בחמשה עשר יום לחודש השני, “on the fifteenth day of the second month, etc.” this was the month of Iyar; the verse teaches by inference that the dough the Israelites had slung over their shoulders (Exodus 12,39) and which had turned into unleavened cakes had lasted them for a whole month. On the night of the 15-16th of Iyar they still ate from that, whereas on the 16th of Iyar during the day the first installment of manna descended from heaven. In that particular year the 16th of Iyar occurred on Sunday (first day after the Sabbath). This is why the Torah (verse 22) writes that on the sixth day they collected a double-portion. It was the sixth day after the manna had started to descend (compare Mechilta Yayissa section 1).

מי יתן מותנו ביד ה' “who would give that we had died by the hand of the Lord, etc.!” They referred to the three days of darkness during which most of the Israelites had died, (compare Rabbeinu Chananel).

הנני ממטיר לכם לחם מן השמים, “I am about to make bread rain down for you from heaven.” According to the plain meaning of the text the word לחם is appropriate because the people would make bread out of the manna though the manna itself was not bread.

It is well to remember that the manna consisted of small grain-like crystals which were collected individually. This is why the expression לקיטה, “gleanings,” was an appropriate description for the manner in which it was collected. ולקטו דבר יום ביומו, “they would gather it on a daily basis;” it looked like granules covered by a husk, more or less globular in appearance. This is what the Torah means when it described it (verse 14) as דק מחוספס, “fine, peeled.” The word מחוספס is similar in meaning to קלוף, derived from מחשוף הלבן, (the letter ש andס are often interchangeable, compare Genesis 30,37). Onkelos also translates it in this sense, i.e. דעדק מקלף דעדק. The meaning of the second word דק in verse 14 is דעדק i.e.: “white as chalk.” It fell in heaps. Onkelos has translated Exodus 8,10 חמרים, as דגורין. The manna was white like frost, and sweet. A later verse sums up all its qualities in one expression when the Torah compares it to זרע גד לבן, “white coriander seed tasting like wafers with honey” (verse 31). Perhaps the repetition of the letter ס, (60) in the word מחוספס is what prompted Rabbi Eleazar Hamodai in Mechilta Vayissa section 1 to suggest that the layer of manna was more than 60 sa'ah high. He made a comparison to what the Torah wrote in connection with the deluge, In Genesis 7,11 the Torah spoke about the ארבות השמים נפתחו, “the windows of heaven being opened (in order to release all that rain). In connection with the manna, Assaph, a contemporary of that event, speaks in Psalm 78,23 of the “doors of heaven being opened.” In both instances Scripture uses the expression פתח, “opened.” In Yuma 76 the Talmud describes that the manna descended during the night while the people were asleep so that they would be able to find it all ready for them when they awoke in the morning. They would find their livelihood had already been provided for them. During the period when the Temple was being built (Taanit 23) something analogous took place. Rain fell only on the nights of Tuesday to Wednesday and on Friday nights. This was designed to ensure the rain did not interfere with the Israelites’ normal activities. During the reign of King Chizkiyah G’d was also active on behalf of the people as in his prayer Chizkiyah said: “I am unable to kill, to pursue the enemy, or even to sing a song of praise. All I am able to do is lie down and sleep and leave my problems in Your hands.” G’d replied: “I am going to look after things.” This is the meaning of Kings II 19,35: ”on that night an angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the Assyrian camp, and the following morning they were all dead corpses.” This has all been explained in the introduction to Eichah Rabbati chapter 30.

There is a single verse in Psalms 127,2 which sums it all up: “He provides as much for His loved ones while they sleep.” The psalmist teaches that what all the people who rise early and stay up late (beginning of same verse) achieve only after expending much energy and not even enjoying the bread they eat, the Jewish people (who observe G’d’s commandments) find that G’d provides for them without any effort on their part. In other words, those people’s toil and fatigue was really all in vain. What is the meaning of the words ועינו כעין הבדולח “its appearance was like the color of bedolach” in Numbers 11,7 where we are given another aspect of the appearance of the manna? This is an indication that the color of the manna was of an extraordinary nature, similar to the diamond known as perla as described in Exodus 28,18. It is a derivative of a supernatural light described by Ezekiel 1,24. On the breastplate of the High Priest the precious stone called יהלום had the name of the tribe Zevulun engraved upon it. This stone emitted this light. It is recorded in a book by R' David Kimchi called Sefer Michlol under the root בדולח. The manna descended in the form of a fine drizzle, similar to what is meant by Psalms 147,16-17: “He scatters frost like ashes, He tosses down hail like crumbs.” This is why David explained in Psalms 78,23: “He commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, and rained manna upon them to eat, giving them heavenly grain.” This teaches that the origin of the (color) light of the manna was supernatural which prompted David to describe it as “heavenly grain.” David mentioned further that G’d opened the doors of heaven in order to cause it to rain down from those regions because concerning this supernatural light we have been told in Ezekiel 1,1: “the heavens opened and I beheld visions of the Divine.” You will note that this paragraph which acquaints us with the manna contains the word מן five times. This corresponds to the five occasions that the word אור, “light,” is mentioned in the first paragraph of the Book of Genesis (Genesis 1,1-5). This teaches that the manna is a derivative of G’d’s first physical creation, of the original light which was withdrawn after Adam sinned. Just as the light was created on the first day, so the manna was released on the first day (compare what we wrote on verse 1). In interpreting the meaning of Psalms 78,25 לחם אבירים אכל איש, “each man ate a hero’s meal,” our sages (Yuma 75) comment that the reference is to the kind of food which the angels consume (view of Rabbi Akiva). Rabbi Yishmael countered saying that the angels do not consume any material food at all. He based himself on Moses who had said that during the forty days he had been in heaven, in the domain of the angels, he had neither eaten bread nor drunk water. The idea was that when in celestial regions one conducts oneself like celestial beings whereas when the angels visited earth, i.e. Avraham or Lot, the Torah reports them as partaking of the food offered to them by earthly beings (compare Deut. 9,9 and Genesis 18,8 as well as 19,3). Rabbi Yishmael understood the meaning of the word אבירים as food which was totally absorbed by the organs of those who ate it, there being no need to excrete any of it. [The word אבירים is equated with אברים, organs, human tissue.] As a result of this discussion our sages in Yuma found that the numerical value of the word מחספס is 248, i.e. the number of bones in the human skeleton. This is the background to the claim that people eating an exclusive manna diet did not ever have to excrete any of their food intake. We have a further comment in Bamidbar Rabbah 7,4 on Numbers 14,11 “how long will this people spurn Me and how long will they not have faith in Me after the all the miracles I have performed ‘within them?’” The word בקרבו, “inside it” is a reference to all the manna dissolving in their tissue instead of in their entrails.

