B’Shallach- Manna From Heaven
This morning’s Torah reading is “B’Shallach,” and God sent, and it describes the moments after the exodus from Egypt as God sent the Israelites into the wilderness. This Shabbat is also known as Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat of Song, because in it we read the words that our ancestors sang after experiencing their miraculous escape through the Sea of Reeds, and their first taste of freedom.
You might think that the remainder of the text would focus on gratitude. We survived, we made it, can you believe it?, thank You, thank You, thank You.
And yet. No sooner do they set foot on their journey, but the complaints begin. First, it’s the water. It tastes bitter and they don’t like it. At God’s command, Moses tosses a specific piece of wood into the source of water, and the water is transformed.
Then, it’s the food. We read in Chapter 16, verse 3, “If only we had died by God’s hand in Egypt, where we sat by pots of meat and we ate bread until we were full, and you brought us to this wilderness to kill the entire community with hunger.”
Now- do you REALLY think that the food in Egypt was SO delicious and abundant? It would be the first time in history that slaves ate so well. But, it is human nature to complain and to look back with nostalgia, and this is a prime example.
God has an answer. Manna from heaven. Every morning, Moses tells the Israelites, they will find manna, and each person is to gather what they need. And, on Friday, they should collect a double portion in order to have a full day of rest on Shabbat.
Another miracle- no matter how much or how little each person gathered, they had an adequate supply. And, if they gathered too much, it was worm-infested, inedible, the next day. Except on Shabbat.
The manna sustained the Israelites through the entirety of the 40 years in the desert.
What are we to take away from this experience of manna from heaven? Commentators focus on the element of faith. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, for example viewed the Israelite’s experience as a metaphor for human vulnerability, and the need for faith in times of hardship. “Faith, he writes, “is not certainty. It is the courage to live with uncertainty.
If everyone was going to end up with the requisite amount anyway, why bother to collect more than a token amount? Some see this as evidence of the importance and meaningfulness of work. In next week’s portion we will read the 10 commandments, and learn of the mitzvah of observing Shabbat. We often forget to note that the 4th commandment no only includes making Shabbat holy, but, also, working the other 6 days a week.
Why is it a mitzvah to work? We may face temptations in our work environments, and how we respond to those temptations will strengthen our ethical muscles to make good choices. Working also fills our days with meaning, potentially keeping us out of trouble. Sforno makes this point, that the manna is a test of how the Israelites will use their leisure time.
The fact that everyone, everyone!, was out gathering manna together was a reminder of the importance of community during difficult times.
Professor Nechama Leibowitz, sees the lesson of the manna as a reminder not to hoard or waste food. No matter how much you collected, or how little, you ended up with enough. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone could have enough to eat, and, if we could learn to appreciate the blessing of “enough-ness,” and cultivate gratitude?
Rabbi Laura Geller summarizes the lesson of the manna in these words, “The manna that fell from heaven was both a kindness and a test for our ancestors. There was enough food, but we had to have enough faith not to take more than we needed. We had everything we needed, so we had the time to do something of meaning with our lives.” She concludes, “Perhaps the biggest test is to be grateful , every day, and then to share what we have been given with others.”
A lovely story from the Talmud asks a different question about the manna: Why does the manna come every day and not once a year? It answers through a parable about a king and his son. When the king provided his son with his sustenance once a year, the son visited his father only once a year. When the father began to provide his sustenance daily, the son had to call on his father every day. So it is with Israel. If an Israelite had four or five children, he would worry saying, perhaps the manna won’t come tomorrow and my children will starve. And because the manna was coming down daily, the Israelites were compelled to direct their hearts to God (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 76a).
In the end, the story of the manna reminds us that true freedom comes with responsibility — to trust, to work, to rest, and to care for one another. The manna teaches that faith is not about abundance, but about finding contentment in “enough,” and that gratitude grows when we recognize that what we have is sufficient. As we move through our own wildernesses, may we remember to open our hearts with gratitude, share generously, and find holiness in the balance between daily effort and divine sustenance.