Rabbi David Ashear
The Sfat Emet (650) writes on the words, “Hashem is your shadow (Tehillim 121:5): Just as our shadow acts as we do, so, too, Hashem acts with us according to the way we behave. Therefore, he continues, if we can rise above our nature and do things l’maalah min hateva, then Hashem will break the rules of nature for us and bring us salvations in wondrous ways.
Every time a person responds to a difficulty with emunah, he is going against his nature. The natural reaction to hardship is to be angry or sad. If a person is able to remain happy and at peace, he is rising above his nature. Some people have worked on themselves to the point that if they get a dent on their car or lose a valuable item, it will not upset them at all. Some people wouldn’t get upset even if they lost thousands of dollars. The more emunah we can access, the higher we will be able to rise above our nature. When we reach very high levels we can merit miracles.
This may be the idea behind the wondrous segulah taught to us by the Nefesh HaChaim (Shaar 3, Ch. 12). He writes: “There is a great and wondrous segulah to ward off any harsh judgments and foil the plans of anyone coming to harm us. When a person acknowledges in his heart that Hashem is the true Gd and there is no power in existence other than Him, and he subjugates himself completely to Hashem and disregards any other power, then, in return, Hashem will remove from him all harmful forces.’”
One of the most difficult manifestations of emunah is for one who was harmed by someone else to believe that the perpetrator of the damage really has no power whatsoever. Everyone and everything is controlled by Hashem. If we could see through nature and really believe in our heart of hearts that it’s all a facade, then Hashem will remove those natural forces.
A man in Eretz Yisrael came to Rabbi Lugassi, distraught over the fact that his two daughters were losing their hair. Every day, big clumps were falling out, and the doctors could do nothing to halt it from happening. The Rabbi opened a Midrash on Parashat Metzora, which speaks about how Hashem created separate life sources for each individual hair on a person’s body. He gave that man an entire discourse regarding about how Hashem is even in charge of hair. Then he shared the segulah of the Nefesh HaChaim, and instructed him to constantly repeat in his mind that Hashem is the only One in control of his daughters’ hair. It’s not due to sickness or a random occurrence; it is all from Hashem. When you nullify all forces and realize that there is nothing other than Hashem, then, middah k’negged middah, Hashem will not allow any other forces to affect you. Baruch Hashem, the man followed the Rabbi’s advice and, not too long afterward, their hair stopped falling out.
“Hashem is your shadow.” When we are able to rise above nature, then Hashem will act with us above the rules of nature.