Nachmanides writes as follows concerning the dispute between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael about the angels’ eating habits. “It is well known that the continued existence of the angels is dependent on the זיו השכינה, “the brilliance of the Divine Presence” as explained by Shemot Rabbah 32,4 in connection with Nechemyah 9,6 ואתה מחיה את כולם, “and You keep them all alive” [the “host of heaven” mentioned in that verse, Ed.]. The Midrash takes its cue from Exodus 23,21 where G’d speaks of the angel He will send with the Jewish people as “My name is בקרבו, inside it.” [We have the same word as we have in Numbers 14 11. In other words, what the manna did for the Jewish people, G’d’s name did for the angels, i.e. it kept them alive. Ed.] Nachmanides quotes Kohelet 11,7 “sweet is the light” as a source for the assumption that the angels feed on the brilliance of the Presence of the Shechinah. [I suppose the reason is that since “light” cannot be “sweet” in the culinary sense of the word, it represents something equivalent to the sweetness of food in the terrestrial regions. Ed.] At any rate, according to Nachmanides Rabbi Akiva holds that the source of food for the angels and the Jews in the desert was one and the same. He therefore concluded that manna was a derivative of “light,” seeing the angels being disembodied beings do not consume three-dimensional food, however refined. Rabbi Yishmael’s objection concerned consumption of actual light as distinct from derivatives of light. He disagreed that the Israelites had become capable of feeding on actual light. [In fact had they been able to, Moses’ feat of going without food for forty days in the celestial regions would not have been so impressive. Ed.]

Rabbi Yishmael holds that seeing the Israelites had been granted visions of the brilliance of the Shechinah at the sea, they had qualified ever since for this food that the angels partake of. Thus far Nachmanides.

I believe we may have to pay closer attention to the wording we see in our paragraph i.e. “this is the word of G’d: ‘collect from it on a daily basis’” this indicates a linkage with the words: “this is my G’d and I want to exalt Him” (which the Israelites had said while at the sea). Ever since then they had been able to refer to G’d as “this,” the Israelites had become worthy of eating the same kind of “food” as do the angels. It is important to appreciate that inasmuch as the manna was definitely physical food it nonetheless enabled the derivative of the supernatural light to survive in terrestrial surroundings. G’d supplied this food to the people who received His Torah in order to refine their abstract intelligence and enable it to attain deeper spiritual insights into the mysteries of the Torah. It is not strange that physical food can have this effect. We have evidence of this on several occasions. Not only that. Our sages speak of physical food which G’d will feed disembodied spirits (human) in the hereafter when He will provide the flesh of the Leviathan which He has stored for this purpose (compare our commentary on Genesis 1,21). Unless such food could enhance the spirits of the departed souls, what would be the point in our sages telling us about such meals in the heavenly regions? Perhaps we are to assume that the creatures such as the Leviathan and the bird called בר יוכני are themselves derivatives of this original light, and that this is the reason they would be able to survive in this world until needed to provide food for the righteous in a future when life on earth will be different from today. Let us examine the creation of Leviathan and Bar Yuchni and what we know about them. Both these creatures were created on the fifth day of creation. Baba Batra 74, basing itself on the plural in the words התנינם הגדולים, states that one of them was to serve as food for the righteous in the hereafter. The same applies to the בהמות בהררי אלף, “the beasts on a thousand mountains,” (a reference to what is known as שור הבור, designated for consumption by the righteous (their souls) in the future. It has been described in Psalms as “of a thousand mountains” to reflect Psalms 105,8 דבר צוה לאלף דור, “something G’d has commanded to come true after 1000 generations,” (in the hereafter). According to Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer this tremendous ox consumes the grass on 1000 hills daily. By night the grass grows again so as not to denude the environment. The beast exists in anticipation of the righteous in the world to come when G’d will feed its meat to them. On the other hand, the point of all this is may well be that there are creatures on this earth whose remains can serve as physical food for the bodies of the righteous in a period described by Isaiah 11,9 as a time when “the earth will be filled with knowledge of the Lord like water which covers the oceans.” At that time we, (terrestrial man spiritually refined), will be able to consume such food. No doubt, the meat of these creatures is the kind of refined food which resembles that of the manna and which had a spiritualizing effect on those who consumed it.

A Midrashic approach. The words: “Here I will make it rain down for you bread from heaven” are an expression of G’d’s fondness of the Jewish people; He was so fond of them that He changed the laws of nature on their account. Normally, dew descends from the sky and the vegetation providing food grows from the earth. This time the bread came down from heaven and the dew rose towards the sky.

ויצא העם ולקטו, “let the people go out and collect it.” They would go out of the camp into the desert. דבר יום ביומו, “on a daily basis;” because G’d would create it anew every single day just as He does with the livelihood of mankind. This insight prompted Rabbi Eliezer Hamodai to say that anyone who has enough food for the day and asks “what will I eat tomorrow? has thereby displayed a deficiency in his faith in G’d.” Let us put his words into their proper perspective. He who asks the question concerning where his food for the next day will come from has demonstrated that he only believes what his eyes can see, what is already under his control, at his disposal. The main ingredient of having faith in the Lord is to consider that which one cannot see as part of reality. A believing person is convinced of G’d’s mercy, of the fact that the same G’d who has created this very day and what it brings also created the means to provide for His creatures on this day and on subsequent days.

