“In order to test whether they will follow My teaching or not.” Rashi explains [this refers to] whether they will observe the commandments that depend on it [the manna]: not to leave any over and not to go out on Sabbath to gather. And all this [these tests] is related to the trait of trust [in God], for if they do not leave any over, this is proof that they are complete in the trait of trust, because whoever has bread in his basket and says, “What will I eat tomorrow?” is of little faith. And similarly, if they do not go out on Sabbath to gather, they are confident that what they gathered yesterday will suffice for them also for the next day. And then they will follow My teaching, because one who is not complete in the trait of trust spends all his days gathering and collecting, and when will he work for the house of God to engage in Torah? This is well-known from the ways of most people who pursue vanity and become vain, making Torah study secondary to them.

Another explanation, Since the pursuit of Torah has obstacles from within and without. From within, it is due to coarse foods that impair the purity and clarity of the intellect, to the point where one’s intellectual power passes through a murky valley and is not sufficiently pure to engage with intellectual matters. For this reason, Moses did not eat on the mountain for 40 days so that his intellect would be pure and clean to understand intellectual matters. And it is written And the cloud covered him for six days (Exodus 24:16), and our Rabbis said (Yoma 4a) that this was to purge the food and drink from his intestines. And from the outside, there are obstacles beyond the Jordan, as one traverses seas and rivers, and his feet are like deer’s feet rushing after his sustenance, in the wilderness, on the mountain, in the plain, and in the lowland, and this pursuit distracts him from engaging in Torah study. This manna was spiritual food; all who ate it were saved from these two obstacles. From the external obstacle, because they did not need to search after it, but each one found his sustenance every day at the entrance of his tent. And from the internal obstacle, because it was pure food, clean from all waste. Our Rabbis (ibid. 75b) called it “bread of the mighty” that the ministering angels eat. Although they do not actually eat, nevertheless they are nourished from the radiance of the Divine Presence, and this is that spiritual element that was in the manna, for it contained a spark also of spirituality. Its appearance was like that of bdellium (Numbers 11:7), shining and gleaming, and it had no waste, and therefore it was absorbed directly into the limbs. And thus both obstacles were removed. And a third obstacle on top of all: one who has much more than he needs is also not free to engage in Torah study because his abundant wealth and possessions, and “the satiety of the rich” does not allow him to engage in Torah. From this obstacle as well they were saved through this manna, because only “each man’s daily portion” descended for them each day. And God said, That I may test them, whether they will follow My instruction or not (Exodus 16:4). For with the removal of all obstacles, the table is set before them to engage in Torah with nothing preventing them. And if despite all this they do not walk in God’s Torah, it is only due to the wickedness of a foolish heart that has led them to reject God’s Torah. And at that point they would certainly not be worthy of receiving the Torah. This will be further explained shortly.

“Evening, and you shall know that the Lord brought you out, etc.” We have already stated that the manna was a spiritual food and was related to intellectual light, and as the light of morning when the sun rises (Second Samuel 23:4), therefore the manna was given morning after morning given that they asked for it properly. But the quail was a coarse and material food, thus it was given in the evening, because intellect relates to morning and materiality to evening. The quail was only given to them temporarily, as evidenced by the fact that in Kivroth Hataavah they asked for it again. This is similar to what we wrote above in Parshat Vayechi on the verse In the morning he shall consume prey, and in the evening he shall divide spoil (Genesis 49:27). The explanation is that what a person properly asks for, the necessities, are given in the morning, with a shining countenance, and that is what he “consumes” — meaning just enough for his consumption. And the term ad [until/forever] implies that his soul will never lack anything, rather it is given to him permanently and eternally. However, in the evening — meaning the excesses that a person improperly asks for — are given in the evening with a darkened countenance, and these are the things he “divides” to others, abandoning his wealth to strangers. He becomes deprived [meshulal] and distanced from his possessions, as indicated by the term spoil [shalal]. Furthermore, such things are only given temporarily, like the quail that was only given temporarily, for the Lord does not grant the desires of the wicked forever. Rather, today He gives to them to remove their complaints from Him, but tomorrow their soul desires and there is nothing. For this reason, the manna descended from heaven, the place of light, while the quail came up from the earth, the place of darkness, as each one comes from its source according to what it is. Therefore it says, and in the morning, you shall see the glory of the Lord — meaning with a shining countenance, for the Lord appeared to them eye to eye. But in the evening it says, you shall know the glory of the Lord — knowledge being inferior to sight, like a king who grants someone’s requests but whose face the person did not see. Even though he knows the gift is from the king, nevertheless, the one whose eyes behold the king in his beauty is certainly better off.

