Episode Details

 A Segulah for Protection 

The
portion of Pinchas includes the readings of all of the holidays of the year.
The renown Gaon and MeKubal , Rabbi Chaim Palagi in his sefer Refuah VeChaim
12/46 – (Healing and Life) brings an incredible segulah. The Rabbi explains
that the reading of these perekin 28 and 29 is a protection against judgment, and
specifically with regard to court and legal cases especially from the nations
of the world.  

Who
was this great Rabbi: Rabbi Chaim Palagi was a prolific author. Seventy-two of
his works are known, but it also is known that some of his manuscripts were destroyed
in the great fire which struck Izmir in 1841. Every time R' Palaji published a
new book, he made a festive meal and ate a new fruit, on which he would recite
the blessing of 'She'he'cheyanu 

In
one of his works, R' Palagi describes his own life as follows: I call heaven
and earth to testify that from the age when I could control my faculties until
I was 20, I used to devote myself single-mindedly to Torah study, day and
night, with no wasted time. I had no involvement with worldly matters. From age
20 to age 40, when my children were dependent on me, I dealt with worldly
matters as a broker. Nevertheless, whenever I had no work, I did not turn to
frivolity and wasteful things, but rather I returned to my studies. From age
40, when I was appointed to be a rabbinical judge and teacher and to handle
matters of concern to the public, until this day, there is not a minute when I
am not surrounded by litigants or by public affairs. These matters come both
from this city and its environs, and also various decrees of the government
keep me busy with matters affecting the public. Therefore my heart worries
within me that I do not spend sufficient time studying. I, therefore, force
myself to use the limited time that I have for studying, and may others see me
and do the same; may they learn from me that when distractions come along,