We have been told in Yuma 76 that the disciples asked Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai why G’d did not simply provide a year’s supply of manna at one time? The Rabbi answered his students that G’d wanted to teach the Jewish people that they are dependent upon His goodwill every day of the year. If they would reflect on the fact that maybe on the morrow there would be no manna and they and their families would face starvation they would turn to their father in heaven in supplication. Another reason given why the manna descended only one day’s supply at a time was so that they would eat it while it was fresh. A third reason given is that by receiving only one day’s supply at a time they would be saved the trouble of carrying their food supply with them all the time. The following folio (75) in the Talmud also relates that the manna displayed different properties for different categories of people. The righteous would eat it in the form of bread; the average Israelite would prepare it into cakes. The wicked would grind it in a mortar or other utensil described in Numbers 11,7-9 (compare our comments there). The righteous would find it at their doorsteps; the average Israelite would leave his tent and collect it a little further away; the wicked would have to leave camp to search for it and to collect it. This explains the various verses describing all this in Numbers chapter 11. When Assaph, a contemporary of these events, described the manna in Psalm 78,27, he describes things in a similar manner: “He rained it upon them like dust;” a reference to the righteous. “He made it fall upon inside his camp;” (a reference to the average Israelite); “around his dwelling place;” (this was a reference to the wicked).

A kabbalistic approach: The word ממטיר in the verse “here I will make it rain from the heaven,” is similar to משמרת, the attribute of Mercy which is a recipient of largesse from heaven. [which the Targum renders as מטרת (similar to מטר, rain.) The word מטרת is reminiscent of Mattatron, the angel in charge of running the universe on behalf of G’d]. Concerning this attribute Solomon wrote in Proverbs 31,14: ”She (this attribute) rises when it is still night and supplies provisions for her household and statutes for her maid-servants.” The meaning of the word הנני is intransitive, whereas the word ממטיר is transitive, referring to the Shechinah. In other words: “The Lord will instruct the attribute Shechinah which provides the פרנסה for all creatures on earth to make manna rain down from השמים, ‘heaven.’” There was actually no need for the Torah to mention that the manna would come from השמים, seeing that rain always comes from “heaven.” If the Torah nonetheless made special mention of the words מן השמים, “from the heaven,” the intention is to tell us that this manna comes from an attribute known as השמים, or רחמים. I believe that this is the meaning of Job 39,27: “does the eagle soar at your command?” Our sages in Vayikra Rabbah 20,4 say that G’d said to Job: “if I were to either direct the Shechinah to settle on the Holy Ark or to remove itself from there by your command? You would then be greater than Aaron!” Verse 29 in Job continues with the words “‘from there he (the eagle) spies out his food, his eyes see it from afar.” These words closely parallel what Solomon said in Proverbs 31,14: “from afar she brings her bread.” Both verses tell us that the livelihood (food) for G’d’s creatures on earth is provided by the attribute Shechinah. In Song of Songs 5,2 Solomon calls the same attribute אחותי רעיתי, “my sister (beloved), my dove.” Our sages comment on this expression in Shir Hashirim Rabbah 1,3 by saying that the sacrifices were offered to this attribute as this is the spiritual region from which parnassah, livelihood, emanates. It is the region from which all blessings flow to earth. It becomes active during the last of the three watches the night is divided into. In other words, the manna fell during the final hours of the night. (Berachot 3 discusses the three watches of the night). The three watches represent the three (emanations) attributes גדולה גבורה,,תפארת in that order. Our sages (on that folio) provided us with a reminder of the three watches by telling us how to recognize them. During the first watch the donkeys bray; during the second watch the dogs bark; during the third watch the infants suckle at the breasts of their mothers. All of the above helps you understand that the origin of the manna was in those regions reserved for mercy, regions in which the original light is at home, and that this is what the words מן השמים allude to. The word השמים has been used by Solomon in the same sense in his prayer on the occasion of the opening of the Holy Temple (Kings I 8,32). He said ואתה תשמע השמים, instead of ואתה תשמע בשמים. The former means “You, the שמים will hear” (respond to prayer), instead of “You will hear in the heavens.” Psalms 78,24 continues with ודגן שמים נתן למו, “giving them heavenly grain.” When we read in Numbers 11,9: “and when the dew descended on the camp at night the manna would descend upon it,” the Torah makes the point that whereas the manna was received at night it was not collected until the daylight hours in accordance with G’d’s promise of “bread in the morning to satisfy” (Exodus 16,8).

למען אנסנו הילך בתורותי אם לו, “so that I can test them whether they will follow My teaching or not.” The verse teaches that anyone who has ample food supplies, a comfortable lifestyle, is obligated to devote his time to Torah-study. This is what G’d had in mind when He said: “to test them if they follow My Torah or if not.” This is also the reason the Torah provided that the Levites and Priests be given various tithes and other gifts from the farmers so as to leave them free to devote themselves to Torah as we know from Chronicles II 31,4: “so that they might devote themselves to the Teaching of the Lord.” The sages have seen fit to introduce similar contributions to be made to support non-priest Torah scholars, basing themselves on Proverbs 31,14: “she is like the merchant ships; she brings food from afar.”

Remember that the principal test G’d subjects His creatures to is designed to strengthen their faith in the fact that He provides for those loyal to Him and that He punishes those who willfully transgress His laws. These tests and trials are not designed in order for G’d to find out who has faith in Him and who does not; He is well aware of that, being familiar with the workings of the hearts of all His creatures. He conducts these trials in order to demonstrate to the world, i.e. to His creatures, that He is indeed aware of all this. This is why the righteous are being tested as we know from Psalms 11,5: “The Lord tests the righteous man” in order that it will become common knowledge that the righteous has displayed faith in Him, has passed the test. We find that G’d tests not only the wealthy but also the poor by means of reward and punishment. He tests the wealthy in order to find out how they use their wealth, if they are generous in giving charity, etc. He tests the poor by giving him a chance to accept his poverty without losing his faith in G’d and his reverence for G’d. It is understood that the reason man’s body is equipped with a soul is to test whether he will allow his body to accept the counsel of his soul or whether he will use his body to stifle the urgings of his soul and to behave like an animal which is interested only in physical matters. Every human being who passes these tests thereby adds to the greatness of G’d’s name on earth. People will recognize by means of the responses to G’d’s tests by their peers that He does indeed operate a system of reward and punishment applicable both to life on earth and to life in the hereafter. The amount of reward or punishment depends on man’s actions (Avot 3,15).

