A rabbi told me that some years back his mother’s eyesight started deteriorating, and eventually, she was told by her doctor that she was in jeopardy of going blind. She and her husband immediately took a flight from New York to Israel to seek the guidance of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, zatzal . Rav Chaim told them to accept Shabbat ten minutes earlier than the regular candle lighting time. He also added that the entire family had to accept that time as well. Shortly after their acceptance of this kabbala , the woman had an eye surgery performed and, baruch Hashem, it saved her eyesight. However, a couple of years ago her eyes started worsening again and, once again, she was in jeopardy of losing her eyesight. When she told her son about it, he said, “I don’t understand, the rabbi said the ten minute acceptance of Shabbat is a guarantee. Aren’t you still doing it?” She said, “Yes, but maybe not ten minutes exactly. Sometimes ten minutes, sometimes a little less.” He asked her if she would please go back to being strict and make sure that it is never less than ten minutes. She did and, baruch Hashem, her eyesight was restored once again. Accepting Shabbat early is a wondrous segula . The Chachmeh HaKabbalah have taught us that it is also a segula for increased parnasa . The sefer Chazon Yoshiyahu told a story of one of the main supporters of his yeshiva, which took place around fifteen years ago. This man purchased a building in Manhattan for $800 million. He put down $100 million of his own money and needed to borrow the other 700 from the bank. He had 60 days to come up with that money or else he would lose his $100 million deposit. He thought he would easily get the money from the banks, but each bank he went to turned him down. The 60-day time limit was up, and he still didn’t have the funds. He asked the sellers if they could give him a one-week extension. They told him that for that to happen, they needed an additional $10 million deposit which he would lose if he didn’t get the money by the following week. This man was in great distress and asked his rabbi what he could possibly do to get extra Heavenly mercy. His rabbi told him to accept upon himself to take on Shabbat a full hour before sunset and, in that zechut , Hashem would help him. The man accepted from then on to keep Shabbat an extra hour. And that Friday, 40 minutes before Shabbat, his phone rang. He saw it was the bank calling and he was faced with a very big inner struggle. His good inclination was telling him, You accepted Shabbat. A kabbala is a kabbala. Just ignore the phone call. His evil inclination was telling him, It’s not really Shabbat yet and your whole financial life is depending on this phone call. Just answer it. The man stood strong and overcame the test. Shabbat came, then Sunday, and finally, on Monday morning he spoke to one of the heads of the bank who told him that on Friday they called to tell him they were not going to give him the loan. However, the next day, a higher authority overruled and said they were going to give him the loan and, baruch Hashem, he got that loan and was able to purchase the building. Accepting Shabbat early is a great segula , but it has to be adhered to with the utmost strictness.