears. We all know that when someone takes a shortcut, there is often going to be something that they will end up missing. However, there are certain things which by preparing in advance, can actually give us an advantage and improve our odds. As a simple example, a group of people who want to get intoxicated at the local bar or a party will first select one of them to be the “designated driver” who will not drink at all. For if they find themselves in a predicament in which everyone is drunk, the chances are that one of the drunken individuals will end up driving is much greater than if they designated the driver in advance. I would not call it a segula to make this designation, but instead just a practical way to avoid problems.

We call something a segula when it has some mystical or unknown (at least to the person doing it) aspect that puts a person in a position to beat the odds. In fact, this week I was at a wedding and after the chuppah I noticed something that I have never seen before: There were several girls under the chuppah davening maariv after the ceremony. I was a bit surprised, and I was also wondering if this was proper behavior for a modest Jewish girl. I asked someone, “What are these girls thinking?!” and I was told, “Don’t you know that it is a segula for a shidduch to daven under the chuppah?!” In truth, I had never heard of this segula before, and as of now I still have not yet researched it. But my dry comment at the time was, “davening up there while everyone is watching you is definitely a “segula” to daven ‘as if’ you have a great deal of kavana – and davening with kavana definitely could bring about the desired result of a shidduch.”

Rabbi Yisroel Salanter writes in Ohr L’Yisroel that there is a segula involved in learning Torah. The area in which a person learns Torah will give him greater growth in that area. A recent famous segula, allegedly said by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky ZT”L was for a man who was becoming bald because of some medical condition, the Rav told him to learn Maseches Nazir. A different time, a person was having a difficult time finding a shidduch and Rav Kanievsky told him to learn Kiddushin. Rabbi Yisroel Salanter says, “If a person has sinned and he wants to do Teshuva, he should learn the laws of Teshuva.

As we stand before Rosh Hashanah and we have the massive job of doing teshuva, we look for help and possibly a segula to ensure our success. Rav Chaim Kanievsky in Derech Sicha offers the following advice based on the passuk:

“For this commandment (of teshuva) which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. For it is very close to you and within your mouth and hearts to accomplish.”

Meaning that doing Teshuva is really “very far off” and difficult. But if we learn about the mitzvah of teshuva and understand it in our hearts, then it will seem much easier than it originally did. The verse is therefore telling us that it is indeed far away, but if one uses the “segula” of learning the laws of repentance, one can close the gap on what would have seemed almost impossible and turn it into a simple task.

May we merit to learn hilchos teshuva and through our learning, access this “segula” and accomplish teshuva shelayma bekarov.