והיה ביום הששי והכינו, “it will be on the sixth day when they prepare, etc.” This was the sixth day after the manna had started falling, as well as the sixth day of the week. It had begun to fall on the first day of the week as we explained on verse 1.

בשמוע את תלונותיכם על ה' ונחנו מה, “that He has heard your complaints against G’d, and what are we?” Moses made reference to the “glory” of G’d, i.e 'כבוד ה', the attribute of Justice. This terminology is found also in Exodus 24,17 ומראה כבוד ה' כאש אוכלת, “and the appearance of the glory of G’d was like a consuming fire,” where it is clear that it refers to the attribute of Justice. This is also the reason that the name of G’d is alluded to here backwards, (in the acrostic of the words ה' ונחנו מה). Whenever the letters in the name of G’d appear in a reverse order this is an allusion to the attribute of Justice (compare our commentary on Exodus 3,1).

בתת ה' לכם בערב בשר לאכול ולחם בבקר לשובע, “when the Lord will give you in the evening meat to eat, and bread in the morning to the full.” According to the plain meaning of the text the verse reflects the fact that most people eat twice a day, in the evening and in the morning. This is why G’d did not supply a whole day’s food in the morning. Our sages in their commentary on the word תשבו in Leviticus 23,42 have already pointed out that the meaning of the word is “similar to normal dwelling,” i.e. that we are to eat in the Sukkah once in the morning and once in the evening (Sukkah 27).

A Midrashic approach: one may read the words together as follows: בערב בשר לאכול ולחם בבוקר, “in the evening to eat meat and bread in the morning.” This is a hint that G’d granted the meat with a “dark face,” i.e. unwillingly, when it was night, whereas He supplied the bread with a lit up face, i.e. willingly, when it was daylight. The Israelites had been perfectly entitled to ask for the bread. After all, one cannot survive without basic food. By giving them the manna in the morning, G’d left them enough time during the day to prepare it. By giving them the meat in the evening, He did not leave them time to prepare it so that they could eat it at supper time.

A kabbalistic approach: we read the words together as follows: בערב בשר לאכול ולחם בבוקר, “the parnassah was divided into two times of the day, the evening and the day. The evening corresponded to the attribute of Justice, the morning to the attribute of Mercy. The verse tells us that provision of meat is reserved for the evenings whereas provision of bread is reserved for the mornings. When the Talmud (Avodah Zarah 3) describes the daily activities of G’d during the twelve hours of the day, Rabbi Yehudah assigned the third section of three hours as devoted to G’d providing sustenance for all His creatures. In the words of the Talmud this included the needs of the horns of the beasts known as Re-emim, as well as the requirements of fleas’ eggs in order for them to hatch. It appears therefore that Rabbi Yehudah refers to the provision of meat, not bread. Why did this occur during the day? This is perfectly in order as the third section of three hours commences immediately after noon, a period called by the Torah “evening” as we know from the time when the Passover lamb is to be slaughtered. The Torah (Numbers 9,11) speaks of preparing the Passover בין הערבים, literally “between the evenings,” suggesting that there are two periods called “evening” (compare also Leviticus 23,5 and Nachmanides’ comment on Exodus 12,6). The first evening is composed of the period immediately following noon, whereas the second “evening” ends with sunset. The first “evening” is allocated to the slaughtering of the Passover lamb, whereas the second “evening” is the period during which the Passover may be consumed until midnight. The meat was allocated to the Jewish people between these two periods of “evening,” whereas the manna became available to them in the morning as a gift from the attribute of Mercy. The fact that the manna could be eaten “as is,” without further preparation, signaled that it had been given to the Jewish people wholeheartedly rather than reluctantly.

לא עלינו תלונותיכם כי על ה', “your complaints are not directed at us but at the Lord.” This verse teaches us that anyone who quarrels with a prophet or even with an accredited Torah authority is compared to someone who quarrels with the Shechinah. This type of complaint by the Israelites was not an isolated instance but occurred already in 16,2 and in 17,2.

שמעתי את תלונות בני ישראל, “I have heard the complaints of the Children of Israel, etc.” Our sages in Pessikta zutrata on this verse said that G’d refers to the Israelites as “Children of Israel,” a complimentary title, in spite of the fact that they had uttered complaints. What is the meaning of the word לאמור here after the words דבר אל בני ישראל? The message in the repetition is that Moses was to address the Israelites twice; once in a friendly tone, concerning their complaint about not having bread, and in a sterner tone concerning their demands for more than necessities, i.e. meat. Whereas the word וידבר refers to stern talk, the use of the word לאמור, denotes a friendly tone. We have proof of this in Genesis 42,30 דבר האיש אדוני הארץ אתנו קשות, “the man, the ruler of the land spoke with us harsh words.” The Talmud in Makkot 11 states that the word דבר already implies קשות, tough talk.

ובבוקר תשבעו לחם וידעתם כי אני ה' אלו-היכם, “and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread and you will know that I am the Lord your G’d.” You will bless My name for supplying your food. This is the first indication of the legislation we read about in Deut. 8,10: “you will eat and be satisfied and bless the Lord your G’d.” Our verse prompted our sages (Berachot 48) to conclude that Moses formulated the first benediction in the ברכת המזון prayer after meals at the time when the manna descended. Whereas thanking G’d for the food one has eaten is a Biblical requirement, reciting the benediction prior to eating is a Rabbinical law. The Rabbis arrived at the logic of this by an “a fortiori,” קל וחומר, saying that if one needs to thank the Lord after one has already had one’s fill, how much more must one do so prior to eating for having found food available at a time when one is hungry!

