NOW THE MANNA WAS LIKE CORIANDER (gad) SEED. Said R. Jose: ‘The term gad (lit. troops) signifies that the manna had the virtue of inducing propagation. It implies further that in the same way as the seed of Gad took their portion in another land,¹ so the manna hovered over Israel outside the Holy Land.

footnotes: ¹ i.e. outside the border of the Holy Land proper, in Transjordania.

We may also explain the words to mean that it was white in appearance, like coriander seed, and coagulated when it reached the atmosphere, and was transmuted into material substance¹ inside the body.¹ AND THE APPEARANCE THEREOF AS THE APPEARANCE OF BDELLIUM, to wit, it was white in colour like bdellium, this being the colour of the Right in the supernal sphere.’

footnotes: ¹ i.e. out of its ethereal state. ¹ Al. “it was absorbed by the body”, i.e. without leaving any waste, as with material food. v. T. B. Yoma, 75b.