And yet the text has not explained, how they would know in the evening that the Lord brought them out, etc., until it explained and said, When the Lord gives you meat in the evening to eat with darkened faces, by this you shall know that the Lord brought you out from Egypt, from the place where you sat by the fleshpots, in order that you would despise eating excesses which the animal power desires, and that you would be occupied with spiritual perfection. And not as you said, If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate bread to satisfaction, for you have brought us out to the wilderness. The intention of this complaint was that when they sat by the fleshpots, there was an aspect of perfection in it, and [they claimed that] “we [Moses and Aaron] are the ones who brought you out from a place where you had this perfection to a place lacking it.” And behold, in the Lord giving you meat in the evening, by this you shall know that it is not we who brought you out. And in what He will give you in the morning, bread to satisfaction, through this you will see the glory of the Lord eye to eye, for He gives with a radiant countenance to all who ask properly.

“And they said to one another, it is manna.” Some say that because the letters of man [manna] are the same as the letters of the nose [in Hebrew, these letters are mem and nun], for when a person closes his nose, he cannot pronounce the letters “mem” and “nun” clearly. The manna contained the aroma of all foods in the world, but with their eyes they only saw this manna, as it is written our eyes see nothing but this manna. They called it man [manna] to say that just as these two letters cannot be pronounced clearly when the nose is closed, so too the manna, which only contains the aroma of all foods, loses its perfection when the nose is closed.

However, our Sages of blessed memory said (Yoma 75) that it [the manna] also had the sense of taste of all types of food, that the palate could taste in it all types of flavors. Therefore, they said to one another “man hu” [what is it?], a language of food preparation, meaning that it had the potential for all types of food in the world, for one who tasted it was like one who ate from everything. They did not yet give it its designated name because they did not know what it was. Also, they did not yet call it by the name “man” [manna], rather they only said among themselves “man hu,” but they did not call it by this name yet, until after the Sabbath day, as it is said, And the people rested on the seventh day (Exodus 16:30), and afterwards it is written, And they called its name man (Exodus 16:31). This is because on the sixth day a double portion of bread descended, therefore they called it by the name man because these are from the doubled letters when you write mem-nun [the m sound appearing twice in mem and the n sound appearing twice in nun], named after this miracle that it descended doubled on the sixth day.

And what is written “The house of Israel called its name manna.” And it does not say “the children of Israel,” because the house of Israel refers to the women, as Rashi explained on the verse Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob — these are the women (Exodus 19:3). And it means that the women especially cherished the manna, therefore they called it by a name indicating the permanence of the thing, because they wanted it to remain as it revealed the righteousness of the women, as mentioned in tractate Yoma (75a): And the manna was like coriander seed — indicating who had sinned against whom — whether the husband against his wife or the wife against him. If the manna was found at her father’s house, then certainly her husband had sinned against her, and vice versa, etc. Therefore, the women cherished it in order to demonstrate their righteousness, because generally women are overcome by men. And this is the meaning of each man according to those in his tent shall take — for the needs of his wife who is in his tent. Because if it seemed to him that his wife was rebelling against him and there were no witnesses to the matter, then he would take the manna, as it would reveal all the events that occurred in his tent. And with this, the phrasing “for those who are in his tent” is precise, and immediately after it states And the manna was like coriander seed, because these depend on each other. And based on this, it seems to me that the term man is as written (Exodus 10:8) Who and who are going which Targum translates as “man uman,” so here too it would indicate who sinned against whom, which is the meaning of man. And according to the conclusion in the Talmud there that it would indicate whether a child was born after nine months to the first husband or after seven months to the second husband, it seems to me that man is from the language of counting, because through it they could count whether it was a nine-month child or a seven-month child.

“And the one who gathered more did not have too much, and the one who gathered less did not have too little.” The Akeidah wrote, and similarly the Abarbanel wrote, that this is a miracle demonstrating that a person’s sustenance is allotted to them according to their needs for life. When a person departs from this world, the one who accumulated much wealth will not have an excess because they cannot take everything with them in death, and the one who has fewer possessions will not lack because God provides for all flesh according to their needs. For this reason, a miracle was performed with the manna in its measurement, as they all found an equal amount, and what was left over until the next day bred worms. This indicates that whatever a person wants to save for the next day is something that perishes and decays, ultimately becoming worm food. Everything one leaves behind from their wealth goes to others, perhaps to the one who marries his widow, for he leaves to others the wealth and walls he built and what he planted. The seeds he sowed with toil and trouble will not be his. Therefore it says, Each one according to those in his tent shall take, for the needs of his household, to bring sustenance to satisfy the hunger of his home.

And therefore the Torah was only given to those who ate the manna, because this is the path trodden by all who engage in God’s Torah, who reject excesses that ultimately lead to decay. Except for what they set aside for the Sabbath day, it did not spoil and no worms appeared in it. For this is a miracle demonstrating that what a person sets aside from his food for the day that is entirely Sabbath in the World to Come — by feeding his bread to the hungry — this thing endures eternally and does not spoil. Such a hint is sufficient for those who fear God and give importance to His name, and the wicked will not understand, but the wise will understand their future. And for this instruction, God commanded to place a jar of manna for safekeeping before the testimony, the place of the tablets, to make known that the testimony of the tablets was given only to those who ate the manna.