ויהי בערב ותעל השלו...ובבוקר היתה שכבת הטל, “it happened in the evening that the quails ascended,....and in the morning there was a layer of dew, etc.” Both the quail and the manna appeared for the first time on a Sunday (compare our comment on verse 1 and 5). The quails formed a daily diet of the Israelites for 40 years (based on Tossaphot Erchin 15 on the word התאוו). As long as the Israelites had the manna they also had the quails. Concerning verse 38: “the Israelites ate the manna for 40 years,” (where no such particulars are given for the quails), we must assume that the same applied to the supply of quails which became available every evening. The reason the Torah only refers to the continued supply of the manna for 40 years is that seeing it was heavenly food it required a daily supernatural miracle during all those years. The availability of the quails by comparison, was a much less impressive miracle, not having required that something out of the ordinary be “manufactured” in the celestial regions. Making the quails available is described by the Torah as a more or less natural phenomenon in Numbers 11,31 when the Torah reported: “a wind went out from Hashem and blew quails from the sea and spread them over the camp.”

The fact that the quails were something extant in the terrestrial part of the world is the reason the Torah did not apply to its becoming available the word ותהי, which always refers to the coming into existence of something new (a derivative of what we previously described as the אור עליון, a light in the celestial regions), but wrote only ותעל, the same word used to describe the sudden manifestation of the frogs (Exodus 8,2). When describing the major miracle of the arrival of the manna from the celestial regions the Torah considered it appropriate to use wording normally reserved for the six days of G’d’s creative activity, i.e. היתה, “it had come into existence.” When the original light materialised the Torah also described this by using the verb הוה, by writing יהי אור, ויהי אור.

A Midrashic approach (Mechilta Vayissa section 3): “how exactly did the manna descend? First a north wind descended and cleared away all the dust on the earth; afterwards a layer of dew descended smoothing out the surface of the earth. Following this, the manna descended on to this layer of dew. Please note that the Torah does not speak of the manna ascending, i.e. ויעל המן, but the Torah writes ותעל שכבת הטל, “the layer of dew ascended” (verse 14). This teaches that a layer of dew descended form heaven in order to cover the manna, i.e. it ascended on to the layer of manna which had fallen immediately before. As a result the manna was protected from below and from above.

When we keep this in mind we can understand why the sages demanded (Pesachim 30) that when placing the two challot on the Sabbath table we must place a serviette or other base both below and above the bread to symbolize how it was in the desert with the manna. Rashi explains the words ותעל שכבת הטל to mean that when the dew was lying above the manna facing the sun, it suddenly became visible; this is the meaning of the words והנה על פני המדבר דק מחספס, “and here!, on the face of the desert something fine and exposed.”

מן הוא, “it is a portion (of food)!” The word is derived from מנה, a gift.” we find the word in Samuel I 1,8 מנה אחת אפים, “a double-portion (of gifts).” Here too the arrival of the manna was a gift for Moses (who had not even had to ask G’d for it). The Torah had to explain this as the Israelites did not know what to make of this new phenomenon. Seeing that they did not know what it was they named it “a gift” (from heaven). Rabbeinu Chananel writes: the words מן הוא mean מאין הוא “where does it come from,” as they did not know its origin.

זה הדבר אשר צוה ה': לקטו ממנו איש לפי אכלו, “this is the thing G’d has commanded: “gather from it, each person according to how much he can eat.” Our sages in Mechilta Vayissa section 4 explained that Moses said to the people: “do not be afraid that Nachshon ben Aminadav and other powerful men will come and gather so much of it that hardly any of it will be left for the poor; each Israelite will have as much as he can eat.” What was the quantity that every Israelite could eat (or, better, required)? “One omer per head.” The meaning of this statement in the text is that if one ate an omer of manna per day one maintained one’s health. If one ate less it would be injurious to one’s health, and if one ate more than an omer it would also be injurious to one’s health. As to the words מספר נפשותיכם איש לאשר באהלו, “according to the number of persons in each man’s tent you will take,” these words refer to one’s wife whose proper place is within the tent. We know this from Sarah who is described as being inside the tent (Genesis 18,9) and we have a verse in Psalms 45,14 “that the true honor of the king’s daughter is reflected by the fact that she remains indoors.” One of the halachic messages of this verse is that a husband/father is obligated to look after the requirements of his wife and children while they are minors. This is why the Torah speaks of “the number of your souls (persons).” This is the way Rabbeinu Chananel explains the wording of our verse.

This verse contains two extremely significant themes, each one of which has ramifications in the terrestrial as well as the celestial spheres. The themes are: 1) the significance of the letters in our alpha-bet (22); 2) the subject of parnassah (livelihood). There is nothing in this world which is not rooted in some letter or letters of the א-ב. Neither is there anything in either the terrestrial or the celestial spheres which does not require continued input by a heavenly force in order to survive. We call this input פרנסה. Anyone or anything which is not self-sustaining is in need of פרנסה, benevolent, life-sustaining input by G’d. Our sages in Berachot 4 told us about the value of reciting Psalm 145 three times daily by promising that he who recites it three times daily is assured of life in the hereafter. They have revealed to us that the principal features of the Psalm are that it is organised according to the letters of the א-ב, each line starting with a different letter; secondly, it deals with the fact that G’d provides פרנסה, i.e. the line starting with פותח את ידך ומשביע לכל-חי רצון, “You give it open-handedly, feeding every creature to its heart’s content.” Our verse here also includes both of these themes seeing it contains all the 22 letters of the א-ב, and it also has as its theme that G‘d provides פרנסה. This led the sages (Mechilta Vayissa section 2) to say that the Torah was given only to the people who depended on the manna as their daily food, i.e. who depended on their פרנסה coming directly from Hashem. It is appropriate then that one recites the paragraph dealing with G’d providing the manna at least once daily to help stave off famine, etc., in our world.

