Rabbi Eli Mansour, "Cards and Stickers with the Words 'En Od Milebado'"

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David Shasha

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Jul 25, 2014, 8:22:33 AM7/25/14

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Cards and Stickers with the Words “En Od Milebado”

By: Rabbi Eli Mansour

The problem of magical Judaism remains an issue in the ongoing struggle between Maimonidean Religious Humanism and Ashkenazi mystical occultism.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-shasha/dangerous-mystic-motifs-i_b_637535.html

The primitive ways of the Ultra-Orthodox community remain rooted in magic spells and evil forces. The world is not based on science, but on magic powers that can be summoned by what in Hebrew are called “Segulot,” magical charms.

http://www.divreichizuk.com/id24.html

“Ein Od Milvado” – and note the difference in Rabbi Mansour’s spelling of the last word in the phrase to accord with Sephardic pronunciation – seeks to present a magical manifestation of God as a prophylactic shield. Belief in God is not a rational matter, but a theurgical one. The presentation of a placard with these words has become, as Rabbi Mansour well notes, a ubiquitous presence in the Orthodox Jewish community.

We see many cars in our Brooklyn neighborhood with “Ein Od Milvado” bumperstickers; something that caught my eye a few years ago because of the spelling of “Milvado” – I thought the Anglicization of the Hebrew to be rather funny.

The idea here is to use the words as a magical talisman for protection. According to this view God does not base His judgment on the Law, but on the use of such Segulot as if we are living in a “Star Wars” science fiction world where magic force-fields can serve to protect us like some occult shield.

“May the force be with you” indeed!

Rather than being defined by our good deeds and ethical behavior, the idea is to use hocus pocus to make God help us. Words become an occult form of pagan protection rather than meaningful speech acts. This is the definition of Analphabetical Judaism as discussed by Rabbi Jose Faur in his book The Horizontal Society:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/Davidshasha/D1Pe0EXpJNQ/kRywBOUXCPMJ

Rabbi Mansour once again shows us the close ties that have developed between contemporary Sephardic Jews and the Ashkenazi-Lithuanian tradition. His discussion is rooted in the mindset of a rabbi like Hayyim of Volozhin whose views are seen as authoritative.

It is interesting to note that in his discussion Rabbi Mansour presents the legalism of the classical Talmudic tradition when discussing the requirement to treat Hebrew writing as sacred if and when these stickers or placards are thrown away.

It is certainly true that any documents with Hebrew writing must be taken to the Geniza for disposal – this of course is the basis for the repository of documents known to us as the Cairo Geniza – but the actual use of Hebrew words as a magical protective shield is tied to a primitive strata of Jewish tradition that remained a critical part of the ongoing revolt against Maimonidean rationalism.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/davidshasha/u428asrF7Hk/SaP9eZ4pXE4J

Rather than following in the noble path of the Sephardic rabbis who continued to maintain Maimonidean Jewish Humanism, Rabbi Mansour and his many allies have embraced the irrationalism and superstitions of the Ashkenazim who believe that Judaism remains permanently frozen in time. In this way they have turned their back on the classical Sephardic heritage and elevated the Anti-Maimonidean value system of the Ashkenazim to a sacred level.

It will be pointed out by the anti-Sephardi skeptics that the Sephardic tradition did indeed embrace such irrationalism and produced an extensive Kabbalistic literature. And it is certainly true that in spite of Maimonides’ rulings against the neo-pagan mystical works such as Shi’ur Qomah that presented magical and anthropomorphic conceptions of God that the Sephardim relinquished their scientific traditions and embraced the Ashkenazi Anti-Maimonideans.

Sephardic rabbis like Nahmanides eagerly abandoned their heritage and sought to become just like the Ashkenazim. It was in this pressurized cauldron that the Anti-Maimonidean movement developed.

Sephardim have thus been partially responsible for the destruction of their own tradition.

The Sephardic heritage continues to erode and we can thank such enthusiastic Ashkenazified Sephardim like Rabbi Mansour who have helped to accelerate the process.

Rav Haim of Volozhin (1749-1821), in his famous work Nefesh Ha’haim (3:3), mentions that contemplating the words “En Od Milebado” – that there is no power or force in the world besides G-d – is an effective Segula against harm. This concept already appears in the Gemara, which tells that Rav Hanina Ben Dosa was unharmed when sorcerers tried to cast a spell on him, because he said, “En Od Milebado,” reaffirming his belief that only G-d controls the universe, and there is no force capable of overpowering Him. Rav Haim writes that contemplating these words and their meaning is an effective Segula to ensure that nobody exerts any sort of control or power over a person (listen to audio recording for precise citation).

Accordingly, it has become common for people to keep near them cards or stickers with the words “En Od Milebado,” so that whenever they find themselves in any sort of difficult situation they will be reminded of this concept and thus make use of this special Segula. People keep these in their wallets, on their refrigerators, in their cars, and other places so they will frequently be reminded of this concept.

It should be noted, however, that these cards and stickers require Geniza (burial), since these three words come from a Pasuk in the Torah. Once they start to fade and one wants to replace them, they may not be thrown it in the trash; they must be placed together with other sacred texts which will be collected for burial. This is the ruling of Hacham Moshe Shayo in his Mehkereh Eretz (vol. 4, Y.D. 30).

Summary: Many people have cards or stickers with the words “En Od Milebado” because contemplating these words is an effective Segula for protection against harm. One must ensure not to throw out these stickers or cards, and to rather put them in a Geniza.