Illustration Credit: Rivka Tsinman
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
וַיְעַנְּךָ וַיַּרְעִבֶךָ וַיַּאֲכִלְךָ אֶת הַמָּן אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדַעְתָּ וְלֹא יָדְעוּן אֲבֹתֶיךָ
לְמַעַן הוֹדִעֲךָ כִּי לֹא עַל הַלֶּחֶם לְבַדּוֹ יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם
כִּי עַל כָּל מוֹצָא פִי יהוה יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם׃
God let things become hard for you and let you become hungry—and then God fed you mann (miraculous food), which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known about.
This was in order to teach you that a person cannot live on bread alone. Rather, it is through God’s words that a person can live.
Isn’t bread exactly what we do need to live? What does it mean for that to not be enough, and that God’s words give life? And how does mann teach this lesson?
שֶׁתְּחִלָּה עִנָּה וְהִרְעִיב אוֹתְךָ כִּי לֹא נִתַּן לָהֶם הַמָּן תֵּכֶף וְסָבְלוּ רָעָב
לְהַכְנִיעַ הַחֹמֶר, וְאַחַר כֵּן וַיַּאֲכִלְךָ אֶת הַמָּן שֶׁהָיָה לֶחֶם רוּחָנִי יוֹרֵד מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם רְצוֹנוֹ לוֹמַר שֶׁגָּבַר בּוֹ עִנְיָן הָרוּחָנִי עַל עִנְיָן הַגַּשְׁמִי.
At first, God let things become hard for you and let you become hungry, because mann wasn’t given to them right away. This was to make the physical less important. Then God fed them mann, a spiritual bread from Heaven. This means that the spiritual overcame the physical.
According to Malbim, mann wasn’t a normal physical food; it was a spiritual food. It showed how a spiritual solution can sometimes solve a physical problem.
- Why is this an important lesson to learn? What does it have to do with worshiping God or keeping the Torah?
- What are some ways spiritual actions or thoughts can be part of how you eat physical food?
לְפִי הַפְּשָׁט תּוֹעֶלֶת יְדִיעָה זוֹ, שֶׁיִּהְיוּ כַּמָּה עִתִּים שֶׁלֹּא תִּהְיֶה שׁוּם
תִּקְוָה לְהַשִּׂיג לֶחֶם, וְאִם כֵּן יֹאבְדוּ כָּל תִּקְוָה לַחַיּוֹת עַל הָאָרֶץ, עַל כֵּן הִקְדִּים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לִתֵּן כֹּחַ וְעָצְמָה לְהִתְפַּרְנֵס מ"כָּל מוֹצֵא פִּי ה' ", וְזוֹהִי תּוֹעֶלֶת נִפְלָאָה בִּימֵי הַגָּלוּת.
The purpose of this knowledge is that there will be times in the future when people might be without hope of getting enough to eat. They might lose all hope of surviving. So God gave us strength through the experience of living “through God’s words.” This is a wonderful idea to take with us in times of galut (exile).
The Netziv suggests that mann teaches a lesson for hard times. When things look bleak, we can always remember how God saved our ancestors in the wilderness through the miracle of the mann. That can give us hope that God might save us again and help us through other hard times.
- Why is hope so important for survival?
- What words of God create miracles? What words of God give you hope?
-------------------