וילקטו אותו בבקר בבקר, “they collected it morning after morning.” Had the word בקר been written only once it would have meant two hours after sunrise. The repetition of the word בקר means that it could be collected until he end of four hours after sunrise. After that time the words: “when the sun was hot it would melt” would apply. Anyone who had failed to collect the manna by that time had to receive it as a charitable gift from people who had collected their share on time. A great miracle occurred in connection with the manna. Just as it was the function of the prophet to reveal to people matters otherwise concealed from them, so the manna served as a source of information (Yuma 75). If someone’s slave had fled and was found in some other household, and the householder claimed that the first owner had sold the slave to him, whereas the first householder claimed that the slave in question had fled from him, the number of omers of manna in the two households would reveal who had spoken the truth. If the first household wound up with an extra omer of manna it was evident that the slave had escaped from that household and had not been sold. If an extra portion of manna was found in the second household however, it was proof that the owner of that household had bought the slave, that he had not run away from the first household. The same would apply to a woman who had run away from her husband. If she were to claim that her husband had kicked her out and she would demand her כתובה, financial settlement, whereas her husband declared her guilty of the kind of infidelity by which she forfeits her כתובה, the presence or absence of an extra portion of manna would help to determine whose claim was true. Moses would announce that on the following morning when the husband went out to collect the daily manna ration for the family the truth would become evident. This is how the sages in Yuma 75 describe the judicial help which the manna represented. They base this on the wording of Numbers 11,7 that the manna כזרע גד הוא, “was like the seed of gad;” the Hebrew word גד being similar to מגיד, “telling, revealing.” It revealed many matters which had previously been hidden.

שבתון שבת קודש לה' מחר, “a rest day, a holy Sabbath for the Lord tomorrow.” According to the plain meaning of the text the reason why the word Sabbath is repeated is because there are two distinct aspects to each and every Sabbath. One is to do with the עומר, which will be dealt with in verse 29, the other with the special מוסף offering which was offered in the Temple on every Sabbath accompanied by the recital of a special hymn (Psalm 92) sung by the Levites on that occasion.

A Kabbalistic approach: the combination of the words שבתון שבת קודש לה' מחר mean that the Sabbath on the day following Moses’ announcement would be parallel to the Sabbath observed in the celestial regions.

ורמה לא היתה בו, “and no worms had developed on it.” This verse is an allusion to our tradition that on the Sabbath the corpses are not being disturbed by worms (compare Torah Shleimah note 132). The expression ורמה occurs only twice in the whole Bible, once here and the other time in Job 21,26 ורמה תכסה עליהם, “and worms cover them.” The verse in Job describes the state of corpses during the six days of the week; our verse describes the state of corpses on the Sabbath.

אכלהו היום כי שבת היום לה' לא תמצאוהו בשדה, “Eat it today, for today is the Sabbath for Hashem; you will not find it in the field.” Mechilta Vayissa section 4 understands the emphasis on the word היום, today, in our verse to mean that whereas in this terrestrial universe you will not find the manna on the Sabbath, in the hereafter you will be able to find it, i.e. you will be able to locate the source from which it had emanated. This is a reference to the אור העליון, the celestial light, we have discussed already. The word היום, today, occurs three times in our verse. This is an allusion to the halachah that we are to eat three meals on the Sabbath. (Shabbat 117).

Let me reveal to you a secret which our sages the Kabbalists have discovered to be part of that legislation to consume three meals on the Sabbath: The first meal, the one to be consumed at night, corresponds to the attribute (commandment) שמור, to observe the negative commandments of the Sabbath, work prohibitions, etc. This attribute (emanation) is better known as מלכות, [the emanation which is the connection between the world of disembodied creatures and our own world, עולם העשיה, Ed.] Kabbalists have introduced the custom of going out of one’s house at the onset of the Sabbath to welcome the כלה שבת מלכתא, the bride “queen Sabbath,” with the words באי כלה, באי כלה, “welcome O bride, welcome O bride.” [In our countries we turn around at the end of the לכה דודי hymn in order to symbolize the same thought. Ed.] This is why Moses first said [even before mentioning the word Sabbath, Ed.] אכלהו היום, “eat it this day.” The word אכלהו contains the word כלה, a hint that we are to relate to the Sabbath as a groom relates to the bride, i.e. he sanctifies her by giving her a gift. The second meal, the Sabbath morning meal, is an allusion to the emanation יסוד, the one immediately above that of מלכות, also known as שבת הגדול. The principal sanctification of the Sabbath occurs by day and that is why that קדוש is generally known as קדושא רבא, (compare Pesachim 105 and 106). These considerations also account for the fact that in the daily evening prayer we recite the introductory paragraph before the קריאת שמע commencing with the words אהבת עולם, whereas the parallel paragraph before the קריאת שמע in the morning commences with the words אהבה רבה to indicate the greater importance of what is done by day (compare Berachot 11). It is well known that night is the period reserved primarily for שמור, passive observance, whereas day is reserved for זכור, active observance. This consideration prompted Moses to say in our verse כי שבת היום לה'. The third meal which is to be consumed after the מנחה prayer represents the conclusion of the day. It is an allusion to ראשית, i.e. the mainstay of all constructive activities, בנין, and its head, in the language of Kabbalists [a reference to the entire “structure” of the universe both physical and meta-physical. Ed.] To signify this Moses said: היום לא תמצאוהו, the word לא is similar to the word אין, as in Job 28,12 והחכמה מ-”אין" תמצא, “as to ‘wisdom’ it can only be found in a domain called “אין” (more on this on 17,7). The spiritual significance of the three meals on the Sabbath proceeds from the lowest emanation to the next higher one יסוד, etc. and from there to the next higher one, הוד. One ascends spiritually in accordance with consumption of these three meals in the right spirit. When you keep this in mind you will have an inkling of the spiritually elevating phenomenon called Sabbath and the importance of eating three meals on that day.

ראו כי ה' נתן לכם השבת, “See that Hashem has given you the Sabbath.” We find a comment in Midrash Tehillim on Psalm 92, where the author asks about the significance of the word ראו in our verse. What precisely did the people of Israel “see” in this gift of the Sabbath? Rabbi Yossi quotes: “behold this pearl which He has given to you.” Rabbi Yitzchak says that it is a reference to the fact that everything connected with the Sabbath is repeated, i.e. has more than one dimension. The usual omer, measure of manna per person, was doubled. The Torah wrote in verse 22 “two omers for everyone.” The daily communal sacrifice consisted of two sheep instead of one sheep (Numbers 28,9). The penalty for desecrating the Sabbath is worded doubly, i.e. מות יומת (Exodus 31,14). The reward for observing the Sabbath is also worded twofold; Isaiah 58,13 writes: “If you call the Sabbath ‘delight,’ the Lord’s holy day ‘honoured,’ etc., etc.” The exhortation to observe the Sabbath is also couched in two words זכור ושמור, (compare Exodus 20,8 and Deut. 5,12). The hymn to be sung on the Sabbath is called by that name twice, i.e. מזמור שיר ליום השבת, (Psalms 92). When we examine the way Kohelet refers to the “vanities” of this world when he lists the word הבל or הבלים a total of seven times (Kohelet 1,2), these expressions are perceived as applying to the first 7 days of the universe. Solomon related to these days as follows: “what was created on the first day? Heaven and Earth. What will be their end? Look at Isaiah 51,6 who writes: “raise your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath; though the heavens should melt away like smoke and the earth wear out like a garment, etc., etc.” Solomon proceeds to find similar negative phenomena regarding everything that has been created up to and including the sixth day. Every creature created on any day was doomed sooner or later, hence הבל הבלים, it was all vanity; none of it would endure. When he came to evaluating the Sabbath, Solomon tried to find something negative but could not. The reason he could not do so was that the Sabbath is all sanctity and rest. Rabbi Yitzchak said that finally, Solomon observed that when a person desecrates the Sabbath he forfeits his life; then he exclaimed: הכל הבל, “everything is vanity, i.e. there is nothing on earth which does not have a potentially deadly ending!” This gives us a total of seven vanities.

למשמרת לדורותיכם, to be kept throughout your generations.” The word משמרת, “safekeeping, memento,” occurs three times in connection with the manna. The first time the Torah writes למשמרת לדורותיכם in our verse here. Seeing the Torah adds the words “in order that they see the bread which I have fed them,” this is intended for the generation who actually were sustained by this bread. The second time (in verse 33) the wording is לפני ה' למשמרת לדורותיכם, “in front of G’d as a memorial throughout your generations.” This is a reference to the generations who would live in the land of Israel in the future. Thirdly, the Torah writes in verse 34 לפני העדות למשמרת, “before the Holy Ark as a memorial.” This is a reference to the latter years of the Holy Temple when King Yoshiyahu hid both the bottle of manna and the staff of Aaron to ensure it would not fall into the hands of the enemy if and when Jerusalem would be destroyed (compare Horiot 12). At that time the bottle containing the anointing oil (for Kings of Davidic descent) was also hidden to prevent it being applied to someone else. All of this happened when the High Priest Chilkiyah found an “opened” Torah scroll in the Sanctuary. (It was open at the verse describing the Israelites going into exile Deut. 28,36). He interpreted this as a bad omen and hid the Holy Ark, the tablets with the Ten Commandments and the items we have already listed. Also the box in which the Philistines had sent a gift to the G’d of Israel at the time when they returned the Holy Ark in the days of the Judges (Samuel I 6,8) was hidden at that time. We have a record of this in Chronicles II 35,3: “He (King Yoshiyahu) said to the Levites, consecrated to the Lord, who taught all Israel, ‘put the Holy Ark in the House that Solomon son of David, King of Israel built;’” Rabbi Eleazar said that there are textural indications that the staff of Aaron and the bottle of manna were to be treated on a similar basis as in each case the Torah used words such as משמרת, דורות, which suggest that these items should be kept where the Holy Ark was being kept. Hence when it came time to hide the one, the other items would be hidden in the same place.

ויאמר משה אל אהרן קח צנצנת אחת, “Moses said to Aaron: ‘take one bottle, etc.,’” note that the Torah did not say that “Moses took a bottle and placed it there.” (although G’d had told Moses about this and Aaron had not yet been anointed High Priest). We find at a later stage that Moses was offering sacrifices and that he even offered the incense until Aaron had been appointed.

It is possible to explain this apparent discrepancy by seeing in this statement an allusion to an assurance that the descendants of Aaron, the priests of the future, would enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, would not have to live on a day-to-day basis as had the generation who had to subsist on the daily allocation of manna. Their parnassah would be governed by what we read in Chronicles Ii 31,4-5 where King Chizkiyah ordered “the people, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to deliver the portions to the priests and Levites so that they might devote themselves to Teaching of the Lord. When the word spread, the Israelites brought large quantities of grain, wine, oil, honey and all kinds of agricultural produce and tithes in large amounts.” Moses first mentioned: “deposit it before the Lord.” This was a hint that the provision of a livelihood for the Torah scholars in each and every generation is something left to the Almighty. It is “so to speak” placed at G’d’s disposal. This is why he added the words “for your generations,” as G’d is the One who will endure during all these generations. It was necessary to provide us with an allusion to the fact that the Torah is the source of celestial wisdom, and that wisdom is to be found in celestial regions, in spiritually higher regions (compare Kohelet 7,12). It is the source of true blessings and true life. David referred to this when he said (Psalm 134,2) “lift your hands toward the Sanctuary and bless the Lord.” It is appropriate therefore that physical life on earth, i.e. parnassah, should be linked to Torah which supplies the life of the soul, spiritual life. Afterwards the Torah reports לפני העדות, that Aaron placed the bottle containing manna in front of the Holy Ark (verse 34). This was much later, as at this time the Holy Ark did not exist yet. This is the reason the Torah had to mention in between “as G’d had commanded Moses.” Actually, we would have expected the Torah to write: “Aaron placed it (the bottle) in front of the Ark as a memorial as G’d had commanded Moses.” However, the Torah wanted to make the point that the parnassah of Torah scholars is always under the exclusive care and protection of G’d Himself as G’d had commanded Moses at Mount Sinai when He had said to him: פסל לך שני לוחות אבנים, “carve for yourself two stone-tablets” (Exodus 34,1). The word “for yourself,” meant that the splinters from the stones out of which Moses carved the tablets remained his personal property. According to Shemot Rabbah 46,2 this became the source of Moses’ personal wealth.

According to Pessikta Zutrata the words קח צנצנת אחת, “take one bottle, etc.” are one of ten items which were created at dusk just before the first Sabbath (Avot 5,6). When G’d told Moses to take a צנצנת, Moses did not know what material that bottle was to be made of. He arrived at the correct material by deducing it from the meaning of the word, i.e. it is something cold, i.e. צונן, something that keeps its contents cool, preserves its contents indefinitely in earth. It must therefore be an earthen vessel. We have a verse in Jeremiah 32,14 where the prophet is told specifically by G’d to put certain documents in an earthen jar so that the documents would last a long time. The same thing applies to aged wine when it has been aged in earthen jars. In fact it ages well only in those kinds of jars. This then is the meaning of the words (verse 33) והנח אותו לפני ה' למשמרת, “and place it before Hashem as a safekeeping.” Jeremiah took out these documents from an earthen jar, saying to the people: “O generation, behold, the word of the Lord! Have I been like a desert to Israel, or like a land of gloom?” (Jeremiah 2,31). He said to the people: “why are you not busy with the Torah?” They responded by asking: “if we study Torah how will we live?” When hearing this Jeremiah took out the bottle of manna and said to the people: “take a look! your forefathers were in the desert and they busied themselves studying Torah; where did their livelihood come from? If you will busy yourselves with studying Torah G’d will provide your livelihood just as He provided it for your forefathers. Why do My people say: ‘we have broken loose, we will not come to You any more?’”

ובני ישראל אכלו את המן ארבעים שנה, “and the Children of Israel ate the manna for forty years.” At first glance there could not have been forty whole years as the first month after the Exodus they did not have any manna. It did not start descending until the middle of Iyar and the dough they had taken out of Egypt had lasted them for a month. If the report of the Torah is correct the manna should not have stopped until the middle of Iyar after Moses’ death, i.e. more than a month after the Israelites crossed the Jordan. We have a report in Joshua 5,11-12. that on the morrow of the Passover i.e. on the sixteenth of Nissan they ate from the produce of the land both unleavened bread and parched grain! The verse continues by reporting that on the day the Israelites ate from that produce the manna ceased. We are forced to understand the words “for forty years” in our verse as an approximate figure. In order to make certain that we do not misunderstand and believe that the manna was eaten for a full forty years, the Torah repeats giving further details by saying “they ate the manna until they came to an inhabited land, the edge of the land of Canaan.” You will find that this information corresponds exactly to what is written in Joshua 5,12: “on that same day, when they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased. The Israelites got no more manna.” According to our tradition the manna fell from the 15th of Iyar in the first year of the people’s wanderings and ceased falling the day after Moses died on the seventh day of Adar. For the next 38 days when the Israelites were already under the authority of Joshua no manna fell. The first thirty days were observed as mourning for Moses. They were followed by three days of preparing to cross the Jordan (Joshua 1,10) after which they crossed the Jordan on the 10th of Nissan. This was followed by the male Israelites born since the Exodus being circumcised at Gilgal (Joshua 5,9).

According to Rashi (verse 35), however, the number “forty years“ is to be considered as a full forty years. He explains the words in two ways. 1) The dough the Israelites took with them out of Egypt tasted like manna. 2) The manna which fell on the day Moses died miraculously lasted them until the 16th of Nissan, the day after the Passover observance in Gilgal. The Torah was correct in saying then that “they ate the manna for forty years.”

והעומר עשירית האיפה הוא, “the omer was equivalent to one tenth of the measure known as eyphah.” Rashi in Kidushin 15 explains that 1 איפה =3 סאין, which in turn =6 קבין, which are equivalent to 4 לוגין, each לוג equaling 6 eggs; this means that the daily ration of manna per Israelite was equivalent to a quantity equaling 43,2 eggs. Based on this fact the sages determined that a dough of that amount is subject to the provisions of challah; this is also the maximum amount of dough to be prepared in one lot for baking matzot for Passover. The reason that the Torah waited until the end of the whole paragraph to tell us the amount of manna G’d assigned to each person daily instead of telling us this when we were told that each person found he had collected 1 omer per head (household member) in verse 16, is because the Torah did not want to interrupt the train of thought we are to entertain when reading about the manna and what is connected with it. If you will examine the paragraph you will find that there were actually three logical points at which this information would have been pertinent. If the Torah deliberately refrained from using any of these opportunities it clearly had a reason for this. It is also possible that the Torah reserved mentioning this information in order to link it to what follows, i.e. the events at Refidim. It is a well known psychological fact that when a person enjoys material blessings in abundance he becomes less meticulous in serving the Lord and he develops a certain laxity in his approach to Mitzvah-performance, just as he can afford to be lax in his concern for his daily bread. He will not be likely to develop this laxity if he is only just able to feed himself and his family as he is constantly aware of the need of G’d’s goodwill on a daily basis and will make an effort to remain in G’d’s good graces. The Torah tells us that the Israelites became delinquent in their Mitzvah-performance although their daily ration was not so abundant that they could have been expected to develop laxity. As a result of this unwarranted laxity, Amalek (17,8) attacked them. The name רפידים is equated by our sages with רפה, weak, i.e. their Torah-observance weakened. This is the conceptual linkage between this new paragraph and the story about the manna preceding it. The Torah could have described the amount of manna the Israelites received daily in terms other than “1 tenth of an eiphah.” Why did it choose to mention that it was “1 tenth“ of something? Perhaps the reason for mentioning “1 tenth” is the same as the fact that מעשר, “the tithe” which the farmer has to give to the Levite is “1 tenth.” The Israelites, while in the desert were considered as “sacred bodies,” something akin to angels with bodies. When they would consume this delicate heavenly food their thoughts may have concentrated on the “tenth” emanation and all the holy concepts involved in such contemplations. Perhaps the best example is Exodus 24,11: “they beheld (a vision) of G’d and they ate and they drank.” Perhaps their very eating of such celestial food as the manna is what enabled those אצילי בני ישראל, the most noble group of Israelites, to become privy to such visions at such a time. When we couple this with the proximity to the הר האלו-הים, the mountain of G’d, Sinai, around which all this took place it is not really so remarkable at all. They joined the select elite of which Isaiah said יילכו ולא ייעפו, “they keep walking without becoming fatigued.”